2/5/26: Take Two — The Cost of Staying the Same
Ideas and inspiration for a more intentional, extraordinary life.
February 5, 2026
WORDS TO WONDER
THE COST OF STAYING THE SAME
“The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
— Warren Buffett
PERSPECTIVES TO PONDER
After college, I lived in a small two-bedroom, one-bath house with four other guys. Our tiny house was never meant for five people. We assumed it would be temporary—but comfort has a way of extending timelines, and we ended up staying for years.
The landlord had one unusual rule: we were not allowed to change the phone number.
The house had belonged to his grandmother, and the number was etched into his memory. He cared about it so much that he offered to pay our phone bill himself, just to keep the number the same.
A free phone bill was a nice perk. Over time, it became a windfall.
A few of the guys were in long-distance relationships—some international. Phone use exploded. So did the bill. Eventually, the monthly phone charges exceeded the rent.
And still, the landlord paid.
He was losing money every month, not because the house wasn’t rentable, but because he couldn’t let go of something familiar.
It’s easy to see the mistake from the outside. But it raises a quieter, more uncomfortable question:
Where might we be doing the same thing?
Most of us carry at least one habit, belief, or pattern we’ve outgrown, but keep anyway. Not because it serves us, but because it’s familiar. Comfortable. Known.
Over time, the cost adds up.
Momentum slows.
Opportunities narrow.
Life becomes more expensive than it needs to be.
If you’re honest with yourself, where is your unwillingness to change costing you?
And if there were one change—just one—that would improve your life in the long run, what would it be?
Maybe it’s time to change the phone number.
WHEN THE PAST STILL LINGERS
This week I’m in Dallas, and I’m struck by how heavily history hangs over this city.
Dealey Plaza.
The X’s painted in the street marking where John F. Kennedy was struck.
The Sixth Floor Depository.
The theater where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested.
The place where he had earlier killed Officer Tippit.
The Municipal Building where Jack Ruby ended Oswald's life.
Dealey Plaza, Dallas
Decades have passed, yet the past still looms.
And it made me think about how often we allow our own history to do the same.
Old failures.
Past mistakes.
Versions of ourselves we wish we could forget.
Unlike a city—where curiosity and remembrance will always keep certain chapters alive—we’re not required to live in our past. We’re allowed to turn the page. To begin again. To create distance between who we were and who we’re becoming.
So here’s the question I’m sitting with:
Where are you still lingering in the failures of your past?
And what might change if you decided—today—to write a new story?
THINGS WORTH THINKING ABOUT
The Difference Between a Successful Life and a Meaningful One
What if success isn’t the thing we should be chasing?
This short thought experiment reveals why a life can look good on paper—and still feel empty inside. A reflection on success, meaning, and the quieter question that determines whether a life truly feels worth living.
→ Read the full article
BEFORE YOU GO
Life is constantly inviting us to begin again—sometimes quietly, sometimes at a cost.
May you have the clarity to notice where change is needed, the courage to make it, and the wisdom to invest your days in what will still matter when you look back.
Stay inspired by the life you’re living.
Kevin