What Choice Do You Make in Decisive Moments?

Image credit: James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. Design adapted by Reed H. Steele

This morning I was reading James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, and came across the above diagram with the following caption:

“The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a few productive and healthy choices made at decisive moments. Each one is like a fork in the road, and these choices stack up throughout the day and can ultimately lead to very different outcomes.”

As I saw this image, I was reminded of US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s 2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas. In the address, which has now been viewed over 14 million times on YouTube, he leaves the graduating class with lessons he gleaned from Navy SEAL training that he believes can change the world.

Of those lessons, one stands out:

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made. That you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.

So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

In their own way, both Clear and McRaven argue that doing the little things at decisive moments have a profound impact on how things unfold throughout our day.

Sometimes, though, it can be hard to know what choice to make.

Knowing our goals—especially those BIG, SCARY (hairy) GOALS—can make it that much easier to know what those little things are and what choice we should make at those decisive moments throughout our day.

Sometimes they are things that aren’t glamourous.

Sometimes they are things that aren’t fun.

Sometimes they are things that put us through pain.

But, they are almost always the things that cause us to look back with a sense of pride when we complete them.

So, yeah, if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

And then simply continue making decisions during decisive moments of your day that align with your goals.

You’re not only going to have a better day, but you’re going to have a much better chance of achieving that BIG, SCARY GOAL.

Which, in my opinion, is a pretty good recipe for a satisfied life.