HOME | Contact | About | Sitemap

A Simple Toe Lesson That Could Save You A Thousand Dollars

I am about to teach you something that, unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way. It will save you from having to…

endure three painful surgeries
soak your foot and put new bandages on daily for 3-4 weeks
fork over $1000 in medical expenses

All of the above I had to go through. And I didn’t have to! Because what I am talking about is completely, 100% preventable. And, it’s also something that could easily happen to you if you’re not careful!

What is it that I’m talking about? Ingrown toenails.

I am inspired to write to you about the dangers of ingrown toenails as my foot is currently bandaged up and elevated. My first two surgeries were done to try to make my toenail grow back to normal. This is done by simply cutting down the sides of each toenail, and hoping that it grows back normally.

Obviously, it failed both times.

Now, sitting here with my third surgery, this one was a much bigger hassle. It involves permanently removing both sides of my nail. For the rest of my life, my right toenail will be considerably smaller than my left one.

But things could have been worse! My first doctor suggested that the nail be completely removed. Fortunately, I got a second opinion and he suggested that only parts of the nail be removed. As I sit here with my bandaged toe, it gives me plenty of reflection time…

How To Prevent Ingrown Toenails

The reason I got into this situation is because I frequently picked at my toenails. Forget the clippers when you can just pick at them with your fingernails right?

By picking at it, I got my toenail to low. This lead to my toenail growing into the skin rather than out of it like yours are! My doctor said, if you can’t see the ends on both sides of your toenail, you’re in trouble. And boy was I in trouble.

I spent several weeks and months trying to help the situation before I went to a doctor by picking at it some more! But, what I was actually doing is just making it ten times worse!

The doctor might have been able to fix it without having to do any surgeries. But by trying to take care of it myself, I was giving myself a one way ticket to pain, suffering, and a thousand dollars in medical expenses.

Don’t get in the same situation as me…

Be careful when you are cutting your toenails. Don’t cut too deep or you will end up in the same situation as I did.

How To REALLY Learn From This

During my reflection time with my bleeding toe, I’m reminded of something I constantly heard from my basketball coaches when I was little. And that is that you are only as strong as your weakest link.

Back then, I thought that was just a way to motivate the terrible players into running their sprints harder!

Now that I’m older, I guess I can find some truth into that statement.

By not taking care of my toenail, the rest of my body had to suffer. I am not a huge needle person and I almost passed out during two of the three surgeries!

All of that added stress made me pretty worthless as far as productivity goes. I’m just now being able to get back on track.

The term, “you’re only as strong as your weakest link” applies heavily to your personal development.

You need to understand that everything effects everything else. If you have one really bad habit, it will eventually spread into several more bad habits.

Let’s say that you are working really hard on your personal development. You are developing all sorts of good habits such as…

eating an apple every day for lunch
jogging around the block every morning
going to bed and waking up at the same time each day
reading a book for at least one hour a day

You’ve gotten yourself into all of these great habits! You look good. Feel good. Everything is just perfect.

But one day, for no particular reason, you get tired of eating the apple for lunch. Instead, you think a candy bar sounds better.

So instead of the apple, you start to eat a candy bar every day. Everything is still perfect, except you have changed one habit. And that one habit is your weakest link.

What do you think will start to happen?

Well, not at first, but eventually, eating the candy bar every day is going to take away some of the energy that you once had.

When that happens, you decide to take a day off from going on the jog. So you take the day off. Then the next day, you realize that having that day off was kind of nice. So you take off the next day as well.

Before you know it, you decide to eliminate the morning jog from your daily routine.

And since you’ve quit jogging, you start to notice that you aren’t sleeping as well as you used to. You didn’t realize it, but all of that exercise was really helping you get a good nights sleep.

So you’re not sleeping very well. Jogging no longer does it for you. The candy bar still tastes better than the apple.

Now, you’re too tired at night to do any reading. Instead, a few hours of television provides a nice alternative. It’s fun. It’s relaxing. And requires a lot less effort than picking up a book!

All of the good habits you once had are completely gone. And it started with the candy bar. Your weakest link.

This story is meant to give you an idea of how little changes in your habits can have a big impact on you. You think that some things aren’t a big deal, but they add up quickly.

Constantly work at making every area of your life as perfect as it can be. Because if you are weak in one area, it’s only a matter of time before you become weak in another one as well.

You might make a lot of money. But if you aren’t doing well in your family life, it’s going to eventually take a toll on your working life as well.

Work on all of your flaws. Have a strong discipline on the good habits that you currently have. And last but certainly not least…

Don’t pick at your toenails!

Like what you read? You can receive updated and exclusive information about the site in my Ultimate Personal Development Newsletter. It's free to join and you can unsubscribe at any time...

Return to How To Become Wealthy

Return from A Simple Toe Lesson That Could Save You A Thousand Dollars to Ryan Whiteside: Your Ultimate Guide To Personal Development home

5 Reasons You Should Subscribe To The RSS Feed