I have one question for you: How does a baby go from crawling to walking?
The answer is through change.
If there is one thing that I want you to remember, it’s that change is a process.
Do me a favor and put one finger in your ear.
Really. Put one finger in your ear.
Now say out loud, “CHANGE IS A PROCESS!”
Note: I had you do that because I didn’t want that to go into one ear and out the other.
Now, back to the baby. For a baby to go from crawling to walking, they must go through change, which—don’t forget—is a process. Change takes time. It takes energy. It takes practice. Oh, and don’t forget the mistakes; there are a lot of those too.
Imagine you have a baby that wants to learn to walk. How long would you give it? One day? One week? One month?
You are probably saying to yourself, “Umm... are you crazy! I’ll give them as long as it takes!”
Isn’t it funny that you would give a baby all the time in the world to learn to walk? Yet, when it comes to you and your goals, you suddenly have a timer in your hands.
For instance, say you want to lose weight. You are all excited and inspired after watching a motivational video and you say, “Damn it, this time I am going to lose weight! Just watch and see!” But 3 days later, your motivation is gone, you're tired, and you end up quitting. You feel absolutely hopeless. You say to yourself, “I’m a loser. I failed again.”
Even though you don’t want to give up, you do. What happened?
You see, there is a part of your brain that houses your thoughts. These thoughts get in the way of your goals.
You know, the little voice in your head that says, “Really. You think you can lose weight. C’mon, we’ve done this before. It’s not going to happen."
Babies don’t let their thoughts get in the way. They don’t care how long it takes to go from crawling to walking. Babies are focused on learning to walk. If you were a fly on the wall in the babies brain (I know that sounds weird, but humor me) you’d only see a picture of a baby walking.
That’s right. The baby has one thing on its mind: walking.
As for you, rather than focusing on how to lose weight, you focus on other things like, “Why you're not losing weight,” or “Why you keep eating pizza?”
That’s the problem. You're too skeptical!
It’s not about getting motivated and inspired. You can go to YouTube, watch an inspirational video, and feel like you could lift a million pounds. But that means nothing if you don’t have a game plan for yourself.
You need to learn how to master your thoughts. You need to master your mind.
Guess what? You need a strategy. You need a roadmap. YOU NEED A GAME PLAN.
Otherwise, your mind will develop its own plan. You know, the why-are-you-so-fat voice in your head that causes you to quit.
Do me a favor and put a finger in your ear again: YOU NEED A GAME PLAN.
You need to learn how to get over the change-is-a-process hurdle so that you can go from crawling to walking. You need to learn how to discipline yourself to take action; how to handle mistakes; how to embrace failure; and most importantly: HOW TO GET RESULTS!
Why? Because those are the things you will need when you're in between the stages of crawling and walking.
So, the next time you start to struggle, remember: change is a process.
I hope I gave you enough to think about.
I’m the Educator at School Your Brain and I would love it if you like this post, leave a comment, and email me at educator@schoolyourbrain.com with any questions or comments you may have.
P.S.
Let me know what happens to you during the change process that stops you from achieving your goals. What are some things you say to yourself when you start to struggle? Also, what is one thing you wish you had to help you succeed?