we can decide what we do today | We can decide whether we will learn something | We can decide whether we will keep a promise | We can decide whether we will appreciate someone |
NV Paulose, Chairman, Global TV +91 98441 82044
We often dream about doing something big. We want to build something extraordinary, achieve something that people remember, change an organization, create a successful business, transform our career or make a significant difference in the lives of others. There is nothing wrong with having big ambitions. But sometimes our desire to do something big prevents us from doing the small things that are actually within our control. We wait for the perfect opportunity, the right circumstances, more money, more time or a bigger platform. Meanwhile, ordinary days keep passing. The truth is that human beings may not always be capable of doing great things every day, but we are capable of doing small things every day. We can make a small improvement, help one person, learn one new thing, complete one important task, have one meaningful conversation or take one step towards a goal. These actions may appear insignificant when viewed individually, but their power comes from repetition.
This is one of the lessons I wanted to share with the younger generation. We sometimes place too much importance on dramatic achievements and too little importance on consistency. A student may want to become an expert but does not want to study for thirty minutes every day. Someone may want to become healthy but finds it difficult to exercise regularly. A professional may want to build a great career but does not consistently improve the skills that the career requires. We want the result without becoming comfortable with the repetition that produces the result. But almost everything worthwhile is built this way. A building does not appear because somebody decided one morning to construct it. It is built brick by brick. A strong relationship is not created through one grand gesture. It is built through hundreds of small acts of care, respect and trust. A career is not transformed by one good day. It is shaped by the decisions we make repeatedly over many years.
The difficulty is that small actions rarely give us immediate satisfaction. When we do something important once, we may not see any visible result. We study for one hour and our knowledge does not suddenly transform. We exercise for one day and our body does not immediately change. We help someone once and the world does not become a better place overnight. Because the result is not immediately visible, we are tempted to stop. This is where consistency becomes more important than motivation. Motivation can encourage us to begin, but repetition is what allows us to continue. We need to become comfortable with doing things that appear small today because we understand that their value may become visible only much later. The person who reads a few pages every day may eventually become deeply knowledgeable. The person who saves a small amount regularly may eventually build financial security. The person who treats people with respect every day may eventually build a reputation that no advertisement could create.
There is another important dimension to small actions. Small things are often the only things we can control. We cannot control the economy, other people’s decisions, organizational politics, technology, competition, or unexpected events. We cannot always decide when an opportunity will arrive. But we can decide what we do today. We can decide whether we will learn something. We can decide whether we will keep a promise. We can decide whether we will appreciate someone. We can decide whether we will spend an hour scrolling through our phones or use that hour to do something meaningful. We can decide whether we will react with anger or respond with patience. These decisions may look small, but our lives are essentially the accumulation of such decisions. The person we become is built through what we repeatedly do when nobody is watching.
So I have stopped expecting myself to do something extraordinary every day. I try to focus on small things that I can do consistently. Every day gives us opportunities to do something good, however small. Every hour gives us another opportunity to make a better choice. Every conversation gives us an opportunity to encourage somebody. Every problem gives us an opportunity to learn. We human beings may not be able to change the world in one day, but we can change one small thing today. Then another tomorrow. Then another the day after that. Eventually, those small actions begin to connect and create something much larger than any individual action. Do not underestimate the small things simply because they are small. What you repeat becomes a habit, what becomes a habit shapes your character, and what shapes your character eventually shapes your life.
