REACHING YOUR PERSONAL TIPPING POINT

When something that’s hard become easier to do than to avoid, you’ve reached your personal tipping point.

I thought about that a few hours ago when it was late afternoon on a day when the temperature had dropped and those of us who live in Philadelphia were reminded that it’s not spring yet. I did a lot of work today, and I had several back-to-back zoom meetings, and I hadn’t done my 45-minute walk that I like to get out of the way in the morning. Do you know how easy it would have been to just stay in rather than do a brisk walk beginning in the cold semi-darkness that would turn to cold darkness before I returned home?

If you guessed that it would be really easy to just stay home, you would be wrong. If I miss a day of walking outside (which I do if there’s a heavy rain or ice on the ground), I feel worse than if I get my outdoor walking done – even under unpleasant circumstances like today.

The same thing applies if I don’t do strengthening and balance exercises every other day or if I’m in a situation where I’m expected to eat during my 12-14 hour intermittent fast between dinner and breakfast (although I can’t remember the last time that happened). As I think about it, there are quite a number of behaviors in my repertoire where I feel worse if I don’t do them even it may seem easier to avoid them.

In the year 2000, Malcolm Gladwell’s famous book, The Tipping Point, was published and became a best seller as it described the phenomenon that occurs when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold and becomes the sneaker to own or the dance to learn or the neighborhood where you want to live or the restaurant where it’s nearly impossible to get a reservation.

I think that people have their personal tipping points too, and I think that’s an important concept that leads to behavior change, So, if you have a goal – and the behavior needed to reach that goal is hard – I encourage you to take small steps in the direction of that goal until you reach that tipping point when it will become easier to do than to avoid.