Quantifying Your Wins | Rabbi Naftali Horowitz

For a person to be motivated, sometimes reward is what's going to do it. One could fall into the trap of thinking, ‘What's the point?’ What's the point of refraining three times if I'm going to have looked three times? Or even worse, I look ten times and I refrain three times. What's the point? Those moments of victory get lost in all of those moments of failure. But we know that there's no such a thing. The Ribono shel Olam does not judge us based on statistics. Every win is eternal, but to us it may seem insignificant. I once heard an incredible story from my Mechutan, Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman. There was a man who went to work every day and faced challenge after challenge. And what he found himself feeling is Yeush. What's the point? I'm a piece of garbage anyway. I looked at ten things that I shouldn't, so what is the benefit of refraining from one sight after what I've just seen? And the man decided to start to quantify his wins. You do Teshuva for your losses, but he decided to quantify his wins. And he did so by keeping a notebook in his pocket. And each time he refrained, he made a little mark, and each mark was worth one dollar. And after some time, he went and he counted up all of his marks, and it came out to 1,800. 1,800 times that he refrained. And he took 1,800 dollars and he memorialized this unbelievable success by buying himself a silver Chanukah Menorah. And each time he gazes at that Menorah on Chanukah, he remembers how many times he averted his eyes. Obviously, this motivated him to keep going and going and going. Don't keep track of your losses. Your losses, we do Teshuva for on Yom Kippur. Keep track of your wins. If you do, you will be more motivated to have more of them.