A Cumulative Mindset
A Cumulative Mindset
Each day, Jared asks, “How was your day?” I respond with a variety of honest answers. Almost always, though, my answer includes, “…, but I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked.”
I have no shortage of new ideas and actionable to-dos. Each day is an opportunity to see as many of them through as possible, and I do my best to remain disciplined. I have bought into the idea that a disciplined hour leads to a disciplined day, and a disciplined day leads to a disciplined week. A disciplined week, ultimately, leads to a disciplined life.
The truth is, though, this idea of accumulation—an hour leads to a day leads to a week leads to a life—applies to far more than discipline. If discipline accumulates, then mindset, for example, must accumulate as well.
If at the end of a day, I look at how I invested my energy and think, “…, but I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked,” how might I feel at the end of a week? At the end of a life?
If this is the mindset I cultivate each day, why would I expect to find myself in a different one at the end of my life?
So, I feel strongly it is time to challenge my daily mindset. I cannot simply flip a switch, but I can certainly begin to consciously honor the abundance of my day each day. I plan to start by writing down three thin slices of abundance in my notebook to end the workday. The more days that pass, the more this practice will cultivate a new mindset—a mindset I wish to find myself in at the end of my life.
“How was your day?”
“…, but I noticed thin slices of abundance.”
“How was your week?”
“…, but I noticed thin slices of abundance.”
“…and your life?”
“…, and it was full of abundance.”
How can we honor the abundance of our lives on a daily basis?
The follow-up below was written two weeks after the essay above.
Two weeks ago, I shared my desire to better cultivate a mindset of abundance in my daily life. Each day, Jared asks, “How was your day?” Until two weeks ago, my answer, almost always, included the phrase, “…, but I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked.” I have very consciously tried to shift this mindset to, “…, but I noticed thin slices of abundance.”
Oh my goodness!
This small shift in the way I describe my day aloud to Jared is already making a difference in how I feel, in how I experience my daily life. I notice and honor what I do move forward. Yesterday, I even told Sullivan what I accomplished, and the day ended on a hopeful and high note. Very little about my day to day has changed throughout the past two weeks. My focus has simply shifted. Mindset alone is so incredibly powerful.
A Cumulative Mindset was written on January 24, 2022. It is the second of five essays from 2022 being shared December 22, 2022 and New Year’s Day. You can read the first, The Pursuit of Complexity, here.
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