BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - MARCH 05: Swedish environmental activist on climate change Greta Thunberg is ... [+] GETTY IMAGES
FROM THAT RADICAL ECO JOURNAL; FORBES!!!
Small changes lead to big results.
That’s a mantra I’ve been mulling over lately, especially after reading a new book by Jonah Berger called The Catalyst where he addresses the concept.
We think it’s all about big changes and big paradigm shifts. We want entire countries to change their policies in one massive shift, even though that rarely happens. What actually works is making minor adjustments over time.
Say what you will about the climate change crisis and if it’s as pressing as the pandemic, but there’s one person who has proven that small changes often count the most.
Greta Thunberg was on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show last night and she made a profound statement about her own involvement in humanitarian efforts.
Before she became a household name, the teenager started a school strike that has now lasted more than two years. She wasn’t part of any lobbying group and wasn’t a mouthpiece for any professional organization at the time. She was just a kid with an idea.
“I didn’t have any expectations at all,” she said on the show. “I just thought I needed to do something. It is my moral duty as a human being to do anything. I just thought I would do something and started school striking. And then it exploded from there.”
She says the movement spread to different countries and millions have joined the cause. Her Twitter presence has skyrocketed to over four million followers.
Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the last two years (she has now lost twice) but was recently awarded the 2020 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity; she plans to donate the award money — about $1 million euros — to climate change causes.
More than anyone in recent memory, the activist has shown how small changes can have a ripple effect. In Berger’s book, he talked about how you might not be able to convince people to change political parties or take massive shifts in political views, but maybe you can convince them to make small shifts — maybe recycle their trash once in a while as a good place to start.
In another book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, there’s a similar stance on how real change actually occurs. The author advocates for making small changes — even doing just one push-up in the morning so you can say you’re exercising. If you want to write a book, he says, it might seem like a daunting goal and too time-consuming, so it’s better to perhaps write at least a page and see what happens next. The brain science backs this up. At least writing one page teaches our brain what that’s like, sets a habit in motion, and gives us a reward.
Political change might be similar. We want to see radical polar shifts in ideologies, but maybe it all starts with acknowledging our own failings. For me, I’ve thought a lot about the Black Lives Matter protests and how systematic racism can take many forms. I’ve gone beyond just self-analysis, though. I’ve started planning small changes — maybe picking different people to profile in this very column — and looking ahead several steps beyond that.
My challenge for you is to think about the small changes you can make. For climate change initiatives, it’s when we all make changes one step at a time that we will see results. It can lead to big results.
John Brandon is a well-known journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. Before starting…
© 2020 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Small changes lead to big results.
That’s a mantra I’ve been mulling over lately, especially after reading a new book by Jonah Berger called The Catalyst where he addresses the concept.
We think it’s all about big changes and big paradigm shifts. We want entire countries to change their policies in one massive shift, even though that rarely happens. What actually works is making minor adjustments over time.
Say what you will about the climate change crisis and if it’s as pressing as the pandemic, but there’s one person who has proven that small changes often count the most.
Greta Thunberg was on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show last night and she made a profound statement about her own involvement in humanitarian efforts.
Before she became a household name, the teenager started a school strike that has now lasted more than two years. She wasn’t part of any lobbying group and wasn’t a mouthpiece for any professional organization at the time. She was just a kid with an idea.
“I didn’t have any expectations at all,” she said on the show. “I just thought I needed to do something. It is my moral duty as a human being to do anything. I just thought I would do something and started school striking. And then it exploded from there.”
She says the movement spread to different countries and millions have joined the cause. Her Twitter presence has skyrocketed to over four million followers.
Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the last two years (she has now lost twice) but was recently awarded the 2020 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity; she plans to donate the award money — about $1 million euros — to climate change causes.
More than anyone in recent memory, the activist has shown how small changes can have a ripple effect. In Berger’s book, he talked about how you might not be able to convince people to change political parties or take massive shifts in political views, but maybe you can convince them to make small shifts — maybe recycle their trash once in a while as a good place to start.
In another book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, there’s a similar stance on how real change actually occurs. The author advocates for making small changes — even doing just one push-up in the morning so you can say you’re exercising. If you want to write a book, he says, it might seem like a daunting goal and too time-consuming, so it’s better to perhaps write at least a page and see what happens next. The brain science backs this up. At least writing one page teaches our brain what that’s like, sets a habit in motion, and gives us a reward.
Political change might be similar. We want to see radical polar shifts in ideologies, but maybe it all starts with acknowledging our own failings. For me, I’ve thought a lot about the Black Lives Matter protests and how systematic racism can take many forms. I’ve gone beyond just self-analysis, though. I’ve started planning small changes — maybe picking different people to profile in this very column — and looking ahead several steps beyond that.
My challenge for you is to think about the small changes you can make. For climate change initiatives, it’s when we all make changes one step at a time that we will see results. It can lead to big results.
John Brandon is a well-known journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. Before starting…
© 2020 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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