As I was walking down the long hallway of the first floor this morning, I started thinking, “Man… I really don’t feel like taking the stairs today.” It was a rainy Monday morning and of course I didn’t feel like taking the stairs to the third floor – especially when there was an elevator Right There, waiting to give me a lift.
That’s when my inner voice took over and said, “Take the stairs. This is non-negotiable.”
What? Non-negotiable? Where did that come from?
As I plodded my way up the stairs, the question kept tumbling around in my mind. I started thinking about what happens once we consciously decide to do (or to not do) something. It’s no longer up for debate. It just is what it is.
What’s interesting about this to me, though, is that rather than feeling as if shackles have been placed on me, I feel… FREE. This one little part of my life has been simplified by a decision I made two years ago when I started working here. “I will take the stairs each morning because it’s good for me to get the blood pumping before I sit down at a computer for several hours.”
So, now when the ol’ lizard brain (as Seth Godin calls it) tries to get me to make a different choice on a rainy Monday because it feels lazy, my higher self steps right in and says, “No. This is non-negotiable.” Taking the stairs in the morning has become a habit. It’s what I do (even on those days that I don’t feel like doing it).
Sometimes I find it hard to make a decision. I worry about how it will affect… everything. When that happens, I tend to postpone making the decision, which just means I get to drag around the weight of the guilt of not doing what I need to be doing.
Sure, sometimes there is a need for research and weighing options before a good decision can be made. I’m not talking about those times. I’m talking about the simple things that you can decide right now – today – that will make tomorrow easier for you because you won’t have to think about it. “This is non-negotiable.”