{"id":91204,"date":"2024-04-03T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T23:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/?p=91204"},"modified":"2024-03-25T09:27:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T22:27:38","slug":"the-best-path-to-long-term-change-is-slow-simple-and-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/the-best-path-to-long-term-change-is-slow-simple-and-boring\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Path to Long-Term Change Is Slow, Simple and Boring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of life\u2019s choices fall into two categories:<\/p>\n

\u25a0 Option A: Exciting and complex and quick, but the action rarely works.<\/p>\n

\u25a0 Option B: Boring and simple and slow, but it works nearly all the time.<\/p>\n

\"073117bucks<\/p>\n

I have been thinking a lot lately about why we are so intrigued by Option A.<\/p>\n

The list is endless.<\/p>\n

Trying to sell at the top of the stock market or buy at the bottom, day trading, raising venture capital and seven-day diets.<\/p>\n

If you can find a way to make some things exciting and complex and superfast, you can sell it to people even when the evidence is clear that it works only rarely.<\/p>\n

Compare these options with things like benefiting from compound interest slowly over time, buying and holding low-cost diversified investments, building a business using the business\u2019s own profits, eating healthy and exercising.<\/p>\n

They work \u2014 every time.<\/p>\n

But few people choose them over the exciting option.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of reasons we pick Option A over Option B.<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s got me thinking about the quiet power of incremental change. \u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/div><\/p>\n

Incremental change is about taking small, gradual steps instead of making big sweeping changes.<\/p>\n

Let me give you an example from an email exchange I had with a reader about my recent column on\u00a0doing scary things<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This person wants, more than anything, to publish a just-completed novel.<\/p>\n

But how do you get the attention of a big publishing house?<\/p>\n

Now, pursuing an introduction to a big-name publisher in the hope of getting a book contract sounds exciting.<\/p>\n

Negotiating the big New York publishing industry is complicated.<\/p>\n

But it almost never works, especially for fiction writers.<\/p>\n

I suggested a different approach.<\/h4>\n

Send a personal email to 10, 50 or even 100 people you know and tell them about the novel, why you wrote it and how much you love it.<\/p>\n

Then, ask them to read it provide feedback and tell them that they are free to share the book, too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s boring and simple, and if you keep at it, there is a good chance it will work if the book is good.<\/p>\n

I bet you need only one guess to know what reply I received: \u201cIs there anyone you can introduce me to?\u201d<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t even get me started on the entire industry built around selling the dream of making quick money.<\/p>\n

You can trade options, gamble on currencies or jump into penny stocks and get rich.<\/p>\n

All while sitting in your basement, just wearing your underwear.<\/p>\n

\"Social<\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t you do that?<\/h4>\n

Well, because it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

Sorry, that is not correct.<\/p>\n

Let me be more precise.<\/p>\n

It works just often enough for someone to claim it works and sell it to you.<\/p>\n

But it probably won\u2019t work for you.<\/p>\n

Do you know what will work?<\/p>\n

Small actions repeated consistently over a very long period of time.<\/p>\n

Incremental change is short-term boring but long-term exciting.<\/p>\n

Here is one trick to help you keep picking Option B:<\/strong> Remember to stop every once in a while and look back at where you started.<\/p>\n

We often get so focused on the goal that is still way over the horizon that we forget to turn around to see how far we\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n

Every day, I make it a point to look back and notice how far I have come.<\/p>\n

Some days, the distance I have come is clear, while other days I see I still have room to improve.<\/p>\n

But keeping track of this incremental change helps reinforce why I\u2019m making short-term boring choices.<\/p>\n

Because at some point, I\u2019ll look back and see how far I have come, and short-term boring will become long-term exciting.<\/p>\n

I dare you to try it too and see what happens next.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Editors note: This article was originally published a number of years ago and has been republished for the benefit of our many new readers. This article originally appeared in The New York Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of life\u2019s choices fall into two categories: \u25a0 Option A: Exciting and complex and quick, but the action rarely works. \u25a0 Option B: Boring and simple and slow, but it works nearly all the time. I have been thinking a lot lately about why we are so intrigued by Option A. The list is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":91205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,653],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-property-updates","category-personal-finance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best Path to Long-Term Change Is Slow, Simple and Boring<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many of life\u2019s choices fall into two categories: \u25a0 Option A: Exciting and complex and quick, but the action rarely works. \u25a0 Option B: Boring and simple...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/07\/31\/your-money\/the-best-path-to-long-term-change-is-slow-simple-and-boring.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best Path to Long-Term Change Is Slow, Simple and Boring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many of life\u2019s choices fall into two categories: \u25a0 Option A: Exciting and complex and quick, but the action rarely works. \u25a0 Option B: Boring and simple...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/07\/31\/your-money\/the-best-path-to-long-term-change-is-slow-simple-and-boring.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-02T23:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-24T22:27:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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