I Just Ate 31 Apples

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:

“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!”

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.

Meaningful, true, and lasting personal development isn’t a Netflix binge session. You can’t cram an entire season into a weekend.

It’s far better to realize that you need to begin again at day one and reboot your efforts by eating your single apple for that day.

What’s your apple for today?

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