Have you ever felt stuck in a certain area of your life, wondering how to get yourself unstuck? You know you need to take action, but you get caught up in analysis paralysis. You overthink the situation so much that you end up stuck. Unable to make a decision. Unable to move forward.
You will see all the good reasons why you should go ahead with an idea that you have in mind but at the same time, you will find a thousand other reasons why it is not a good idea.
Deep inside, you need to see some light shining on the path that you want to take; you want to know the whole plan, from A to Z how things will go, you want to have it all figured out. But you can’t. There is absolutely no way to know how life is going to unfold in the future. Sometimes, or should I say all the time, all we can see are bits and pieces.
If you wait to have it all figured out you will never start working on whichever goal you have. So here is the thing, just START! Start against your ‘best’ judgment, knowing full well you could fail but also that you could attain tremendous success.
Ask yourself why you are doing it. Once you determine your WHY, shut down the doubt and focus on the positive. Then start because the only way you are going to move closer to your dreams is by taking action. consistently.
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The battle with the inner voice
Of the many battles we all face, perhaps the greatest is the battle with the inner voice. One moment you will be all excited making progress on a task at hand, the next you will be debating on whether you should be doing it in the first place. There seems to be this constant battle inside of you questioning all the decisions you make. You keep wondering whether you bit more than you can chew or you just feel like the task is too big for you. There seems to always be one voice saying you can do it and another making you doubt yourself.
Someone called it the battle between two dogs inside of you. One dog symbolizes the part of your mind that urges you to do good and sees things from a positive side. It’s the voice of perseverance urging you to just do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. The one that tells you that you can make it when everything seems bleak. It is the voice of hope.
The other dog, on the other hand, symbolizes the part of your mind that sees all the negative and criticizes everything. It is the part that likes it easy, the voice that says it is too risky, too dangerous or too hard. The one that would rather you take the easy route or a shortcut, even when you know it’s not necessarily the right one. It is the one that incites fear and mentally cripples you.
Ultimately, each one of us has both dogs. The quality of your decisions is determined by the dog you listen to, whether it is the positive one or the negative one. Whichever one you chose to listen to, you empower and it barks louder the next time.
Let your positive dog bark loudest
It would be great to have the positive dog win all the time and it’s what we aspire to because with it’s winning comes the endless possibility of what one can achieve. However, this is not always the case. There are many times before in my life that the negative dog has won.
I will doubt myself so much and end up feeling like I cannot be able to accomplish much. Or sometimes, I begin a task and get discouraged mid-task and leave it uncompleted.
All because I listened to the wrong voice telling me that I am not up to the task and instilling fear in me. I am usually very excited at the beginning of new ventures, but if I don’t carry on the task to completion it is not long before I recoil and don’t want to talk about it. It is not a good feeling.
Set the right precedent- whatever you do more, you magnify
I have learned that with every accomplishment comes the motivation to do more. Similar to failure, if you don’t learn your lesson and pick yourself up, one failure can set a precedent for more failure. If you are leaving tasks half-done, you set yourself up for more half-done tasks. Whatever you do more, you magnify.
Just observe yourself, if you start your morning by not doing a task that you had planned to do, as the day goes by, there will be many other tasks that you will fail to accomplish. But if you start your day by accomplishing what you said you would, you set precedence for accomplishment. Such are the days that we say we woke up on the right foot. You just seem to be cruising through the day, one accomplishment after another. It is therefore very important to set the right precedents in your everyday life.
Consistent, imperfect action is the big secret. Just keep moving and choosing progress over perfection.
How many opportunities have you allowed to pass you by because self-doubt got in your way? In retrospect, you realize that it would have been a perfect fit for you. If only you got past the initial doubt and fear. How many things have you started and failed to complete because you developed cold feet midway? I wonder what would have happened if I went through with all the brilliant ideas that I gave up on when the going got tough. I think you and I can do better at not only starting but staying the course.
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Do better, feed your positive dog
for the rest of the year, let us purpose to do better. Let us feed our positive dogs more because it is the right thing to do. We can do this by watching and reading material that will influence us positively. Watch motivational videos, read books that challenge you to grow and watch out for who you associate with.
Do not surround yourself with people that are constantly discouraging you or belittling your dreams. Surround yourself with people that share your vision, people who also want to grow, and are willing to put in the required work.
Stay away from people who are constantly complaining. Such people have too much negative energy and it will rub off on you. Let me say that again, please be careful who you are spending most of your time with. They really determine who you become more than you realize. As the old saying goes, show me your friends and I will show you who you are.
Above everything else, make sure you start. Whatever it is that you have been meaning to do, just start. The vision will get clearer along the way. If you start you may succeed but if you don’t, you have no chance whatsoever.
So, by all means, start and don’t just start, stay the course to the very end even when it gets tough.
Don’t just start, stay the course to the very end even when it gets tough.Click To TweetRelated: How to set your goals so you can accomplish them
To a better year ahead!
Leave me a comment below and let me know how you are getting yourself unstuck.
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Great article. It was such an interesting read. I have been failing my daily goals lately but after reading this article I want to tackle them head on and smash them right out of the water. I want to start working out again and continue working on my business every single day. Thanks to you I will take action and not give up.
I am so glad that this article was of help to you Brandon. Keep going and smash those goals. If you ever need some motivation, just come and hang out with me right here.
It is important to take action to avoid getting caught in a comfort zone. People will make excuses for not moving forward and let the negative energy prevail. Which is an easy thing to do. However, it takes self-awareness and conviction to believe in your actions.
The positive energy can prevail by acknowledging the negativity but not accepting it as truth.
Very true Maurice. Thanks for reading.
Positive energy…feed your white dog! Awesome analogies here and article speaks to our daily challenges and how to overcome them. Thank you for writing this. I will feed my white dog!
Way to go!
i always avoid discouraging people at all costs