Small Change, Big Results
I’m a frequent visitor to McDonald’s. Whenever I travel—whether it’s the weekly Ohio-to-Tennessee-and-back commutes or trips elsewhere—I usually grab something at the Golden Arches.
My go-to meal is usually the Cheeseburger Combo Meal that includes two cheeseburgers resembling hockey pucks, medium fries, and a medium Sprite or Diet Coke. It doesn’t taste great, but it’s the ultimate car-friendly combo. Except for the occasional drip of ketchup/mustard mixture or minced onion that might escape the buns, there’s hardly anything from that McDonald’s combo meal that might end up on my clothing while driving.
You can imagine my enthusiasm when I learned earlier this week that McDonald’s was improving the classic cheeseburger (as well as its Big Mac, McDouble, double cheeseburger (which is not to be confused with the McDouble), and the classic hamburger).
What are the anticipated improvements to the classic cheeseburger?
According to CNN: “Buns will be softer. Cheese, gooier. Onion will be added to patties right on the grill. And the Big Mac sauce? There will be more of it.”
Said McDonald’s chef Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation of McDonald’s USA, to CNN: “We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever.”
“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever.”
I can’t help but to notice how Chef Schafer explained how “small changes” can create “a big difference.” So true.
This got me thinking of something I’ve discussed with my students and with graduates preparing for the bar exam—that small changes can lead to big results. And this reminded me of Atomic Habits.
The book, Atomic Habits, by James Clear gives a clear and concise way to, as he puts it, get remarkable results from tiny changes. One of the key points of this book is just small or atomic improvements can create massive powerful change.
As Clear writes in the book: “If you can just get 1 percent better each day, you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after one year.”
So, for those getting ready to prepare for the bar exam, think about how you can incorporate a few small changes into your study routine so that you can take advantage of those significant improvements that will result by the time the bar exam comes around.
So, before you kick off your day or call it quits for the night, consider adding these short activities to your daily study routine. If you add these small changes (about 45 minutes of additional work) to your study schedule each day for just 50 days (which means beginning to incorporate these changes around June 1 for the July bar exam), the end result is significant.
Do some practice questions—Complete 10 more multiple-choice questions and thoroughly review the explanatory answers each day. After 50 days, you will have completed 500 additional multiple-choice questions!
Work through at least one MEE essay question—After 50 days, you will have incorporated an additional 38 hours of essay review into your studies.
Spend an additional 45 minutes time reviewing notes from the previous day’s lectures or working on your attack outlines or flash cards—Again, after 50 days, that's an additional 38 hours of studying that you've incorporated into your studies.
Complete one MPT test each week—After 50 days, you will have completed another seven MPT practice tests!
Adding an additional 45 minutes of studying each day might not seem like it would make a big difference in one's overall bar preparation. But, as you can see, an extra 45 minutes of review each day translates into an additional 38 hours of studying over the course of 50 days.
That's like giving yourself another week's worth of studying! And you can't imagine how many times I've heard graduates say, "If only I had one more week to study!"
