Are you ready to give your excuses a funeral? Are you willing to do what it takes to get what you want? After reading this post, you’ll have a 3-step process to get over your endless reasons and on to achieving your desired results. Heck yeah (with a double high-five) !!!
MAKE A DECISION
As rockstar Peloton instructor, Alex Toussaint, shares “Every day, you have two choices: Evolve or Repeat.” Repeat the same thing over, not getting the results you want. Or DECIDE to evolve – learn a new tool or strategy, apply it, and reap different results. If you’re already getting the results you want, keep repeating. If you’re not getting the results you want yet, keep evolving. BAM. Makes perfect sense. Evolve or Repeat. But…
All decisions start with clarity. Most of the time, we’re crystal clear on what we don’t want. I don’t want to be fat. I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to pick up the phone and call that person. If you’re like me, you have a laundry list of ‘don’t wants’ you can rattle off lickety-split. But the first step to getting what you want is to get crystal clear on what you DO want and why you want it. Check out my favorite tool to define your goal (what you want) and your emotional fuel (why you want it.)
Every little and big decision over time, writes your story – shapes your destiny. So get clear and decide wisely.
STAY ACCOUNTABLE
I was coaching a woman through her resistance to working out and shared my resistance to meditation. My daily meditation practice waxes and wanes. Mostly wanes, to be honest. I naturally resist slowing down, even though I know mindfulness is critical for vibrant health. The precious present is where joy lives. Hello?!?
I suggested we be accountability partners. So after she finished working out and I finished meditating, we’d text each other “Done!” with lots of emojis and gifs thrown in for fun! Pretty simple. Nothing fancy. Takes less than a minute. And guess what? For the first time in months, I meditated 7 days in a row. Bam!
“Are you willing to work on your weakness until it becomes your strength?“ – Robin Arzón
Declare your decision to someone you don’t want to let down. We’ll do more for others than we’ll ever do for ourselves.
JUST DO IT WITH THE 5-SECOND RULE
Knowing what you want, why you want it, and having an accountability partner is an excellent start to getting over your endless reasons and on to achieving your desired results. But it’s not enough.
“In any area of your life that you want to change – any – there’s one fact that you need to know. This one: You are never going to feel like it. Ever.” – Mel Robbins
When we think, we feel, and our feelings get in our way of taking action. If it was as simple as just doing it, we’d all have everything we want. But we don’t. Our mind traps us in thinking mode – in our laundry list of reasons why we can’t do the very thing we know we must do to get what we want.
The 5-Second Rule is a tool that helps you take action when you don’t want to. It allows you to get out of your head (to stop thinking about doing it) and into your body (to just do it!) As Mel Robbins explains, “When you feel yourself hesitate before doing something that you know you should do, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and move towards action.” (see P.S.)
Bottom Line: you can’t think your way to change. You gotta do your way to change. Or as Jen Sincero, author, coach, and self-quoter, says, “In order to kick ass, you must first lift up your foot.” As you continue to take action, over and over again, you become a person biased towards action. In essence, you give your excuses a funeral and get to working on making your goal a reality. In the process, you create new habits and erase existing ones. With repetition, you become the person you want to be.
“It’s very, very simple to get what you want. But it’s not easy. You have to force yourself. And I mean force. Anything that’s a break from your routine is going to require force.” – Mel Robbins
Your soul wants to grow, but you don’t grow inside your comfort zone. Instead, you grow outside your comfort zone – by forcing yourself into uncomfortable, imperfect, messy action. Humans are biased to avoid pain. That’s precisely why we default to thinking about what we should be doing instead of just doing it!
Perfect action is highly overrated. If you’re a perfectionist, embracing messy action isn’t easy. But from one recovering perfectionist to another, it’s absolutely liberating and way more fun! Jumping in and doing my messy middle every day frees me from the reigns of frustration and disappointment. I’m more joyful, more playful, and way more fun to be around. When I stumble back into trying to do “it” perfectly, I remind myself to embrace the mess. If you haven’t already, ditch perfection for progress and embrace your messy middle more every day.
May you make a decision that shapes your future for what you desire. May you declare your decision to someone you don’t want to let down. And may you just do it with The 5-Second Rule. Because…
#WeAreInThisTogether for #HealthyChange
About the Author: Dr. Sue
Sue McCreadie, MD (aka Dr. Sue), is a Pediatric Physician and Breakthrough Coach for Midlife Mamas. For over two decades, she’s helped thousands achieve vibrant health as a wellness expert. Bringing three daughters into this world, she lost four along the way, and crossed the pregnancy finish line a digestive–hormonal–emotional mess. But, over the following decade, she found a deeper meaning for miscarriages, reclaimed vibrant health, and grew emotional resiliency. Dr. Sue is obsessed with living her soulFULL purpose and helping other growth-minded Mamas do the same. She believes we are in this together to rise up, realize our dreams, and feel fulfilled in every facet of our lives.