learning | The Caleb Barney Collection

Making better decisions

Each day is full of making decisions. The majority of them are easy and don’t even register with you when you’re making them. But some are monumental and can impact your future. So how do you consistently make the best decisions? Below are three ways I try to keep in mind to make the best decisions possible…

1. Always think of the long-term ramifications of your decisions. A good way to do this is to take emotions out of your decision-making process. Emotions are powerful, and if you only focus on what makes you feels good now, you may be hindering your future self. Sleeping in, not working out, not eating right, spending too much money on something you don’t need…these usually feel good at the time you’re making the decision, but if you take the easy or “feel good” option often enough, your long-term health will suffer.

2. Remove temptations. If you know that your self-control is weak when it comes to making certain decisions, try to stay away from having to decide. For example, if you have a huge sweet tooth, but want to lose weight, don’t keep sweets in the house. If you make unhealthy things inconvenient (or remove temptations), you will be less likely to do them. This is the opposite of number 3 (automation)…

3. Automate repetitive tasks. Do you have a hard time saving/investing money? Have it automatically withdraw from your bank account on the 1st and 15th of every month. Now you don’t have to remember to do something. Another way of thinking about this is to set up rules for yourself. By setting up rules, you don’t have to think about whether you should or shouldn’t do something. Some examples might be: not eating after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m., wearing brown dress shoes with blue slacks, drinking 20 ounces of water as soon as you wake up, etc.

These are just a few ideas of how you can set yourself up to make better decisions on a regular basis. Do you have any tips that weren’t mentioned above? Feel free to share in the comments section below!

The weekend

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

No matter what happened yesterday, no matter what you did or didn’t do, today is a new day. Don’t dwell on the past. You can’t change what happened last week, but today you have a new opportunity to do what you need to do.

I agree with Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote above. Each day brings you new opportunities to reset. But there’s something different about the weekend. It feels easier to hit the reset button because you’re able to take a breath and take a step back from work. Now that it is the weekend, try doing things that you don’t have as much time to do on a typical weekday. Weekends don’t mean you should just sit around and do nothing. You get an extra 8 hours per day back (more if you count the drive time) since you’re not going into work! Take advantage of it. Go work out, read a good book, clean the house, meal prep for the week, start on the project that you’ve been meaning to…Sure, you can still catch up on a show or two, but try to improve yourself. Now is when you have the time and the strength (mentally and physically) to follow through with your ideas. Don’t waste it.

Sharpening the saw

Just like the analogy of “sharpening the saw,” you need to take time to sharpen your body and mind. Take the time to prepare for the future. When you a sharpening the blade of a saw, you may feel unproductive because you’re not actually “using” the saw to cut something down. But, in reality, you’re being extremely productive. Because of you being proactive in sharpening the saw, it ensures that when you do go to use it, it will be more efficient and cut more effectively with less energy being expended.

This is why it is important to work on “sharpening” your body and your mind. Eating healthy foods, working out, and stretching (which I enjoy the least, but need the most) are a few ways to sharpen your body. Reading, writing, drawing, painting, doing puzzles, building things, and meditating are ways you can sharpen your mind.

By working on yourself today, reducing your weaknesses or improving your strengths, you prepare yourself for the work of tomorrow to be easier. If your training is harder than the actual event, the event will seem easy to you and you’ll be able to perform better than the competition.

Success leaves clues

Who are you modeling your actions and behaviors from? Who has already succeeded in what you’re trying to accomplish? How did they do this?

Try to tease out the similarities between multiple people who have achieved success in whatever field in which you are interested. What sets them apart from their peers? Is it their mindset? Their overall strategy? What specific tactics did they use to obtain the results you desire and are there any pitfalls by using those same tactics? Will they still work in today’s world or are the tactics outdated? For example, if that person did something in 1980, the specific tactics they performed may or may not work today. But can you figure out the concept behind what worked and apply that to fit in today’s market?

Success leaves clues. It is up to you to investigate and determine how others’ successes can help improve your situation.

Embracing the suck

Have you ever caught yourself wishing for more? Have you said, “I can’t wait to get out of this crappy apartment!” Or, “This car is the worst! I want to get a new one.” Or even, “I’ll be happier once X happens.”

But the reality is, those things you think you want? The things you think will make you happy? They won’t give you lasting happiness. You’ll love your new apartment or car for a couple of months, then that will become your new normal, your baseline will reset, and you eventually will want something newer and better again. You have to change your mindset if you want lasting happiness. It’s like the cliche, “Life is a journey, not a destination. Learn to enjoy the ride.”

Instead of wishing for more, we should work on being grateful for what we have. We should enjoy where we’re at, and that means sometimes you have to embrace the suck. It may not be the most fun now, but as long as you put yourself in a position to get past this (without focusing too much on the end result, a.k.a. “the destination”), one day you’ll be able to look back fondly at the memories you’re making.

I remember living in a century house in Columbus my sophomore and junior years in college. The one side of the house didn’t really warm up that well during the winter months and we were broke college students, so we closed that section off. At its worst, the kitchen must have been 10 degrees colder than the living room, maybe more. But it’s not like the living room was that warm either. In addition to having the curtains closed and a blanket lining the bottom of the door (to minimize the draft), we always wore sweatpants and hoodies while wrapped up in a blanket with the space heater nearby. Our rooms were cold too, especially mine since I lived in the attic! It wasn’t the best house, but we loved it. You have to embrace those moments and the memories you are blessed to make with others. Now, over ten years later, my old roommates and I still bring up those times and laugh. We’ve moved on to bigger and better things, but that’s kind of the point. You don’t want to be stuck in a crappy house (or situation) forever. You should be ambitious. You should have goals. But don’t make those the end all, be all. Focus on the journey, not the destination. After all, a little adversity is going to kill you.

I know that we plan on letting our kids have that crappy job, the embarrassing car that has a name, and a stereotypical college house/apartment. It builds resilience and character. When things aren’t handed to you and you occasionally have to “embrace the suck,” it allows you to put your current situation into perspective. You’ll eventually get past this hurdle, but until then, try to soak everything in. Remember every detail of what’s going on. It will only make the story that much better when you relive/retell it in the future. Until then, try to enjoy the ride.