If you're still rocking out your New Years resolution, congratulations -- you are in a select bunch. Most people who make resolutions quit by the middle of January. This gets me thinking not just about resolutions, but also about quitting in general.
Why do most people quit?
There are countless explanations that answer this question. One simple reason we quit is because it seems easier than the alternative. We literally choose to avoid short-term discomfort, even when it means missing out on long-term growth.
We all have patterned behaviors that seemingly give us a sense of control.
Quitting becomes a failsafe. When we bail on someone or something, we perceive that we have more control over what's in front of us. Whereas when we stay the course, we don't see what the potential "success" looks like, especially when it's not right around the bend.
Is quitting just a result of laziness or impatience? No. It's a function of seeking control.
If quitting is a function of seeking control, then we must find a healthier method of gaining control in order to sustain our deepest motivation. How? By registering the small steps and emotional victories along the way.
These small strides become the doses of adrenaline we need over time in our emotional repository. Tiny emotional wins in the span of an hour, day, week, whatever, become the arsenal of strength and sustenance we all so badly crave.
Most of us don't make note of these victories when we're "trying" to accomplish something big. To do so is to turn our fierce attention toward our process, and away from the grandiose outcomes we seek.
When we fall in love with process, we begin to attain extraordinary results.
It doesn't matter if you are a competitive tennis player who wants a bigger and better serve, a writer who wants to finish a novel, someone who wants to lose 20 pounds or attract deep lasting love: The number one choice we must make right now is to break our missions up into the most executable, manageable, and winnable steps possible.
Remember that the changes we seek occur in our minds and our bodies. In order to sustainably improve, we must take a closer look at both our mindset and body-set. If 2015 is the year we change our lives, then it's time to construct a new system of mental and physical control, which requires taking our eyes off of outcomes and onto winnable process.
The universal truth is, we all like winning! And wins keep us coming back for more. So we must set ourselves up to become hooked on the minutia of earning our own gold stars, not someone else's. This will inevitably and physiologically keep you on course.
So now that we're two weeks into the year, let me offer a few questions to ask yourself -- not just about your resolution, but about any goal or promise you set.
1. Have you deconstructed your resolutions into concrete doable actions?
2. Have you used specific language?
3. Are you anal retentively tracking your efforts and becoming hooked on the success of small wins?
4. Are you giving yourself a break, remembering that one slip IS NOT a fail?
5. Are you wiping failure out of your lexicon, and realizing that there is no such thing?
6. Are your eyes off the top of the mountain, and on each grounded step in front of you?
Pledge to be your own movement in 2015!
We want to celebrate the many ways we tap, express, and encourage strength. To do so, we want you to take the Mind In Motion Pledge, and to share it with others!
You'll find the Pledge right here.
Read it and take the message in. Then, share it with anyone you consider to be your partner in strength. Maybe it's a friend who embodies strength. Maybe it's someone who needs a nudge right now. Send it to anyone and everyone that comes to mind.
Working together, our actions become contagious, and strength continues to flourish throughout the lives we touch.
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