How to get what you want
/“If you ever did the things you didn’t want to do, you’d have everything you’ve ever wanted.”
This TED Talk is well worth watching....... again, and again, and again. Mel Robbins is a CNN commentator, TV host, and author of the book "The 5 Second Rule".
Why is this TED Talk worth watching, because she speaks to the fundamental truths of life, and links together many of the concepts we have spoken about in MyCorproateDiary. Most fundamentally, it comes down to action. Not massive action to crush life, just one small action to take, one day at a time. The reason you don't have the girl (or boy) that you want, or the job that you want, or the life that you want, is because of one simple reason. You don't take the first action needed to move you in the direction of what you want. Why is that OK? Because you tell yourself "... it's OK, I can do it tomorrow...". But like I've said in previous blogs, how many tomorrow's do you have left? At some point, you are going to run out of "tomorrows".
So, make the change. Take that one small action that is different to what you do day to day. Watch the TED Talk but make sure you take the action. In case you forget, I've summarised below the key points that you would do well to recall and revisit EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.
- Stop telling yourself that you are fine. You feel stuck, you feel frustrated, you feel annoyed then you are obviously not fine. It's a cheap shortcut for you to get out of tackling the real problems. After all, if you're fine then you don't need to do anything.
- The odds of you being born: 1 in 400 Trillion. It's been scientifically proven. Therefore you exist for a reason. But most of the time, any great ideas that you have, it's for a fleeting moment and you take no action to even investigate it further. What a waste.
- Yet you complain day to day and feel frustrated because you're stuck. You feel there is so much more to you, so many great ideas, and contributions yet nobody seems to appreciate them. The reality is, pursuing an idea takes energy and action, and you just don't feel like it.
- But you can overcome this initial resistance (science call it inertia). One very small action, which will set a path of change in you. Tomorrow, set your alarm to wake up 30 minutes early. And when it goes off, get out of bed. Don't snooze, don't lie in for another 10 seconds. Just get up.
- If you want something, you have to ask. You have to take the action of asking, of pursuing what you want. Next time you have a great idea or an impulse, pair it immediately with an action. When you have a great idea, quick jot it down and then pair it with an action for you to investigate it further.
- Do it within 5 seconds. If you don't pair the impulse with an action within 5 seconds, you brain tells you it's fine. You can come back to it later. And you know what that means. You'll forget it or when you do come back to it, it feels less urgent and you give up
Photo by Tommy Lisbin on Unsplash