Chunk It Down

There are many reasons why we often fail to take action, but I’m going to break them down into a few posts just to make it an easier read.

The first reason why we fail to take action and follow through is because:

REASON 1: We don’t set ourselves up to win

I’ll explain this with a personal example. I remember everytime I wanted to start training I would always plan a very specific regiment. Do so and so exercise and so and so time, eat this, don’t eat that and I’d try to take into account all the possible variables in order to achieve my desired outcome, which was to be strong and fit obviously.

Anyway, I’d start doing it and before you know it, the unavoidable interferences begin to appear. I don’t manage to do an exercise at a certain time, or I miss out on a meal because i had to go out, my muscle is more sore than I anticipated or I strained something.

So as this things begin to pile on, I start thinking to myself, “DAMMIT! My whole regiment is screwed up!”, and I begin to get stressed out and convince myself that the only way to attain my goal is to live in total isolation where I can control every single variable towards achieving my goal.

Unfortunately, living in the real world, where uncertainty abounds, this is an unattainable ideal.

To get to the point, people (including me) sometimes feel that in order to achieve a particular goal they have to follow one very specific fixed route and if they steer of course at anytime, they will fail. People see the road to action as high wire act whereby if they aren’t completely in control they will fall.

The truth is, there are many ways to achieve a goal, and as long as we know what are goal is, we definitely will be able to find multiple ways to achieving their goal. This brings me to the second and third reason why we fail to take action and follow through.

REASON 2: We do not properly define our goals and desired outcomes

REASON 3: We make every action step to difficult or immeasurable

Here is an example of my old goals and actions:

Goal: To be strong and have stamina

Action steps:

• Stretch everyday
• 20 minutes of ginga
• 3 core exercises and ball routines
• 3 x 1 minute handstands
• functional kicking in all directions
• Take protein immediately after
• Perform back to back non-stop for 1- 1.5 hours everyday

I managed to keep that routine for about 2 weeks, then it just got too painful and I wasn’t seeing any results.

Conclusion and Lessons learned

1. If you don’t know where you want to end up, it’s difficult to decide on a path.
2. Even if you know where you want to end up but make each step ultra difficult, there is no way you are going to do it consistently over time.

-continues on [Part 2] 5 Steps to taking effective action