An object that’s a rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion will continue along the same course unless another force redirects it.
It’s a law of physics. It’s also a law of life.
Change your words, change your mind
I’ve been at rest for several months. I’ve talked about how I need to exercise. And I need to write. I haven’t done either. I realized last night that I was speaking in ‘Need to’. I immediately changed my language. I moved to ‘want to’.
We put the twins down to sleep 45 minutes ago. I had a choice. I could rest. The twins are exhausting. Rest is an easy choice. Sometimes it’s the wise choice, too. Often times it’s the lazy default choice. I’ve been going with the default.
Moving from ‘Need to’ to ‘want to’ helped me change my actions. No one is excited to do the thing they ‘need’ to do. We can get excited about the thing we ‘want’ to do. We just have to decide where or when we can do it.
What you focus on is what you get
That moves me to my next point. It’s easy to say what we don’t have enough of … “I don’t have enough time. If I had enough time, I’d start working out.” “I don’t have the energy. If I weren’t so tired …” We’re also adept at finding what we have too much of. “I’m just too busy. If I didn’t have the twins, a business I help my wife run, a full time commitment consulting with companies to solve their people problems and the commitment of delivering the solutions that help solve those people problems, I would work out and write.”
There are plenty of people who raise kids, work jobs, go to school, volunteer and do what they love. They are few. They live in the far right of the bell curve. Where in the bell curve do you want to live?
It’s easy to talk about what we can’t do … and the myriad of reasons why we can’t. As long as that’s our dialog with ourselves and others we will see our goals inch further and further away from us. Choose to focus on what we can do. We’ll start to see a path clearing before us. The beautiful thing is one of progress leads to another.
A short jog, leads to some sets of jumps squats, push-ups and ab work, the mind is clear, the body set in motion. It’s easier to pick up the laptop and write. The conversation with your wife about finances gets dealt with. You plan your day for tomorrow.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion tends to stay in motion … we can see our goals inch closer toward us.
Talk about about what you want to do differently – not what you need to do. Focus on what you can do. You’ll take action with greater ease. Your goals will inch closer. You’ll be happier.
Happier people are more productive. And they’re happy. Isn’t that really why you want to achieve your goals to begin with?
Related articles
- Harvard Business: How to Start the Big Project You’ve Been Putting Off (blogs.hbr.org)
- Harvard Business: Five Questions That Should Shape Any Change Program (blogs.hbr.org)
- Get Faster & More Flexible: 5 Tips (inc.com)
- 2 Different Kinds of Stress Which Make-or-Break a Person (lifehack.org)
