until you change something you do daily."
- John Maxwell
Success doesn't come from doing extraordinary difficult things. It is doing simple things consistently.
Can you loose 50 pounds in a month or two, by going on the newest fad diet? Probably not.
Can you get wealthy simply by playing the lottery, every week? Chances that you will win, are extremely small.
Can you improve one skill by reading a book per year or listening to an educational recording once in a while? I wouldn't think so.
Can you expect to have a wonderful relationship with your spouse, by going out on a "Date Night" once a year? This is not going to happen.
The problem with most people is that they want results right now. A lot of people want to be able to see the results of their actions right away after they start make some new positive choices. Most of the time this doesn't happen and people fall back on making poor choices again.
It seems so easy to be able to make a few positive choices in our lives, so why do people continue to make bad choices?
Here is one trap that will keep you from staying on your path of making positive choices.
In the beginning the results are invisible. While you are making new positive choices or bad choices, the results are invisible. It easy to think that what you are doing doesn't matter. That it won't have an effect on your life. But the truth is that everything matters.
Example: You decide that you are going to live a better and more empowered lifestyle. You have decided to get in shape by walking one mile per day. Most people can walk that distance. You might also decide to park at the back of the parking lot and get a few extra steps in every time you go to a store. You decide to take the stairs instead of the elevator.
You cut back on eating a candy bar per day, or something else that is sweet. You also decided to stop snacking on some chips at work, and you also drink 2 bottles of water per day.
Instead of reading the paper every morning you now read 10-20 pages of a great book instead. And on your way to work you are now listening to an inspirational or educational recording instead of listen to news on the radio, reaffirming everything that you already read in the paper earlier of all the murders, kidnappings, rapes and disasters of the world.
How about a date night a week with your spouse? Maybe placing some more phone calls to family and friends to catch up and show them that you are about them? You save a little bit of money every month, put it away and don't touch. It will slowly add up over the years.
Do you think that you can do this simple plan? Most of us can. No really big changes. No crash diet Just a few new positive choices on a daily base.
This is easy to do.....but also..... easy not to do.
Do you think that you will see immediate results of your new choices? Probably not. You might not see much of any results within many, many months. But what do you think will happen after about 20 - 30 months? All of a sudden you will see a huge change in your life. By cutting back on a few calories per day, and walking one mile per day, you have now lost 30 pounds. By reading many book and listening to educational recording on your way to work, you have now learned new skill, been promoted and are now making quite a bit more money. Your relationship with your spouse is the best it has ever been and you also have great relationships with family members and friends. And you also have a nice little savings account going.
Is this easy to do? Yes, of course it is. But why don't more people do this....since it is so easy?
It takes patience.
Patience to be able to wait for the results. It's easy to quit when the results seem to be invisible.
You have to have patience when you are starting to make some positive choices and you don't see any results. It can become very frustrating, I know. But the answer is that you just have to become patient and allow the compounding effect, to add up and stack up, until down the road you choices seems to have explosive results.
Everything that we do have consequences. Good or bad.
If you instead of making healthy choices on a daily base, you are now instead allowing yourself to slide a little. You miss a couple of work-outs per week, and you have now gained 30 pounds. Or you prefer to watch TV instead of going out on a weekly "Date Night", and your marriage is on the verge of divorce. You ignore making phone calls to your family and friends and they now have become distant. You rather listen to the news and the misery of the world, instead of learning a new skill, and you friend at work got promoted instead of you. You wasted all you money instead of saving it, and now you are close to losing your house to foreclosure.
Every single choice that you make has a an effect on your life, today but also 10-20 years down the road.
The small little choices that you are making today, good or bad, are making a huge outcome later.
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