A guy walked into a sandwich shop and the server asked what he would like to order.

He said, “What do you have that's good?”

The clerk responded that everything was good.

The customer then asked, “Do you sell things other than sandwiches?”

The clerk said, “Yes, we have salads, too.”

The customer added, “Great, I am so tired of sandwiches! That is all I ever eat!”

The clerk said, “What would you like?”

And the customer said, “I guess I’ll take a roast beef sandwich.”

Old habits die hard.

My friend John Maxwell got me thinking when he said:

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

Most of your everyday routines are probably comfortable, and you’re probably doing OK with them. But imagine the dreams you could realize by mixing things up to achieve what you really want.

Another friend, Dean Graziosi, wrote a book called “Millionaire Success Habits,” in which the premise is that you can make “barely noticeable, small shifts in your daily routines by nudging out those things that don’t serve you and replacing them with habits that create a path to wealth and abundance.”

First, you must decide what you want out of life. Too often, we can define what we don’t want, but can’t really figure out where we want to go. Once you do that, your path becomes clear as to what you need to work on.

When I think back on my career, I often changed my daily routine in order to realize what was important to me. When I was building my envelope-manufacturing business, I focused on selling the major accounts in Minnesota. When I wrote my first book, “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive,” I wanted to sell books and build my writing and speaking career. And with each new dream, I had to adapt.

I’ve always strived to be as productive as possible. I became a time-management freak. I was among the first to install a car phone. I took a speedreading course. I found that if I begin each day with a plan and prioritize what I need to accomplish, I procrastinate less.

I realized that by doing two things that I don’t want to do every morning, I can move on to more profitable things.

I continue to work at being organized because that’s always been a challenge. Wasting a minute here and there adds up to a lot of lost time trying to find things. Fortunately, I have a good staff that keeps me organized.

Another factor I’ve worked on is sleep. I always thought I wanted this message displayed on my tombstone: “He couldn’t sleep fast enough!” I was afraid of missing something. But over the years, I’ve relented and slept more. It has helped my energy and focus.

Leading up to the recent Super Bowl, I saw an article about quarterback Tom Brady and how he credits his high performance, even at age 43, to getting quality sleep and lots of it.

Getting up and stretching for 15-20 minutes also helps me. I exercise for 60-75 minutes every single day, which also gives me energy and keeps me in shape. Eating healthy, starting with a good breakfast, is also helpful.

I eliminate disruptions as much as possible and return calls at the end of the day. I also reward myself when I accomplish a task.

These are all good habits that replace bad habits. That’s not always easy. Some studies suggest that it takes about 21 days to create a new habit or break a bad habit. However, according to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it can take 18-254 days to form a new habit. The study also concluded that, on average, it takes 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Breaking a habit also tends to involve a more consistent, conscious effort.

So start today: Ditch your bad habits and focus on building better ones.

Mackay’s Moral: We build our lives each day with the bricks of habits we have.

President Dwight Eisenhower was raised on a Kansas farm, and he never forgot the lessons he learned there. He's said to have told the following story, in response to a tough question from the press.

“An old farmer had a cow that we wanted to buy,” Eisenhower recalled, “so we went to visit him and asked about the cow’s pedigree.

“The old farmer didn’t know what the word 'pedigree' meant, so we asked him about the cow’s butterfat production. His answer was that he didn’t have the foggiest idea. Finally we asked him if he knew how many pounds of milk the cow produced each year.

“The farmer shook his head and said, ‘I don’t know. But she’s an honest cow, and she’ll give you all the milk she has!’

“Well,” Ike concluded, “I’m like that cow. I’ll give you everything I have.”

President Eisenhower didn’t just want to get by. He was committed to do his best. You can see when people are committed to a project or cause; they refuse to settle for anything less than their best. They are willing to learn and work hard.

Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie said people fall into three basic categories: Those who did not do all their duty, those who only professed to do their duty and those who did their duty plus a little more.

If you make a commitment, you need to see it through. No slacking off, no excuses. Commitment must start from the inside out. Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.

“Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision and gives us the right stuff to turn our dreams into reality,” said James Womack, founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute.

Some might be tempted to back off those dreams when the going gets tough -- which it often does. But being truly committed provides the motivation to persevere, another word that is important in seeing projects and dreams through to the finish.

Commitment is a prerequisite of success. Commitment is the state of being bound -- emotionally, intellectually, or both -- to a course of action. Commitment starts with a choice and is sustained by dedication and perseverance. Actions speak louder than words.

Lou Holtz, the Hall-of-Fame college football coach, believes there are four things any person or organization needs to be successful.

“First,” he says, “you have to make a commitment to excellence. Second is complete attention to detail. The third thing is to have sound fundamentals, and the fourth requirement is discipline.”

I will add another essential element of commitment: confidence in your ability to succeed. Ask any successful entrepreneur how often they questioned their judgment, their sanity. I’d wager that any who were truly committed had some moments of uncertainty. But they believed in their potential. As I’ve preached so many times, it’s important to believe in yourself, even when no one else does.

I’m not sure how people can be totally satisfied with themselves if they are not committed to doing their very best. Sure, there are going to be failures, but that’s no excuse for not trying your hardest. You can’t hold back because of fear of failure.

I firmly believe that all human success is the result of persistent commitment. Not luck, not just being in the right place at the right time. Commitment is a decision that is easier to make than to see through. Commitment is what keeps you forging ahead once the initial glow has faded.

We’ll go back to the barnyard for some perspective. A chicken and a pig were talking about commitment.

The chicken said, “I’m committed to giving eggs every morning.”

The pig said, “Giving eggs isn’t commitment, it’s participation. Giving ham is total commitment.”

Mackay’s Moral: Motivation is what gets you started. Commitment is what keeps you going.

History will long remember 2021 for many reasons, not the least is the sound of the glass ceiling starting to shatter. With the swearing-in of Kamala Harris as vice president of the United States, the role of women in politics, as in other fields, is bigger than ever.

Additionally, women make up just over a quarter of all members of the 117th Congress -- the highest percentage in U.S. history and a considerable increase from where things stood even a decade ago, according to Pew Research. Counting both the House of Representatives and the Senate, 144 of 539 seats -- or 27% -- are held by women. That represents a 50% increase from the 96 women who were serving in the 112th Congress a decade ago, though it remains far below the female portion of the overall U.S. population.

March is Women’s History Month, which originated as a national celebration in 1981, when Congress requested that the president proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as Women’s History Week. These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.

Women have played a pivotal role in our national development, and it’s amazing to me, as a student of history, that we haven’t heard more of their stories.

In the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell was rejected by 29 medical schools. When she went to visit the schools in person, she was told she should pretend to be a man, because women weren’t fit to receive medical schooling. She refused.

The dean and faculty of Hobart College (then Geneva Medical College) put her candidacy up for a vote with the 150 men currently enrolled. The school decided that if even one person objected, Blackwell would be denied admission. The 150 men thought the vote was a joke and unanimously voted to accept her.

The joke was on them. Blackwell was accepted, and she matriculated. Many doctors refused to work with her, but she persevered and graduated.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States in 1849. She then built a medical practice, created a place where women could have medical internships (since many health care facilities didn’t welcome women), served impoverished families, and established the first medical college for women.

How much do you know about women in history? Take this quiz and learn something about the role of five extraordinary women:

Question: Which mother led a 125-mile march of child workers from the mills of Pennsylvania to President Theodore Roosevelt’s vacation home on Long Island?

Answer: Mary Harris Jones, who became known as “Mother Jones” and led the march in 1903 to call attention to the evils of child labor.

Question: What did Dolores Huerta do for farm workers in the United States?

Answer: Dolores Huerta, a labor activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers Union in 1962 and served for more than 20 years as its vice president, chief lobbyist, spokeswoman and labor contract negotiator.

Question: Which Asian-American physicist disproved a fundamental scientific law?

Answer: Chien-Shiung Wu came to the United States to study science and became the world’s foremost female experimental physicist. Her most famous experiment showed that the principle of conservation of parity could be violated in nature.

Question: Who led the movement to improve conditions for poor immigrants?

Answer: Jane Addams co-founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889, which sought to improve the lives of immigrants by providing English classes, childcare, health education and recreation. Addams won the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize for her dedication to the cause of international peace.

Question: Her 1939 Easter Sunday concert drew a crowd of 75,000 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Who was she?

Answer: Marian Anderson had earlier been barred from singing in Washington’s Constitution Hall because she was Black. Her open-air concert was a triumph over bigotry.

Women entrepreneurs today are multiplying two, three, four times faster than men, depending on which part of the country that you study. Women now represent 40% of all business travelers.

These are just a few examples of women’s achievements. Let’s hope history can keep up!

Mackay’s Moral: Borrowed from Juliette Gordon Low -- “The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.”