One Thing: Radical Doability

A resource to support your wellbeing and wholeness this week

Hi friends,

I got caught up in the onslaught of self-improvement content that hits around the new year, but so far this is the only article that I have revisited. In his essay ‘New Year, New You’ Doesn’t Work, Oliver Burkeman introduces an actionable concept called radical doability.

Radical Doability

Radical doability is an invitation to be gentle with both the pace and magnitude of change. I encourage you to embrace radical doability whenever you are setting out to achieve a goal or institute a change, whether in your personal, professional, or inner life. Here is what this essay brought to mind for me:

• A slow pace of change is the way to sustainability. The brain registers massive change as a survival threat and throws out discomfort signals that are alleviated when you revert back to old habits and patterns. Focus on one, maybe two, goals at a time.

• In terms of magnitude, make your goal smaller than you want to. Then, prove yourself to yourself by actually doing it, or as Burkeman says, “embrace the pleasure of an easily reachable goal.” You can level up and expand your goals over time.

• Finally, acknowledge that whether you do the thing or not, you’re not really in control. Becoming more open to this makes it possible to embark on a new goal with an attitude of grace rather than guilt.

Take good care,
Lisa

p.s. I re-launched my website this week and would love for you to take a look and let me know what you think!