I am in the process of finding a topic that I could talk about all day, something that I am amazed at every single time, and something that is insightful that I can share with others. I was stuck.
Then, yesterday, my brother brought home a Brother typewriter he got for $10 at a thrift shop – yes, a typewriter, the one you see in old movies or in museums. Honestly, I have always loved a typewriter even though I had not used it before. This time, I was in a total awe seeing how it operates, like my eyes were literally and metaphorically opened. I had no idea that this marvellous mechanical “machine” operates by physically “hitting” the paper with metal planks engraved with shapes of small letters during which the strip of ink gets in between the paper and the metal planks to leave the marks on the paper.
Many of the terms I use in Word documents also started to make sense. A term that we all know is “upper-case” or also called capital letters, but I did not know what “upper-case” really means. Now I know, the typewriter contains the answer. With a typewriter, to imprint capital letters on the paper, I must push down a key on the key board which elevates or shifts up paper scroll at the back. This upward movement allows the carved capital letters situated on top of the normal letters on the metal plank hit the paper, hence, capital letters are also called “upper”-case.
This mechanism of a typewriter might be obvious to many but for me, witnessing this first hand was eye-opening. I live for more than 30 years of my life, and I did not know the origin of the term “upper-case” that I use daily in Word. I felt that my life was more enriched and fulfilled knowing this piece of information.
This was when I realized that there are so many little things in my life that brings me joy of learning and discovery, and most of those things are free. Those little things might be overlooked because they are trivial, not glamorous. But they contain great power.
I am very familiar with the concept of 1% improvement each day known as the Kaizen method made popular by James Clear in his Atomic Habits book. Kaizen, originally a method of continuous improvement coined for business operations, is now widely adopted for personal improvements which focuses on taking small steps each day. James Clear uses this concept of 1% improvement as the foundational principle for his book Atomic Habits, which teaches the importance of habits for success and has sold millions of copies worldwide. 1% improvement a day seems small but if done consistently, the improvement compounds exponentially to a whopping 37 times increase a year. I adore this concept because it is simple and effective. Personally, I have used it in my daily life for my own self-improvement, parenting, and learning new things. I self-taught myself playing the keyboard for the past 2.5 years by playing 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week. I have improved my writing by writing a few lines every day, and pushed myself to simply write more. Also, this method focuses on the process, not the results which is important for building intrinsic confidence and not external validation. I have my daughter do daily journal once a day; most days, she writes a line or two, but that was all I aimed for, I want the consistency, not the excellence.
I am also a big believer in the butterfly ripple theory which hinges on the idea that something small, like a flapping of the wings by a butterfly, can cause ripple enormous effects somewhere else, like a tornado. There are many different interpretations of this concept; however, the main idea to me is that a small action can cause major result, maybe you just do not know it yet. When I introduced myself to a first-year law student I met at an event last month, he told me that he already knew me. I talked to him in an event prior and he said, which I could not forget, that he still remembered what I told him that day. I told him that if he did not get a job in first year of law school, he should not be discouraged, keep trying and working on himself. I did not remember him or what I said to him, but I knew that something I would have said, and that I left a lasting impact on him even though I did not know it yet.
Along this line is the concept and practice of minimalism. Most people knew about minimalism as having as little things as possible. I disagree with this conception although for many minimalists, having as few tangible belongings is how they practice minimalism. For me, minimalism encourages people to focus on what is most important and valuable to me including my quality time with my family, contribution to my community, and continuous learning while reducing what is not important and not value-adding to my life like clothes, shopping, and over-thinking. This has brought tremendous positive changes to me, allowing me to write, play with my daughter, watch a series with my husband, and leave out time for myself for reflection and rest. The concept of little things is embedded minimalism. Before minimalism, I did not know that so many little things lived rent-free in my head and clogged up my ability to think and process information. I used to waste time finding lost items, deciding what to wear, or cleaning the house. Since I de-cluttered my closet, one item at a time, I now do not need to spend so much time fold and put away clothes, organize my closet, or finding misplaced items. With 4 shirts and 3 pairs of pants I usually wear to school, I wash clothes by hand once a week and hang them up to dry. This might sound cumbersome and not feasible with so little choices for wear. But the result is amazing: everyone comments on how nice I dress because these are the pieces I look best in, and the quality and shapes of the clothes are well-maintained as they are hand-washed. Additionally, I save money and time for not hauling clothes impulsively.
So many positive impact can come from little trivial things. Matt Abrahams, a published author and professor in communications, in his TedTalk titled Think Faster Talk Better opened his speech with this very important point. He levies success in communications on little things that matter like breathing, warming up your vocal cords, or cooling your palms with a bottle of cold water. For me, many of those little things matter in my daily life too, from drinking enough water, eating on time, moving around, brushing and flossing my teeth, to breathing or taking care of my wrists and my eyes. Those little things that I do every day will make or break me, especially because essentially my body is all I have, without my health, I have nothing.
This is a long post, I have taken you on a journey from my first exposure with a typewriter to the 1% improvement rule, butterfly ripple method, minimalism. I hope that this post will make you be aware of those small little joy that you have each day, and pay attention to those atomic troubles that reduce your focus on an important task. I hope that this adds to your journey of self-improvement where the focus is on growing the roots, not producing the fruits. Because when the roots are strong, the fruits are inevitable.
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