The Things You Do Every Day Despite Not Feeling like it.
We are all here to solve problems. That’s why we’re here. Yes, we’re here for creativity. Yes, we’re here for getting after it. Yes, we’re here to contribute and collaborate. But we’re really here to help people solve problems. And we’ve got plenty of them to get after!
The discipline is what matters. It is the getting after it, the process, running the miles, the hours invested in the gym, that matter. It is definitely not the destination that matters, the beach, the Caribbean, the South of France, California. Discipline exists in those places, too. You just have to find it. Discipline surrounds us in every direction, though you have to possess the right eyes to see it. It won’t just spring out at you. Better, invest in it yourself. Keep the same good habits on the road as you do at home. Don’t break them just because you’ve broken your context, your environment. Keep them going! Why fall off now?
The great news? It gets easier. The more experience you have, the easier it gets to do this. You have the talent. You have the tenacity. You can make the time. There’s little else you really need to do it. In fact, you already have everything you need to go, to do, to have at it. The rest can be learned along the way. Like experts, the dedicated and driven are always students first. They know they don’t have all the answers. Still, they forge ahead. Thinking. Planning. Executing on those plans. There is always something more to learn. So, you go and learn and do. See one. Do one. Teach one.
So many of us fall off of the good habits wagon. We fall off because it’s easy to slip up, to make mistakes, to “forget” to not do something. Worse, to not feel like it. (What’s worse than not feeling like it?) We skip it because we don’t feel like it.
Yet we do many, many things every day despite not feeling like it. We eat right despite not feeling like it in the moment. We stretch despite not feeling like it. We get up early despite not feeling like it. We go to work despite not felling like it. We go to our kids’ play despite not feeling like it. We go to the in-laws despite not feeling like it. We wake up and write despite not feeling like it. We create despite not feeling like it. We go to school despite not feeling like it. We make our kids brush their teeth despite not feeling like it.
Ironically, it is the little things we don’t do despite not feeling like it that make things tough on us: the skipped workout; the just-this-once food indulgence; one more drank. It is so easy to slip up. We always know what to do. We just don’t do it. More knowledge isn’t the problem. More discipline in our behavior is. So, how do we get more discipline? We act it out every day. We become it every day by growing with each decision we make that benefits us and the people around us.
There are always plenty of excuses.
Excuses abound. Tell me all about them because I say them all myself. No time. No money. No team. No tech. No training. No gear. No direction. No project. The Boss says no. No budget. No strategy. No clear action. The question is, what do you do despite these perceived obstacles? Quit? Stop? Wait for permission? Wait for someone to tell you it’s OK to go? Wait for the right timing? How long are you going to wait until someone gives you the green light?
There is never a need to wait.
I remind people — myself included — that there is never a need to wait. Everything we need to begin we can use to begin right now. All that we’ve got, all that we’ve got within us is enough to go, to start, to figure things out. You are already there. People are waiting for you to begin. They are waiting for you to help them. They even have money waiting for you in exchange for the value, the problem-solving, you can do for them.
You have gifts. You have tools. You have guidance.
You have gifts for them. You have tools for them. You have guidance for them. You have clarity & vision for them. You have the ability to figure things out for them when they may not have it. You have skills they’ll pay good money for. Don’t forget this, even in tough moments. You have a history of past success. Remind yourself of these times. You’ve been here before, and you emerged victorious. You already have everything you need to figure this one out , too.
So, go. Now. Do. Make it happen.
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