One small adjustment
“We’re all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.”
This is a line from a movie that came out years ago, but the truth of it lives on in my head. One small adjustment. A lot of products we use today needed a little tweaking first. Play-doh, Post-it notes, Coca-Cola, and the Slinky have similar origin stories where a little adjustment was needed, and then everything fell into place. So if this is true for business ideas, is it also true for us?
YES!
Absolutely.
The problem is this—most of us don’t make any adjustments, and keep doing the same thing day after day, wondering why we aren’t progressing like we had hoped. Hmmmm.
Does this sound like you?
It definitely describes me most of the time. But there have been a few times when a small adjustment made everything click in my own life. One happened almost 30 years ago, and it changed my life.
It was toward the end of my sophmore year of college. I was living with girls I loved and we wanted a nicer place to live. We were tired of the big apartment complex and wanted to upgrade to a condo. Woo-hoo! The designated weekend came and we had to be in line to fill out contracts bright and early in the morning—like 6:30 AM! For college students, this was an incredible sacrifice. We waited in line for hours, it seemed. I watched the line move slowly, inching forward as each future tenant signed their contract.
My first roommate signed. My second roommate did the same. It was my turn next, and then my cousin would be the last one to sign. I felt a heaviness sit on my chest as I grabbed the pen. You shouldn’t sign this contract, I thought.
I hesitated.
Then, in a moment of panic, I turned to my beloved cousin and practically yelled, “ We can’t do this! I cannot sign this. Please, don’t sign it, either.”
Out of immense love or loyalty, or maybe just sheer impulsiveness, she agreed. We moved out of line, with no contract and bewildered ex-roommates. Sigh. What had I done?
My sophmore year ended, and I had no place to live in the fall of 1996. I was headed home to Idaho to spend the summer with my parents. I felt like a fool. Not only had I ruined my chances of living in a fancy condo with dear friends, but I had roped my cousin into my madness. I didn’t know what to do.
The months passed quickly. At the end of July, or early August, I got a phone call from a dance friend of mine. She was looking to fill an apartment and had a spot available. She asked me if I was interested? Of course I was! But then I told her about needing two spots for my cousin and me…miraculously, she had TWO spots!
Hallelujah! We snatched those apartment contracts right up and moved in. None of this housing drama made sense to me. I could have easily signed the contract months before and saved myself so much worry and stress! I decided it was just another example of my stupidity.
But the first week of school, at the first activity my church hosted—I met Brian. ❤️
I made a small adjustment, and everything in my life worked.
There are so many ways to make little tweaks in your life. No one needs to tell you what to do—I’ll bet you already know. Try one. Do it.
One small adjustment can just make your life work.
