How to Like What You See in the Mirror

What if I had a magic mirror (that would be awesome, wouldn’t it??) that gave me the ability to show you what your life would look like at age 80 (or 85 or 90) if you continued living as you are now versus if you began to make some small changes toward living a healthier lifestyle?

I wonder what differences you would see if you were able

to compare those images side by side and see the visible results of your choices.

And I wonder how that would affect the choices you are making TODAY if you could see the effect that those choices would make have on your future self.

Lord above, I wish I could do that…for you, for me. It would be an incredibly powerful motivator, right?

Have you heard of the “Slight Edge”* philosophy? It’s one of those crazy-simple and totally profound concepts. The basic idea is that small, simple changes in your habits maintained consistently over time shift the outcome in a BIG way.

I’m talking about relatively small changes here—like eating more fruits and vegetables on a regular basis or walking 10 minutes on your lunch hour every day. How would creating these habits NOW change your future?

It sounds easy. Maybe you are even a little bit inspired (I hope!), but here’s the trick: these small changes are easy to do AND *they are easy not to do*.

It’s like they’re so small we tend to think it doesn’t really matter.

But it does matter…over time it matters BIG TIME.

Because time is a big part of this equation!

When you do these small things, you will probably not see any immediate positive effects. On the flip side, if you don’t do these small steps you won’t notice any immediate negative consequences.

But—oh my gosh, this is huge! Tune in here!—over a period of years, the effects of these seemingly inconsequential choices become *crystal clear*.

The beauty of looking at our health through the lens of the slight edge philosophy is that it does not require us to make broad, sweeping changes. Instead we focus on the little things that we can do each and every day to move ourselves toward better health.

It’s the slow, steady, gradual, boring, day- to-day stuff that shapes who we are.

*Jeff Olson is the author of the book The Slight Edge Philosophy