5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Motivation is B.S. Try the 5 Second Rule Instead!

It's a new year, which is really nothing more than another day. Big deal, right? At midnight on New Year's Eve, I was in bed. Some partier I am.

Photo source: pixabay.com

Even so, the new year is still a good excuse to turn over a new leaf -- or at the very least give ourselves a brisk slap in the face so we don't get stuck in the same negative feedback loop for yet another year. We don't change because we remain stuck with the familiar and easy. That's just how the human brain is wired.

Even if most people initiate change for the new year, a majority of them will never change. I know, I'm a ray of sunshine. Regardless of the opinion you have of me and my style of writing, you and I both know that it is reality that most peoples' lives will basically be a replica of previous months or years unless some actual action is taken. They'll dip their big toe in the deep end, but never actually jump in. Jumping in is scary, unknown and uncomfortable.

People typically decide to make changes during one of two scenarios: for the new year or when a very profound (negative or potentially negative) event occurs; i.e., cancer, divorce. Our best friend gets cancer and suddenly we decide to zip line over a waterfall in Costa Rica because it dawns on us that every day should be lived as if it's our last. We get a divorce and suddenly we realize we need to be nicer to people and lose 50 pounds. You get the idea...

We don't normally make changes for the better out of thin air unless we're some super motivated, overachieving freak of nature, right?

So what's the problem? Why aren't we on the road to success?

Maybe we're not following the Law of Attraction! Yes, that must be it! Let's imagine ourselves achieving our goals in our heads. Thoughts become reality, right? Ready? Set... Imagine...!

What the hell? Nothing happened! That stupid Law of Attraction let us down again. We swear, we imagined it really hard! What are we doing wrong?

Maybe we even took it a step further and mapped out a plan of action. Our imagination needs some action to accompany it, of course. Feet to the pavement, people! Let's do it...

Yep, most of us know what we should be doing and this step by step plan of action is written on our dry erase board or in a notebook with a shiny marker. After all, it's really not all that difficult to Google the how-to process for whatever it is we want to be doing or accomplishing. The information is out there; maybe even too much information.

Photo source: pixabay.com

The thing is, most of us still aren't following those steps regardless of how accessible they are and how many times we write them down. These steps work and they've been proven to work, but why don't we do them? No matter how much we understand how to get from point A to point B, we remain stuck at point A and gradually begin to talk ourselves out of contining our pursuit of point B "because it's not that great anyway!" The thing we were ecstatic about two weeks or two months ago now makes our stomachs churn. What happened to our motivation?

Motivation is complete bullshit. We are never going to feel like doing whatever it is we are so excited about achieving. Not because we won't want to achieve it, but because we talk ourselves out of it without even realizing it. No one likes being uncomfortable or scared, and achieving a goal worth anything is always going to be both uncomfortable and scary at first.

We have to just do it. But how do we "just do it?"

I could never articulate how to do it before now, but I did find a fantastic YouTube video that says all this more eloquently than I ever could. It's so simple and it works.

Usually I'm not a sucker for self-help TedX-style speeches, but when I listened to what this lady had to say, it felt as though she was speaking directly to me. I now know why I've never accomplished much of anything.

I also thought she was kind of bitchy, but that's beside the point. ;)

Don't give yourself a chance to talk yourself out of greatness or happiness because every chance you get, you will. That thing about being your own worst enemy rings true more than ever here. Don't be your worst enemy.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... get it done.

Happy New Year, Steemit! May this be the year you become the you that you've always dreamed.