One Exciting Thing
If one tiny thing can ruin your day then ONE exciting thing can make your day!
ONE EXCITING THING
How One Small Choice Can Give You a Great Day
Jesus didn’t come to hand us a longer to-do list or a heavier sense of obligation. He said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). That word life isn’t about survival or productivity; it’s about vitality, presence, aliveness.
One Exciting Thing is a small, human way of agreeing with that promise. It’s the practice of choosing life on purpose - before the day rushes in, before demands and noise take over. One simple, joy-bearing act becomes a quiet declaration: today is not something to get through; it is something to be lived.
A Quiet Truth About Our Days
Most of us don’t decide whether a day is good or bad.
We declare it.
A single moment goes sideways.
A comment lands wrong.
A plan changes.
A delay irritates us.
And suddenly we say it, sometimes out loud, often internally:
“Well… there goes the day. It’s ruined!”
It’s a curious thing, when you think about it, letting something, often a little something, shutter a day. We know it happens. So if that is true, then why not this…
If one small thing can ruin a day, why can’t one small thing make it?
We live as if days must earn the label great through a long list of conditions:
Nothing can go wrong.
Everything must align.
The energy has to be right.
People must cooperate.
Traffic must behave.
But we don’t require much evidence or effort to disqualify a day.
One irritation will do.
That imbalance is where this idea begins.
The All-or-Nothing Spell
Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to treat days like verdicts.
A great day means everything worked.
A bad day means something didn’t.
There’s very little middle ground.
We rarely say, “That was a good day with a frustrating moment.”
We say, “Today was a mess.”
We collapse the whole experience into the loudest tic.
This way of living robs us of agency.
It trains us to believe the quality of our day is something that happens to us, not something we participate in.
And once you give your day away like that, the world gets the first move. A single circumstance gets the say on the day.
The Morning Ambush
Most days aren’t lost in the afternoon.
They’re lost in the first ten minutes.
Before we’re fully awake, we reach for the phone.
News. Messages. Email. Other people’s needs.
The global emotional weather report.
Without realizing it, we hand the tone of our day to whatever finds us first.
We tell ourselves we’re just “checking,” but what we’re really doing is listening for instructions.
How should I feel today?
What’s wrong?
What’s urgent?
What should I worry about?
By the time we get our feet under us, the day already belongs to something else.
The Problem With Waiting
We tend to wait for the day to feel good before we act well within it.
We wait for motivation.
For clarity.
For the right mood.
But waiting puts us in a passive posture.
It assumes the day leads and we follow.
There’s another way.
A way that doesn’t require discipline, willpower, or becoming a different person.
It requires one small decision.
The Shift
Here it is, plainly stated:
If one small thing can ruin your day, one exciting thing can make your day.
Not fix it.
Not perfect it.
Not protect it from difficulty.
Make it.
This is not about controlling everything.
It’s about controlling one thing * on purpose * before the world weighs in.
When you do one thing that excites you early in the day, something subtle but powerful happens:
You’ve already won.
Not the whole day.
Just enough of it.
And that’s enough to change how the rest unfolds.
What “Exciting” Actually Means
Exciting does not mean impressive.
It does not mean productive.
It does not mean something you can post about.
Exciting means life-giving.
Something that brings you into your body.
Something that reminds you you’re alive.
Something that feels like you.
It can be small.
It should be small.
A walk.
Music.
Stretching.
Writing a paragraph.
Prayer.
Silence.
Cold water on your face.
Stepping outside in the sun and breathing.
The only real criteria are these:
You choose it.
You can do it immediately.
It belongs to you, not your performance.
You’re excited and looking forward to it! In fact, sometimes you don’t feel like you can wait.
For example, earlier this week, one of my friends sent me a book and a set of highlight notetakers. It was super thoughtful and the package arrived right as I was going to bed. It instantly became my One Exciting Thing for the next morning. I couldn’t wait to crack open the book and start highlighting.
That might seem insignificant or small. But it was something easy for me to control and look forward too. Most of our “ruined” days come from the negatively unexpected.
Let’s make our positive days come from our excited expected.
Why Small Works
Big things invite negotiation.
I don’t have time.
I’ll do it later.
I’ll start tomorrow.
Small things don’t argue.
They slip under resistance.
And once completed, they create something larger than themselves: momentum.
Not the frantic kind.
The grounded kind.
The kind that says, “I showed up for myself today.”
The Night-Before Decision
This practice doesn’t begin in the morning.
It begins the night before.
Before sleep, ask a simple question:
What is one exciting thing I will do tomorrow morning - no matter what?
Not five things.
Not a routine.
One.
Decide it.
Name it.
If it helps, write it down.
This isn’t planning.
It’s a declaration.
You are telling tomorrow who you intend to be.
The Morning Claim
When morning comes, do the thing before the phone.
Before the news.
Before the world.
Even if you’re tired.
Even if you don’t feel like it.
Even if it feels ordinary.
Especially then.
This is the moment you reclaim authorship of your day.
You didn’t wait for permission.
You didn’t negotiate with circumstances.
You acted from choice, not reaction.
That changes something internally.
You are no longer chasing the day.
The day is responding to YOU.
What Happens Next
The rest of the day doesn’t magically become easy.
Emails still arrive.
Traffic still happens.
People still disappoint.
But frustration lands differently.
You’re not starting from deficit.
You’re starting from completion.
You don’t need the whole day to go well.
You already did something that mattered.
And strangely, that’s often enough.
When the Day Still Goes Sideways
Some days will still be hard.
This practice doesn’t erase grief, stress, or responsibility.
It gives you a place to stand when they arrive.
A hard moment does not get to rewrite the entire story of the day.
You don’t say, “Today was terrible.”
You say, “Today was challenging, but it started exciting!”
That distinction matters.
The Temptation to Add More
At some point, you may want to stack habits.
Optimize mornings.
Turn this into a system.
Resist that urge.
The power of this practice is its restraint.
One thing done deliberately beats ten things done performatively.
Keep it uncomplicated.
Why This Is Enough
A great day isn’t one where nothing goes wrong.
It’s one where you didn’t abandon yourself.
One exciting thing is enough to remind you:
You have agency.
You have choice.
You are not at the mercy of the day.
You don’t need a new life.
You don’t need a better personality.
You don’t need more discipline.
You need one exciting thing - chosen on purpose.
An Invitation
Tonight, choose it.
Tomorrow morning, do it first.
Not to make the day perfect.
Not to impress anyone.
Not to fix your life.
Just to begin from aliveness instead of reaction.
If one small thing can ruin a day,
one exciting thing can make it.
And that’s enough.
For those who might enjoy a ritual…
The 3-Minute Night Ritual
This isn’t a routine.
It’s a handoff from today to tomorrow.
Set a timer for 3 minutes. That’s it.
Minute 1 — Close the Day
Sit or lie comfortably.
Take three slow breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth.
Then, softly say (out loud if you can):
“Today is complete.”
No review.
No fixing.
No grading.
Let the day be what it was and let it end.
Minute 2 — Choose Tomorrow’s One Exciting Thing
Ask yourself one simple question:
“What is one exciting thing I will do tomorrow morning no matter what?”
Keep it small.
Keep it available.
Keep it yours.
Name it clearly.
If it helps, write a single line:
Tomorrow morning, I will ________.
This is not planning.
This is permission.
Minute 3 — Seal It
Place a hand on your chest or belly.
Take one final breath.
Then say:
“I’ve already decided how my day begins.”
Visualize yourself doing that one thing briefly, lightly.
No effort. No pressure.
Turn off the light.
Sleep knowing:
Tomorrow doesn’t get to decide first.
You already have.
That’s it.
Three minutes.
One choice.
A day that begins from aliveness instead of reaction.
Tonight, choose it.
Tomorrow, live it.
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