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Starting New Habits is Uncomfortable … But Necessary for Success!

Guest post by: Pete Brand

Article Overview: Well I survived my first day of my new commitments, and you know what? It wasn't that bad! I'm not saying that it was easy. If I did ... I'd be lying! Every time we start new habits it is very uncomfortable, but if we continue to do things the same way over and over and follow our old habits ... we can expect to live with the uncomfortable feeling of never achieving more. In my opinion, the second we stop striving to become better, we begin to die. You tell me ... What could be more uncomfortable than death?

Starting New Habits is Uncomfortable … But Necessary for Success!

Well I survived my first day of my new commitments, and you know what? It wasn't that bad!

I'm not saying that it was easy. If I did ... I'd be lying!

Every time we start new habits it is very uncomfortable, but if we continue to do things the same way over and over and follow our old habits ... we can expect to live with the uncomfortable feeling of never achieving more. In my opinion, the second we stop striving to become better, we begin to die.

You tell me ... What could be more uncomfortable than death?

With this little experiment of mine I'll be tracking my thought process and my progress toward the achievement of my goals over the coming 30 days. I won't be talking specifically about the action goals I set. If you are interested in knowing what those are you can follow me on Twitter.

I will, however, be discussing the challenges I bump up against and how I fight my way through them. I figure by doing this, you will be able to relate. Especially if you are coming along on the journey with me, and we might just be able to assist each other.

If you haven't decided to participate, I am guessing either there is nothing in your life left to accomplish, or you just haven't gotten around to it.

Whatever the case, I'd love to have you jump on board so we can create as many success stories over the next 30 days as possible!

Anyhow, when I set my three action goals I struggled with what goals to set since I already stay quite busy. I was in pretty good shape though since one of my goals had been accomplished by simply launching the experiment to the public.

I was feeling great ... one down and only two to go! This was going to be a breeze ... or was it?

I completed a portion of my second action goal and human nature kicked in. I began to attempt to come up with a valid excuse so I could get away with not quite completing this goal. I came up with the same excuses I believe most people would.

I began to rationalize with myself that it was only the first day and since I started it mid morning I really didn't have to count bed time as the end of the first day.

I then attempted to convince myself that my true action goal was something I needed to accomplish over 30 days and therefore as long as I averaged my daily goal by the end of the month, I'd be fine. Sounds like a very popular excuse for a procrastinator like me. :)

Then I got home from work late and was planning on using that as an excuse since I obviously didn't have the time necessary to get it done.

These are all very common thoughts that all of us have when we are attempting to start new habits. We are accustomed to doing things a certain way and modifying that behavior, no matter how much good will come ... it just plain sucks!

That's when the accountability trap I set for myself kicked in. I started to realize that I already put my action goals out there into the universe and I was sure that there were the normal negative people lurking, waiting for me to fail. There was absolutely NO WAY I was going to let those people succeed through my failure. Because of this I found the motivation to accomplish the remaining tasks in my second goal.

As I finished I began to feel great! I had accomplished two of the three action goals I set for myself and only had one to go. That's when those little voices came back. They said ...

"Come on Pete! You just finished goal number two three hours later than you planned. It is only the first day and two out of three isn't bad. Come on ... it's late. You should go to bed."

Again, I almost succumbed to the pressure of negativity, but again I thought of the naysayers that I was sure were lurking out there waiting for me to not follow through.

Alright, now before you think I am a schizophrenic that has voices in their head, you better look inward. Everyone experiences these little battles centered around what you know you should do, and what you really do. If you say you don't, then I am sure you lie about a bunch of other stuff also. :)

I completed the last of my three action goals at exactly 11:43pm last night and it felt great! One day down and only twenty nine more to go! I awoke this morning a little tired, but ready to plow through the day and knowing I am going to accomplish my three action goals for a second consecutive day.

Feel free to leave any comments or thoughts you may have on the process of starting new habits. If you've decided to join me on this journey, I'd love to know that as well.

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Article Tags: commitments, old habits, starting new habits, success



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