Brushing Teeth

I’m willing to bet that you brushed your teeth today.
 
If you didn’t…well damn. (On behalf of everyone, NOW would be a good time).
 
Chances are you didn’t stress over the decision or have to check your calendar.
 
You simply brushed your teeth at the same time of day as you did yesterday. Automatically. 
 
But we were NOT born this way. You were likely born without teeth and had to learn to brush them once they grew in.
 
As the father of 5 boys, I can assure you this was a learned behavior that didn’t come easy.
 
When I ask one of them “Did you brush your teeth?”, the parental dance of semantics begins.
 
Because my question wasn’t specific enough and a simple “Yes” might mean they brushed them last week.

I had to learn to ask better questions like “Did you brush your teeth this morning / after breakfast?”
 
My wife taught me that even that question was incomplete with her follow up question of “Did you use toothpaste?”. 
 
I still remember laughing at the absurdity of the question only to see my son turn around and walk back to the bathroom.  WTH?!!!
 
However, damn near everyone of us goes through this struggle as a kid and we develop the daily habit of brushing our teeth. 
 

And the keys to success lie within our daily habits…like brushing your teeth.


When we’re trying to accomplish something like saving money, eating better or working out, it becomes too easy to say “I’ll start Monday / next month / insert your BS of choice”. 
 
And we can rationalize this decision a million different ways and genuinely convince ourselves our decision was sound and we’ll actually follow through. 
 
Now imagine it’s Monday morning and you woke up late, got the kids to school and barely made it to the office on time.
 
And you forgot to brush your teeth. 
 
Would you tell yourself “I’ll start again next week”?
 
I’m really hoping you answered no. Hopefully, you’d find a way to brush your teeth as quickly as possible.
 
Because this habit is so deeply ingrained, you’ll go out of your way to complete this task and NOT wait until tomorrow. Or next Monday.
 
Your teeth won’t fall out because you didn’t brush them today. Just like you won’t lose all your progress because you skipped your workout.
 
But consistency trumps motivation and intention. Lasting success is found within the daily habit.
 
So the next time you decide to delay your workouts, eating healthy, saving money or any other worthwhile pursuit…ask yourself if you would treat brushing your teeth the same way.
 
Embrace the power of habit and it can change your life.

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