Why we almost always don’t do what’s BEST for us

Yet most of us don’t do what’s good for us because the REWARDS and PLEASURE are in the future and the disruption, discomfort and discipline needed to get there are IMMEDIATE. That’s why so many of us don’t even bother to start. Who wants to start anything not feeling comfortable?

Following are a few steps to consider if you want to begin making lasting changes in your business and life.

The first three steps go hand in hand. You can’t start anything unless you have these three in place.

1. Be prepared for the journey

2. Commit to the journey and whatever it takes to make your vision a reality

3. And Lay the right foundation

Most of us are very optimistic regarding how long it will take for us to:

Change a habit

Reach a financial goal

Lose weight

Grow our businesses

Change careers

We usual think that we can achieve it in a lot less time than it actually takes.

Of course when the change doesn’t occur in rapid fire time even though we know we are being irrational like wanting to lose ten pounds in one week without exercising OR changing how we eat, we get upset and say that it’s too hard or probably just not for us – you know what I mean – the resignation that goes something like “look I just have to accept myself as is. This is my body type.” Really?

We need to think like a long distance runner. A good long distance runner is committed and disciplined, ready to do whatever it takes to finish the race. Waking up one morning and declaring to run a marathon is more than a major decision. It requires months of hard work and endurance training. If you want to be a good long distance runner and you are determined to succeed, you have to begin by practicing a few basic steps if you want to be the one the crowd is cheering on as you cross the finish line.

The fourth step is that you must be accountable to someone. Relationship Coach Curt Gorlick tells us that aaccountability is one of the most overlooked and undervalued pieces of the puzzle to achieving personal and business goals. Without accountability many things in our lives would not be present. In fact, lack of accountability could be the biggest reason why you don’t currently have what you want in life. The fifth step is to keep things simple. Sometimes I think we feel that the more complicated something is – the better it is. A simple solution is just that to us – SIMPLE. “It couldn’t be THIS simple” we think so we keep researching and looking for a more difficult circuitous route to get to where we say we want to go.

The sixth step is simply to do what you say you’re going to do BEFORE telling the world! You know what I’m talking about. You announce to everyone that you’re going to:

Start walking around the Savannah in the morning

Take up yoga

Learn to play the piano

Start a business making specialty cupcakes

And then you do nothing...

THEN - You get pissed off when whomever you originally told asks you “How’s the yoga going?” You boof them up real bad because they are calling you out on your own procrastination. Which is why it’s better to accomplish first THEN share your “wins” with the world.

Derek Sivers, entrepreneur, programmer, and avid student of life says it this way: - Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them. He shares that tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen. “Announcing your plans to others, satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed. Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.”

Too many of us are pushing ourselves at top sprinting speed every day, every week, year after year, not pacing ourselves and still not accomplishing those things that we want to.

The long distance runner cannot sprint—the course is too long. He must learn a different set of skills; he must know how to pace himself, to select those moments in which to push harder and faster and when to ease into the regular run for maintenance.

If you want to set and achieve goals for 2012 remember that your life is not a sprint. It is a long distance race. Now you have the necessary steps to ensure that you will achieve success. I hope you follow them!

Giselle Hudson is a an author, Reinvention Mentor & Guide - helping people make sense of their businesses and lives since 1994. If you’re eager to live up to the amazing potential you and your business possess then email me at possibility2profit@gmail.com for your FREE copy of “How to Discover Your Brand, Make a Difference, Profit and Prosper”