The small habit behind Beat Your Best
At Verizon Wireless, our teams came in and checked their numbers every day. Here’s how that routine helped us work toward beating our previous month.
Cameron DeJong
Make it small enough to do today.
One minute of meditation. One page of a book. One curl with each arm. Even on a busy day, a little still counts.
Filled dots mark 200 practice days in a 365-day year.
200 minutes = 3 hours and 20 minutes
Try your own numbersPick the version you can do.
A small action gives you something to do on an ordinary day. Pick one that fits yours.
Two pounds at a time
Curl a two-pound weight once with each arm. At five seconds per curl, that takes 10 seconds a day. Over 365 days, those 730 curls add up to 1,460 pounds lifted in total and just over an hour of practice.
Take one minute
After you pour coffee, sit for one minute and pay attention to a breath or a sound nearby.
Read one page
When you plug in your phone for the night, open a book and read one page.
Pick it up again
If you missed a few days, choose the next chance to do the smallest version.
Decide when it’ll happen.
Pair your small action with something you already do. Write it in one sentence so it’s easy to remember.
Make my planOne way to start
After I plug in my phone, I’ll read one page.
Field Notes
What I’ve learned about small habits from sales, leadership, and building a business.
Coming out of my shell, one conversation at a time
Brainwriting and the ideas that never made it to the easel
Tech Corner Gear I use for meditation, focus, and travel.
I’m Cameron DeJong.
I created It’s Better Than Zero for anyone who’s ever made a goal so big it was hard to start.
I’ve built habits that stick. I’m far from perfect, and I still lose my rhythm sometimes. When I do, the easiest way back for me is one minute, one page, or one rep. That’s enough to get going again.
I’m also the owner, founder, and managing partner of CamJon Travel. I’ve spent more than 20 years working across sales, leadership, service, and customer experience, including roles at Verizon Wireless and in healthcare technology.
I’ve worked to come out of my shell over the years. Personality tests sometimes put me on the planning side and sometimes on the flexible side, but I’m an introvert to the core. You can work in sales, lead a team, or build a business without being the most outgoing person in the room. I’ve done all three. Read my Field Note on coming out of my shell.
Here I’ll share small things I’m trying and lessons from leading teams and building a business. We’ll start with one minute.