Growth of any kind takes reflection, preparation, practise and patience, in equal or greater doses than action and determination. Maybe you want to nurture your personal growth and productivity, or let your creativity blossom? Here’s are some seeds of ideas and actions that we’re planting, right now.
January lingers. A month that feels two months long, at least. February starts the same slow way, mostly grey and cold and wet, then picks up pace and stumbles forward into Spring.
It’s always an introspective time of year. Our clients have their heads down, wrapped up in Sales Kick Offs and big picture planning. They’re celebrating wins and sharing things that haven’t gone right so that they can build on the experiences together and reach bigger goals this year. This reflective hunkering down is crucial, part of the rhythm of business and life. And this year, more than ever, there’s a sense of watching and waiting as events in the rest of the world flare up and rumble and unravel.
Winter’s ending, growth is beginning
But towards the end of the month, something shifts. You can feel it in the air as the days start getting longer. It’s not that the shock waves have subsided, or that things feel stable, but there’s just a sense that the time has come to start taking action. We can’t stay in the dark forever.
And it’s that way in nature too. February is the time to start sowing tiny seeds. Blink and you might miss them small. Sneeze and you could lose them. Unlike seeds you sow in late May – big fat beans that you can poke into warm earth where they’ll send green shoots up just days later – February’s seeds need careful nurturing. Tomato seeds are the size of a pinhead, and they need steady warmth to germinate. The same goes for chillies and cucumbers and aubergines. Slow to germinate, but you’ll be glad you did it when the summer finally arrives.
And it’s the same in business. Actions that are so tiny as to be almost invisible can reap big rewards further down the road. It could be a post, or a message or an encounter that leads to a conversation that grows into something fruitful. It could be the seeds of a plan that you build out into a blueprint for change and commit to it. There’s something in the air. It’s time to start moving again.
Invisible actions that start small and grow tall
Reevaluate your goals | What do you really want to achieve in 2025 and beyond? Who do you want to help? Write a big list of all of them. Think big and don’t limit yourself in any way. If you’d love it but it feels impossible right now, still add it to your list.
Prioritise the list | Never miss out this action. Are any of them more important than the others? Are any of them linked? Are themes emerging? Streamline the list down until you have your top two or three goals.
Write your why | Articulating why these goals are important to you will help you stay motivated. Dig deep and see how these goals align with your values. When there’s so much noise and disinformation in the world taking up all the space, values that we have taken for granted are at risk of getting trampled underfoot. Checking in with what you know in your heart is real and right, and tying these values to your goals will make them more powerful.
Be SMART | Break each goal down into milestones that feel both do-able and worthwhile. That means each milestone is specific and measurable, achievable, relevant and attached to a deadline. Commit to a time when you’re going to complete the tasks you set yourself.
Cultivate helpful habits | That might be habits to protect your focus, to try something new, to boost your sense of wellbeing or progress. But if you can make these a habit – i.e. you do it easily and without thinking about it – you’ll increase your chances of reaching your goals.
Short practises for supportive habits
To that point above, here are a few tiny actions with nice, short feedback loops. The kind of thing that can help good habits to form. Try these short moments, and experience the positive movement they created.
What can you do in 20 seconds?
Take 4 deep breaths, and let each out slowly. Spend a few seconds at the end, reflecting on how that made you feel. This is a small investment, with a big payback in awareness, focus and concentration. Think of it as a vitamin pill for productivity. The recommended daily allowance is ‘fill your boots’.
What can you do in 2 minutes?
Write a new to-do list – fresh each day. Keep it short. Include ‘What can I do today to preserve my peace of mind?’. Add some bullets under that one – I refer you to the previous point – and put it right at the top. If you’re not looking after you, you’re looking after nothing and nobody. Follow that with 4 more – a good mix is two creative things, and two administrative ones. Do those things, feel good about focusing on them, and forget everything else that’s screaming at the sidelines.
What can you do in 20 minutes?
Make your start. Put some ink on a blank sheet. Get past zero, and feel the power of making progress. We’re big fans of the Pomodoro method (no shit Andy – it’s not like you mention it every second article… ) for a good reason. Set a timer and turn off distractions. Give yourself the luxury – no, strike that – the necessity of focusing on just one thing. Draw, write, code, calculate – whatever it is you need to do, to make your start. Or, for ‘make your start’ insert ‘get it finished’.
What could you do next?
Repeat. And repeat. And repeat some more. This is how progress is mostly made. Not in huge leaps, but lots of small steps. Remember that the view behind is as important as the road ahead. Yes, there’s some way to go. But look how far you’ve come, already.
What do you think?