The ancient Israelites were commanded to perform their labors for six days, and then rest on the seventh. Given the nature of the universe, on that seventh day all their enterprises would deteriorate. Weeds would grow, trade opportunities would pass, and perishables would become closer to spoiling. Apparently, though, even in those harsher ancient times, six days of restoring order was more than enough to account for one day of entropy.

Six days out of seven is nearly 86%. Such a high percent would be necessary, as it is the nature of the universe that chaos spreads more quickly than order. 51% of correcting will not keep up with 49% of undoing.

I’ve seen this personally as I have tried to establish a regular sleep schedule and diet back into my life. Getting to bed a little early allows me an extra half hour of sleep to pay back my sleep deficit, and a 500-calorie deficit will let me lose one pound in about a week. But just one day of indulgence will erase multiple days of toeing the line, so I can’t improve myself by only being disciplined 51% of the time. I have to have a great majority of restoring order, much like God prescribed.

To scale our mountains, we must climb upward for much longer than we slide backward. We must be committed to progress as the rule, not the exception. We must be the best version of ourselves for many more days than we are the worst version. To become great, we must be primarily good.