How to change today (just a little)

We are often said to only consistent habits that change our lives and develop our spiritual strength. But life is built in the moment. There are many moments that offer opportunistic growth potential.

Below are five ways you can choose small opportunities for growth today. These are very low commitments and are unlikely to be short of drawbacks, but are likely to rise.

1. Accept social bids

Have you ever seen a YouTube video where the creator approaches someone randomly and asks them to accept the challenge? “Are you going to Paris for me now and coming back in a baguette?”

This is a dramatic example of social bidding. In normal life, people regularly offer social bids – strangers trying to attack conversations, fellow runners who smile when running in the past, or your partner or child will start the conversation. John Gottman and others study the importance of accepting social bids for our long-term relationship health.

Accepting social bids can change our relationship with us in unexpected ways. From improving your mood, starting to roll the ball, to deeper intellectual or emotional connections.

2. Explore the edge of your ability to understand

There are topics that are embarrassing if you don’t understand properly how toilets are flushed out, the basics of calculus, or the rest of the canned foods shouldn’t be stored. can. ai Tools provide new things Personalized learning opportunities To correct these gaps in our understanding.

Choose what you want to understand and ask ChatGpt or another AI chatbot to explain to you like you’re 10 years old, or use analogy from a topic you already understand well. You can ask about the topics you feel at the edge of your ability to keep this simple and understand: where your mind feels like you have to fully stretch your mind to circumvent your head. Observe how it feels.

AI tools have expanded what they call.”Possibility of adjacent“- It’s just one or two separate knowledge. This is a zone where major innovations tend to arise, including our own innovations. boundary of the ability to understand abstract ideas.

3. Tell stories you haven’t shared publicly before the lesson is included

Share trauma One way to be vulnerable (a dramatic example of social bidding), but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Instead, share stories you haven’t told before the lessons included.

join! In my early 20s, I was passing a pay phone booth that was ringing. Because I had no idea that a curious phone could ring. I picked it up and won hundreds of dollars in radio station games.

Sharing stories like these can help connect experiences that have shaped your self-view and worldview. My experience has reinforced the idea of ​​dealing with random opportunities as I have come to see myself as someone who can be lucky enough.

4. Trying to find a “rich” small problem that solves it

When many years of scientific puzzles are solved, it is often by people who work on another problem looking at the connection rather than by experts working directly on the problem. On the way to solve one problem, we often solve the other.

Scientists (e.g., mathematicians) sometimes explore small problems Check if they have potential richnesspatterns and solutions may reveal ideas of much greater importance.

Whether we deal with work issues or personal patterns, we can adopt this scientific thinking in our lives. over thinking. The challenges we travel to are similar fractalrepeat on a scale of large and small, whether you overthink or have minor issues or small ways to hold yourself back from being completely self or a bigger way. Try solving small problems and see if it provides richness to advance with more important issues.

5. mentally prepare for the next unpredictable moment

The topic of the post you are reading was inspired by Podcast Episodes my pt My colleague, Professor Todd Kashdhan, was interviewed. Of many, he spoke about social bidding and how unpredictable moments offer opportunities to become brave. in Another work (in another context), he gives the analogy of a lifeguard. Our days are often like lifeguards who oversee the pool. The pool has some unpredictable opportunities to use training to impact.

On a seemingly mediocre day, get the opportunity to mentally prepare yourself for the next unpredictable moment when you can speak, act, or do the right thing. Without prior preparation, intense moments can overwhelm us emotionally and make our choices worse. For example, this week someone stopped my car backwards and then…speeded after I stopped in the light. Events like this will occur and help you to consider in advance how you act and how your values ​​guide you.

Small moments, extremely important growth

If you feel that big personal changes, new habits, or ambitious learning projects are out of reach, there are plenty of opportunities to grow through small moments. Some of these occur naturally and have the option to respond. Others we make for ourselves are like solving small problems to build us Intuition To unlock our bigger things.

Try it out for more information on how to become a creative solver of everyday problems This guide.