Enthusiasm will take you only so far…
Will power evaporates quickly…
Enter Physics 101:
Newton’s First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.
If a body experiences an acceleration ( or deceleration) or a change in direction of motion, it must have an outside force acting on it. Outside forces are sometimes called net forces or unbalanced forces.
I clearly had a couple of unbalanced forces acting on me…
I made a commitment to write every day for 30 days. I was going to just make it between me and me but decided to go public. I took up a challenge, thrown out by my cyber colleague Jackie of Synnovatia.
The first 13 days were great! I was determined. Even if I was tired, I wrote something. I was proud of myself for pushing through…and then I hit a brick wall. My excuse: I was exhausted! Not from writing. But I had house guests and I was going out more than usual…dinners….late nights out…not enough sleep etc. Sooooo I dropped the ball, and I suspect at a critical point.
I do believe that we all reach a point where we run out of steam and excitement and “I’m going to do this no matter what”…and it all comes down to grit. Can we persevere beyond the point where we FEEL we can’t go any further but if we push…we can?
When momentum wanes so does interest. I felt myself getting further and further away from the spirit of the challenge. I did manage an entry on the 15th of January…but after that…silence. Then I started to feel ashamed. I was thinking – why did I go public? lol. But I’m OK now. Accountability is good for the soul.
I decided today to get back in the game – and restart the challenge. I know now that I’m going to hit a point where I feel I can’t move forward, and I will have to dig deep and keep the momentum going because I have a huge “why” – to teach people how to tap into and use their potential. My blog is one of the ways that I do this…I cannot stop now.
I found some great advice from blogger Benny Hsu (pronounced shoe) –
– Think consistency. Slow and steady wins the race. The turtle always beats the hare. Think about anything you’ve had success with. I bet you did it consistently over a period a time. A little every day instead of trying to do too much too soon.
– Develop a routine for daily habits. Decide what new habits or behaviors correlate with whatever you want to have success in.
For example during training, I did my run first thing in the morning. I’d get up, make breakfast right away, rest for an hour and then ran. It became a routine for me. It contributed to my success.
Before? Wake up, computer, breakfast, computer, TV, computer, time to work. No wonder I was fat and lazy!
– Know why you’re doing it. Having superficial reasons will derail you so fast. That’s why New Year’s resolutions suck. You fail more often than not. If you have a deeper reason, you’ll keep going no matter what obstacles you face. I certainly wouldn’t have run in below freezing temperatures if my “why power” wasn’t so strong.
Like Benny, I need to make some adjustments. Although it’s 7:38 pm as I’m finishing this post, I’m thinking that writing in the morning is going to be a better choice. I already have my “why” so here’s to starting over and blogging for 30 days!
Get clear about marketing! 