The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference

Well, we can honestly say that anyone can learn some powerful life lessons from "The Power of Small." This charming little book has the potential to change lives simply by teaching us how to slow down and pay attention to the little things.

If you feel as if your life has gotten swept up in the age of information overload, and you're longing to find ways to reconnect with the small moments in life, then you won't want to miss this book.

"The Power of Small" is broken into nine chapters, and each one covers a small aspect of life, from the importance of making polite conversation to taking baby steps to achieve your goals. The book is a very easy read, thanks to the true-life stories the authors use and their comfortable writing style. This is definitely a book that you'll have fun with.

So, keep listening to find out how to prove you care about quality, not quantity; why small talk is far from trivial; and why we should all behave more like little children.

The authors spend the first chapter telling a few stories about the power of small, and how it can really change lives. One is about a haircut, and we'd like to share that with you.

Picture a stereotypical computer programmer. Quiet. Smart. A real number cruncher.

This programmer was very good at his job, but he dreamed of working in the sales department at his company. Needless to say, IT and sales are two drastically different beasts.

The programmer, however, dreamed of sales. He loved the outgoing nature of the salespeople, and was excited by the thought of interacting with so many other people. But, the idea of even trying to change careers was completely intimidating. After all, he was just a reclusive programmer. How would he ever make it in sales?

One day, he decided he was going to make one small change. He was going to get a new haircut. But not just any haircut. He went to a leading stylist who was an expert in men's haircuts. This stylist prided herself on giving haircuts that really said something special about the person.

When the programmer left the salon, he felt like a new man. And that one, tiny action changed his life, by starting a chain of events he never could have predicted.

Because he now had a new image of himself, he went and bought new clothes. He started going to the gym. He quickly acquired more self-confidence. And he finally worked up the nerve to ask for a transfer to the sales department.

Almost effortlessly, he got it. Want to know what happened after that?

This programmer-turned-salesman turned out to be a genius in sales. He quickly became the best performer the department ever had. Before long, he was chief sales executive for the entire company.

And, it all started with a haircut.

Now, the authors state clearly that it wasn't the haircut itself that changed this man's life. But because he took one tiny step to do something different, his entire outlook changed. And that set off an incredible domino effect that changed his life.

That's the power of small.

Chapter two teaches us four simple truths about the world, and how paying attention to the small things can really transform our lives.

Our favorite truth was number four, A Little Goes A Long Way. Here, we get to read the story of Scott Fimple, a naval petty officer, whose life was transformed after he took a few minutes out of his day to steer a complete stranger to the right office in his building.

It was a small act that he didn't think twice about. And the authors point out that Mr Fimple could have easily done nothing. After all, the stranger was just a stranger to him.

But doing nothing in life means you're potentially closing the door on an opportunity. According to the authors, we should view every interaction we have as a potential open door to something greater and more magnificent. This means phone calls, emails, client meetings, and lunch with friends.

And what happened to Mr Fimple? That one act set off a chain of events that won him the highly coveted Navy Commendation Medal.

Imagine if he had just kept walking.

The authors give us three handy tips at the end of this chapter on how we can do small things to make a big impression. One of them is to make small impressions. If you bring a coffee or a muffin to work, then grab a few extra for your co-workers. Bring extra treats and baggies to the dog park for the owners who forgot theirs. Keep an extra umbrella in your office.

You never know how these little things might change your life.

The next chapter, on small talk, has some really inspiring stories. Here we learn how small talk has literally saved people's lives, from a family escaping Nazi Germany to a woman who was saved by the barista at her local coffee shop.

Yes, all from small talk.

The authors say here that many people consider small talk to be meaningless. It's a way to fill time, and nothing more.

But they make a powerful point when they say that small talk is where we learn the details of someone's life. It's where we learn if they like red or white wine, that they love skydiving, or that their son just started preschool.

Are these meaningless details? Well, no. These are the details that make up the human textures of our life, the texture that so many of us are longing for on a very personal level. After all, email, electronic chat, and texting are convenient. But, they lack the human flavor that we get from conversation.

If we neglect small talk and view it as unimportant, then all we're doing is cutting ourselves off from discovering the common ground we have with others. And, that's a lonely place to be.

Here, we also learn how important it is for us to lighten up, why the word please matters, and why being curious about someone else is such a powerful turn on for them. If you're dating, or looking to impress your boss, then don't miss this chapter.

The next chapter is all about the importance of going the extra inch for someone else, or for something you really want. And, the authors make a great point here when they say that, in our ultra competitive world, being nice can often be looked at as a disadvantage. But, the opposite is true.

Small things like sending thank-you letters to your clients, asking after their children by name, and strategically placing your dinner guests at the table can often produce some amazing results.

And again, we get plenty of wonderful little stories that back this up.

Our favorite tip from this chapter is the importance of paying a little more attention to what we're doing during the day. Often, we've got so much on our plates that we neglect to finish one project to our complete satisfaction before diving into something else.

We've all done this. And yet, how many times have we wished that we could have taken just a bit more time to look things over? What trouble that would have saved us!

If we take just a few extra minutes to double check things, we can really show others that our mindset is for quality, not quantity. And, this can make all the difference in the world to our friends, our clients, or our boss.

Chapter five is about baby steps. And if you've got a major project or overwhelming task coming up, this is a chapter you'll find especially relevant.

Now, we've all had to face mammoth challenges before. And, it can be overwhelming when we look at the big picture and try to get everything solved at once.

But, we need to use the power of small here. We need to break the project up into tiny stages, and focus on solving each step as we go. Taking small steps through a big project makes things infinitely more manageable. It's how suspension bridges get built, so it makes sense that it would work on our projects.

When we take small steps towards a big goal, we should reward ourselves along the way. Too many times, the authors say, we get focused on the end result: the finish line of the race, or the big corner office after the promotion.

Often, what happens is that all the tiny victories we achieve along the way get swept aside as unimportant. Why? Because we're so focused on the end goal.

Not taking the time to celebrate our little victories robs us of the sweetness of the experience. And, it's the small steps that make up our lives.

Want to know what else you learn here? Well, the authors go into the eastern philosophy of kaizen, which views success as a continuing process, instead of a distant goal. And we learn how adopting the view of kaizen literally tricks our brains into being more open to change.

This is just one fascinating concept among many that are tucked into this little chapter.

One of our favorite chapters was on how little mistakes can spell disaster, and how we can avoid them simply by focusing on the small stuff. Here's a funny story that illustrates this.

Randall had just graduated from the prestigious University of Michigan, and landed a prime job at a top-notch advertising agency. One day, during his first week at the agency, the creative director called him into her office. She was on the phone, barking orders, cradling a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

She was beautiful, intimidating, and Randall was scared out of his wits.

The director quickly waved a piece of paper at him, and told him to schlep it down to production.

But Randall, a fresh faced kid from the Midwest, had no idea what schlep meant. Google wasn't invented yet, and all his advertising books came up with nothing. He thought at first it might mean to photocopy, but he was too afraid to ask a colleague for help. He really didn't want to look stupid.

So, he was a nervous wreck for the next two hours, while he worried about what to do. At last, he hauled himself back into the director's office to get further instructions, fearing his career was over.

When he told the director that he didn't know what the word meant, she roared with laughter, and then promptly called the head of the company to let him know the new kid didn't know what schlep meant.

As you can imagine, Randall wanted to sink through the floor.

After she had a good laugh, the director told him that schlep was Yiddish, and that it meant to bring. And, then she congratulated him for having the gumption to speak up.

Want to know what happened after that? Randall soon got a great promotion, and a raise. As a congratulations gift, the head of the company gave him a book, titled The Joys of Yiddish. Randall ended up doing great at the agency.

In the next chapter, Make It Big By Thinking Small, we learn about entrepreneurs who've made millions by focusing on small. As usual, the stories are enlightening, and the tips at the end are relevant and useful.

Our favorite tip was that we need to learn how to be four again. As in, four years old.

What do the authors mean by this one? Well, they say that we all need to start asking more questions in life. If we see someone we admire who's successful, then why not ask them how they did it? Finding out how they reached their goals can only help us reach ours. So, just ask.

This is a book that is full of wisdom and funny, inspiring stories. But, don't think it's just one story after another. It's not. At the end of every chapter the authors offer clear-cut tips on how we can transform our own lives by focusing on the small. And, every story told in the book has a powerful lesson at its core. They're all a delight to read.

There was nothing we didn't like about "The Power of Small." It's the kind of book that's perfect for reading at night, because it's relaxing, inspiring and fun. And, at one hundred and thirty pages, it won't take you long to get through.

"The Power of Small," by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, is published by Broadway Books.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights.