I look forward to fall every year. First, it’s apple season, with terrific, crunchy, and tart apples. Second, it’s the High Holy Days. I use the holidays to reflect on my life over the past year. Then, I can plan a little for the kind of person I want to be for next year.
The kind of person starts with me in my circle of control. Then, I can consider where I have influence. Finally, it’s the circle of concern. I find these circles very useful when I consider what I want to do for tikkun olam, repairing the world.
As a person of action, I would love to do “much.” How much? As much as possible. But this year, I cannot do much. Instead, I need a reframe, to adapt these ideas to what I can do.
How little can you and I do—consistently—to make the world a little bit better every day? Or, every week? Maybe once a month? Even only once a year? (See the how little newsletter on my other site.)
I used to start with Big Plans for making the world better. But that’s more than I can do right now. Now, I’m focused on how little I can do—consistently—and still repair the world.
How Little Means Consistent Progress
I like consistent progress in much of my life. That’s why I track my writing word count. For health, I track my sleep, steps, and calories. Do I want to write more? Of course. Do I want better sleep, more steps, fewer calories? Absolutely.
But sometimes, the idea of “how much” just does not work. I’m in one of those spaces right now. I can only consider how little, and how consistently I can do that little. For example, to be the person I want to be, I use these ideas for how little:
- Focus on a small daily word count, such as 250 words. That’s a couple of paragraphs.
- A 10-minute walk, just to get some steps in.
- A couple of plans, even if they are not a full set of exercises.
Those are little actions. Yet, these little actions add up to consistent progress.
If you are also busy with life, consider how little you can do consistently, too. You might want to do more. If you can, that’s terrific. Do as much as you can.
However, the world and my life are in such chaos that I need to think about how little I can do to repair it.
What Does “How Little” to Repair the World Mean to You?
I can take personal actions:
- Maybe you recycle regularly. I do. Even though I worry that my recycling efforts don’t amount to much. However, my town gave us two bins: garbage and recycling. I am proud to say our recycling bin is almost always full. Our garbage bin is mostly empty.
- I drive a hybrid car. Since most of my trips are short, I can do much of my driving on battery power. That feels good.
Sometimes, my actions affect more than just my community:
- For the November election, I can vote for people who share my values of repairing the world.
- If I was healthy, I might participate in protests. Or maybe—and this is a big, big maybe—run for office. I’m pretty sure I would have to do a lot more repentance if I did gain public office.
When I think about “more,” I get tired. The world is a big, big place and there’s a lot to repair. But we don’t have to do it all, and we don’t have to do it at once. How little thinking can help us do something, even if it’s not everything.
We Can Repair the World a Little at a Time
We can challenge ourselves to do a lot—that “how much” thinking. I’m not always sure how to think about those problems because they are so big.
But I suspect that if we all did a little more of “how little” thinking, the world might be a little better off. See how little—and how consistently—you can do how little to repair your corner of the world. That’s doable.