For some, the idea of taking a risk in life seems overwhelming. Being afraid of what could go wrong can take up an awful lot of a person’s mental energy supply each day, so any changes they’d like to make to improve their quality of life slip away.
Are you that person? You might feel as though you’re at a point where you can no longer avoid change, but rather than leap into it, you’d prefer to shuffle. I can’t stress enough how okay that is, and how the 10 micro-changes I have would be perfect to get you started. Let’s do this:
1. Start by lowering your bar – and being okay with it.
All this time, you’ve likely lived by a standard that you feel you can never seem to meet, but I’ve got a little news for you: You are in charge of where the bar sits. So what if your cousin or friend has their bar at a different level? This is about you, and seeing as you’re the main character in your own life, you get to hold that power.
If everything feels too much but you’re terrified to take a risk, lowering your bar to “this is beyond easy” is your first port of call. And more importantly: be okay with that.
Write 1 paragraph. Do 2 sit-ups. Drink a glass of water with breakfast. Anything you didn’t do before that you decide to do today is better than what you were doing yesterday. The Japanese call it kaizen, which is essentially a small tweak you make, with each shift becoming a conscious shift through a change at your own pace.
There is minimal risk to this, and you can implement it into any aspect of your life you need to.
2. Add good habits before removing bad ones (initially).
I stress initially, but adding good habits before you take away your bad ones adds a balance to your life that will feel safe rather than stripping you of all that’s currently familiar.
Habit replacement works to form new routines for yourself, and in a world where too many people incorrectly just try to ignore their bad habits, it can be very rewarding. There’s minimal risk to this; you’re simply adding good things to a life that you don’t feel happy with right now. Eventually, the good habits you’re introducing will offset the bad, but until then, you go one step at a time.
3. Reframe each day as a 24-hour opportunity for change.
There’s nothing more intimidating than waking up one day and deciding to overhaul your entire life at the click of a finger! By reframing change as temporary, you’re taking your foot off the pressure pedal and easing into a far more manageable state of mind (I can attest to this working!)
“I’ll try this for a day” is the mantra you want to keep in mind.
Adding a commitment label to anything when you’re terrified of taking risks will only see you punish yourself if you fail. So hold that away and stick to one day (I didn’t even mean for that to rhyme). Just treat each day like a test – and a chance – to start over.
4. Make each minute count.
For risk-averse people, even taking a new challenge or change day by day can be too much. That’s where minute-by-minute micro changes come in. For example, you may dream of waking up and spending the first hour of your day without a phone or screen in sight, but fear what that might look like, or what you might miss.
The calls, emails, and texts are all there, waiting for you to click and get sucked into your day, but if you want to capture a moment before all of that, start with just a minute. Throw open a window, step onto your porch; whatever you can achieve. Tomorrow, you might try for two minutes. It’s just enough to take some deep breaths and register your presence in the day. The same principle can be applied to whatever change you want to make to improve your life.
There are 1440 minutes in each day. Can you spare just one or two for you?
5. Layer your habits.
This is a personal favorite of mine: Habit stacking!
As soon as you’ve got a few small habits under your belt for each day, and they feel good, add another small one. Nothing major, though. I’ll give you an example to give you an idea:
You met your first goal and drank your morning glass of water, and now you’re waiting for your coffee to brew. Rather than stand still and watch, do some simple stretches to release the overnight tension your body held. Remember, this is an example, and you might prefer to do something else that matters to you, like water your indoor plants, or write a grocery list for later so you remember what you need.
The idea is that when you pair a habit, you are far more likely to remember to do them both at the same time – win-win!
6. Start making things one step easier for yourself.
If you’re somebody who would benefit from pre-planning one thing, then give it a go. Pre-make your lunch for work tomorrow the night before. Lay out your clothes for the next day before bed every night. Keep a piece of fruit in your bag for those hangry moments.
Whatever you need to do, make life easier by preparing for it with one small change. You’ll not believe the difference it makes, and how positively smug you will feel biting into an apple rather than grabbing something on the go that you’re trying to avoid.
7. Make one small change to your environment.
If you want the environment you spend your time in to be important to you, then you can make small enough changes – even just one – to feel it benefit, rather than terrify you.
Adjust the lighting. Clean a surface. Tidy the shoes. Pick what matters the most to you, and just make that one change. The entire room doesn’t need renovating, but it can start with a one-minute reshuffle.
You’ll be shocked (in a good way!) at how nice it feels to do, but also how little of your time it took.
8. Schedule daily thinking time.
What kind of timeframe suits you? Five minutes? Ten? I’d not go over 15, but certainly pick several minutes per day to just do nothing but think. During this time ask yourself:
What would make this afternoon go more smoothly for me?
What can I do after this that will improve my day-to-day life?
I’m not talking about big things here. In fact, the smaller the thing, the better! Offering yourself that time and space is a great foundation for building on, and there is a quote by author Nancy Kline that really cements this: “The best conditions for thinking are created when people know they will not be interrupted.”
To be clear, this isn’t an opportunity to overthink. That’s not helpful. It’s a scheduled time to pause, self-reflect, and think about one thing you can do today.
9. Mark yourself as ‘in attendance’ rather than ‘absent.’
When you do something well, you might feel inclined to put a huge check against that task or habit. “Wow, I really did it!” That’s fantastic, but not every day has the potential to be as positive or easy to manage as the one prior.
With that in mind, the idea of taking a risk is severely lessened when you give yourself that check just for showing up. There are no rules that you have to do anything particularly well, as much as you’re pressurizing yourself to do it that way. But magically, marking yourself as in attendance rather than absent means you’re removing any fear of messing up.
So, if you want to improve your life but you’re terrified of risk, this is a micro-change you can make that will shift your mindset without causing you to run from change altogether.
10. “Today, I am somebody who is…”
I’m a brand new person, and I am going to change everything about my life to make it better! Sounds intense, doesn’t it? I’ll be honest, that outlook would scare me, so for those who fear any risk, it’s a terrible approach.
How about we turn the pressure cooker down to 2 instead of 9, and try shifting your identity? Does that sound good? If you think of your identity as changeable, you can start to think more, “I am somebody who is going to give this a go today,” as opposed to, “It’s now or never! I failed again.”
Flow with whatever micro-changes you decide to make, rather than fixing your identity to them, and see it as a chance to explore these life improvements for you. This is your life, remember.
Final thoughts…
There is a simplicity to making micro-changes that not enough people talk about, and much of that simplicity comes when you stop putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to conform to a certain timeframe and just take that risk.
Risks can be scary when uncertainty in life keeps you rooted to the ground. Your desire for stability is constantly interrupted by negative experiences, or what could go wrong, but there are ways to make the smallest of steps and see the progress just one micro-change can do for you.
Are you ready?
