If lasting change were easy or overnight, there would be no bad habits. But lasting change isn’t sudden, and it doesn’t happen overnight.
Lasting change is the cornerstone of personal growth and productivity, yet it remains one of the most challenging pursuits we undertake. Unlike fleeting resolutions or momentary bursts of motivation, lasting change requires a deep commitment to transformation that extends far beyond initial enthusiasm. It demands patience, consistency, and a willingness to embrace the gradual nature of meaningful progress. Understanding that lasting change isn’t sudden, but rather a cumulative process built through small, deliberate actions over time, is essential for anyone seeking to fundamentally improve their productivity and overall effectiveness.
Overnight Success
I always smile when I hear someone referred to as an overnight success. Because in reality, there is no such thing. Those that claim they have had overnight success are ignoring or minimizing the months or years of hard work it took them to get where they ended up.
What about for us mere mortals? Think about the last time you tried to establish a new habit. Maybe it was exercising, or eating better, or smoking cessation. Were you able to do it overnight? Probably not.
The same holds true in productivity. Productive behaviors, whether turned into habits or not, require time and deliberate intention.
Why Change Takes Time
Change has a number of factors that feed into it, including motivation and level of effort. One often-overlooked factor, though, is how long the behavior you are trying to change has been in place. It is easier to change something you have been doing for three weeks than it is to change something you’ve been doing for 30 years.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons that it is easy to “fall off the wagon.” The time you have been doing a new behavior is less than the time spent in the behavior you are trying to change.
There are many theories about how long it takes to change a habit. I’ve seen everything from 30 days to six months. But the actual time is going to be dependent on many factors, and pretending it is just days doing the new behavior is simplistic and unrealistic.
Why Change Takes Deliberation
Change can’t happen unless you make it happen. That seems obvious, but so many people will make the remark that they want to change, and then do nothing different.
Just as you can’t lose weight if you are taking in more calories than you expend, you can’t be more productive and continue to spend six hours doing nothing productive.
Building Lasting Change
Fortunately, there are some simple steps that you can use to build lasting change.
Start Small
I am a big fan of the Mini-Habits* method of creating change. By starting so small that it is almost impossible to fail, you can build new action and habits into your life on a daily basis. Small actions are easily do-able, easily sustained, and less likely to be abandoned. It is easier to commit to drinking one glass of water than a gallon, after all.
Be Persistent
Change takes effort. Even when things don’t seem like they are changing, we need to keep pushing through. Persistence is one thing that will get you where you are going.
The Grand Canyon wasn’t carved overnight, and neither will your new behaviors.
Ben Franklin put it very well when he said, “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
Look For Signs of Progress
It can be hard to persist when it doesn’t seem like you are making progress. The best way to track progress is to build it into your change…for example, actually writing down how much you ate, or how many emails are left in your inbox or how many minutes you spent exercising.
In Conclusion
Lasting change is a gradual process that requires time, deliberate effort, and consistent action rather than sudden transformation. By understanding that meaningful productivity improvements take time and dedication rather than overnight success, you can build sustainable habits that create genuine, long-term transformation in your life.
Change isn’t easy, and lasting change isn’t sudden. By starting small, being persistent and tracking your progress, you will succeed in making the changes you want.
Articles In The Series:
- Don’t Fiddle
- Use Tools Appropriately
- Limit Projects
- Focus on One Thing
- Start As You Intend To Continue
- Build Your Habits
- Lasting Change Isn’t Sudden
- Complete or Abandon
- Eliminate the Unnecessary
- Don’t Rethink
- Know What You’re Doing
