A couple of weeks ago, a question occurred to me.

I wonder how much I spent at Jimmy John’s in 2016?

You see, last year I developed a bit of a Jimmy John’s habit. It was an especially busy year at work, with a couple new projects demanding big chunks of my time and periodic lunch meetings keeping me at the office over the noon hour.

At first, Jimmy John’s was an occasional treat. I’d bike there on my lunch break when the weather was nice and order a #1, no tomatoes, with a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. Yummers.

Soon, it became a regular treat. Then, a weekly one. Eventually, I was having Jimmy John’s delivered to my office once or twice a week. Sarah, never one to let an opportunity pass, started calling it “Jimmy Jonathan’s.”

I weaned myself off the stuff a few weeks ago after patronizing the sandwich shop 9 times (!) during the month of November.

So you can see why I was wondering how bad the damage was. I figured I’d spent about $300 at JJ’s over the course of the year. Not chump change, but hey, a working man’s gotta eat!

To find the total, I searched my bank account for Jimmy John’s transactions in 2016 and added them up:

$668.09

Sweet fancy Moses.

But wait, it gets worse!

The $668.09 figure only includes debit card purchases. About every third visit, I paid with cash. I’m guessing, therefore, that I spent around $1000 at Jimmy John’s in 2016.

What was I thinking? Who in their right mind would spend $1000 at freaking Jimmy John’s in a twelve month period?

I’ll tell you who: someone who wasn’t thinking long-term.

Over the next week, we’re going to discuss the dangers of habitual short-term thinking and explore the incredible benefits of long-term thinking.

Stay tuned!