The Power of Small Wins

The Power of Small wins:

This week’s blog post will focus on the power of small wins throughout your day, and the positive impact they can have on your mindset, and mood.  Taking note of small wins, or small accomplishments can lead you to more small wins, and keep you on the correct path when things look bleak.

We will begin as we always do with three mortgage term definitions, and then get in to the larger discussion about mindset.

The three mortgage terms for this week are:

1)    Closed Mortgage:  This is a mortgage that you cannot break without paying a penalty for the life of the term.  Breaking a mortgage would involve a penalty of usually either 3-months interest or Interest Rate Differential.  This is different from a fixed term mortgage.  A fixed interest rate mortgage can be an open mortgage even though they are typically closed.

2)    Debt Ratios:  These are the things that help us a mortgage agents calculate a client’s mortgage affordability. There are two types of Debt Service Ratios. The first is Gross Debt Service Ratios (GDS) and this involves all of the financial things that come with a house.  Principal amount of the loan, the interest on the loan, the property taxes, and the utility costs.  The other debt service ratio is the Total Debt Service Ratio, which involves all other forms of debt that you have, i.e. a student loan, car loan, or any other lines of credit.

3)    Credit:  Your credit is one of the most important aspects of your mortgage affordability.  Using your credit, and your credit score, are imperative in improving your mortgage affordability.  Your credit score typically affects the rate you are offered, which impacts the mortgage amount you qualify for.

If you or someone you know is interested in mortgage financing, email arnone.a@mortgagecentre.com or reach out and book a consultation using the tab on the website.

If you are trying to get better at something, but you aren’t seeing immediate progress, small wins can be vital not only to your success, but to your overall mental health.  It doesn’t matter what the task is, whether it is running a business, or simply trying to improve yourself in some small way.

Even the things that seem insignificant can be the most powerful.  For example, I never really understood why my parents wanted me to make my bed each morning.  For my entire childhood, and even in to my university years I almost never made my bed.  However, now as an adult I love making my bed.  I do it first thing in the morning, and the reason I do it is because it means I have started my day with something positive. It means I have accomplished something.  Starting the day off with something good makes me want to continue on that trajectory.  It is a small win, something to build a foundation.

That foundation makes it easier to accomplish the other things that I want to do throughout the rest of the way.  The other thing that I always do that allows me to build the good foundation, and take advantage of small wins is the To Do List.

Creating a To Do list, and checking things off the list that you have already accomplished makes me feel even better about small wins.  This is especially true if it’s a day where something else has gone wrong – whether it be professionally or personally.

Take the easy wins.  They can boost your motivation, and keep you disciplined on the things you know you should do.  I always create a To-Do list the night before, and have things that I know I will accomplish. Once I have completed them, I check them off right away, and that little check mark and it allows me to build.

Small wins are so important, because they can keep you going when life gets tough.  It allows you to keep that positive mindset that so many people, including myself struggle to find sometimes.

If you’re in sales, especially if you cold-call prospects taking the small wins can be vital.  You can make one-hundred sales calls, and get 99 no’s, but if you get one yes, it can be such a boost for your mental health.  If you are able to count the small wins, getting 99 straight no’s won’t have the same negative impact that it otherwise might.

This comes back to the mentality of the stoic philosophers.  The four principles of Stoicism are Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Temperance.  It focuses on controlling what we as individuals can control, and not reacting to what other external factors cause.

In these posts, I am not looking to tell people how to live.  I am only looking to share things that I myself have found helpful, in the hope that they might help someone else.  What works for me, may not work for you.

I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Queen’s University, and throughout my time there two schools of philosophy really stood out to me.  One is Empiricism, which is the study of things that you can experience in some way, and the other is stoicism.  Both of these are active aspects of philosophy.  They focus on real-world things.  Either things that are happening to you, or things that you are trying to achieve.  This is why understanding the idea of control is so important to your mindset, not just for sales but for life.  The Stoics teach to focus on the things we can control, and only those things.  Empiricism judges, and reacts to the world based on what is actually happening in the moment, not some hypothetical scenario. 

Taking control, and using small wins to your advantage can help you keep your positive outlook alive, focus on what really matters, and stay on track of what you are trying to achieve.

I will end the blog in a new way.  With a book recommendation, and a podcast.

The book recommendation for this week is Atomic Habits by James Clear.  The podcast recommendation for this week is The High Performance Podcast.