BETTER YOU!
More Often than Not, Asking this One Question Will Save You from Making the Wrong Choice
Building good habits need not be a nightmare—it’s just fun under control.
Only the day before yesterday I was promising myself that I would sleep early — by one hour.
One day past the vow, and I was already on my mission to break it.
The temptation was kindling in me to pick up that phone lying right beside me and watch a couple of YT videos.
But what about waking up early in the morning?
Okay, this is the last time. Promise. From tomorrow I will have everything in place.
But fortunately, I controlled that urge and went to bed early.
Doesn’t the same happen to you too? I guess it does.
So how do we go on to take sane decisions that we don’t regret in the long term?
Ask yourself this simple question:
“Is it the easy thing to do or is it the right thing to do?”
Most of the time, these correctly symbolize the two choices we have on our hands at the moment.
And it has stuck with me since the time I read this in the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
It is aptly said that it is all about the sacrifices we make.
And asking this very question, “is it the easy thing or the right thing to do,” will help you not only in taking better decisions but also in developing confidence in your actions.
Because you know that you’re doing the right thing. You have done what needs to be done.
How do I sometimes use it?
I am not perfect. I take stupid decisions almost all the time. But sometimes, only sometimes, I am able to keep my sanity and take the right judgments.
And in most of the cases, I have observed that asking that very question just when you are about to make a choice helps a lot.
Wait for a second when that urge strikes you. Ask yourself that question and see for yourself if it helps.
Here are some of my bad urges that I’m able to confront, thanks to my habit of asking that question.
- I wanted to order from Zomato and skip the meal from the mess.
- I wanted to be up all night and watch YT videos or hop on a conference call with my friends.
- I wanted to skip classes (because I’m not feeling like attending them).
And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
But every time a situation like this arises, I ask myself that one question. And you won’t believe how much it has helped me.
I can now save more money, and time and also don’t skip classes.
It’s not some magical everything-can-be-fixed-with-this type of advice.
It is one simple sentence that only works if you put enough faith into it (and yourself).
And you know, when you work hard to resist that temptation and take the right decision despite the thousands of distractions present in your surroundings, you feel good. In and for yourself.
