Can I tell you guys a story about hard boiled eggs real quick? Seriously yes, eggs.
I have been hard boiling eggs for years, sometimes I do a great job, sometimes they are a hot mess. I’ve done all the tricks on pinterest and I have my favorites that totally work. For the most part I am usually in such a hurry I do it the regular way and then have to peel them one at a time as I eat them. I’m not annoyed by this, it just made for an interesting observation.
The same batch of eggs I peeled had ones that came off easy, and ones that did not. Today I was peeling one that was not. I found myself getting frustrated at how much egg was coming off and how much time it was taking when I clearly “didn’t have time for this”. I was just about to rip the shell off, eat what I could salvage, and move on with my life. It’s just an egg, I have bigger things to do right?
Then I remembered a quote that has stuck with me since the day I heard it years ago. A quote I take into almost everything I do from day to day. It’s very simply:
“How you do anything, is how you do EVERYTHING.”
I’ll just let you think on that for a bit …
Yeah stay with that a second more …
Ready?
Okay.
So here are I am, thinking this is no big deal, and I’ll just half ass this whole egg peeling thing and maybe next time I’ll do the ice trick and not get myself in this situation, and then I remember the quote. I remember that is not the person I am, the person I want to be, or the example I want to set for others.
I glanced at the clock, still had 8 minutes to my next call, and no where else to be or anything to worry about. So why was I getting impatient? Why was I willing to settle, not use all of my abilities, and get less than what was possible?
I am pretty sure it took me about another minute of my life to peel that egg. Very slowly, one little piece at a time, until it was just as smooth and clean as the one that came off so easily before it. It took me a little bit longer than I expected or wanted it to, but I DIDN’T COMPROMISE MY EFFORTS OR STANDARDS.
What would I have saved there by tearing it apart? 60 seconds? What would have lost? Maybe a few grams of protien? Either way that choice is “no big deal” right?
I just wonder, where are you making that choice in the small things, that are showing up in the big things? If you’ll sell yourself short over an egg, something so simple and easy, what WON’T you sell yourself short for? What if something you needed or wanted was ACTUALLY difficult.
In those moments you are the same person, big or small. I hope today you’ll do the small things the way you want to do the big things <3