I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of maintenance.
A mechanic friend of mine said that if you follow your car’s official maintenance schedule (and especially change your oil on time), your car will last 200,000+ miles (~320,000 km).
When buying or owning a home, one of the things I’ve learned is that major home repairs often start off as small home repairs that are needed but go ignored.
A big roof leak probably started as a small roof leak that wasn’t fixed. A major mold problem probably started as a small mold problem that was ignored.
I find that the same concept applies to major medical issues. With the exception of accidents, quite a few major medical problems start off as minor medical problems first.
The idea of maintenance also applies to relationships. Most major marital problems started off as small marital problems that were never dealt with. That one minor issue, unaddressed and compounded by 15 years, builds enormous resentment. Now you have two problems: the original issue and 15 years of resentment.
Even if you fix the original issue, you still have 15 years of resentment to deal with.
With all such problems, it is usually easier, cheaper, and more effective to deal with them earlier… rather than later.
The same applies to careers. If you keep getting passed up for promotions because you lack good self-esteem and confidence, it is easier, cheaper, and more effective to improve that skill gap now.
The alternative is to decline to do so and unintentionally develop a personal brand that you lack promotion worthiness.
Even if you address the confidence skill gap years later, everyone already sees you in a way that’s not favorable, and it’s much harder to alter your reputation.
The only problem with doing maintenance early is that it’s inconvenient.
Do I really want to go to my annual medical exam, get the oil in my car changed, or call yet another home repair professional?
If I’m honest, no, I don’t. I’d rather do other things. But, the only thing worse than dealing with these small problems is ignoring them and allowing them to be much bigger problems later.
In short: Be proactive.
If, by chance, you do need to work on your self-esteem and confidence, I recommend that you check out my program on How to Develop Unshakeable Self-Esteem and Incredible Confidence. In this program, you’ll learn how self-esteem develops, what damages it, and what repairs it. Once you master self-esteem and confidence, both your professional life and personal life will change for the better.