Chapter 9 - Persistence (Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill)
It's January, the season for many people to come up with New Year's resolutions, and then promptly give up on them. Research says just 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions.
Whether it's at new year's, or any time of year, it's quite common for goals to never be achieved, even when it's a matter of life or death. When told by their doctor they need to make some dramatic changes or be dead in two years, well over half the people presented with such a choice think, “Hmm. Give up my life… or give up bacon. My life… or bacon. Let's have some bacon!”
How come?
A huge factor in whether you will reach a goal, or throw in the towel, comes down to one, single word question.
“Why?”
Imagine that inside your mind is a balance scale. One side is labelled “Why To”, the other side is labeled “Why Not To.”
Every time you are faced with a decision, your mind reaches into its repository of info and experience, pulls out a bunch it believes relevant, and places each item on the appropriate half of the scale. Different items will have different significance and, therefore, different weight. Whichever side comes out heavier, that's what you will go with.
Let's imagine that in front of you is a cookie.
That cookie is your favorite flavor. That's a why to.
You have a goal to lose 10 pounds, and that cookie will not help with that. That adds to the why not to side.
But you can just taste it already, and you're salivating like Pavlov's dog. Why to.
Then again, you've been single-mouthedly responsible for eating all the rest of the cookies in the bag. And that's just since this morning. Gluttony guilt; that's a why not to!
But it's just one more cookie. It won't make much of a difference. And.. is that cookie singing? “Lonely. Feelin' so lonely now that I am all on my own.”
Sigh! The scales are close, but I'm going to eat the cookie just so it stops taunting me.
And so it goes, day after day, for every decision, often in a split second. Weigh it out, and go in the direction that is heavier with reasons.
Therefore, in order to achieve any objective, you must have heavier, more impactful reasons on the side of why to.
The heaviest reasons are emotional. It doesn't matter where you are on the scale between a feeler and a thinker, you're still an emotional creature who will often make decisions based on emotions.
We often get derailed from our objectives the easiest by emotional roadblocks. We need emotional rocket fuel to keep us propelling forward.
The bigger, and scarier the objective, the heavier your whys must be for the goal to survive and you to persist. If you're trying to slay a mighty dragon, or wrestle the most terrifying of inner demons, you need a why or whys so powerful they can make you cry. Yes, cry. Anything less potent, and eventually something will overpower you and you'll give up.
Some of the most emotionally powerful motivations are for or about other people.
For example, you might be wanting to eat better and exercise more. Great benefits to yourself. But what about also doing it so you can be lively and energetic to play with your children or grandchildren for years to come, and live long enough to witness significant moments in their lives. Or live long enough to actually grow old with your spouse, or to be more lively and energetic to play with them in the meantime.
Make sure you write down your whys along with your goals. You'll likely need the reminder along the journey.
In conclusion, I'd like to share with you just a couple of my powerful whys, which are carrying me forward through the muck, towards some of my biggest dreams.
I've mentioned before that my mother died when I was very young. I believe one day I will get to see her again. I want to meet her with a smile on my face, feeling I did well with the precious gift of life she gave me.
In a previous lesson I also mentioned that at my funeral, I want lots of people saying I positively impacted their life, directly or indirectly. Even though most of them are unknown to me yet, they are all a why.
As much as I'd like to start today charging into the battlefield to be the one to help, the painful-to-admit fact of the matter is that for the moment, I am still one of the ones lying wounded and bleeding, in need of the help. As I am faced with swallowing my pride, admitting I can't pick myself up by my own bootstraps, feeling temporarily emasculated, and learning to accept the help of others, I have to keep those and other powerful whys constantly in mind, so that I will allow myself time and process to heal.
Ed Rands
So whatever it is you are working on, fuel it with powerful whys, and make 2016 your best year yet.
Thank you Ed for allowing me to post your brilliance
See more great "lessons" here : http://thinkandgrowrichlessons.com/chapterboard.php?week=9&series=1
Success In 10 Steps
Join Michael & Linda Dlouhy For The Next 30 Days And See The Results For Yourself
What are we talking about? It's called a 30-day mental cleanse. Yes, that's right. Too often we let things into our minds that should not be there and it hinders our progress. The best way to get your mind focused is to clean it up with what it should have. Think of it like rebooting your hard drive.
We have found this process to be more effective when people can do this together and share the result. What are you going to get? By joining this 30-day cleanse, we will send you ebook(s) to read and have weekly calls associated with this specific 30-day mental cleanse to assist you along the way. All that is required by you is your commitment to doing the program. If you are ready to become the right kind of person, then complete the form below. You will be sent the full instructions and Michael & Linda will keep in touch with you by email and on the weekly calls.Or join us in our forum here : http://thinkandgrowrichlessons.com/
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