How do we solve the world’s most relevant problems? By encouraging every person to make one small behavioral change.

Setting little goals to accomplish the BIG Goal

A big goal is the final achievement that acts as a driving force for the choices you, individually or as a collective group, make over a period of time. It is usually a good idea to set a specific time frame for achieving big goals because it requires you to stay on schedule. The deadline for achieving the goal can also act as a “light at the end of the tunnel.” Examples of a big goal would be an Olympic gold medal, a 100% renewable city, world peace, etc.

Big goals can be overwhelming, because they are the result of learning, growing, and improving. Big goals can’t be obtained overnight, they require planning and effort. They can also seem far fetched and perhaps unrealistic until you start taking the right steps towards achieving the goal.

There isn’t exactly a couch to marathon workout plan, but there is a couch to 5 km workout plan. The workout plan teaches you how to develop endurance in your running in an effective way. For people who don’t run at all, 5 km might seem like an impossibly far distance to run, but you would be surprised how quickly your body can improve by setting and accomplishing little goals. Your first little goal might be to run 0.5 km without stopping or walking. This requires a pace that can be maintained for the whole distance. You have to teach yourself how to run to a finish line that isn’t in sight. You have to practice breathing and listening to your body so you don’t overwork yourself too quickly. Once you get to 0.5 km without stopping you can shoot for running 1.5 km, then 2 km, and so on without stopping. Can you see how the 0 km to 5 km gap was broken up into smaller, more achievable gaps? This same concept works for all goal setting.

How to achieve a collective goal

Since kindergarten, I’ve been taught the importance of goal setting. It started with thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up. In middle school I learned how to not only establish what my big goals were, but also how to determine what little goals along the way would be helpful.  I remember that for a particular goal setting assignment my big goal was to have a six-pack by the end of the school year and my little goal was to do 500 ab related exercises every night. For the record, I didn’t achieve my goal, because I didn’t work hard for the little goal of committing to a workout routine. I wasn’t willing to change my behavior in a way that would allow me to accomplish my big goal.

Let’s say the big collective goal is to reduce global carbon emissions from the transportation sector. The solution might seem simple, people should stop driving their own cars and start biking, walking, or using public transportation. However, asking people to change their behavior in this way is quite a tall order. Why should they have to take the bus when they have the means to own a car of their own? You simply can’t expect all people to want to do something because it is good for the environment.

So what can we do? We’ve found the solution to our problem, but no one wants to comply. We could enforce laws, for example, some countries only allow vehicles with even numbered license plates to drive on the highway Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while the odd numbered licence plates must drive on the highway Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Laws like this are a good compromise but can be very inconvenient and frustrating to some people.

Instead, perhaps we could suggest small behavioral changes that people may have never thought about. If there is a grocery store, hair salon, library, etc. on the way to or from work, plan your day to visit these places on the way home. Planning for “on the way” errands will save you time because you don’t have to go home and gather your reusable shopping bags and shopping list then head back out. Eliminating the habit of making several trips to places that could be visited on your normal commute will reduce your carbon footprint over time.

Another idea could be suggesting that walking to destinations is a way of saving time in terms of “getting your steps in.” Its nice to have a gym membership, but how many times have you skipped the gym because you didn’t want to go through the hassle of driving to the gym, finding parking, finding a locker that is open, finding fitness equipment that isn’t being used, etc. Its a lot of effort and time consuming for just a one hour workout! You can save time, and money, and still be fit by walking to the grocery store and consider carrying your groceries as your weight lifting for the day. Its a fun and creative way to kill two birds with one stone.

There are infinite possibilities for behavioral changes that could ultimately lead to emissions reduction in the transportation sector. With a little creativity and a willingness to educate people, its possible to change someones life by helping them find a new behavior that is not only better for him or her, but also better for the world. Imagine what would happen if everyone in the world made one small change to their daily routine that reduced their carbon footprint by 0.1%. Big change is what would happen. BIG change.