Introduction

Shirt, check! Belt, check! “Where are my socks?!” You ask, snapping to yourself. You quickly pan the room with no real effort made to find anything. *Phone rings* “C’mon, I’m already running late!” You mutter while simultaneously sifting through your sock drawer. You grab your phone with your left hand while in your right hand, you squeeze the cologne top to get the last 3 sprays out of the bottle. *Phone continues to ring* *You answer*. “I’m in the car right now! I didn’t even realize the time, I’ll be there by 1AM!” You say while searching for a pair of shoes to match your hastened outfit. “Hurry up we’re waiting for you! The party starts at 1!” The voice yells from your phones speaker.

Let’s pull this thing into perspective. It’s Saturday night and despite being moments away from being captured by sleep and held captive for the night, you’ve barely escaped when your friends call to extend the last second invitation to go partying…….. again. You did go out last night and you’re still pretty tired from the back to back activities you’ve been participating in but you’re not going to let that stop you from going out tonight!

Fast forward exactly one week. It’s a bit earlier in the evening and you haven’t done much all day. You lounge around the house. The most you’ve really done is walked up to the fridge, grabbed a few snacks and drinks, and propped your feet up on the living room’s finely polished center table to watch some TV. After doing that for most of the day, this happens. Your phone rings, you reach for it with your eyes still fixed on your 60 inch 4k ultra HD TV. You take a quick glance at your phone and you pause. “Ah man! I can’t do this right now.” You say to yourself while waiting for the call to end. You’re feeling guilt push from your brain throughout every space of your body. Your blood turns to guilt. *Text alert* “Dude you said we would go to the gym today at 5, don’t tell me you’re sleeping! I’m already outside your house. This would be the third week you’ve skipped.” The text message reads. You sit there reading the text on the locked screen debating if you should respond now or claim to have dosed off. Of course, you’ve already made your decision *pressing phone lock button*.

Time and energy. Many use these words interchangeably but make no mistake, the meanings are not synonymous. We may argue that we don’t have sufficient time to do certain things, but keep in mind, just as John C. Maxwell stated in one of his books, “Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance. The number of hours in a day are fixed but the quality and quantity of energy available to us is not.” We make the decision as to what we invest our energy into. The same energy you use for habits that don’t have a long term benefit, we can use it for something more productive which will grant us a greater return on investment. An overnight change is not what you’re looking for, it’s a gradual process!