Often, at the beginning of the year, there's an influx of programs promoting a new year, new you, new routines, new habits, new health focus, all the new…..
I've long believed that you should decide and do. If you need a program to introduce or change a habit, you will stop whenever the program ends.
Over the years, I have tested various theories and seen many results that provide evidence to suggest otherwise.
Indeed, programs won’t create sustainable change on their own. Coupled with accountability, support, and a plan to embed the changes in the long term, they help embed a sustainable pattern, helping it become part of life. Sometimes, it’s the circuit breaker that is needed.
For real change, though, to welcome in what you want and are chasing, you must like it, work for it, and do what it takes to commit to action.
It can be a grind.
So can living with a version of yourself that you don’t like.
Disappointment is also a grind, and so is falling short of capability.
Like this writing every day, it looms over my head that I must write daily until it's done. It’s still a chore I haven't found a flow with yet, and it frustrates me that this is the case.
Every day, when it comes time to write, I sit for a while, wondering what today's topic will be. I may have ideated a little on what it might be or could be. When lifting the lid on the laptop, I often choose something completely different because I don't have a process.
I am still waiting for creative inspiration to arrive and land on my keyboard in perfect flow. It’s like joining a gym and thinking you can start doing chin-ups immediately, as that’s what people do in a gym.
I'm in training, back to the starting line, learning, and it's all new. Time needs dedication, and the craft needs honing. It's hard not to feel frustrated and impatient with the process, even when reminding myself that creativity and inspiration take time to develop.
I’ll eventually find flow and creative inspiration more easily by consistently showing up and committing to any routine. Just like in training, discipline and embedded routines drive action and lead to results. Staying committed, pushing forward, and believing the motivation will come from ongoing progress.
Once I train in the writing routine, I will think less about logistics and timing, leaving space for creativity to flourish.
It would be like waiting in bed in the dark in the morning, waiting for motivation to get me up to train. It doesn't come. It’s a discipline that gets me moving. Embedded routines drive the action, as do a solid commitment to a plan.
Continued and regular training and external accountability ( to a group) created an action to commit to the training. Motivation comes from results, and this rings true for most things.
It is a complete flip on motivation, commitment, inspiration, creativity and accountability.
Time + effort + consistency = results, and outcomes = motivation to get more results.
And so we go around and around.
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