Saturday, September 12, 1998

The spirit is willing, but...

Does this sound familiar? You know what you need to do. You know you need to be more disciplined, more focused, more positive, more industrious. Yet there’s a big difference between knowing what to do and putting it into practice. How do you get yourself to actually step forward and take the necessary action?The problem is often that long term goals conflict with short term desires. You’d like to lose weight someday, but you want that bowl of ice cream right now. What’s the way around this trap? Simply get your short term desires to support your long term goals.Find something you can do right now, something which is completely and totally enjoyable in its own right, and which also brings long term benefits. Then enjoy it. Get hooked on it. When you’re not doing it, think about how much you wish you could be doing it.Here’s an example. I get up before sunrise every morning and go for a one-hour walk. It is quiet, peaceful, cool, invigorating and extremely enjoyable. It gets each day off to a great start. The benefits are immediate and positive. Just thinking about how good it feels is enough to get me out of bed at that early hour. Plus, it supports my long term goal of staying physically fit.For every long term goal that you truly want to achieve, there is some highly enjoyable and immediately compelling way to pursue that goal, right now. Figure out what it is, let yourself truly delight in doing it, and you’re unstoppable!

— Ralph Marston

Let yourself       Freedom

Copyright ©1998 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.