114. Small steps lead to big changes!

Hi everyone and welcome to Project Mindset, the channel for all those who know that with the right mindset anything is possible.

The idea from Atomic Habits

In today’s podcast episode, I actually want to talk about the power of small steps in life and how these small steps, aggregated together, can achieve great things. But before I do that, I have a really interesting story I want to share. I’ve mentioned it here and there in the podcast before: I’m involved with a sports equipment brand called Berg. What’s special about this brand is that it’s a very old, traditional German brand, founded in 1860. It went bankrupt around 1990.

A friend of mine bought the trademark rights a few years ago. Since then, we have been working to bring the brand back to the market and increase its visibility. We’ve received a lot of emails from people who bought a baking product from us at some point, asking things like, “Hey, this ball-shaped one is broken, can I buy a new one from you?” or “What year is this Spär from?” and so on, because it has such a long tradition. Once, someone sent us a photo of a clothes hanger with our Berg brand on it. It dated from long before we started relaunching the brand. He asked, “Where did this one come from?”

An unusual request regarding a clothes hanger

Whether we know what year this clothes hanger is from. Okay, strange question, no, so we answered that we didn’t know exactly, but it’s interesting. But the gentleman who contacted us wrote that he’s a passionate clothes hanger collector, so I could hardly believe it. And he’s now amassed over 6,000 different clothes hangers and even turned it into a small museum. He probably suspected people might not believe him. So he also sent a link to a short Bavarian Broadcasting report about his museum. So, it’s incredible to me that there are 6,000 different clothes hangers on display, and that you can see them there.

But somehow I also found it cool that she puts so much passion into something that many people—I’d even say practically everyone in the world—say, “I couldn’t care less about that,” but this person—I mean, I admire her in a positive way—that she puts so much passion into something like ironing 6,000 clothes is crazy. Anyway..

From Everyday History to Atomic Habits

Today’s podcast episode isn’t about small ironing boards, but rather, for me, I took the basic idea from the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. It’s a super interesting book, and I can really recommend it to anyone who’s interested in the topic of routines—small steps that ultimately have a big impact. So, I really like the book; I also find it very interestingly written. Absolutely recommended.

I combined the book’s ideas with a story from an acquaintance. We had worked together a few years earlier. He seemed to be incredibly knowledgeable in many areas of the topic we were working on at the time—in terms of sheer breadth and depth. It was so noticeable that whenever my specialized knowledge was involved, he had to be there because we all felt he had the best overview of the big picture.

One specialist book per year

And then at some point I asked him, “Hey, how come you’re so deeply involved in so many different topics?” and whether he does any kind of training or further education. And he just said, “No, not really. That’s the only thing I do. I read a specialist book once a year on a specific topic within a particular field, and I dedicate practically the whole year to it. So it’s really not a huge effort, but over the years, if you read relatively current books, and after three years you’ve covered at least three super current topics in a broad way, and you’ve also gone into great depth by reading articles here and there on the subject, then you just accumulate an incredible amount of knowledge over the years.”

And I found that truly admirable because, I mean, reading one book a year doesn’t actually sound like that much. And if you resolve to read, for example, a book on topic X this year, and not just skim through it but actually engage with the topic, that’s absolutely doable. It’s small steps: a few pages a day, jotting down some notes, reviewing what’s been said, maybe reading an additional article here and there on the topic..

Regularly deepen your knowledge

And just like that, I’d argue you completely outpace most people in your field and are truly at the very top. That really fascinated me, and in this context, it also led me, along with Atomik’s book “Habits,” to delve deeper into the topic of routines. Not just, let’s say, those big things you have planned in life, but really, what do I actually have to do to get closer to my goal in some way, in some way, within a certain timeframe?

The example of the British cycling team

What I find particularly great about the book *Atomic Habits* is that James Clear immediately provides several examples of how much such small changes, small routines you incorporate, or small things you alter in your daily exercises and actions can achieve. For example, he mentioned the English Rat Sport team. The story he told was incredibly interesting. He said that in the 110 years that the Rat Sport team has existed, they apparently never won any major event—certainly not the Tour de France, and I don’t know of any gold medals at the Olympics, and so on..

And then a coach came along who said, “Okay, we really want to become top-level in the next few years. We’re giving ourselves five years to win our first medal at the Tour de France and be right up there at the top.” And he started making very small improvements to the team’s activities, to the way they trained, to the equipment they used. For example, they chose better bike seats. That alone probably has a very minimal impact on a team’s success, but it was one point. Or they sprayed alcohol on the bikes before races to give them better grip..

Equipment and training in detail

Or that they wore heated, electrically heated shorts so that the muscles were at a certain optimal temperature from the start, enabling them to perform immediately. Or that they wore biosensors during workouts. And these biosensors could then indicate whether the workout was good or not, and what could be improved. Pulse was measured.

Many small improvements combined

What I also find super interesting is that they even held workshops with surgeons on how to ideally wash your hand, so that, for example, the issue of illness, virus transmission, and so on, is minimized. So, they actually brought in a surgeon who then showed how to properly wash your hand in the sense that everything is really spotless and clean. The idea behind this is that you simply get sick less often. That means if you’re sick one less time per year, that translates to five to eight more training days per year, resulting in less downtime and less training loss. And it’s really interesting that they addressed specific points..

I even think one factor was that the cyclists brought their own pillows to the hotels where they were competing in the races, so they could get a great night’s sleep, just like at home. So many small, individual points that, on their own, might not have a huge effect, but taken together, they improved the cyclists’ performance in this case.

What the changes can achieve

And what was mind-blowing for me, I’ll just quickly look at this: the result was that between 2007 and 2017, after winning virtually nothing for over 100 years, the English cyclists won a total of 100 gold medals: 78 times in world championships, 66 times in Olympic and Paralympic Games, and five times the Tour de France. As I said, after almost 110 years without winning anything, it’s absolutely mind-blowing for me that such small tweaks here and there can make such a big difference.

A small course change with a big impact

Another example is mentioned, which I think is also very plausible, when James Lehr wrote that if you want to fly from LA to New York and then fly just three degrees further south, the effect is so great that you no longer land in New York but in Washington, D.C. So if you tweak something in the wrong direction from the beginning, perhaps making it worse, or whatever, it can of course have a huge long-term effect.

What this means for one’s own career

And I was thinking about what that would mean for me personally, or what it could mean for my podcast listeners, that one makes small improvements, for example, in the area of ​​work. I found the example of my colleague, who reads a book on a current topic in his field once a year, incredibly interesting because it’s remarkably simple. You just look at what’s currently being written in your field, which authors are writing interesting things. It doesn’t even have to be a topic you’re currently working on, but one you’d like to work on in the future..

And if you’ve read the book, paid attention a bit, and maybe read a few additional articles, then you’ve acquired more knowledge. And then, because I’ve actually been asked by friends, “Hey, career topic, they’re not getting anywhere, how to get ahead,” one topic, of course, is acquiring more knowledge and producing more value for the company. I’d say my buddy always asks his boss, “Hey, my first question if I were employed would be, ‘What can I do to generate more revenue for the company?’ Because that’s what most companies are about.”

Building knowledge and contacts

But besides the topic of building connections, which I always recommend everyone do to regularly maintain and expand their network, the topic of acquiring knowledge is of course invaluable because knowledge is what we need most here in Germany. Technology transfer and knowledge acquisition are extremely important to me, and I believe that with just one book a year, in this example, you can already achieve great things.

Small gestures in relationships

This also applies to relationships. It doesn’t have to be about big gifts, like a huge vacation or something. I believe it’s the little things you do: taking a little time once a week, listening attentively, talking attentively to your partner, going out for dinner together, giving a small gift – these are the small steps you can take to make a relationship stable in the long run.

Small changes in everyday life

Nutrition and health are also important topics, as you know I’m very interested in sports, and nutrition naturally falls under that umbrella. When it comes to nutrition, it doesn’t have to be about drastic changes. You can start by cutting out energy drinks, reducing your beer intake from twice a week to once a week, or even eliminating alcohol altogether and just drinking water. Or you could start by removing sugar from your coffee. It doesn’t always have to be about making huge changes; you can take small steps.

Start with ten minutes of jogging

Regarding sports in general, I’m currently going through a phase where I’m trying to go jogging a bit more. The reason is that I have the impression my endurance has decreased somewhat, and jogging is absolutely no fun for me. I don’t understand why anyone would run or jog for any length of time without a ball in their hand or foot. It’s quite an ordeal for me, so I told myself, “Hey, I’ll start with just ten minutes of running while I listen to a podcast that’s been on my bucket list for ages.” I actually started doing that a while ago.

The first few times I only walked for ten minutes, then I increased it a bit to 15 minutes, and now I’m up to 30 minutes. I don’t really need to walk much more than that, but I tried to make it more appealing with the podcast and the small steps, so not 30 minutes from the start because I know perfectly well that if I do it the first two or three times and it’s really no fun at all, then I won’t stick with that routine.

Cultivate a language through daily reading

A routine I’ve talked about before, and one I really want to share with you, that has helped me a lot personally with a goal I’ve always had for myself. I think I’ve mentioned it several times in the podcast: I speak Persian, or Farsi. And over the years, I’ve noticed that my Farsi has gotten worse. The simple reason is that I just don’t speak Farsi as much anymore. Besides speaking it with my parents, I hardly speak any Persian at all anymore, and naturally, my language skills and vocabulary have diminished, and so on..

Reading also became a bit more difficult for me, since we have different writing systems. So, a few years ago, I decided that I would just read a few sentences in the evenings before going to sleep. It really didn’t have to be many sentences, just enough to keep me engaged with the subject and prevent my skills from deteriorating. And over time, I noticed that even though it was really just a few sentences from the children’s book—and to be quite honest, a really simple book to read—my Persian improved a little bit..

My goal wasn’t actually to get worse. But somehow there was this kind of thing, as they say in English, compound interest – meaning that step by step, everything adds up. So you also gain momentum, and my Persian game has improved a bit compared to maybe just a few years ago.

Finding your own small steps

And that’s basically my mindset tool for this week, the one I want to share with you: look at where you want to make changes in your life and see what small tweaks you can make to get there. So, what isn’t necessarily a radical change? Radical changes are good here and there, but also difficult to maintain long-term. What are some small tweaks you can make? My example with jogging: I always want to go jogging more often, so maybe you could start in small steps, like jogging for ten minutes first..

What about my job if I don’t necessarily want to change jobs right now? What can I do to gain more knowledge and expand my network? I always tell my friends when we talk about networking, “Hey, it’s really enough to get to know just one or two new people a month, whether inside or outside the company, because you never know what might happen.” And two people a month still adds up to 24 new contacts a year. That’s a great way to steadily grow your network.

A preview of the mindset newsletter

Great guys, that’s it for today’s podcast episode. I do have one comment to make. I’m starting a little mindset newsletter; I’ve made a firm commitment to do that. I actually read newsletters myself now and then; I find them incredibly interesting. Perhaps you know the podcaster, Patrick Bed David. I’m really looking forward to his newsletter. He’s not so eager to send it out on Sundays for me to read. But he actually makes sure I check it thoroughly on Sunday evenings. He’s already sent it to me..

And then I read his newsletter; he writes about topics that are relevant to him. And I thought I’d start a newsletter too, and it’s going to be super simple. I just want to send you my “mindset of the week,” so to speak. What that means is that I also make lots of notes throughout the day or week about everything that’s happened to me, and sometimes really interesting things come out of it where I’ve learned something. And in the short newsletter I want to send out, I want to talk about my mindset of the week. It’s just a few lines..

The newsletter to conclude the week

If you’d like, please go to project mindset.de. There’s a little tool there where you can enter your email address. Or just write to me directly at hello@project mindset.de. Simply write that you’d like to receive a newsletter; that’s all I need. Then you’ll receive the newsletter from me every Sunday. Great, that’s really it for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s podcast. Hopefully, we’ll talk again soon. Until then, remember, mindset is everything.