You Have Been Lied To-Sweat the Small Stuff!

In the late 90s, there was a popular book that told you to not sweat the small stuff. When it comes to leadership or self help the path to tremendous results includes sweating the small stuff. If you are looking to improve results or yourself there is only one way to drive improvement and growth. The secret to success is to repeatedly do ordinary things that ultimately produce extraordinary results. Discipline is what produces results! Defining discipline and what it really means is challenging. Discipline is doing what you said you were going to do long after the feeling you had when you committed to this task has gone away. In life, it is common to get excited and dive into something when following somebody else’s enthusiasm and passion. It is when that feeling of enthusiasm and passion has gone away that you make a decision to be disciplined or not. With the absence of those emotions do you have the unwavering commitment to deliver on what you promised?

I learned a ton about leadership in my own personal weight loss journey. Over a year ago I began on the Keto diet. I have battled weight loss for most of my adult life but this time was different. In previous diets, I set a goal of losing 50 pounds by this date. The goal was SMART but INEFFECTIVE. This time I took a different approach. Rather than a big hairy audacious goal I lived my life around a simple goal that automatically reset. My only goal was to make it to the next meal perfectly. My goal was to not cheat or eat carbs between now and the next meal. This smaller goal allowed me to be laser-focused on a specific small goal. It forced me to sweat the small stuff every moment of every day. The results began to show immediately. In the first week, I lost eight pounds, and over ten months I lost 70 pounds. I was finally in control over my health and my weight. My battle with weight loss is ongoing but the success I experienced was real because I chose to sweat all the small stuff. 

Producing results as a leader requires the same commitment. This is a challenge as leaders are often big-picture thinkers and visionaries that lack attention to detail. If you are that person you need to acquire blind spot protection services and surround yourself with people that can dial into the minute details. The small stuff matters. If you can inspire your team to align on small tasks that push forward to a larger goal the true power of a team is unleashed. This is when organizations can transform into greatness. The focus must be directed toward high-leverage strategies that drive significant outcomes. As you begin to lead there will be challenges and there may be times when course correction is necessary, but the commitment to the small practices can not change even if the small practices you focus on change. This is the secret to driving big results. 

As you take on the challenges of today identify a few small practices that you want to change to get you to where you want to be. Commit to those small changes throughout the day and utilize discipline to adhere to those small steps. You will begin to notice small results that increase to larger results over time. This is the power of discipline. This is when you can repeatedly do ordinary things that drive extraordinary results. Start to embrace the idea of the small things matter and by all means sweat the small stuff daily. You will be a better person and a better leader if you consistently win the small battles and let the big victories come over time.