I just have to (no, I want to) give props to James Clear for his book, Atomic habits, where he introduces this super simple play-on-words, which is kind of revolutionizing my daily thinking and impacting my attitude in a positive way.
We often tend to say things that we don’t feel like doing in the moment in obligatory terms, such as: “I have to do the laundry. “I have to cook some lunch for us.” Or, “I have to take my dog for a walk.”
By changing just ONE word in any such sentences entirely changes the perspective and pretty soon actually starts to make me feel blessed, instead of stressed! It takes my brain out of a victim-mode and shifts my thoughts towards gratitude. Gratitude has been proven by research to be a major life-enhancer. People who are thankful have better attitudes and enjoy life more, they’re more pleasant to be around and they even live longer!
So, I offer to you some of my daily have-to’s that I’ve lately been changing into get-to’s, along with some quick explanation. As you’ll see, this shift in perspective can take you down many rabbit holes, as your mind can quickly lead you from one thing to the next.
I get to wake up early. I have somewhere I need to be on most days. I have stuff that I need to do and people that are counting on me to do those things. I have reasons for getting up early. My focus matters. My preparation counts. My contribution makes a difference.
I get to do the laundry. I own a bunch of clothes! We (my kids, and especially my wife) have a lot of clothes! And we actually have running water come right into our house. I just open the tap and “Ta-da!” We even have warm water. Man! I could even take a warm shower right now, in some of the cleanest and drinkable water, right here in my home. (I recently saw an article that said my country has some of the best tap-water in the world.)
I get to make lunch or dinner for my family, quite regularly. We have plentiful food ingredients. We can get dairy products, vegetables, wheat products… even meat products – from just few hundred meters away. We can choose to eat healthy, too, if we want, which is even better for us. This, I was privileged to learn through an education, which taught me about lifestyle choices, which a healthy diet is a major contributor of.
…An education! What a blessing that has been for my life. I didn’t understand that as a kid, but I do now. So much so, that I keep getting more educated, voluntarily, and even choose to pay for it! I’ve come to appreciate education. It opens doors, expands my mind and makes me live and work smarter and wiser.
My kids sometimes complain that they have to go to school and have to do their homework. My youngest just got the Yousician app on his phone and now has to practice guitar regularly (and still loves it!), cause we paid for the subscription. We’re helping him see that he gets to have a phone, he gets to have wi-fi internet in a heated house with running water and the laundry machine washing his dirty shorts. He gets to have some boundaries around his phone time and he gets to eat some healthy food at semi-regular intervals throughout the day. He gets to have a dad who is telling him all the things he has to do.
I should (I mean, I get to… cause I figured this out now) start changing my use of words around these sentences with others, too, and not just keep these findings to myself.
Why don’t you take a minute now to think of a few of your undesirable things, that you also get to do this week? You could make a list of a bunch of things, or just elaborate on one or a couple things. Whatever you find more helpful. For me, this simple exercise has been a bit fun, but more importantly, quite productive!
If you found this short article helpful, feel free to follow my IG account @raising_potential (English) or @vahvistajavaltteri (Finnish). Thanks for reading!
