the one about everything
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
I don’t know where I heard this sentence recently, I can’t remember. It’s been tugging at me this week. I’m doing some attitude adjusting and some intention setting and really trying to pay attention to how I’m showing up and to practice who I want to be.
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
It is all tied together. Are you giving up on yourself in the gym in the morning when your workout starts to burn? Are you thinking of yourself as the victim or thinking it’s so unfair you aren’t stronger, this sucks so much, everything is too hard, or whatever other excuse you have? Are you phoning it in? Are you complaining and calling it quits before you’ve really pushed yourself to see how far you can possibly go?
Or are you showing up with strength and determination and the willingness to grapple with something really hard? Are you pushing through, ready to see what you are capable of, ready to grow, and knowing the growth can only happen when you’re willing to go through the burn? Are you hanging in there, telling yourself one more rep, just one more minute, keep going, do not tap out?
How you talk to yourself matters. How you talk to yourself in these supposedly inconsequential moments is what sets the tone and flexes the reflexive dialogue muscles for how you will talk to yourself down the line, in big moments, with things that really matter. Everything stems from here. If you’re giving up in the gym, you’re probably calling it quits too soon in other areas of your life too, unwilling to push to failure or success in things like relationships, dreams, careers, scary decisions, etc. Or! If you’re giving your best in the gym, you’re likely also showing up with the same determination and willingness to live life to the best of your ability too! You are setting yourself up to be someone who remembers failure is inevitable at times, and we grow through it; the burn sucks, but on the other side of it, you feel accomplished and strong and satisfied.
What about other little things? How you behave and think at work. How you do the dishes and other life chore necessities. How you engage with (or ignore) neighbors and strangers in the grocery store and people around you. How you spend your free time.
Energy matters. Are you complaining a lot? Are you full of self-pity or impatience? Are you overwhelmed by gratitude and wonder? Are you relaxed and having fun? Are you being attentive and spreading little gifts of joy? Are you wearing your love glasses or your negativity glasses?
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Maybe it’s overly simplified. But the heart holds up. When I’m giving everything I’ve got in the gym first thing every morning, and I am believing in myself and pushing myself — when I start my day from that place of determination, discipline, and STRENGTH — it builds a lot of confidence, possibility, and success into the rest of my day. If you can do one small thing like a hard-working, empowered, grateful, happy, determined badass… well, then, you can probably do other things that way too. If you have the choice to either give up on planks because they hurt and your core is screaming, it’s not exactly comfortable, and you’re tired of it… or to hold tight, to stay put, to feel it and remind yourself you can live through it, you can do it, remind yourself it’s making you better… and you choose the path of excellence, putting in the work, letting it make you better… then you come out on top. If you can survive your planks or squats or deadlifts in the morning — and not only survive, but perform them with excellence, to the very best of your ability — then you can survive and thrive in the rest of your day. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
If, at the end of a long day, you can go home, tired but choosing a positive outlook for your day and your life, and be sure to greet your partner with loving warmth and good cheer, go about your evening, make some food, maybe do a little dance or sing a little tune, take care of whatever is before you, even when it feels inconvenient or burdensome, and move through with grace, you are coming out on top.
Life is full of mundanity and a million little things that stack up and make us who we are. How many loads of dishes are you going to do in your lifetime? How many hours spent on chores or tedium, hard things, challenges, uncomfy conversations, time spent at work, being around neighbors and strangers and loved ones, doing something that takes effort and intentionality… doing planks??? 😜 It’s all part of your story, and if you can take any one of those tiny, seemingly standalone, insignificant things and do it very well — then you are coming out on top.
You can thrive. You can shine. You can embody grace, kindness, gentleness, gratitude, strength, empowerment, discipline, joy, follow through, patience…
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Let the way you do a single small thing be what you want to carry with you into every other area of your life. Pay attention. It all adds up.
You can do it. Keep going. Push through. Don’t give up. One more rep. Loving warmth. Good cheer, a song and a dance. Smile and engage. Extend the gift of joy. Be patient and grateful. Choose the willing determination. Embrace the suck. Do the hard things. Remember with each moment banked, you are building a beautiful future and a beautiful you, and you are strengthening your capacity for the life you really want to be living. Kick ass at planks! So that you can go out into the rest of your day and kick ass at any other hard thing that comes your way!
You might think it’s small. You might think it doesn’t matter.
But it all matters. Because how you do one thing is how you do everything.
So, you’re up: who are you going to be, in every moment, massive and inconsequential?
Cheers to building ⚒🧱
