Don't Let a Bad Today Define Tomorrow | Weekbook #13

In a world that rewards success and punishes failure, it's easy to beat yourself up when things don't go to plan. Worse still, this mentality translates to the most granular aspects of our lives. Whether it's missing a workout or putting your feet up instead of running errands, the chances are you will look back on that moment and think negatively of yourself for not doing the "right" thing.

But it's important to remember, one bad day won’t mess up your life. 

The law of compounding tells us that repeating good behaviour day after day will result in overwhelming success over time, the effects of this are indisputable. Consider investments in the stock market, or consistently sticking to a diet and exercising daily. Given enough time and consistency, the chances of success are significantly increased, almost guaranteed. This can be boiled down to adopting the mindset of 1% growth each day.

However, there is one major pitfall that one must be aware of when taking this approach to life - when failure inevitably occurs, don't spiral out of control. Time after time when something goes awry, people throw in the towel. They've failed once, they may as well fail again, right?

Wrong. Don’t compound your mistakes, learn your lessons and take corrective action.

Whilst the law of compounding teaches us to reduce interruption, one bad day in a sea of one hundred good ones does not eliminate all progress. Whilst it is therefore important to minimise disruption to our growth, it is even more important to bounce back quickly when failure occurs, stopping the rot as quickly as it started. Indeed, if analysed properly and minimised effectively, these instances of failure will teach more than consistent success ever will. As such, it is important to fail, but be sure to fail fast. As James Clear teaches in Atomic Habits, don't fail twice.

So remember, when failure occurs, don't let the negativity compound. Take a step back and view your progress from the macro level. That one day of failure will pale into insignificance when viewed alongside the countless days of success. The only thing that truly separates success from failure is consistency.

Don't let a bad day today define your tomorrow.

Book Notes

I am currently reading Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life.

• Set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world.

• But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality - of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention?

• Life is in truth very hard. Everyone is destined for pain and slated for destruction. Sometimes suffering is clearly the results of a personal fault such as wilful blindness, poor decision-making, or malevolence.

Try this Podcast

Ending Quote

"Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit." - James Clear

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