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Just This Once ...

 woman in black jacket lying on white snow

My day often starts with my phone alerting me it’s time to wake up, but daring me to hit snooze. Sometimes I try to justify to myself that if I give up some of my reading that morning, I would have a few more minutes to sleep. I also could make up some time by not writing my wife a note that morning. I told her I loved her when we were first married, I’m pretty sure she knows I haven’t changed my mind. Or I could skip part of my workout. Or just cut the warm-up (come on, I’m not that old yet, I don’t have to warm up). Even if I have plenty of time, there’s usually a point in the workout where I am tempted to cut a corner, to give in just this once. By the time I get to work, I’ve already been tempted to quit early or give in several times.

But it’s not just this once. There’s a pattern, even a domino effect, that can set off a chain of events. If I begin the morning by giving in, even just a little, I set a very dangerous precedent for the rest of the day. And it’s more than just the time constraints I put on the rest of the day, making it easier to cut corners and leave out important fixtures of my routine going forward. It’s the mindset I create.

Giving in isn’t just an action. It’s an attitude. It’s an attitude of quitting and capitulation than can set the tone for our entire day. And more than that, it can become a habit that influences how we live our lives. If we make a habit of giving in on the relatively small areas of our lives, it will be far easier to quit on the more important and impactful facets of our existence.

Stop compromise when it’s small by refusing to quit or cut corners in the small things of life, and you will find it easier to resist the temptation to give in on the big stuff. Remember, how you do anything is probably how you do everything.


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