I have to admit that I got caught up in trying to set up non-negotiable in my life. The problem I ran into is I felt bad when I had to negotiate. Like I wasn’t being true to what I said was non-negotiable.

But I would’ve DEFINITELY tried to negotiate the price of that sparkling water. 😫

But we don’t have to change who we are just because our environment shifts… It’s the difference between reacting to our environment or creating it.

We still have to live with ourselves and sleep at night. We have to have some kind or standard to live by that’s sustainable over the long haul.

If we know who we are and where we’re going, we can negotiate the best possible way to get there to save us time, money, hassles, etc. But stay true to YOU! I don’t negotiate my character or integrity.

As someone who has suffered serious, long-term, health issues, my health always comes first. Because without it you don’t have anything else.

My meditation/visualisation practice, my exercise, and what I choose to put in my body are absolutely NON-NEGOTIABLE. If I want to get anything else done in my life, anything at all, I can’t take my health for granted and absolutely have to keep myself in working condition.

I lived for almost a decade with the shittest physical and mental health you can have and still be alive. And there were times when I wished I wasn’t, and even made plans to end it all. I lived every day more or less a vegetable, completely bedridden, unable to even focus on what was going on around me, or follow the plot of a TV show. I couldn’t read, I couldn’t go out for dinner, I couldn’t chase my dreams, I couldn’t do much of anything besides lie there spaced out and think about how much I hated my life.

So the daily practices that prevent me returning to that state? 100% non-negotiable.

Everything ELSE is flexible and depends on other commitments, even things like my daily drawing practice, or checking my email, both of which relate directly to my career.

But the things that actually affect my ability to live my life and do what I choose to do, instead of being a vegetable? The things that keep my body working well and keep me in the right head space so that I’m able to get out of bed in the morning and do, well, anything? To chase my dreams? Those are 100% non-negotiable.

And when it pertains to saying that you’re going to do anything without any leeway to adjust, I’m in agreement when you say, as the environment changes that can hamper you from changing with it.

Jocko Willink, a guy who is former military and now runs a podcast, spoke on this somewhat in one of his podcast episodes that I listened to this morning. Life requires adjusting, more often than not.

Love the video.