One of my sons is playing tackle football for the first time this year. That kid has been working so hard. And doing so without complaint. It has been a joy for me to be able to watch him practice when I am in town.
I had to go out of town for a conference and missed watching his practice for a week. When I watched him the day after I returned, I was blown away. The improvement I saw was incredible. But when I told him what I saw he didn’t believe. In fact, he wasn’t sure he had improved at all.
And that got me to thinking. If you’re anything like me, you are constantly looking for ways to get better, to do better, to be better. Yet too often I become frustrated because I don’t think the changes I’ve made or the work that I’ve been doing has made any real difference.
That’s the problem with incremental improvement. The person who is improving often has trouble seeing any improvement at all. They’re too close to it. And when we think something is meaningless, or worthless, or ineffective, we often stop “wasting our time” on the activity.
So, find one thing, one thing that will increase your safety and work on it. Intentionally. Regularly. Often. Make it the one thing that will have the most immediate impact on your safety. Maybe it’s something as simple as working on getting your seatbelt off in a reasonable amount of time while under stress. Not only will this allow you to get out of the car more quickly, it also ensures that you are wearing it when you are operating the vehicle – which also increases your safety.
Regular small improvements do indeed add up over time. Your safety is important so do something about it – with just one thing.
