Small change can lead to major improvement

Most people ignore the small things that they control in their life. They assume that small changes are not enough to create the sort of drastic change that they crave.

It makes sense. If we want massive improvement in life, we have to go to extremes with our efforts. We can’t pretend some small change will create the massive improvement we want. But is that the right way to look at it?

When we talk about leverage points in the system, we provide examples of how a small change in the system, at the right point, can create a domino effect that drastically changes the output. So, it is possible. But not everything is a leverage point. And with leverage, we often take on risk. This means that we can’t be confident how the change to that leverage point will impact the system.

Our life represents a series of these points. We go through life and the decisions we make impact future options that are available. Those future choices represent even more variation. This means that a small change could mean a pretty massive change down the road.

Here is a mathematical representation. Let’s take the formula, A+B. If we start to insert a series of numbers in numerical order, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. we can determine the output. For A, we substitute 1, then 2, then 3 and so on. For B we substitute 2, then 3, then 4 and so on. So, we take 1 + 2 =3, 2 + 3 = 5. In life, we often feel that our efforts represent this. We can put a little more effort in to get a little more output.

Now, let’s change the formula. The plus sign is a leverage point. Let’s say we change that sign to something else. If we change to subtraction, we will feel as though the numbers never grow. Whatever numbers we insert, we will get a smaller number as the output, sometimes even negative. If we follow the same pattern and we take 1 – 2 or 2 - 3 we get a negative number.

This represents a change to the leverage point that negatively impacts the outcome. Many people who make a negative change in their life experience this. When they quit their job and decide to search for something else, they realize they now have stress and panic associated with not having a job. Instead of looking for a better job, they are willing to settle for anything to pay the bills. In the end they could end up with a job that is worse than the one they quit.

If we change that formula to be multiplication, we will start to see major changes to the output. Initially it won’t be very extreme. One plus 2 is 3 and 1 times 2 is 2. Two plus 3 is five and 2 times 3 is six. So, it starts out with similar outputs. But let’s jump ahead.

Let’s take 10 plus 11. We know we will get 21. But 10 x 11 is 110. Take 20 +21 and get 41 but take 20 x 21 and get 420. If we looked at this on a graph we would see a two lines. They would start out similar but would diverge. Over time, the difference would be extreme. This is an example of a small change creating a major change when combined with time.

In How Luck Happens by Janice Kaplan, the author says, “Each day, millions or billions of possibilities are swirling around you, and the slightest change in one or another can lead to a new and unexpected outcome. Scientists call this “chaos theory.” It was first described by the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz after he used a computer model to make a weather prediction – and the prediction turned out completely wrong. Lorenz ultimately concluded that a tiny (really, really tiny) deviation in the first number he input to the model changed everything afterward.”

Our mathematical formula example and the chaos theory uncovered by Lorenz, are examples of how small changes can have major impacts. The same is true of compound interest. The same is true for most reinforcing feedback loops.

When we use systems thinking, we start to see these leverage points. We learn how they operate and how we can use them to improve outcomes. We can see when small changes mean major adjustments to the outcome. Then we can work to design these in our own lives to get maximum output for our efforts.