The Smallness of Change

I've been keeping tabs on Scott Young's blog the past year, and something struck me: how small the things he writes about actually are.

Not small in impact — small in execution. Small shifts in habits. Modest adjustments to daily routines. Goals that aren't about revolutionizing your entire existence, but about making deliberate progress toward things that matter to you.

Nothing groundbreaking. Nothing I hadn’t heard a thousand times before. Just: identify your values, define a goal that aligns with them, figure out whatever threshold you need to reach, and get to it.

There's an idea in one of those old religion books that goes something like this: where your thoughts go and what your eyes see(k) will eventually fill your heart.

But what if we flip that around?

What if we start with what we want our hearts filled with, and work backwards from there? What needs doing to get there? And here's the thing—it need not be big stuff. It seems like small shifts and small steps can do it. Then you put in the work. And if you've chosen well, your heart should like it.

We're so conditioned to think that meaningful change requires dramatic overhaul. New year, new you. Burn it all down and start over. Revolutionary transformations. But most of life doesn't work that way. Most of life is incremental. Compound interest on small deposits. The slight adjustments that, over time, take you somewhere completely different.

Scott writes about learning languages, getting better at focused work, building creative practices. The goals vary, but the approach is remarkably consistent: identify what matters, break it down, show up regularly.

It's almost boring in its practicality. But it works. (Didn’t I even write a book about this particular thing, in perspective of using software principles to build user stories for one self? Well, yes I did!)

Small Enough to Start

The beauty of small shifts is that they're... achievable. We can all start today. Not after we’ve reorganized our entire life. Not after we’ve found the perfect system. Not after conditions are ideal.

Today.

What do you want your heart filled with? Connection? Creativity? Knowledge? Peace? Strength?

What's one small thing that moves you toward that? Not the ultimate expression of it. Not the Instagram-worthy version. Just one honest step. Then do that. And see if your heart likes it.

If it does, do it again tomorrow.