Get Back On the Horse That Threw You

It’s easy to fall off a horse, especially a difficult horse to ride. But it’s also easy to get right back on that horse.

• You have every intention of exercising daily and strengthening your physical body. But you miss a day, and now your streak is ruined. It’s very easy to decide that since you missed yesterday, there’s no reason to worry about missing today. It feels like you have to start over now.
• You committed to prospecting and developing new opportunities daily. But you got busy with existing client demands, and the day slipped by without you making a single outbound call. Yesterday was a wash, so now the week is ruined. You tell yourself you’ll start again next week, after you muster up the willpower to start over again.

It’s easy to fall off the horse, but it’s just as easy to get back on. In order to do so, you can’t rationalize your failure to keep that single commitment for that single day. You failed to keep that commitment one day. Make no excuses. Today is a different day, and if you promised yourself you would do something this day, worry about that commitment. The very best thing you can do is start over with a clean slate and ride the horse today.

You also can’t beat yourself up for having missed a single day and having fallen off the horse. There will be days when you don’t have the physical energy to do all that you need to do. There will be days when you don’t have the psychic energy to do what you promised yourself you would do. And there will certainly be days when the world makes other plans for you. Sometimes it won’t even be up to you whether not you do what you promised yourself you would do.

No rationalizing. No judgment. Today is a different day. Pick up right where you left off, get back on the horse, and start riding it again.