Do you have an information problem? Or an implementation one?
Before you answer, consider the following:
- If we want to improve our health, we know what’s required to do so.
- If we’ve been avoiding something important, we know what we’ve been running from.
- If we want to break bad habits or build good ones, we know how to get started.
We know, but we don’t do anything with that knowledge.
Why?
Because knowing what to do is not the problem.
Doing it is the real challenge.
Know-how is necessary, but not sufficient when it comes to creating change.
The battle to put that information to work – to act differently, stick steadfastly to that course of action, time and again, as we gradually reinforce new grooves of behaviour – is won or lost in a moment.
Commitment is a choice we make over and over. Each time the question is asked, we’re given the opportunity to answer as we see fit.
Momentum helps to keep us moving once we’re in motion. But when we get derailed, or we’re starting from a dead stop… it takes more energy. Sometimes, more than we feel we can manage.
But there’s an upside to this inpermanence.
Just as no success is sure, no loss is permanent.
Success doesn’t require an unblemished track record.
It doesn’t require a lifetime of self-affirming choices.
It doesn’t need you to be perfect.
If definitely doesn’t demand infallible future sight, where you can see the finish before you start.
Contrary to what you might think, you don’t even need to feel courageous, or motivated, or disciplined, or ready to get started.
All you need is what you already have:
The ability to choose.
When we feel stuck, it’s easy to think that more information is the answer.
This is driven by an unconscious fear that we’re missing something. That there’s a trick we haven’t learned, or some bit of knowledge that – when we finally attain it – we’ll be good enough to do what we want to.
But this is an illusion. A self-defence mechanism used by the brain to keep us safe inside the familiar.
Set this aside.
See it for what it is: a bottomless pit that will take every ounce of time & energy you provide… and ask for more.
See change for what it is – a choice.
And remember:
While you may not have everything you want, you have everything you need to get moving.