I’m a proponent of incrementalism:
Exceptionally small changes, reproduced over time, yield enormous results.
Find a way to utilize five minutes of otherwise wasted time every day, and over time, the results will be extraordinary.
But not only will those five minutes accumulate quickly – amounting to more than 30 hours (MORE THAN A DAY) over the course of a year – but increased productivity can often lead to compounded productivity depending upon how that time is used.
If you spend those additional five minutes every day scrubbing a floor, watching TV, or doom-scrolling through social media, the compounding nature of productivity will likely be minimal or nonexistent.
But if you instead spend that time reading a book, exercising, tending a garden, practicing a musical instrument, mediating, or organizing your home, that time well spent will also compound over time.
Five additional minutes spent exercising every day will yield enormous, lasting, life changing health benefits later in life.
Five additional minutes spent reading every day will increase your knowledge and vocabulary over time, allowing you to be more effective in arenas requiring knowledge and vocabulary to be successful. Additionally, there are enormous longterm cognitive benefits that come with keeping your mind active through activities like reading.
The same holds true for practicing a musical instrument and mediating. Both offer obvious and profound short term benefits – the improved ability to make music or relax – but also yield enormous, longterm cognitive and health benefits, too.
Tending a garden produces fresh fruits and vegetables, which offer longterm health benefits, plus spending time outdoors, in the presences of nature, offers enormous cognitive benefits, too. Your brain chemistry is actually improved by spending time outdoors, looking at plants and sky.
And spending that time organizing your home? An organized life will save unspeakable amounts of time in a multitude of other ways in the longterm.
All of these potential benefits derived from putting five wasted minutes to use in a purposeful, productive way, everyday.
Combining incrementalism with the compounding possibilities of productivity is a powerful force in changing your life.
The reason people don’t do this enough is two-fold:
- Everyone wants a magic pill. Being told that small changes over time produce results feels slow and intangible. Everyone wants results now. Doing a small thing every day to produce change sounds cumbersome and unrealistic. These people often die still waiting for those instantaneous results.
- People don’t look back enough to evaluate the results of incrementalism and compounding productivity. While looking forward is important in terms of chasing your dreams, pausing frequently to give yourself credit for the road you’ve already traveled is essential, too. We require positive feedback to spur continued effort and growth. We need to know that our efforts are paying off. The only way to do this is to examine the weeks, months, and years before to bear witness to the progress made. If we’re practicing incrementalism and benefiting from compounding productivity, we’ll quickly see the extraordinary dividends that five minutes spent well every day can offer.
People who do great things and make their dreams come true never do so in one large gulp. They pile up a multitude of small, smart, dream chasing decisions that yield greatness over time.
You can, too.
