Why You Need to Be Your Own Data Analyst: Small Wins, Big Impact
Are you happy with where you are now? Or do you want to change your life? Maybe, you are happy, but on the other hand, you may think if you have some changes in some areas of your life, you would be happier or feel more satisfied. If you are feeling so, then you are at the right place!
In this article I want to write about the power of small steps. This article is inspired by the book ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. If you have not read that book yet, I highly recommend it. It is ‘you-may-refer-whenever-you-need’ kind of a book. Shortly, it emphasizes small and incremental changes would lead to big improvements in your life. Also, it is a detailed guide how you implement a new habit into your life.
We all have goals. After setting a goal, we mostly think that it’s going to happen with once-in-a-lifetime transformation. We tend to think that big goals need big steps and underestimate making small improvements. The finish line is far from us, and taking small steps may seem insignificant at first sight!
The following quote has really caught me!
If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.
As you see on the graph, if you get only 1% better every day, at the end of the year you will become around 37 times better version of yourself. But, on the contrary if you become 1% worse, you will end up nearly 0.
As said in the book, habits are compound interest of self-improvement.
The good results are the accumulation of many right choices. Even a small change, may lead your life to a different point. Making 1% progress each day may seem meaningless and small at that moment. But, when we pile them up each day, they make the biggest difference. It may change who we become.
In his book, he gave the following example.
For instance, you are flying from Los Angeles to New York City. And the pilot made just a small adjustment and turn 3.5 degrees south. The change is not drastic, just 3.5 degrees. But the plane would end up in Washington DC, instead of New York City. Your destination would entirely change.
If we want to change where we lead, we need to change our direction.
Firstly, we need to set up a goal, since they will determine the direction where we want to end up with. But, on the other hand, there are lots of people on earth that want to achieve the very same goals.
They may want to run their own business, or may want to win a medal in Olympics, or may want to be rich, or may want to be successful. But only some of them gets what they want.
Why?
Because it is not the goals what creates the difference, it’s the systems that makes the difference.
Our goals are the outcomes we want to get! The inputs are the systems that we are using. If you don’t change the inputs, unfortunately, it would be so naive to expect a different result/outcome.
For example, you want to be more competent at your job (your goal). But, if you keep doing the exact same things you do every day, you will end up at the same place you’ve started with. Moreover, if you’re working on a AI related job, taking into account all the progress in that area, unfortunately, you will end up somewhere worse than your starting point.
So, key take away is that you will need to change your system. And it doesn’t need to be a world-shattering change. Small baby steps will lead your life to a different point than you are now.
We should be our own data analyst to be more aware of what we do daily. All small steps or choices we made daily may work for us or against us, depending on whether they are good or bad choices. We may add a small habit that would bring us closer to our dreams in our daily routine.
For example, my goal is to listen a course at least 20 minutes on data science at nights. But if I keep my phone with me, sometimes I end up spending time on social media. My new system will be leaving my phone away from me 20 minutes until I’ve finished listening to my course.
To sum up, your future-best-self is like a treasure. Finding the hidden treasure is your goal you want to achieve. But you need the right map to reach there without losing your way and time! And the map is your systems!
Be your own data analyst! Find the best way that works for you!
Do you best while finding the treasure! And be patient and be kind to yourself! It is not going to become overnight.
Happy Analysing!
Melis.
REFERENCES
- James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones.