The Good
Imagine where your life would be if 8 years ago you became aware of the power of habit and realized that it only takes 21 days to form new habits. So, you decided right at that moment that you had enough discipline to do anything for three weeks, so you now get up an hour earlier every morning and exercise. because you got up early and weren't rushed, to get to work you made yourself a healthy lunch Instead of going to your local fast food joint.
Since you brought your lunch to work you have more time to work on that project the boss has been needing. So, when you get home you’re feeling good because you have more energy and you were complimented by your boss. Instead of sitting down to watch T.V for the night you decide you’re going to read every night at least 30 minutes before going to bed and part of your routine is to learn about stocks and bonds.
One morning you’re at the gym and you meet a workout partner who is also interested in finances, but has a real interest in currency exchanges. He tells you about this new thing called Bitcoin, this peeks your interest, so you investigate this Bitcoin and you realize you can actually mine it with the laptop you never use. You figure what the hell it ain't really costing me anything and you never know, it might pay off someday.
It is now 8 years later, and you decide to look back on your life. You realize that everything you have came down to that one decision that changed your life for the good. In the last eight years you have shed 60 pounds of fat and added 20 pounds of muscle, your cholesterol and blood pressure are perfect, and you never get sick. You were made the head of your department until you took an early retirement because you made millions in Bitcoin and you now spend most days at your beach house having sex with your 24-year-old super model girlfriend.
The Bad
After learning about the power of habit you decide to give it a "try" the next morning, but you were too tired to get up an hour early. You got to work late and have to leave the office to go to the local fast food place for a burger and fries. While you’re in line you over hear some guy talking about something called Bitcoin and it peaks your interest. When you get back to the office you look it up.
You’re a smart guy and figure that you can mine it with your old laptop. After all it isn’t really going to cost you anything. You setup your laptop to mine coin and spend the next several years falling asleep watching T.V with a pizza in you lap. You were eventually fired from you job and moved into a studio apartment. But it's ok, that Bitcoin you mined payed off and is now worth millions.
You now have money to travel the world and meet amazing people, who want to go on awesome adventures with you, but you can't because you don't have any energy, you have diabetes, heart disease and are 100 pounds overweight. You decide to do something about it, but you find out you, must have a triple bypass and then you lose your legs to diabetes. Damn if only you had the discipline to spend 21 days forming good habits.
The Ugly
You learn about habits and don't think anything of it. You are extra late to work and must order in, so you never hear about Bitcoin. Eventually your bad habits catch up to you and you are fired from your good paying job. You don't have any energy and you are overweight, and sadly that job you thought you would get and were qualified for went to someone younger, so you have to move in with your mom and get a job at Wal-Mart.
You fall into a comfort zone and spend the next 20 years working there, but hey you were promoted to department manager and have three cats. Your mom died last year and left you the house, so you will be fine collecting $900 a month from Social Security for the rest of your life.
Our legacy's will be defined by our actions and our actions can be molded by habits. You need to decide what your legacy is going to be. Is asking you to be disciplined for at least 21 straight days asking too much when it can give back so much? I can only imagine where my life would be now if I had the discipline to form good habits twenty years ago. Why don't we decide right now that we will make good habits a part of our life today!
This article is not meant to be derogatory in anyway. The choices we make our are own and we may be perfectly happy with them.