Do you have any idea how many steps you take in a day?
I recently got a smartwatch that tracks my steps in addition to showing the time. At first, I didn't pay any attention to the step counter because I just had the watch to tell me what time it was, but as I got used to it, I started getting excited when those little "five thousand steps" milestones dinged, and the screen came up. I never realized how much moving around I was doing each day!
Likewise, we make progress in our lives daily. But progress only comes from consistency. Every day, we must consciously choose to better ourselves in some way, big or small.
It just becomes so easy to let things slide. We might have big plans for the day, but then life happens, and we lose momentum. If the right things hit over time, we soon find our life's goal to be just crawling to the couch and watching Netflix.
Don't waste a day. What you don't get done today puts you that far behind tomorrow. If you meant to do five things today and only did three, you are already two things behind when you wake up the next morning. Today's shortcuts can become tomorrow's failures.
There's a very old fable in which a turtle challenges a rabbit to a race. The rabbit laughs and readily accepts, and after the race begins, the rabbit settles down to take a nap because he is so far ahead. Meanwhile, the turtle keeps taking one step after another. Eventually, the turtle passes the sleeping rabbit and goes on to win the race simply through consistency.
Show up every single day. Do the best you can with whatever you have to work with. Always find a way to improve yourself every day, even if it's just reading one newsletter or article (like this one! See, you did it already!). Go to bed smarter than when you woke up. Don't let yourself slide into complacency.
Small steps are still steps forward...and they just might win you the race!
Comments