Nearly every morning, my wife and I make the same breakfast. Two eggs with toast. I have mine with coffee. She has hers with a “cuppa” earl grey. After doing this for years, we have a system. We know where everything is. We know to start the coffee first, as it takes the longest. We know to drop the bread into the toaster as the second batch of eggs go into the pan.

I also noticed something about our environment. If you open our refrigerator, the ingredients for our breakfasts are right there… easily accessible. Other items are buried in the back of the fridge, but the eggs, butter, and creamer are easy to grab quickly. Because we use them.

You might see where this is headed. What are you using every day? What are the tools, the skills, the attributes you are putting into practice routinely? Are you using creative problem-solving skills? Are you routinely challenging yourself by putting yourself on the hook instead of hiding in safe places? Are you brushing up on writing or exercising regularly?

When you encounter a difficult task or goal, these are the ingredients that will be right there waiting for you to pick them up and make something great with them. It isn’t enough to have them in your refrigerator. Like those sauce packets from the restaurant last year, they can just sit in a hidden area and ferment. But the skills and abilities you use daily will create lasting habits that improve themselves… ultimately improving you.

When you open your “refrigerator,”” what is handy? Are they the things you want to be known for? Are they the things that will help you grow?

If not, take the things that move you forward and put them where you can grab them – then it’s more likely you actually will.