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How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything

October 29, 2017

I am disgusted.

I know you are wondering why I’ve started this article on such a negative note but believe me, you will be disgusted too by the time I’m done narrating to you what just happened.

I was  just about to get into the shower after my morning workout when this lady who had been working out with us quickly came in, went to the changing room, quickly changed and was ready to leave while I was still struggling to remove my trainers from my feet (today was leg-day and I’m sure those of you who hit the gym regularly know what that means). Anyway, I digress.

Back to this lady. I hope you took note that I said she went into the changing room, not bathroom.

In short, the lady didn’t shower. She just removed the sweaty, smelly, messy workout clothes she had and changed into normal clothes. That’s normal though because many other people do the same with an intention of going to shower from the privacy and luxury of their homes.  The difference between her and them is that she wasn’t intending to go shower from home! At least not from what I heard and witnessed.

You don’t apply makeup if you are intending to go wash it out in ten minutes! You don’t use body spray (half a can maybe) if you are intending to go clean it off your body in ten minutes, or even half an hour! You don’t style your hair and have every curl and strand in the right place if you are going to stand under the shower within the hour. And you definitely don’t call for transport to take you across to the other side of town for a meeting, if you were truly intending to shower!

So as she dashed out of the door I couldn’t help but ask myself many questions; did she think that by spraying half a can of body spray on herself the stench of sweat would be killed? To make it even worse, she is a well endowed woman, meaning she is a (nearly double) plus size woman. Sorry for creating a disturbing image in your mind but I needed you to visualize what I saw for you to understand my disgust.  Honestly speaking, if even after soaping myself the first time I could still smell sweat, hence using a sports shower gel to kill the sweat completely, how did she pull that move so comfortably? That move of going out for a meeting with sweat caked all over her body? Eish!

But that is not what worried me. What worried me the most is remembering a saying I once read somewhere that says, “how you do anything is how you do everything else”.  

The impact of the implications of those words in relation to what just happened was really appalling. In short, let me just say if the said woman ever invited me for lunch or a drink in her house, I will politely decline and probably tell her I am on a 3 month dry fast! I mean, if she can pull a move like that on HERSELF, how sure am I that she would apply a higher level of hygiene when preparing the  food?

This is the thought that triggered today’s article. How you do anything is how you do everything else.

If for instance you are this judgmental person at work, it does not mean that because you are at home you will stop judging those around you. No. You will continue using the same yardstick of judgement you use when you are at the office because how you do anything is how you do everything else.

If you are this person who is used to intimidating people to get your way around traffic, even when you go to the bank and find those long lines leading to the cashiers’ windows you will do the same. Why? Because how you do anything is how you do everything else.

If you are used to damping your clothes all over the place and no matter how many times your significant other restores the room you still keep messing it up, even when you go to the office that is the same way your desk will look like; cluttered like your bedroom. Why is this the case? Because there is no way you can be clean at home and cluttered at work! How you do one anything is how you do everything else around you. Go take a look at your car right now and see whether it reflects your desk or your bedroom.

If when faced with a challenge at work the first thing you do is ignore it or look for someone to blame, even when you face one at home you will not deal with it in any different way. You will ignore it  and look for someone to blame in the same way you always do because how you do anything is how you do everything else.

If you are perpetually late to work, it is highly possible that you will one day miss your flight, if you already haven’t missed it a couple of times. The same reasons that cause you to get late to work will one day cause you to miss your wedding. Those same reasons are the ones that cause you to get late to church or for meetings (even when you are the beneficiary). Why? Because how you do anything is how you do everything else.

Unless you suffer multiple-personalities, which in that case becomes a special case that needs a doctor’s intervention, you cannot be one person in one place and a different one in another place. Your habits will always be the same no matter what role you are playing, unless you are acting.

As we come to the end of this 10th month of 2017, I’d like you to take a few minutes and look back to the year so far and honestly ask yourself whether there are areas in your life you have done things that you should not have because it so happened that  it’s just the way you do things. 

For instance, if you never finished that one book you started in January, then I can bet you there are many projects you haven’t completed to-date because how you do anything is how you do everything else.

I know I have over repeated that phrase but I did that intentionally so that you can understand how much the truth behind those words affects our lives.

As I come to the end of this article today I have a question for you; are your satisfied with how you do ”anything”? If you are not, then this is a good day for you to start breaking some old patterns and habits and start creating new ones. 

Remember, like I always say, you have to get to that point of acknowledging that you have a weakness in a certain area for you to now start looking for ways of overcoming that weakness. Without first accepting you need help or you need a change, nothing will ever change.

You want to change how you do everything, then change how you do anything.

Be ignited. Be inspired. Be influenced. Become the best version of yourself you can ever be.

Remember to follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to get your daily dose of inspiration. 

 

PS: This article was originally published in Tanzania's Guardian On Sunday on the 29th of October, 2017, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words". 

 

 

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