The importance of incremental changes
A few weeks ago, during one of my team’s standup meetings, my team lead and I talked about a change I made to the app. I extracted some files from the legacy module to a smaller feature module. The change was so big that it was overwhelming to review. My team lead gave me some pointers on how to make it more manageable. His suggestion was to divide that huge patch which modified about 300 files into smaller incremental changes. He told me that, even though the main task was not going to be completed yet, it was better to have smaller imperfect tasks that build into the main objective.
In retrospective, it seems so obvious, but sometimes it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to chew more than you can swallow. I can think of many examples in my life where this behavior manifests itself. One of those examples is weight control.
Ever since I was a kid I have been overweight. There have been a couple of times in my life where I was able to lose a considerable amount of weight. The first time I lost around 25 Kg (55 lbs), the second time around 30 Kg (66 lbs). During both times I was able to implement a significant change in my life: the first time it was diet, the second time it was diet and exercise. If I was able to go back in time and change something about both weight-loss journeys it would be to make my lifestyle changes more gradual.
The first time I lost weight I was a 14 y/o teenager. I used to weight around 100 Kg (220 lbs). My parents were justifiably concerned about my health, so my mom and I started seeing a nutritionist. I was determined to change my eating habits and followed my diet without cheating. Everything worked spectacularly great, I was getting compliments from my friends and family, which kept me motivated. The issue? The habits didn’t stick for long after I reached my goal weight. I started giving myself more freedom and eventually gained all my weight back, and then some more.
The second time I lost weight I was 18 y/o. I used to weight around 104 Kg (230 lbs). During that time, a certain event in my life made me realize that I wasn’t happy and that I needed to take care of myself. I decided to star exercising as a form of self care.
I started exercising with the Insanity program, and as someone who didn’t exercise at all, it was awful at first. The first exercise video, the fit test, destroyed me. I realized that I had a long way to go. After a while I was able to not end up laying on the floor grasping for air, I was making progress. When I finished the program, I was 10 Kgs (22 lbs) down, but more importantly, I learned the importance and benefits of exercising regularly.
After I finished the Insanity program I decided to implement good habits in my life. One of them was exercising more often. At that time I was in college so I had access to my university’s gym, pool, running track, and other sport facilities. I decided to start running. At first I felt great that I was able to run 400m without stopping. After a couple of weeks I added another lap, and then another. I remember bragging to my then friend, now wife, about being able to run 3 laps around the 400m track without stopping. After a few months I was able to run more than 10 km. Some of my friends would go to the gym, notice me running, go to class, come back to the gym after class, and I was still running.
Unlike the last time I lost weight, I was able to keep most of the weight down. Even though I don’t do it as much or as intense as before, 10 years down the line I still exercise regularly. What changed? This time, except for insanity, the change was incremental. I wouldn’t run more than I was comfortable with. Those small steps helped me achieve a more sustainable change.
I’m one of those people that struggles to start a side project. For me, the story goes like this:
I feel bad because I’m not doing anything on the side to contribute to either my professional or financial development
I start thinking of side project ideas
I pick one that I think has potential
I fantasize how awesome the final product will look like
I start doing research on things I don’t know about the technical part of the project
I get overwhelmed by all the things I don’t know
I abandon the project
Maybe I don’t need to worry too much about not building something on the side in the first place, but I also think that part of the problem is that I visualize the final product, but I don’t stop and think about the individual steps that need to be taken in order to bring the product to life.
I feel sometimes that the world moves too fast. Everyone wants results, and they want them by yesterday. It is a paradox that by trying to get results fast, we might end up getting nothing; but by slowing down and pacing ourselves, we are more likely to reach our goals.
