Let me tell you a story about two friends. There were two friends who grew up together. He went to the same school. He was fond of matching. He had the same ambitions. You could say that they were equally inept. However, after they were done with their education, they went their separate ways. Many years later, this is how they ended up. A friend became a hugely successful dissimilar aspect. He became a financially independent chain of businesses started by himself. He created a circle of quality and trustworthiness. He was healthy and fit enough to run a marathon. And most importantly, he was happy and cherished his life. However the other friend was just the opposite. He failed in every business he started and was not even able to pay his bills. He barely had any friends. He became overweight and taking the stairs was enough to make him tired. And worst of all, he was sad and disappointed with his life. However, no matter how different his life may be, those two friends still kept in touch. In fact, they talked to each other every day. This is because both of their friends were actually the same person. The first friend was the best and ideal version of the person, while the second was his worst version. You and I are those two friends in us. We all do. Although I wanted to tell you with this story, but that we can be one of them. We have the ability to be heirs, just as we have the option to be unhappy. However, what we end up with is determined by the choices we make every day. The first friend did not succeed overnight. Instead, he achieved his success slowly, through a series of good daily decisions. The second friend also did not finish in one day, where he did. He also did this slowly, by making daily choices worse. It's just that those options, then added over the years. Let me show you how the two friends did, where they did. Everyday, both had to choose one of the few options. When they got hungry, they had a choice between eating chocolate bars or preparing healthy food. When he got home from work, he had a choice between playing video games or reading a business book. When they got bored, they had the option of watching TV in mind or spending some quality time with friends. I think you can guess which option each of them chose. Of course, that one decision did not make a difference of a ton. At least not. But because his choice was repeated over and over, a few years later the results began to show. The unsuccessful friend would have eaten only one chocolate bar per day, which was about 200 extra calories. But when he repeated every day that he gained 20 pounds in a span of 1 year. Plenty for a small chocolate bar. When we repeat a certain behavior repeatedly, there are dramatic consequences over time. Now say that at one day intervals, you complete about 10 of these small decisions. And each decision takes you 1 step in one of two directions. Either towards your ideal self, or your worst self. When you choose to eat salad instead of French fries, you move one step towards your ideal version. Likewise, if you eat fry instead of salad, you make a move towards your worst version. Okay, so you make 10 decisions per day, which means that you make 10 steps in both directions. But if you are like most people, you are not going down any path. Instead you are standing somewhere in the middle. Each day you take a few steps towards one direction, but then you move the same amount in the opposite direction. 5 good decisions and 5 bad decisions. Basically canceling each other. Now imagine if you could replace just a negative daily behavior with a positive one. What if instead of going 5 steps forward and 5 steps backward, you are 6 steps forward and only 4 steps back? Suddenly you are on a completely different trajectory. Instead of standing in one place, you are taking 2 steps towards the best version of yourself. Of course, it is even better if you can make 10 good decisions every day. However this is highly unrealistic as no one is actually able to do so consistently. But you do not need to do it all the time. It is enough that you make good decisions more often than bad. The only thing that matters is that you are on the right track. So the next time you jump on the couch, in front of the TV with your phone in hand, ask yourself if this is the best option you are making. Or is there something else, something better that you can choose instead? I like to think about it all the time. To be more precise, I often have this question in my mind: "What would be the best version for me?"
This question is really useful, as it allows me to pause my behavior, evaluate my behavior and re-adjust my actions if necessary. I understand that if I want to be the best version of myself, I need to do that today, what would be my ideal version. Not tomorrow, or next week, but not today. Many people like to delay their tasks. They believe that in future they will somehow be more motivated, more energetic and hard working. But it is precisely this belief that keeps them from their true potential. What most do not realize is that when the future revolves around, they will not magically be a different person. If they do not take the necessary actions to become better, they are most likely that they are the same person they are right now. And most recognize it only when they spend years on the wrong path. They kept thinking that they would change in the future, but in the end they never did. So now they need to make even better daily decisions to get back on track. That is why it is important that we do what our best version will do today. Not tomorrow or next week. We make this decision on a daily basis, deciding who we become in the future. So ask yourself what would be the ideal version of today? This is a really good question to ask yourself. I know that you understand the importance of daily choices. They have the power to dramatically affect your future, for better or worse. You may not see the impact of your decisions today, not tomorrow. But when your choice is compounded overtime, they start appearing. When we make good choices again and again, we become successful friends. When we repeat bad choices again and again, we fail. So which version would you choose today? Your worst version or your best version?
