Do It Even When You Don't Feel Like It

You get the same results whether you feel like doing it or not. That's a truth I think our world often forgets. Even though you may mentally not feel like going to the gym, your muscles don't know the difference. They are not going to slack off because you mentally didn't feel like it. At the end of the day the work is the work and the results are the results despite how you are feeling. Your results do not care about your feelings.

Stop Waiting for Perfect Conditions

How often do you have the "perfect conditions" to do something like go to the gym? For me personally, maybe once every 3 weeks… for 29 days out of the 30 in a month I could probably find some excuse to not make it to the gym. The harsh reality is "perfect conditions" are almost a fallacy. Life is hard. Things suck sometimes. The successful people, the ones who "got lucky" or the ones you look up to, didn't wait for perfect conditions. They just did the hard things, even when they didn't feel like it. I would be willing to bet a lot of money Kobe Bryant didn't have the perfect conditions at 4am every morning to workout, but his desire and hunger for greatness pushed him to do it even when he didn't feel like it.

Actions Not Feelings Drive Motivation

I think oftentimes as humans we look at motivation as a feeling. I frequently hear people say "I just haven't been motivated this week," and as a result they haven't worked out that week, they haven't studied that week, or they haven't done the hard or inconvenient things that ultimately propel them to the life they want or desire. It's because we allow our motivation to be dictated by our feelings rather than driven by our actions.

One thing that perfectly depicts this idea is what Craig Groeschel calls the "Habit of No Snooze." When the alarm goes off, nobody feels like getting up. You get up anyway. As Groeschel puts it, you aren't letting your body lead you, you're leading your body into the day. And you're not alone in the struggle: a University of Notre Dame study found 57% of working professionals are habitual snoozers. The secret power of high performers is starting their day with a choice to attack the day as soon as their alarm goes off. The first decision of your day is a choice between a feeling and an action, and the action wins before the motivation ever shows up.

Your Friction = Your Success

Growth comes with friction. Your muscles grow when they are under stress from lifting, they don't grow from lying on the couch. Doing the hard things propels you to growth. Anything worth having is an uphill battle, all the way. Having an in-shape body is an uphill battle. Having a great marriage is an uphill battle. Having a great business is an uphill battle. But it is all worth having. You get places in life by doing hard things. Taking the easy way may buy comfort but it doesn't buy impact, success or a life worth living.

What one hard thing do you avoid doing that is keeping you from the life you want?