I Just Ate 31 Apples

Don The Idea Guy September 9, 2014

I subscribe to DarrenDaily from Success Magazine editor Darren Hardy. Every morning I get a text message and an email alert with a link to a quick video and commentary that feels like Darren recorded it just for me. Each episode usually takes just 3 or 4 minutes to consume and comprehend (though with the early — pre-coffee — morning delivery, I sometimes need to watch twice for it to sink in) with each session containing a single point of improvement I can work on for that day.

It’s incredibly valuable information… and I know it.

But for some reason last month I wasn’t very consistent in consuming the information.
I’d consciously decide to put off doing what I knew was really the best thing for me at that time — absorbing and planning to apply the advice.

Have you ever done that yourself?
…Procrastinate or postpone something you really knew was in your best interest?

I told myself that I really wasn’t “not doing it”;
I was just going to do it later.

I’ll listen to two lessons tomorrow. Or three the next day.
DarrenDaily is really quick to consume — I’ll just watch them all on Saturday when I have more time (and then I never got around to it).

The trouble with postponing a “daily dose” and planning to double-up (or triple-up!) the next time, is that it’s supposed to be a daily action – not a gigantic cram session all at once, or as my friend and mentor (and former Success magazine cover model) Jeffrey Gitomer says:

[quote]”It’s supposed to be an ‘Apple A Day’ that keeps the doctor away — not 31 apples all eaten on the last day of the month!”[/quote]

I ended up doing cram session on the last day of the month (so I could start fresh on day 1 of the new month) and watched an entire mont’s worth of daily content in a single sitting. I didn’t do myself (or the advice) any service. It was impossible to really give the content and concepts the attention, observation, or practice they deserved.

Instead of a daily dose of personal improvement, I gave myself mental indigestion from trying to absorb a month’s worth of concepts and valuable ideas all in one sitting. It’s impossible to work on daily improvement by trying to do all the improvement in one day.