It’s always interesting to watch the logic of children when they’ve been asked to do something unpleasant, like clean up toys or eat vegetables. Kid logic is the most pure example of our resistance to the things we know we need to do but put barriers in our own path to doing.
If you ask a child to put away their toys they might:
- Begin playing with the toys “for one more minute”
- Explain that it’s not fair because brother/sister didn’t put away their toys
- Sulk and put away one Lego brick at a time, ensuring it’ll take 73 years to finish
- Ask for water. To go potty. For a Kleenex. A hug. To go outside
- Ignore you while reading a book because books are good so you can’t get mad
All the while, you fume and cajole in the face of the frustration that can only be brought by a toddler.
Except… we’re all toddlers.
I observe this same behavior in myself and other entrepreneurs all the time.
I’ll go to the gym, just as soon as I finish cleaning my whole house which will actually never get clean because I continue to live here.
I will start eating healthy, once I’ve read all the books and studies on what’s the best way to eat. Oh and all the blogs. And Instagram models. Look, I’m following 93 healthy eating bloggers on Instagram, isn’t that the same?
Of course I want to get my business into the media more regularly! It’s super important to be more visible so I can grow. I’ll send that media pitch once I have other media to put in my not-yet-created Media Kit. Because I can’t do media until I’ve done media, you know?
Yes, yes, yes… I did say I was going to publish a new YouTube video every week but I’ve also been posting in Facebook groups and that’s so much more valuable right now.
Pass. the. Diapers.
In every example there’s an excuse, another way, a great reason that you haven’t actually done what you made the commitment to do.
And it’s stopping you from success and making you miserable.
If all you have is excuses and reasons and stories about why you can’t keep your commitments then that’s all you’ll have.
Taking responsibility for your actions, choices and decisions is the most empowering thing you can do today. Beyond going to the gym and getting on that marketing and eating non-crap food.
It starts, as it should, with re-evaluating your commitments and deciding which ones you’re serious about.
It’s super easy to say “I’m going to meditate and do yoga at dawn, eat 100% organic, healthy, home-cooked meals before dressing in my perfect capsule wardrobe, going to the gym for a class and achieving Inbox Zero every four hours and reading all the books on my shelf, staying connected to each of my family and friends, in my business I’ll do a podcast and YouTube show and blog and media and social media and always retweet – but of course having time for self-care – and go to bed by 10pm and and and…
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
Yes, there are people who have trained themselves with the self-discipline to accomplish much more than you or I do currently. But I assure you, they didn’t start with it all at once.
One of the resources I use to build up my daily habits and move from a whiny toddler who doesn’t want to clean her room to an adult who takes full responsibility every day is the program Ritual created by my client and friend Natalie MacNeil.
Natalie’s sharing a free workshop today on how you can begin to set aside bad habits and move into a daily ritual you love.
Get all the details and sign up (free) right here: www.ritualworkshop.com
Systems are the Answer to your Struggles
Never Train Your Employees Again
Do you like money?