Ever notice that if you share a stretch goal or dream to a super achiever, they often respond with the, “No pain, no gain” type of comment?

How do you feel when you hear that reaction? Most of us react with a big sigh…pain? As humans, aren’t we wired to avoid pain whenever we can?

But what exactly is painful when we are trying to gain by doing something better? What is the pain when we are trying to achieve more, build a business, live healthier, or connect stronger with others?

The pain can be real if we are physically trying to be stronger and healthier. Take for instance a gain I sought for my household: a gain of eating more natural foods. While it sounded great to my husband initially, the reality was a bit more painful. We already ate healthy, with low fat and lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. So, eating more natural foods was painful at first because of higher grocery receipts (organic and fresh are more expensive) and harder for my husband as well because of less red meat.

Harder still for him was the taste of green smoothies at least three times a week and the lack of BBQ sauce on his entrees. I think he didn’t realize I would notice him adding the sauce at the dinner table until I reminded him that it was not going to help be more natural.

At work, the gain of helping more clients with your service or product can be painful too. Maybe you aren’t comfortable with talking to prospects, selling “yourself”, or asking someone to make a decision.

It’s painful to take action in areas where we are uncomfortable, fearful, or embarrassed in some way, isn’t it?

What makes seeking gains painful?

Why is gaining painful? Because achieving gains usually means a change of some sort…and change can be painful, although it doesn’t need to be. In fact, we can make little changes which  may be uncomfortable but not painful.

How? We can adopt the Japanese approach for slowly incorporating small changes that lead to big results.

Small Changes, Big Results

You’ve probably heard of the “kaizen” philosophy. While it mostly relates to continuous change or improvement in large companies, the actual philosophy can apply in small businesses and in life.

Focus on small, seemingly insignificant, changes that compound.

Some small changes that can build into big and long-term successes are:

• One less forkful of food at each meal, two less bites the next week, and so on.
• An additional two minutes of walking, jump roping, or taking stairs each day for a week; four minutes the next week; and six minutes the following week.
• One more phone call to potential clients, centers of influence, or networkers a day.
• One additional personal note or contact to existing customers/colleagues each week.
• 5 more minutes of sleep each night.
• One more item finished on your To Do list.
• Identifying and asking one more question in a sales conversation before you launch into your product/service offering/explanation.

These small steps will compound and lead to bigger and bigger successes.

You will be slightly uncomfortable more often of course, but that is where you will build your biggest gains.