Know who you are and tell yourself the truth about that. How else will you be able to progress?
Let’s talk about the physical. Exercise. I am a starter but not a follow-througher. I am a quitter in other words. I am a person who stops at the first sign of serious effort. If it’s hard I quit. I am a person who gives himself a ticket to not take action. I am someone who fears cold.
I do not want to be that man. I do not want the mental payoff of being that man, because that payoff is a constant whisper of “you’re a loser” in my head.
Acknowledge the current truth. That is the way to build a different truth. I can’t build based on a lie. If I pretend, if I build on a faulty foundation, then my house will crumble.
I have seen this before. I had a good run for a while of steady exercise and gained the benefit. Then I quit. Why? Because the easy path disappeared. The gym where we went closed. I had discipline as long as the path was laid in front of me but when challenged to be self-propelled I faltered and quit.
So let’s tell the truth to ourselves, shall we?
I stay the course and keep going as long as it is easy to go to the gym, to run. I don’t push myself hard, I go for the “barely adequate” weights, the barely adequate distance. And as soon as externals pop up, I take them as an excuse to not run, to not go to the gym.
I don’t run because it is a little bit cold. Or it’s raining. Or I’m tired. Or it gets dark this time of year. I’m not talking about legit physical ailments. And even with physical ailments I’m way, way, way soft. I’m talking about slight discomfort. This is the equivalent of tripping on a pebble. That’s what stops me.
That’s who I am.
Truth.
The way to stop being that man is to stop being that man.