What are you waiting for?
08/03/13
What are you waiting for?
So here’s the scenario: you tell yourself that when X happens, you will do Y. I’ll start looking for a new job after I update my resume. I’ll join a gym after I start running. I’ll go back to yoga after I’ve done it at home. I’ll be happy when I get a new place, job, go on vacation or _____ (insert something you would like to be different in your life, here).
Don’t all of those things seem reasonable? Yep. Sure. Yet, how often does that first step become the barrier that keeps that second step from ever happening? Now be honest. Does Y rarely happen because you never get to X?
So maybe it’s time to skip that first step that’s getting in the way and just do that thing you want to do. Look for a new job. Join the gym. Go back to yoga class. Do the things that make you happy.
This is not about being able to delay gratification--the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for a later reward at a more appropriate time. Quite the opposite. Being able to delay gratification is a healthy ability. It can even be important in our lives when we have constraints that require it (financial, time or otherwise). Barring that there are any constraints, we’re simply putting off what would be good for or at least pleasing to us. And really, what is the point in that?
If we put off for tomorrow what would be good for us today, it may never happen. On that note, I’m going to start eating healthier as soon as I finish reading this great book I bought on nutrition.
So here’s the scenario: you tell yourself that when X happens, you will do Y. I’ll start looking for a new job after I update my resume. I’ll join a gym after I start running. I’ll go back to yoga after I’ve done it at home. I’ll be happy when I get a new place, job, go on vacation or _____ (insert something you would like to be different in your life, here).
Don’t all of those things seem reasonable? Yep. Sure. Yet, how often does that first step become the barrier that keeps that second step from ever happening? Now be honest. Does Y rarely happen because you never get to X?
So maybe it’s time to skip that first step that’s getting in the way and just do that thing you want to do. Look for a new job. Join the gym. Go back to yoga class. Do the things that make you happy.
This is not about being able to delay gratification--the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for a later reward at a more appropriate time. Quite the opposite. Being able to delay gratification is a healthy ability. It can even be important in our lives when we have constraints that require it (financial, time or otherwise). Barring that there are any constraints, we’re simply putting off what would be good for or at least pleasing to us. And really, what is the point in that?
If we put off for tomorrow what would be good for us today, it may never happen. On that note, I’m going to start eating healthier as soon as I finish reading this great book I bought on nutrition.