Small Steps
Make reasoned changes in small steps and check for problems between steps.
change is happening all the time; the things we think of as unchanging are just changing slowly, so we can’t really see the change. As we try to create change in the world—Creative Practice—we may want to take a hint from nature.
We tend to be impatient and want big change, made quickly, but that can lead to big mistakes that can’t easily be reversed.
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Natural systems develop in small steps, but we have a tendency to what lots of change fast. We need to have patience with ourselves.
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There’s a lot of info online about “tiny habits,” “microsteps,” “atomic habits,” and “microsolutions” being an effective way to change. The takeaway is that small steps taken iteratively are the way big changes are made.
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Visualize your goal as a simple, unadorned dollhouse. It’s made of plain plywood, with rough-cut holes for the windows and doors. The roof is a single piece of wood on a hinge. It’s well-made and sturdy, but there’s no furniture, no doors or windows, no paint, no siding or roof, and no floor coverings. Like a full-size fixer-upper, your goal has “good bones” but isn’t really livable. Your task is to start making it yours by choosing and applying all the things that are missing, piece by piece, little by little. After you add each piece, step back and make sure it feels the way you want it to feel, knowing that you can always go back and redo that part.
Therefore:
Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, make changes in small steps; make sure there’s a reason for each change, and check for problems occurring as the result of a step by paying attention to how the change feels.
Once we make a change, we want to check in and make sure it moved us in the right direction—Change Vectors; if it didn’t, consider whether the change should be undone—Reversibility