Last month, I had the privilege of listening to an amazing speaker Cecilia Stoll at Arbonne’s Global Training Conference. She said many things that impacted my heart and mind, but one of the most memorable to me was, “How you do one thing is how you do everything.”
It was a call to be excellent in ALL things. The little and the big. But especially the little. Because the standards we have for ourselves in those seemingly unimportant tasks somehow carry over into the more meaningful, impactful ones.
I think a lot of it has to do with how we see ourselves. And as humans, we are wired to be congruent. If we believe we are kind, hard-working, excellent, and courageous, when faced with opportunities that demand those things, we step into them without question. But if we know ourselves to be a person who cuts a corner every now and then either out of laziness or lack of character, then we can’t trust that inconsistency. And sometimes that inconsistency can be costly.
It’s not worth it. May as well work on being vigilant in all the little day-to-day decisions. Here are just a few:
- Flossing 🙂
- Responding timely and respectfully to emails or texts
- Being kind and gracious, never gossiping
- Reading every day
- Exercising each day
- Keeping the counters clean and ready
- Saying yes to opportunities, even when nervous
- Always giving more value
- Making your bed every morning
I, myself, am trying to repeat this mantra each day and becoming aware of all the little ways I can step it up. But we have also been repeating it a lot to our kids these last few weeks as we want them to have the same awareness and standards of excellence for themselves. In our home, on the field, with their friends. It’s a great reality to live into!
Sonya Dalrymple 
We can’t cheat ourselves. The great thing is that if we do the small things well over a long period of time, results come our ways. Opportunities show up. It’s habits that build up over time and create good things. When we see good things consistently in other people’s lives I see that connection between the small things done well and consistently and their outcomes. Thanks, Sonya!