Sometimes it’s what you don’t do that can have the biggest impact on your life. But not doing certain things can be really difficult, and require a lot of mental energy—even though there’s not much to show for it.
It’s always tempting to put things on your Today Card (or to-do list, if you’re not using the card yet) that revolve around results. The classic example is finishing something. And you can tell when you’ve finished that thing, so it’s easy to know whether you get the points for it or not.
But successful days (and lives, for that matter) can have as much to do with what you avoid doing, as they do with what you produce. In light of that fact, don’t be afraid to award yourself points for not giving into bad habits. In fact, don’t be afraid to make avoiding a bad habit the top item for several days. It all boils down to how much you really want to overcome that bad habit.
In my case, I go through periods of eating a bunch of junk food in the later part of the day. Not only is the junk food unhealthy, but it’s particularly unhealthy later in the day. So as that habit has resurfaced, I’ve made avoiding junk food a top item on my card several times.
I keep doing so until avoiding junk food becomes a habit in itself. If and when I fall back into that habit, there’s always space on my card for the important task of overcoming that bad habit once again.
So don’t be afraid to go negative with your tasks for the day. Reward yourself for the very real mental energy it takes to not do something.
