Little tweaks, big results

These easy changes can have a big impact in the long run

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
This week's episodes are all about habits. Today's tip is
really a few tips, a few tiny tweaks to your
life that can have a big impact over time. One

(00:26):
of my biggest discoveries in life is that small things
done repeatedly truly do add up. We've talked about the
quote before that dripping water hollows the stone. A little
water here, a little water there, and eventually you've got
the Grand Canyon. In his book Atomic Habits, writer's James
Clear talks about the compounding results of just one percent improvements.

(00:51):
A one percent improvement seems tiny, almost imperceptible at first,
but for example, a baseball player who figures out how
to get one person better here and there will eventually
sore over someone who, through the natural ravages of time,
hold steady or gets one percent worse. So what are
some tiny one percent improvements you can make? Here's one pace.

(01:17):
Will you brush and floss your teeth if you take
one extra steps in the morning and one extra steps
at night, That is extra steps a week. If you
brush daily, and I hope you do. That's about seventy
three steps a year, which is thirty extra miles. You
could add the same amount by going to a bathroom
that's slightly further from your office twice a day, or

(01:39):
parking a mirror one hundred steps further from the door
of anywhere you happen to visit. Or here's another one. Recently,
social media was all a buzz with news about the
app that shows what you or anyone else would look
like in a few decades. Some aging is inevitable, but
a reasonable amount is sun damage. We know to put
sunscreen on for the beach, but if you put a

(02:01):
bottle by the door and put it on your face
and hands every morning, this twenty second ritual could take
a decade off your appearance over time. Something else to
help with health eating more vegetables. Most people don't get enough,
so challenge yourself to always have vegetables with lunch. If
you're already packing a produced filled lunch or buying salads

(02:23):
at restaurants, that's awesome, but even delis or convenience stores
often have packets of baby carrots or carrots and celery
package with hummus. Or you could buy baby carrots and
bulk at your grocery store, keep baggies of them in
your office fridge, and carry one with you as you
head out to that fried chicken joint. You're not depriving yourself.
You're just adding one tiny good for you thing. Tweaks

(02:48):
aren't just about health. They matter for your career too.
We talked in a previous episode about sending one note
to reach out to a new person daily. You can
renew times for established ties, but taking five minutes to
do this on every work day means you've sent about
two fifty missives out into the universe in a year.

(03:09):
I get excited just thinking of all the amazing things
that could come from that. Another great habit, before you
leave the office for the day, list your top three
priorities for tomorrow. If your office lost power by noon,
what would you need to have done? Now put this
list somewhere you'll see it. You've set yourself up for

(03:31):
a day that's definitely going to be at least one
person better than it would have been. And just one
final tweak, commit to reading ten minutes a day, or
if you're already reading a lot, commit to reading ten
minutes more. Reading is one of the best ways to
grow your mind and expand your world. College and graduate

(03:51):
school are expensive, but so much of the world's knowledge
is in books, and you can get those for free
from the library. Ten minutes isn't much at all. All
your coffees bring in the morning, praps a little before bed.
It doesn't really matter when. But ten minutes a day
is five hours a month or sixty hours a year.
That's enough to read twelve to fifteen normal books or

(04:13):
war in peace twice. What little habits have made a
big difference in your life. I'd love your suggestions. You
can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(04:38):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

(05:00):
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H