I was in Seattle last week for work. It was a great visit, a time to connect with co-workers I hadn’t had the pleasure to meet before, as well as a time to re-connect with co-workers from all over the world.

While at dinner on Tuesday night one of our executives stopped by our table and made a statement that really resonated. It was in response to a question from one of my teammates regarding the pace of change at the company.

“The only time you feel a cruise ship turn is when it’s in port.”

The quote is really about incremental change. There is a context. The company I work for is in the middle of a merger with one of our biggest competitors. The comment really made me think about the pace of change, but more specifically incremental change.

The gurus will tell us to “take massive action”, but massive action isn’t always the solution. Sometimes massive action can create more problems in the long run.

Real, long-lasting, change is accomplished via small, daily, improvement.

This small and seemingly insignificant daily improvement can compound and becomes massive over time.

Darren Hardy writes about the compound effect:

“The Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What’s most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don’t feel significant. Whether you’re using this strategy for improving your health, relationships, finances, or anything else for that matter, the changes are so subtle, they’re almost imperceptible. These small changes offer little or no immediate result, no big win, no obvious I-told-you-so payoff. So why bother? Most people get tripped up by the simplicity of the Compound Effect. ... What they don’t realize is that these small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.”

The greatest effort is often in getting started and forming positive habits. Just like everyone else my life is full of starts and stops. We’ve all been there, setting off with a goal in mind with the best intentions and plan to get us there. What we find out though is that like a plane taking off, it takes a lot of effort to get off the ground. Think back to the cruise ship and the effort it takes to turn it around. My guess is the ship consumes several times more fuel getting started than when it is out cruising on the high seas. This is when you feel the movement. When the ship is out to sea you’ll never feel it turn because it’s in motion, and cruising.

So how do we make that initial effort and get the massive cruise ship turned around and headed towards the high seas?

Back to taking that initial action. For years I used to read blogs and books that I love and tell myself that someday I would be a writer. The problem is I never actually took action. I’m four-months in now, but I could be ten to fifteen years in if I took the action required in the past to do something I always wanted to do. My excuse back then was that no one would ever read it. I’m still not sure ANYONE is reading this, but I enjoy the act of writing every single day, and I know a few people are reading it because I’ve had co-workers come up and tell me they enjoy what I’m doing. Talk about a great feeling.

So four-months ago I decided to get up every morning and write a minimum of 30 minutes each day. Due to my existing work and family obligations this requires me getting up as early as 4:45 on some mornings. In a very short period of time it’s become a habit, something I really enjoy doing. Do I have an audience? Not yet. Will I continue to do this every day and try to get at least three articles out per week? Absolutely.

For me it was taking the initial action, but more importantly, having a system of getting up and writing every single day. When I actually put together a system, instead of a vague goal, it actually happened. Now that I’ve gained confidence and worked to improve what I’m producing I’ve started to think bigger: a site re-design, a mailing list, an eventual podcast. None of this would have occurred without initially turning that big ship and heading out of port.

I’ve written about systems before, and how critical they are.

Back to Darren Hardy:

“The key is to start NOW. Every great act, every fantastic adventure, starts with small steps. The first step always looks harder than it actually is.”

So have a system and follow it daily. No matter what accomplishment you are pushing towards you will find improvement.

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