Hey, Kody here.

You're receiving this 'cause you subscribed to receive 5-min habit tips from me every Tuesday :)

Unless, of course, this was forwarded to you... in which case, subscribe here for free!

Personal update: My parents are in town visiting! It's been great hanging out with them and my kids getting to see their Mimi and Papi. As cheesy as it sounds, being with family is literally my favorite thing in the world.

habit example

I messed up.

Last Tuesday was a whirlwind. 

Between:

• taking kids to the babysitter, 
• voting, 
• working, 
• zoom meetings, 
• sales calls, 
• and grabbing a Fiesta Pack at Del Taco (the only thing that sounded good to my wife), 

I almost missed sending out the weekly newsletter. 

(If you’re wondering, yes - this actually is a Habit Example. Stay with me)

When I did sit down to write it, I was under pressure to finish cause my wife and I had a meeting with our parenting coach coming up in a few minutes (we can use all the help we can get!).

Long story short, in a combination of a technical glitch and a rushed final check before hitting “send”, there were not one, but two big mistakes at the end of last weeks email. (If you know, you know)

Immediately I was irritated. It had been a long and stressful day. Did I seriously just make that dumb mistake?!

Then I caught myself… 

Years ago someone told me (I wish I remembered who) that when you’re in the middle of a tough situation, to ask yourself:

“will this matter a year from now?”

My answer?

Nope. 

In fact, if I hadn’t written this email, you probably wouldn’t have even noticed or remembered about my mistake in last weeks email.. just one WEEK later!

So why was I wasting even a minute stressing about it?

The problem is I was putting more weight into the impact of the mistake than it really deserved.

I perceived it to be a big deal because I take these emails seriously and I'm (normally) a meticulous quadruple checker.

Such a simple mistake felt like a failure in part of who I am... a detail oriented person!

At the end of the day, a couple mistakes on one email won't have any significant impact of the longterm success of this newsletter.

Just like how most of our minor mistakes in life that seem big in the moment really won't make a big difference in the long run.

What matters is that we don't make a habit of the same mistakes over and over.

Significant mistakes and oversights in every single email I send probably would have a significant impact on the long-term success of this newsletter.

Habits 100% will matter one year from now.

So since I'm not in the habit of making big mistakes on every email, I knew I could chill out.

try it

Next time you’re dealing with something tough and your instincts explode into frustration, anger, embarrassment, or discouragement, just ask: “will this matter a year from now?”

Of course, some things do matter a year from now - but this question helps weed out the 80% of things we get frustrated about that really don’t. 

inspiration

In the spirit of recognizing the things that won't matter a year from now...

“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”

- John Maxwell

actual quote from my 3 year old 😂

“When I was a baby, I was so naked”

Thanks for reading!

- Kody

P.S. This is the song I actually meant to send you last week. I don't know what it is, but I feel good about it!

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