How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything

Humans grab ahold of sound bites — I guess they call them memes now.

Remember Deepak Chopra?

He's still around and touting the benefits of "Quantum Consciousness" and quantum physics to help improve your life. However, Richard Dawkins has said that Chopra uses "quantum jargon as plausible-sounding hocus pocus." (Chopra, Deepak (June 19, 2013). "Richard Dawkins Plays God: The Video (Updated)." The Huffington Post.)

I admit I bought into Deepak's rhetoric for a minute in 1993 when he first appeared on Oprah. I bought his book, and my 20-something brain thought, "Hey, this may be a thing."

Thirty-six-year-old me almost bought into "The Secret." That was until I realized sitting around the house, meditating on my goals and dreams, didn't do a thing until I stopped thinking and began taking action. The only humans who reached their goals by sitting around thinking were the creators of this bunk science.

Recently, I have heard the phrase, "How you do anything is how you do everything," from many different coaches, gurus, trainers, consultants, and social media personalities.

I have heard this phrase many times over the decades, and it seems to still be around.

"How you do anything is how you do everything."

Really?

If I had sex the same way I solved a Rubix's Cube, my partner would only be happy once in a blue moon.

Your desires, decision, and actions are born out of two opposing forces — pain and pleasure. How you do anything (and everything) is determined by this principle.

Pain and pleasure are not on-and-off switches — think of them as on a continuum.

(PAIN ---------------------------PLEASURE)

Solving a Rubik's Cube is satisfying, but it doesn't create the pleasure of sex.

I don't do the Rubix's Cube like I do everything. In fact, if I did everything the same way, wouldn't life become boring?

You have areas of your life to which you link extreme pleasure. You also have areas of your life to which you link intense pain. Now, when I say pain and pleasure, I'm referring to the emotions you link to the areas of your life or the physical activity you are doing.

For example, I love country music. My wife hates it. When I play country music, it makes me feel good — my wife, on the other hand, leaves the room. I link pleasure to country music, and my wife links it to pain.

Let's take another example. I know many humans who are deep into physical fitness. Their lives revolve around going to the gym, eating healthy, and gaining pleasure from their fit physique. These humans link massive pleasure to these activities and physical attributes.

I also know many humans who hate going to the gym, loathe eating healthy, and have no interest in pursuing a toned body. Yet they look the same as the physical fitness enthusiasts. How? Because they link massive pain to being overweight, looking grotesque, and dying early.

Think Kevin Smith. Kevin was overweight, unfit, and consumed a lot of unhealthy food. And now, he watches what he puts in his mouth, exercises, and is focused on being fit. "That heart attack was the greatest gift I ever had," Smith, 52, tells PEOPLE of the massive heart attack he suffered in 2018. "Not only did it save my life, make me go vegan and go healthier and stuff, but it gave me the spine for Clerks III." (PEOPLE, September 22, 2022)

Kevin didn't get fit the same way he writes scripts. Writing is a pleasure for Kevin — dying is a pain.

NOTE: As a whole, humans will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.

When you want to change something about yourself, the key is to link massive pleasure to becoming the human you want to evolve into while linking immense pain to staying the way you currently are.

Internalize how much pleasure you will gain and how much pain you will avoid.

And it is okay not to do everything the same way. So mix it up, and have fun!