How you do anything is how you do everything

There is an old saying that says, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” The saying presents the idea that how we work and act in our lives are more cohesive than most people realize.

Most people assume we can work hard when it is something we care about. We can work less on things we don’t like but have to do. We can ignore areas we don’t want to do.

The saying assumes that this isn’t true and that how we work in any of these areas translates to all areas. If we work hard at the things we hate, then we also work hard at the things we like. If we avoid the hard work on areas we dislike, then we also avoid the hard work on areas that are important.

There is some truth in this saying. I see it at work all the time. How someone shows up and works tends to translate to other areas of their life.

But I also believe it's shortsighted. While many times this is true, sometimes it isn’t true at all.

And even more important, we all have the capability to change in this area. We don’t have to ALWAYS act the same way. In fact, once we have some awareness into what is going on, most people will start to put in a little more effort.

If one area is lacking effort, then realize this is hurting other areas of your life also. A strong work ethic tends to permeate throughout all your work. Laziness does the same thing.

But instead of assuming we just need to start working harder, we should start small. We should address the systems and habits in our lives and slowly work to change our behavior.

We can do this and put more effort into the small, unimportant things in life. Then this mentality will spread to the most important things in life.

Start to take seriously the small things. Have to clean your house? Do the best job possible, not enough so you aren’t embarrassed when company comes over. Have to work out? Put forth the greatest effort during workouts. Don’t quit before you finish the workout.

If you start to do this more and more it will start to become habit. It will be a natural approach to tasks. It will become part of who you are and how you approach life.

We don’t have to change from extreme laziness to extreme hard work in a day. Instead we should slowly look to change. We can start with small ways that we approach our work. Then we build that into something incredible.