This is my first post for the SNS blog, and I decided to share an experience that happened and an outcome that was a direct result of the work that we do every week on our success calls.
One of my goals last week was to get out and go for a bike ride. I had not managed to get out during the week, so here it was, Sunday already, and I had to either go right away, or call that goal incomplete for the week. It was really hot outside too, and I was feeling pretty sluggish about going. It would have been so easy to just say I’m too tired to go and just take a nap instead. But something we had discussed kept echoing in my head. Jeremie had mentioned on one of our calls that when he’s trying to motivate himself to go for a ride, he takes the first small step by putting on his biking clothes. This action moves you in a direction you want to go, even if you aren’t all the way there yet. So, that’s what I did. I changed into my bike clothes, and waited to feel motivated. Hmmmm.
Still not really feeling it, I took the next steps. I got my water bottle, filled it up, found my shoes and helmet. This was moving me toward being ready to go, but I still didn’t really feel like going. So I went and laid down on my bed, still in my biking gear, and waited to see which would win out – bike ride or nap. The funny thing was, laying there in my bike clothes, it only took a few minutes for me to start feeling like this was ridiculous, I was all ready to go for a ride, I should just go. I knew I would feel better for going than for laying around, and since I had already done the prep, now all I had to do was get the bike and go.
Ultimately, I did end up going, I had a great ride, got some sun and exercise, and ended up feeling a lot more energized than I probably would have if I had ended up sleeping the afternoon away. The steps I took toward the goal were the key to accomplishing it, even though I was lacking the motivation to do it. By taking small successive actions toward my goal I eventually completed enough steps that the goal was easy to reach.
What I got from this was that there are lots of things we don’t feel like doing, and if you focus on howyou don’t want to do it, it will never get done. But, if you break it into small steps, and just start with one small step, then the next, then the next – you are actually making it hard to NOT accomplish your goal.