This week I am exploring the phrases that have had the power to lift me out of the doldrums. Phrases that when I repeat them, they bring a vivid recollection of how I am supposed to think. Many of these phrases I have borrowed from other sources, but a few I have invented on my own. This one is of my own invention:
Everyday is Everyday.
In the quest for self improvement, the greatest key is to develop habits. Small, tiny habits to start with. The smaller the better, because you want the least amout of work that you will actually perform. If you pick something that is too hard, then you will fail and you will not do it everyday. This phrase reminds you of this powerful truth. Doing a small thing everyday is better than doing a big thing once.
Repitition has far more power than one explosive effort. Repition will slay the dragon, not any single act of heroism. When I first started running, I mapped out a course for 2 miles. It took me at least 90 days to run that without stopping. For fun, one day, I mapped a course that was 5 miles. I laughed. As if. That course ended at a Chevron gas station. I began calling Chevron, the evil nemisis dragon that would taunt me.
Now I could have woke up one day and crawled my way through the course and got to the 5 miles. That would have been a one day occurence and that might have been so hard that I would have given up. Instead, everyday, I kept running. I kept plugging away until one day it happned. I blazed through the 2 miles, then the 3. I decided to go for 4 and then what seemed like a miracle. I ran all the way past Chevron. I slayed the dragon.
Now when I run, 5 miles is a brief warm up. Times have changed for sure. The point is that when you do something everyday, your progress is inevitable. Do you want to be good at something? Then do it everyday. That is quite simple. Truth is always simple. When you do something everyday, barriers break down. Your body, your mind, your soul figures things out. You process it, you encounter challenges. You overcome those challenges. Everyday is a way of progressing that even the worst climbs will not fall to.
Everyday also has a power that builds a mental state that helps you become resilient. Everyday will put you through great times but also plenty of bad times. Everyday will force you into doing your habit early in the morning and late at night. You might have to do your task in the blazing heat, or in a snow drift. You will find yourself doing your habit in the weird places and the fun places. Everday teaches you that you can do anything. You have to overcome the mental barrier that you place in front of yourself. When you do things everyday, those mental barriers mental away and you become strong.
If you wake up one day and you do not want to do your habit, then repeat – everyday is everyday. If you are about ready to go to bed and you remember you forgot to do your habit, then repeat – everyday is everyday. If you are sick, hurt, depressed, sad, disgruntled in anyway, then repeat – everyday is everyday. This phrase reminds you of the absolute imperative. To be good at something, you have to do it everyday. Even if all you do is the smallest increment, everyday is everyday.
