Making your life (and business or nonprofit) better involves some change. Is it better to make the change all at once or one small step at a time?
What’s better: The metaphorical firehose or drip irrigation?
The answer is, “It depends.”
When your building is on fire, you need a firehose. You need rapid change, or the harm is immense. When your business is bleeding lots of money, swift action is necessary, or you may be out of business.
However, a steady drip wins the race over a short burst in most cases.
- Abruptly changing your lifestyle may work for some people. For many people, it does not.
- For example, let’s say you want to shift your eating habits to intermittent fasting. Some can go “cold turkey” and stop eating and drinking at 8 pm and not eat again at noon the next day. You could say that is the “firehose” approach. However, you could get there in a few steps (the “drip irrigation” approach):
- Week 1: Stop eating and drinking after 8 pm. Depending on your habits, that may cut out some snacking and drinking wine. Get used to that. (You may even host a party during that week as I did – and I managed to stick to my plan.)
- Week 2: Same as Week 1 plus don’t eat before 10 am (except coffee without sweetener). Set up your rules for success. I am exempting Saturday because I train in martial arts Saturday mornings, and I’m not too fond of the idea of an empty stomach for that. Also, I still want a tiny sip of milk with my coffee. Purists may disagree – frankly, I don’t care (at least not during week 2).
- Week 3: Same as week 1, plus don’t eat before noon.
- For example, let’s say you want to shift your eating habits to intermittent fasting. Some can go “cold turkey” and stop eating and drinking at 8 pm and not eat again at noon the next day. You could say that is the “firehose” approach. However, you could get there in a few steps (the “drip irrigation” approach):
- An intense workshop is excellent. However, it is much more effective if it is followed up with ongoing implementation support and coaching.
- A weekend course leaves you feeling energized and full of ideas. Yet, how much of that gets implemented? A three-month program that consists of online training resources (rewindable and consumed at your pace), live coaching cohorts, and a pinch of private coaching beats such a weekend by far.
One counterpoint to my “drip irrigation” argument: Sometimes, we need to get some information under our belt quickly and succinctly. For example, our new Brilliance Mining Deep Dive gives a thorough overview of Brilliance Mining in only two hours. It sets the stage for business owners, executives, and leaders of nonprofits who want to understand Brilliance Mining better.
I’m Curious
- Which do you like better: firehose or drip irrigation?
- In which area of life or business are you using which?
P.S.: I appreciate you commenting and sharing this with others. Thank you!
