This change you want to make. The one you put off for a long while. It seemed simple, but somehow became a lot of work. You’re not sure how to make it happen, if you’ll ever succeed.
It’s confusing you, testing you, asking you to show up day after day. It’s leaving you in a lull or feeling unsure, and making you work for it whether you like it or not. With no guarantees.
Not that that matters. There are no guarantees, really, at least that’s what I’m learning. The world keeps changing, and I can’t predict when or how. But what I can do, what you can do, is learn how to learn.
Is it going to be too much work, that’s what you’re wondering.
We all want things to be easy, so we can get what we want.
But change doesn’t always work that way. Which is good, if you think about it, because then we wouldn’t value it, or not do it in the first place.
Inconvenience is almost a requirement
An adjustment in your schedule, a little less distraction, a different perspective, and practice.
Just ask that pianist, that tennis player, that business success, the runner who just ran her fourth marathon.
I’m sure putting in all that work wasn’t a breeze, but they made the time. They practiced, trained, they kept at it.
That’s not a bad thing, especially if you’re reaching for what you want (as opposed to what you should). Although sometimes, it looks easy for others but not ourselves. I just finished a book by Haruki Murakami. He’s been running marathons for decades. I get burnt out every few months.
When we can’t quite picture getting over the hump, we start to waver, think about letting go, giving up, get back to our comfortable ways. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.
But, what if there’s a way to tackle this? You know it’s possible, because it’s been done.
If you can navigate what’s merely convenient, the easy, the shortcut you think might work (but doesn’t), your chances are much, much better. This is not about the drive-thru or the easy click; those are great for the short-term, but not so much for work that needs to start on the inside.
There are 3 things that have helped me, and serve as my compass as I practice them:
1 – Mindset
Ideally a crisis or low point, since they serve as the best triggers. Those are the lessons life is trying to bring home. You have to learn from them.
If you want to change, grow, pick up the pieces, or start something new, it will take work and it will take time, among other things.
And it most certainly will not be convenient.
But there’s a way to turn the tables on convenience, and that is to
2 – Have a system
A plan, a goal, a list, a theme, a routine – use whatever works. When given the choice, of course we’d pick the easy way, the path of least resistance. But if you make it part of your path, then there’s less resistance. Progress takes time, longer than you think but not that long.
There are days when it seems pointless but I try to take it one small shift at a time, one day at a time.
Another thing that helps is
3 – Flexibility
Your list might fall apart, or your routine goes out the window. In short, the system fails sometimes. We all have those days.
That’s okay.
I try to be flexible. If I fall one day, I try to pick myself up the next. If I get distracted, I bring back focus.
The myth of the overnight success is just that, a myth. It’s usually the seven (or 10, or 14) year overnight success. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
I also have to keep reminding myself that before some of the changes I’ve made, my life was pretty convenient, but not nearly as good as it is now.
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