And Then…Pull The Trigger!
Brrr! As I write this, it’s getting really cold. And cold weather always seems worse after the holidays, doesn’t it? Every winter many of us are reminded once again of what it feels like to get out of bed on a cold morning. It can be tough!
And yet, despite feeling uncomfortable, you—with a tip of the hat to Nike—just do it! Fact is, if every day you waited to feel comfortable before crawling out of bed and going to work, you’d be unemployed!
Here’s a thought: If you could harness your ability to feel uncomfortable and still take action—i.e. get out of bed—to other areas of your life you’d be hugely successful at whatever you put your mind to.
In the last article, I described how your Emotion Brain sends you "fear messages" and makes you feel uncomfortable every time you try something new. I concluded by suggesting that, to beat your Emotion Brain, you must get comfortable being uncomfortable and take action anyway.
And this is where, for most people, rubber hits road. When people feel uncomfortable, unless they’ve conditioned themselves to take action, they’ll give up every time! Which explains why most people, despite the best of intentions, make half-hearted efforts which peter out long before they achieve their goals.
The formula for taking action is simple: Take the first step, be persistent and finish the task…and repeat until your goal is achieved. Unfortunately, every step of the way there are psychological pitfalls you need to avoid. Watch out for the "WARNINGS".
Lets look at each step in turn…
Take The First Step…Today!
In part one of this series, I taught you how to define a believable journey towards your goals with an awareness of the psychological pitfalls en route. Then, in part two I described how, whenever you try to change your behavior, your Emotion Brain sends you "fear messages" that stack the odds of success against you. I concluded by suggesting that, after you chart a detailed course towards your goal, take the first step.
Taking concrete action is the fundamental unit of change. And so, once you’ve defined your journey, planned your approach and decided to act, don’t hang around waiting for the perfect moment…pull the trigger.
(Steve’s note: I’ve chosen a war metaphor—pull the trigger—because you are, in no uncertain terms, at war with your Emotion Brain.)
WARNING #1: Whenever you make the decision to do something, it’s critical you follow through. It’s your Emotion Brain that triggers your habitual, repetitive behavior; good and bad. And so, every time you don’t follow through on a task you’ve set yourself, you’re reinforcing your bad habits, increasing the likelihood you’ll wimp out next time and conditioning yourself to fail. That’s why failing to do what you’ve decided to do is so psychologically damaging; please don’t do that to yourself.
Solution: Don’t allow your Emotion Brain to dictate whether or not you take action. Instead, once you’ve made the decision to act—just like climbing out of bed on a cold day—grit your teeth and go for it. Remember, motion overcomes emotion.
Be Relentless
After taking the first step each action builds on the previous action.
WARNING #2: Once you’ve committed to taking action, don’t debate your options every day. For example, let’s say you’ve decided that, as part of a New Year fitness plan, you need to spend thirty minutes a day on the treadmill. It’s easy to catch yourself asking: "How about, instead of thirty minutes on the treadmill today, I do a whole hour tomorrow?" Yea right! Or second guess: ‘I wonder if I should have opted for step aerobics?’ Constantly rehashing your approach is a surefire path to perpetual failure; your Emotion Brain will freeze you in your tracks.
Solution: During the initial planning stage, determine how long you’re going to take action before evaluating the success of your approach and then stick to it.
WARNING #3: Don’t always expect immediate positive results. How long did it take you to learn to ride a bike? A month? Longer? For some unknown reason, when we reach adulthood, if success isn’t immediate then "Something must be wrong with us or our approach."
Solution: Initially, rather than focusing on results, focus on completing the tasks you’ve set yourself. Be relentless, build unstoppable momentum…and be patient.
Finish The Task
Complete the tasks you promised yourself you’d complete; starting and finishing are equally important. When you finish a task you set out to do, you begin to see yourself has someone who’s accountable and gets the job done. And self-trust is incredibly empowering.
WARNING #4: Watch out for the—I’m an "Idea Person"—red flag. I’m a huge fan of ideas, especially simple ideas. However, when people think of themselves as "Idea People," it’s often a rationalization for all the unfinished projects sitting around their office.
Solution: Think of yourself as a "Completed Idea Person". Be unswerving, keep going until the task is done…and then reward yourself.
WARNING #5: Don’t think that you’re above needing a reward: "I don’t need that kind of motivation." Yes, you do! We all do! It’s part of your core brain hardwiring. When you reward yourself, your Emotional Brain sits up and pays attention. And so reward is an important way of reconditioning your Emotion Brain to equate action with pleasure, now and always.
…And Ramp Up The Pain
WARNING #6: If you don’t ramp up the pain of failure, you’re far more likely to quit. The ancient Greeks pointed out that virtually everything you do stems from your need to enhance pleasure or avoid pain. We’ve already discussed how you can increase the pleasure of finishing a task by rewarding yourself.
Solution: One way is to announce your plans to the world! You’re far less likely to procrastinate or give up. Why? Because you don’t want the embarrassment of having to explain to your family, friends and peers that you couldn’t stick to your commitments.
So, bite the bullet, and tell your family about your big goal. Talk about it at work. And if you have one, post it on your MySpace page!
"This year, I will lose 30 lbs." … "This year, I’m learning conversational Spanish." … "This year, I’m completing my professional certification."
Good luck!
