Yo yo yo. Welcome back to the Further your Lifestyle podcast conversations on lifestyle passions and hustles. My name's Chris, I am your host and I'm super excited to be back here having the conversation with you, episode 185 today. We're getting very close to that 200 number and I'm excited to be here and have this conversation. This is another question that has come through and again I've been on repeat answering this, saying this for each question that I've been getting, that I'm really enjoying this process of getting these questions and then addressing them almost live, in the sense. I haven't gone through and prepared anything for this. It's really just working through what comes first to mind and then seeing where that goes. And some of these episodes have been quite long and some of these have been quite short, and that's okay. So if you're enjoying this or if you've got a question that you think you would love to have answered, chuck it down below. It doesn't mean I'm going to get to it straight away, like in putting it into the podcast, but maybe there's a conversation to be had. So if that sounds like, you, chuck it down below in the comments. And if you're also enjoying this, make sure you like subscribe, and also I would appreciate it if you could share this with someone that you think it could resonate with.

What is the question today? The question today is this what's a small decision or choice you made in the past that ended up having a significant impact on your life? A small decision? I don't know what a small decision actually means and what does that entail. That's all open for interpretation, but there is something that comes straight to mind, and, if I think about it, it's going to have to be routine and being a habitual kind of person, and the challenge with that, though, is it does come with a price. We're going to dive into this. Let's roll the intro and let's get into it. As I said before, the question was what's a small decision or choice you made in the past that ended up having a significant impact on your life? I think this is choosing to live by routine and by putting in habits in my life. Now, this could come across as a little cliche, but I think for me I'm not one to. I like to stay rooted in the sense of being consistent, and I think consistency is obviously a really big. It's a small decision you make on a daily basis that's going to have a big impact over a longer period of time, which is why I think routine and being habitual is the key to that, because to be consistent, having a routine, is what makes you be consistent even easier, and then, if it turns into a habit, even better.

The problem with this, though, is sometimes it can be very hard to bring in other things into your life, into your routine, into your habits, into your consistent structure. So there's pros and cons of this, of course, but I think, for me, I can go back to high school. I was very routine-based what days I wanted to work on what, how long I would spend studying, how much play time I would do. But then also this is down to the dot of how I operate and manage my money. Personally, this also comes into how I operate my business and the things that I do in my business, but, I think, also a lot of people.

When we want to make a big change, when we want to make a big difference, when we want to see results, we tend to think about the big action that is required, and so, even thinking about a video game, I want to get to this level, and then you start doing it and realize it's going to take 40 hours to do and you're thinking I've only got an hour. This is too overwhelming and you feel defeat. Or you're trying to lose 20 kilos and you realize that's going to take 12 months and it becomes a little bit overwhelming. But when we start to change the narrative and change the perspective of okay, I want to make a change in my life, I want to be this, or I want to be a bit healthier, or start small, start with small steps, start with one thing that you can do today that is going to help you get closer to that end goal and I talk about this all the time. It's probably one of the most repeated statements what is one thing that you can do today that's going to get you closer to where you want to be in next year, five years, two years, six months, one week, whatever. And that's really the secret source of it because I've decided to build my own business, because I've decided to do running, because I've decided to be on YouTube. Now, I've been on YouTube for a long time. I don't have a big following. I've got you here. You're one of the 3,300 subscribers, but I've been able to continue to put in the reps because I've built a system which works for me. It's consistent, and the problem with this is sometimes it can become a bit dry, it becomes a bit repeatable and it's just the same old, but I'm happy with that.

And at the end of the day, you need to think about why you do things. Why are you doing it? What is the outcome that you're expecting? What is the outcome that you're pursuing? If you don't know why you're doing something, then you definitely need to challenge it, right? But I think, when it comes to getting to what you want, seeing results that you want and trying to achieve those results, being able to do those small, incremental things on a regular basis is what's going to enable you to really double down and get those results, because the time's going to pass anyway. So that's really probably like off the top of my head, off the cuff, that's what's coming straight to mind. I don't think there's been like a moment where it's like I did something so small that it had like an 80% impact to my life. Obviously, I think there's been some decisions I've made which has made my life for a big change, but they haven't been small decisions. Right, small decisions it can be something which it's defined by you, I think.

One thing which I will bring up, though, is I think one thing that I do try to avoid is having too many decisions to make, and when you can remove having so many decisions and you only have a smaller amount of decisions to make, it has a better impact on your life. What I mean by this is the clothes you wear or the routine of breakfast, and it comes back to the routine or the routine of food or what you do what days. That just removes decision-making. It also helps you be able to move effectively, because you don't have to think about what do I need to do now. You just know what's coming Now. If you enjoy that lifestyle, then that's great. Right, I do 100%. If you don't enjoy it, that's okay as well.

Like for me, I know what I'm going to have on Monday. I know what I'm having on Tuesday this is food-wise. I know what I'm having on Wednesday and usually Thursday and on the weekend as well, and that makes my life so much easier, because it's one less thing to decide. I know what clothes I'm trying to wear for what. Like, even in this podcast, I wear pretty much the same thing all the time, because that's just gets me into my groove, gets me into my zone, it gets me into the way I want to operate. And they're small decisions, but they enable a workflow or a focus point or a flow state right and having things to fall back onto, such as time of day I want to do certain things, getting up the same time every morning. It builds this routine, this habit that enables me to, over time, have a compound effect, because I know where I'm able to be the most productive, where I thrive with certain things in my life and where I struggle as well. Right, this is going to be different for everyone. I don't know if maybe you do.

There's this movie called the Butterfly Effect, or let's not necessarily talk about the movie, the Butterfly Effect, but the Butterfly Effect, if you don't know what that means, it's basically the concept of this small like you do something small that it seems insignificant, but then they have these unexpected, really significant outcomes and sometimes we don't realize the power of that and I think for us, in this case, by doing the small stuff, but consistently and really well and to the dot, on a regular basis, it doesn't seem like a lot, it doesn't take a lot of sweat, it doesn't take a lot of effort, but over a long period of time, that thing is going to enable some really great outcomes and results, and maybe that's a way we need to look at it. I think one other thing that I'll bring up is when it comes to making decisions sorry, not making decisions when it comes to the small decisions on how you want to live your life and the impacts that they have, I think we need to be very careful that we don't let the small decisions be influenced too heavily by external factors of other people's intentions, and what I mean by that is sometimes we can make small decisions because someone else has prompted us to, and then they have a big impact on our life which wasn't planned for. Now, this usually occurs when, usually in a negative space, you're out with mates. They say, oh, let's do this, let's do that, or why don't you do that? Or why don't you have one drink, or why don't you come out with this here? And then you regret it afterwards. Sometimes you have a really great time as well, but I think that's probably more of one of those cliche examples where don't do things that you're not comfortable doing because it's not you. I'm not saying you shouldn't get out of your comfort zone, but just be careful how you're influenced in the small decisions that you do make, because sometimes we can make what we think is a small decision which ends up being a really big decision, a big outcome anyway, going around in circles here.

That understanding, I don't think there's been anything else that comes to mind in terms of a small decision or a choice that I made in the past that ended up having a huge impact, obviously stepping away from the nine to five. But that wasn't a small decision. That was a big choice, a tough one, I think. Just choosing to be consistent, choosing to be really strict with the routine, especially when I was doing my weight loss this is going back jeepers, 10, 12 years ago, when I did my weight loss journey and being very strict to it and sticking to it. There were only small decisions that I had to make and not caving on those small decisions, because then it enabled to have a bigger outcome or a better result in the long run, in the long term, as I was trying to lose weight.

So I think, look, this is going to be a short and sweet episode, but what do you think about this? I want to encourage you to reflect this on yourself. What are some of the decisions you've made in the past that have had a huge impact? And maybe something else that maybe I haven't even thought about was what was the decision that I made that had a negative impact on my life? And look, there's probably multiple times where I've done something and it was so small, but then you reflect back on it and say that was stupid, I shouldn't have done that, or it's a cringe moment and you learn from those and you should never do them again. But look, off the top of my head, there's nothing that comes to mind in terms of something so small that I did that has had such a really bad outcome. There's been some bad decisions I've made. Maybe I've made a purchase and I probably should have waited or held off as long as possible and maybe not rushed into it, and that's why I was saying to not be heavily influenced by other people when it comes to making these decisions.

The other thing is, then, that I speak about this is there is going to be pain points when we have this kind of conversation around regret and maybe overlooking significance, so a polar opposite of the two. So you don't want to start thinking about this and then you start to bring in regret, because regret's not going to make you feel better. However, when it comes to decision-making, there is obviously this whole regret perspective where we then have a fear that we will regret if we don't make the decision. And I think sometimes there's been those moments where I realized if I don't do this and test this and figure it out, then I'm probably going to regret it later. There's been moments of those, and I've been willing to take the risk to see what happens.

The other one is then maybe we're lacking the ability to overlook the significance of a situation, and a good example of this could be just appreciating. Because of your consistency, the results have been rewarding, and maybe we overlook how we got here in the first place, and I think I tend to do this. Sometimes I get a result and I think, oh, wow, this is better than I expected. But why wouldn't it be? I've been working so hard and consistently to get those results, so therefore, of course they should be that Sometimes we forget our consistency or our ability to recognize the importance of doing those smaller things. So that's from the heart like that's my experience around this, but I think what I want to challenge you with is reflect on this what do you think about this? But also like, where are your intentions with this? When you make a decision not saying you should overthink things, but maybe take 30 seconds and just think about is this going to have a big impact? What could this impact be? Is it something of relevance to me? Is it something which I need? Is it something that I want, or is it something that you're willing to? Just let's just see what happens and risk that and give it a go. That would be my encouragement and challenge for you.

Short and sweet episode today. Really do appreciate you being here. We're getting close to the end of the year now and it's always exciting at this time of the year because there's lots of energy, there's lots of things happening, but make sure you do still continue to take the time and set yourself up for success as we move into the new year. And that's a really great way to finish it, because right now you can make some small decisions in starting to plan for the new year and what you want that new year to look like.

Don't start planning for the new year in the new year. It's too late. Start now, right, what can you do today? That's going to ensure that next year is going to be your best year, yet I'm going to leave you with that. If you want to talk about that a little bit more. I've done a few episodes on this. Appreciate you being here. Please subscribe, go share the podcast if you think this can resonate with someone else and at the end of the day, I'm here to help you further your lifestyle and if you feel like that's happened today also, please let me know. Appreciate you and you have a wonderful day. Cheers.