The Desert of Arizona
Cloudy and Humid 66 Degrees
Which makes you feel better? When YOU tell yourself you are awesome or when you hear someone ELSE say it to you?
If hearing someone else say that about you creates a bigger emotional hit, that’s a clue that you have an enormous opportunity for growth staring you right in the face.
More about that in a moment…
In my line of work trying to help people, I have the pleasure of daily meetings with excuses of all shapes and sizes.
I was going to do this last year…
I’ve been meaning to start this for a while…
I’m not sure why I haven’t done this yet…
It’s been 3 years and I’m just not making progress…
I’m not sure I’m going in the right direction…
If you’re currently an expert in the excuse business, ask yourself what you’re getting from the excuses. We humans are extremely self-interested. We are motivated by what we get. We are experts at getting what we want.
So what are you getting from this? And why do you choose getting THAT over the progress you say you want?
These are interesting questions, no?
So, here’s something you might consider doing:
For the next week or two, walk over to the mirror every morning, stare yourself in the face, and tell yourself that you’re awesome. Pay attention to how you feel when all of this is going down. Do it like you mean it.
I first heard about this simple practice in Michael Brown’s book, The Presence Process.
I will never forget the feeling that was created in me the first time I tried it.
So what happens if you slowly start to believe that you might in fact be awesome?
You’re going to find that your actions begin to change. Things you didn’t used to do, you’ll start doing. Other things you used to do, you’ll stop doing.
Why?
Because awesome people act in awesome ways. Your mind isn’t trained to allow too many incongruencies before you go nuts. So in order to keep you sane, you either have to give up your “I’m awesome” belief, or you have to allow that belief to seep into your actions.
This is what I call “reverse engineering” self improvement from the outside in!
Your excuses are there for a reason. And although I have no idea what that reason is, here’s a suggestion:
Stop worrying about working through your excuses. That only feeds them with energy and makes them more REAL than they already are. Start focusing on becoming the type of person for whom that type of behavior is simply no longer an option.