The Theory Of Small Profits: Boost Your Confidence

The theory of small profits states that life is better when you learn to simplify. The biggest and most difficult problems to solve are easier to tackle if you break them down into bite-sized pieces.

Nothing is better for your confidence than piling up lots of small wins. These daily triumphs can motivate you to move on. Anthropologists say that the ability to make progress occurs naturally in humans.

Technological, social and cultural progress is almost unstoppable. In fact, the progress is such that we will soon have new generations visiting undiscovered planets. They will eradicate diseases that we cannot cure today.

The central idea is the following. You will have a hard time achieving small victories if you don’t boost your motivation to make them happen. So you have to believe in your own capabilities. Otherwise, men and women will pass you by who are confident in their abilities and have great self-confidence.

The theory of small profits in action

James Watson is the co-discoverer of the molecular structure of DNA. In his memoirs, he explains how no one at school explains how motivation works. No one tells you how to deal with dark moments and personal despondency.

dr. Watson and Francis Crick have failed several times in their attempt to decipher the DNA. In fact, for many years they thought that their model would not work and that they would become the laughingstock of the world.

Still, both scientists decided to refocus in a mental and emotional way. They applied what we now call the theory of smallest profits.

After all, nothing is better than building your confidence little by little. Every correct answer and every little stimulus will eventually lead to the triumph.

Use the theory of small gains to improve your confidence

We all know you can’t make a child run if they haven’t learned to walk first. You have to finish the foundation of a house before you can build the roof. It is important to take one step at a time. So you need to know what to do and when.

Above all, you need the intelligence to develop your patience. Unfortunately, in our daily lives there is often not much room for the people who want to take it slow. We don’t appreciate the people who take their time and watch before they jump.

Actually, most of us are stuck in the other extreme. We have big dreams and desires. However, we also have big problems. Everything overwhelms us and slips through our fingers.

We then begin to think that we cannot escape this failure. We believe we have exhausted all our options. Ideas like this make our self-confidence crumble. It also destroys any motivation to want to succeed.

There is a name that deserves recognition in the psychological world. Teresa Amabile has made contributions to the field of human motivation. She is a Harvard professor specializing in creativity, productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.

She emphasizes what the theory of small profits has to offer. To achieve important objectives and solve complex problems, it is best to split the journey into small phases.

Small, daily revolutions

Karl Weick is a well-known social psychologist and yet another expert on motivation. According to Weick, most modern societies are ineffective in dealing with serious problems.

Those problems are chronic issues such as unemployment and crime. What politicians and organizations in the non-profit sector are doing is investing a lot of money in ‘big solutions’.

However, these big solutions always seem to fail. The grand schemes and good intentions then quickly go up in smoke. It’s one thing to talk about solutions. Converting them into reality is something completely different. The real solution is in the theory of small profits.

The way to really solve these problems is with small daily revolutions. To find out what’s going wrong, you need to be a skilled and patient micro-surgeon who can find the source of the problem.

The best thing you can do is design simple and modest plans at a local level. Countries such as Norway and Finland are particularly successful in this regard. They know how to get close to the real people. They design accessible structures that provoke change little by little.

Improve your confidence with small goals

So it doesn’t matter how big your challenge or your problem is. If you break it down into achievable goals, everything will become manageable. The small win theory states that you need daily wins to maintain your emotional health. The way you can do this is by setting simple, daily goals.

Little by little, your confidence will improve. As you progress, you can make greater changes. You can also take bigger steps with more confidence.

You will see that your target is getting a little closer to the horizon. So invest your effort in this simple and humble technique. You will see your limitations disappear.