Today, I caught myself letting my focus slip. It was only a small and subtle change in my thinking but one that I knew from experience would keep me from achieving the ambitious goals I set for this challenge that I just started yesterday. I was thinking about my workout today and was a bit reserved because I'm just getting over a very persistent cold and sinus infection. It was a bit cool outside and I considered skipping my bike ride...
"Well Jim, maybe you ought to take it easy today and give your body another day or so to recover from your cold. Besides, it's cool outside and you don't want to risk a relapse. It's only one workout and you can just hit it hard tomorrow..."
In some ways, my little conversation sounds like reasoned logic and I suppose there is some merit to it, BUT the underlying theme is a killer for any kind of an ambitious goals. In a nutshell, I was asking myself "What can I get away with and still have decent results?". That question fuels a disempowering focus that pretty much ensures you won't achieve your goals by the end of your challenge - if ever. As time goes on you find it easier to rationalize making exceptions and you start to have doubts about achieving the success you were so excited about the day you started your challenge.
You begin to lower your expectations and consequently your passion wanes. The snowball effect eventually kicks in and you are tempted to just drop your challenge...it just isn't turning out like you hoped...I know you don't want to find yourself in that boat...
So think about the questions that are floating through your mind when you make decisions about your challenge - or your life for that matter. If the questions are disempowering or pull you away from where you want to go or who you want to be, toss'em and get some better questions!
Instead of asking myself "What can I get away with?" I came up with some better questions...
"Won't it feel great Jim to get in a workout on a day when it didn't seem likely to happen?!"
"How great is it going to feel to finally get below 200 lbs after all these years?! Keep going strong like you are and it'll only be a matter of weeks!"
"And can you imagine how jazzed you're going to feel to race your Rocketwing in the time-trial races in April! If you give it all you've got every single day then you'll be good to go!"
OK, get the idea?
I hear so many
people searching for answers in life but ain't it the truth that if you
carefully choose the right questions, the right answers are usually a
piece of cake... 