Obstacle, obstruction, barrier. List all of the obstacles in the path of your success. What I’d like to do is start defining listing and talking about all of the various obstacles.
- I will use kayaking as a metaphor
- When I first started kayaking I was very enthusiastic about it
- I didn’t mind the work getting the boat to the water
- It was exciting, an adventure
- It was new
- I made mistakes, forgot things, fell in the water
- The bad thing with motivation is it fades
- After while getting the boat to the water became a chore
- It’s a lot of work to load the boat on the car
- Pack the gear
- Unload the boat and bring it to the water
- Go kayaking
- Reverse the process, go home
- Wash off everything and put it away
- I went kayaking less and less
- Then I stopped altogether
- After the enthusiasm faded, getting the boat to the water became the obstacle
- How do we remove the obstacle blocking you from your goals?
- Get a house near the water
- Get a trailer for the kayak
- Get a truck so you can throw it in the back/flatbed
- These options are expensive and/or big life changes
- There are cheaper solutions
- Rent a kayak at the destination
- Make friends with someone near the water
- Get an inflatable or collapsible kayak
- These solutions are more feasible but become more complicated to execute
- Shift your paradigm
- Accept that it takes a lot of time and effort to get the boat to the water
- Learn to enjoy the process of getting the boat to the water
- Systematize the process of getting the boat to the water – streamline effort
- These solutions are most difficult because the mind is hard to change
- It’s easier to buy a thing than it is to change your mind
- For some it’s not getting the boat to the water that is the obstacle
- Incompetence can ruin the experience
- You forget sunscreen and get a bad burn
- You paddle too far and can’t make it back (easily)
- You get caught in a storm that scares the crap out of you
- Bad experiences can become associated with the activity
- Once associated, the activity loses its luster
- In NLP this is anchoring
- Another obstacle is comparing your performance to others
- You think you are the bomb running or biking, then a friend casually tells of going twice the distance in half the time
- You feel deflated, why bother when you suck so bad
- If you can’t be good at it, you quit
- Overcome this by telling yourself that you enjoy doing it and screw what others do/say/think
- You compare you to yourself
- Be careful, this is insidious
- It can creep in over time
- A few times you run, but can’t go as fast or as far as you did before
- You become demoralized at the fact you are not improving each time
- Get use to the fact that you can’t perform your best all the time
- Some running is better than no running
- Be ok with finishing 2nd place to yourself
- Beware of behavior creep
- You skip a day at the gym
- Next week you skip another
- Before you know it you are going maybe once a week
- Then not at all
- Monitor your progress, track results, give yourself a minimum standard
- Are you forcing yourself to do something you don’t like?
- You start running to get in shape
- But you hate running
- Willpower will get you running and keep you running for a while
- Willpower will not last forever
- You hate it, you eventually quit (behavior creep)
- Pick a physical activity you enjoy doing
- The fact you enjoy it will keep you doing it
- Sustainability is most important
- Running may burn more calories, but if you hate it you will eventually quit
- If you like walking or biking, do that instead. In the long run it pays off
- Ending things with
- procrastination
