We all know that chips aren’t great for our health, but this bag right here won’t do me any real harm right?
I mean, I’m normally so well behaved. Seriously, I ate a salad yesterday!
And we all know that we should save money from our paycheques every month, but this month doesn’t matter right? After all, I need this new pair of sneakers. I can’t hit the gym without them!
And we all know we should exercise, but I’ll do that tomorrow. I’m too tired today. And I don’t have good sneakers.
We’ve all been there.
Knowing one thing, but acting otherwise. In the moment it seems so trivial.
The key mentality at play here is that today’s mundane actions are so small and meaningless - in the grand scheme of things - that they just don’t matter. Besides, tomorrow I will do better (and chips taste so good right now).
But here’s the thing, does tomorrow ever come?
Or is tomorrow the same? Because, after all, tomorrow is just another meaningless little day in the grand scheme of things?
Meaningless days become meaningless weeks, I’ll just start next week.
Meaningless weeks become meaningless months, I’ll start next month (It’s January and I need a New Years resolution!).
Meaningless months add up and then suddenly you catch yourself in the mirror and you are amazed to see that you’ve somehow acquired a second chin. ‘Where the hell did that come from?!’ you think, and you rationalize it with beliefs that your metabolism is slowing down, or you are getting old or something equally self-evident at the time.
But you never blame the chips.
Or the sneakers that you never ran in at the gym.
They were just little meaningless things.
The classic story goes that the tortoise won the race against the hare, but why?
Methodical, mundane consistency. Step, step, step…
There was no delay in the tortoise’s task. There were just steps, taken slowly towards something good.
Every step had meaning, because without one singular step the race would never have been completed - let alone won.
Every bag of chips, every mismanaged fund, every excuse to ignore the gym - over time - compounds the steps taken in the wrong direction.
It’s easy to change.
Just put down the chips, wait till the sneakers are on sale and go to the gym for 15 minutes.
Small mundane steps, building towards inevitable success (or failure).
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