If something always happens, then it always happens for me.

Something that happens once or twice does not have to constitute always.

The other morning, my oldest daughter said to me, "Mom, you always make us late for road trips."

I could have easily gone on the defense and I'd be writing a very different post right now, but instead I asked her, "When have I made us late for a road trip?"

She responded, "Well yesterday and then another time from Michigan."

"What time from Michigan?"

"Well that time you broke your knee."

"Oh, so of all the hundreds of road trips we have been on, I have made us "late" twice?"

"Yes", she said with a matter of the fact look on her face.

I received an immediate lesson from this conversation. We very quickly use language that makes something a regular occurrence in our life, but we very rarely make it "always" true for what we actually want.

For instance...

One or two people don't buy from us and we make it mean, people never buy from us.

We have one or two low income months and we make it mean, we will never make more money.

We have one or two bad relationships and we make it mean, we will never find true love.

We have one or two bad experiences with girlfriends and we make it mean, we will never have friends that are soul sisters.

We have one or two "failed" business attempts and we make it mean, we will never be successful on our own.

What if, we made once or twice constitute always when it was moving us in the direction we actually want to go...

We have one or two people buy from us and we make it mean, people are always buying from us.

We have one or two low income months and we make it mean, we will receive more money after this lull.

We have one or two bad relationships and we make it mean, we have not found true love yet, but it's coming.

We have one or two bad experiences with girlfriends and we make it mean, there are soul sisters out there ready for me.

We have one or two "failed" business attempts and we make it mean, we are finding our niche.

If we're going to claim something "always" happens, let's make it always happen for us.