How to Overcome Inertia (or: Would You Like a Rotten Apple?)

By: Janine Southard

Would you like a rotten apple? Probably not.

How about a “very, very ripe” apple? Maybe.

How about a fresh picked one? If you like apples, that’s probably your favorite option.

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So, the point is: I made an apple pie this weekend. Yay!

The actual point is: I almost didn’t make an apple pie this weekend.

Wait. What? Well, life seemed stacked against pie-making. I barely had time to chop and slice. I had a habit of ignoring the apples because I’d picked them almost a month ago and moved them into my fridge while I was traveling all month.

At the point I finally made my pie:

• The apples had been in my fridge for two weeks, and I was used to their being in the fridge. They were refrigerator apples, not cooking apples. (Objects in fridge longer than two days tend to stay in fridge till they die, right? Right? Maybe it’s just me.)
• I’d made the crust a week before and the dough disks were looking puck-like and a little dehydrated.
• I couldn’t remember where I’d put the recipe.

That’s a LOT of reasons why making a pie is hard.

[Related: You Were Created to Overcome Every Obstacle]

But! Until those apples actually went off, there was still a chance. And — darn it! — I really wanted to make this pie. It wasn’t too late!

Forgetting about all my failures, I scheduled “make pie” into my afternoon. I had a great time chopping and rolling and mixing in the kitchen with my S.O.

I freed up oodles of space in my fridge when the apples and crust came out. I enjoyed chewing on my success! This is how I want my life to be.

It doesn’t matter what’s gone before; it’s never too late to start doing things that make you happy. (Have you heard of the sunk cost fallacy? Don’t let that happen to you!)

[Related: Have a Destination in Mind? Put Your Foot on the Path and Start Walking]

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Janine Southard is a happiness coach for smart, practical women with outwardly great lives. She helps clients discover what happiness really means to them, so they can live more fulfilled, relaxed, and confident lives.

Originally published at https://www.ellevatenetwork.com.