Every system you create in life will naturally degrade.
To manage this decline, you can let the system run and restore it later. Or you can maintain the system while it runs.
Our default is usually the former.
Unfortunately with this approach, the longer the system degrades, the more it costs to restore it. So we keep putting it off until we can’t live with it anymore, which requires the most intensive response.
If we can embrace a maintenance mindset, we will be keeping a system in good working order, rather than returning a system to good working order.
There are examples everywhere in our lives:
It’s better to find some time each day to exercise rather than doing a massive workout once a week.
It’s easier to tidy the house regularly rather than living with the build-up and doing a massive clean-out.
It’s nicer to have little reflections of gratitude every day than realising one day how much you’ve taken for granted.
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