I woke up and wanted to get one chapter read in my current personal development book because I know how busy this Saturday would get and I didn't want to push it off and end up not reading at all. I'm currently reading a book called The Slight Edge.
So good and I highly recommend it to anyone. The principles of the book are just so simple and make a ton of sense. It's really good to do a thorough self examination of all the little behaviors and decisions you make on a daily basis. Because seriously every little bit counts. And this goes for the good and bad. If you decide to exercise for only 10 minutes a day - really a simple discipline - you might think that it won't really do that much. But over time, a huge difference is made. In contrast, if you decide to eat one cheeseburger today it might not matter. But if you consistently eat cheeseburgers, over time - that will make a difference to your overall health. This simple little image shows what I'm trying to say pretty clearly. Everything compounds over time.
So when the girls went down for their naps today - as much as I wanted to clean or just rest - I got my workout clothes on and I pushed play. Because I know that consistency is key to my success. I know how much better I feel when I work out and I've already seen the huge changes it's made in my health and in my life since I've started.
I start to think of the principles of the Compound Effect and of The Slight Edge every time I turn around now. Simple little things like taking care of your clothes when you take them off at the end of the day. How many times do you put them on the ground and then after 5 days of doing that, you have a bedroom full of clothes scattered everywhere? Then you have a huge mess and have to spend extra time going through and sorting and taking care of everything. What if you just took care of the clothes as soon as you took them off? It would take less than a minute. You'd never have a mess to look at and you wouldn't be creating a big job for yourself when things got out of control.
Some days I don't feel like reading or working out. But I do them anyway because I truly believe that every little bit, every single day DOES count. In this fall season with all the shows that are on, I thought I would want to keep up with all the ones I used to watch. But I've realized that it just sucks so much valuable time out of your already busy day and I just can't do it anymore. So I have a couple that I'll try to watch while I work. If I could read to better myself or work on my business instead of being consumed in a TV show that benefits me in no way - why wouldn't I be doing that instead? And if you can create healthy habits that become like second nature to you - over time you will see your life change. Most people give up on things because they don't see immediate results. We are so funny like that, especially nowadays. We think if we diet and exercise for a week that our bodies should be magically changed. Anything worth having or being takes time, consistency, and dedication.
