The tiny solution
Changing your life doesn’t have to be Hollywood-bold.
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A typical Maine conundrum:
I don’t want to get into a cold bed (I’m always particularly cold at night), but I also don’t want to make the bedroom too warm (I’m always particularly warm by the morning).
Liz, a friend from England, introduced me to an elegant solution: A hot water bottle, tucked into a fleece cover and placed under the covers at the foot of the bed shortly before bedtime.
That way, you can warm the sheets without heating the entire room.
Liz brought me one of these little guys directly from the UK. The cover is a smiling gray seal, which my children have become obsessed with. Since they each sleep with a million stuffed animals, I’m sure they’re wondering why Mommy has just one.
My hot water bottle seal friend is an example of a tiny solution that has a disproportionate impact.
Instead of getting hung up on a big, transformational solution that causes bigger problems (“We can raise the thermostat.” “We can replace the windows.” “We can move to a new house.” “We can move to St. Kitts.”), we can try a tiny solution instead.
Finding a tiny solution is challenging because we have to look past our assumptions and give up our notion of what the ideal solution is.
It often requires framing a problem more narrowly. Yes, you want to renovate your kitchen, but today you might just need to replace the dishwasher. The broken dishwasher is not a sign that it’s time for a multi-month kitchen renovation, even though the replacement dishwasher may have to be replaced again when that time comes.
Any change is a tradeoff, and we might experience resistance to our tiny solution if there appears to be any downside. But perhaps the downside can be mitigated by additional tiny solutions.
For example, when Liz first gave me the seal, it was just a little bit of a hassle to use it, because I had to wait for the water to heat up in my stovetop teakettle. Then I had to either catch it before it boiled or wait for it to cool if I forgot about it until the teakettle whistled.
That problem was solved by another item especially common in the UK: an electric teakettle.
And if I wanted to make it even easier to heat the water, I could keep a teakettle upstairs in the bedroom, not just downstairs in the kitchen (thereby questioning my assumption that all such appliances belong in the kitchen).
It’s natural to want a grand, glamorous solution. As a school founder, so many of the “Can I pick your brain?” calls and coffee dates I’ve had with aspiring education entrepreneurs have centered on finding the perfect physical space to house their school. Nobody likes the idea of starting with a shared space — a church basement-type setup. They want the grand opening.
On the other hand, if we’re willing to let go of that grand opening, a concept can be tested and refined with low risk. Arguably, starting smaller makes us more likely to get to the point where we’re ready for a festive grand opening.
Often, the biggest obstacle to finding a tiny solution is our belief that we have to work hard to fix a given problem. “Nothing good ever came easy.”
No, plenty of good things come easy. The key investment in finding a tiny solution is ingenuity, not labor.
For example, traveling light requires being able to wash your clothes on the road. Laundry sheets (as opposed to liquid detergent) make this so easy. Packing a few grams’ worth means that multiple kilograms of luggage can stay home.
And when our own ingenuity is tapped out, someone else’s perspective is especially valuable. If it hadn’t been for Liz, my feet would still be cold every night. Other people can see what we can’t see.
Changing your life doesn’t have to be Hollywood-bold. You can move toward your desired future incrementally, tiny solution by tiny solution. You can work around your biggest problems and find surprising paths forward.
If it feels too easy, like you’re getting away with something, you’re probably on the right track. Keep going!