Hello my friend,
I write my posts following this mantra: "You teach best what you needed most".
And I can undoubtedly call myself the best at not finishing.
But I am not alone.
Did you know that 92% of New Year Resolutions fail, and only 8% succeed?
I bet you’re one of those 92%, just like me, that’s why you’re here..
Well, that won’t be the case anymore.
Why?
Cuz I’ve finally managed to join those 8% on the other side, and..
I’m taking you with me!
Believe me when I tell you.. The feeling over there, is a breath of fresh air.
And after reading this post, you too my friend will be able to say:
"I am a Finisher".
So how exactly am I gonna do that?
I am taking you on a journey from the moment you start thinking about a goal till the moment you shout out loud the most beautiful word in the English language.
No it’s not "I love you", it’s DONE!
In our journey, we’ll be having 8 stops.
Each stop is inspired by a strategy from the book that helped me the most to finally Finish my goals, and soon, will be helping you too.
The book is called “Finish: Give Yourself The Gift of Done”, by the amazing and hilarious author Jon Acuff.
Below is the book Finish through my eyes..
(PS. The structure of this post is completely different from the book. Yet it was inspired by the book's strategies. Here you'll find my ideas blended with the author's, and I would highly recommend you still go and read the book)
Stop 4: The Journey To Your Goal
You are sitting down to actually start working on your goal..
Strategy 4: Leave Your Hiding Places and Ignore Noble Obstacles
If you’re anything like me, the worst thing that happens to you on the journey is:
Not negativity, fear, or a challenge.
It's that you simply get..
BORED!
You might be familiar with the shining object syndrome.
You know, when you simply like to jump from project to project.
Chasing anything new, but never really finishing any of them.
Once our exciting honey moon phase with our new goal fades away,
You suddenly realize you’ve always wanted to have a clean room, or to learn how to draw a cartoon.
We run for whatever provides back that sense of "I'm changing my life" excitement,
when the only thing that can really change our lives at this point is: consistency.
You supposedly have already made your goal fun to work on in stop 2.
However the feelings of discomfort and boredom are still guaranteed to arise occasionally in our fast paced world.
And that's exactly when you run to your hiding places and noble obstacles.
So what are Hiding Places?
Hiding Places are the activities that you catch yourself doing when you know you should be working on your goal instead.
You find yourself justifying to everyone including yourself their importance and urgency.
Hiding places are tricky..
They are not always obvious distractions, like scrolling social media when you certainly know you're hiding.
They can be as productive as redesigning your to do list, or reading another self improvement article.
We run into our hiding places whenever working on our goal gets messy and success seems so far.
We run to gain back a feeling of control.
Let's call those places our External Distractions.
Again, you have a limited amount of time, energy, and attention.
Nothing will ever get done without your focus.
Today's world demands and opportunities are infinite.
And if you go around justifying the importance of every other task but your goal,
you will neither finish those tasks nor finish your goal.
->You have to keep that one goal a priority.
And this stop is the right time to commit to it.
"But what about all the other important, and so interesting stuff?" You say. " How can I possibly choose one to be my top focus? It's so hard!"
->Here's the magical solution for ambitious people:
Create a list and call it “Next Goals" or "Next Projects”.
This is gonna be the home for any new exciting idea that comes up.
Figure out the side projects that are hindering your progress the most,
and use them as a reward for finishing your goal.
The only way to get to them is to pass that finish line.
Example: If I successfully work out for a month, I will start taking piano lessons.
PS. You can treat any distraction the same way..
Have your social media break, only after an hour of working on your presentation.
Noble Obstacles on the other hand are our second type of distractions; Internal Distractions.
They are the valid reasons why we shouldn't be working on our goals.
They show up when we start doubting ourselves.
When we think that Oups.. we might actually be unqualified for this.
"It's too hard, I'm too old, I'm too young, I don't have this or that.. I am not good enough!"
Noble obstacles are most obvious when you are using the word Until.
I can't be a Yoga instructor until I can do a full split.
I can't share what worked with me on my blog until I have all my life figured out.
I can't start a business until I get the latest iPhone and mac pro.
I can't travel until I have a high paying job, whatever that means.
I can't go to the GYM until I have the perfect workout plan.
Yup, there are lots of things that you cannot do.
But you know what you can do?
You can always start.
You can always try and see for yourself whether you can or you cannot.
Here's how I deal with this:
I was never a big picture planner.
Thinking far ahead about every detail would bring me so much anxiety, overwhelm and unnecessary discouragement.
I usually just think about the next action step that I can do to get closer to my goal.
Please remember that reflection/ thinking/ planning is useful as along as it is in the form of
"What can I improve?", never in the form of "This is awful, I am awful".
From my personal experience, my mind tends to go that awful direction only when it doesn't have something more engaging to do.
So whenever I get some self doubting goin on up there.
I stop thinking and I start doing.
Take care to not fall into the downward spiral of self criticism.
Doubting -> do more, doubting do more, doubting do more.
You'll be a master in no time.
Action Time:
This is the stop where you:
1) Start your next projects list.
You'll continue to fill it throughout your journey with all the awesome ideas you'll be looking forward to after finishing your goal.
2) Figure out the simplest next action step that would move you closer to your goal, completely focus on that, and continue to update it as you go.
3) Whenever you are having some negative self talk, stop thinking and start doing something. Anything.
4) Prioritize consistency
Now that we put our distractions aside,
we can continue moving ahead with focus to our next stop.. The Struggle.
I am so Happy you've reached this far, and I am looking forward to see you in the next post!
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Have A Happy Day:)