Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Action Brings Enpowerment

      You’ve found yourself doing it!  Everyone of us has done it at one time or another.  Your life seems to going around in circles.  You are in THAT rut!  Get up --- go to work --- come home --- go to bed!  Then the next day you start all over again.  If you’ve ever been stuck in a rut of inertia before, you probably know the sense of helpless futility that takes over your life.  You want your life to change, but you feel powerless to do anything about it yourself.  You may find yourself constantly making plans to improve your life, but never quite getting around to taking action because it seems so intimidating.  You keep telling yourself “I’ll get it done, SOMEDAY!  But that day never seems to come.

     However, there is something you should keep in mind: Though taking action can intimidate and frighten you, it can also empower you!  If you learn to use it effectively, it can provide the fuel to keep you moving forward toward more fulfilling life circumstances.  When you do this, you realize the truth of most situations: that there was never anything to fear in the first place, and you’ll never get stuck again!  While there may be many ways to overcome this repetitive rut, below I have listed three simple steps that show you how to get started and to get started NOW:

1.      First, be sure you understand that your life is the way it is right now because of your hesitation in taking action!  This is important, because it will help you understand the importance of moving forward no matter how anxious it makes you feel at first.

       Then, decide on one action to take to get the ball rolling.  Think about your life right now, and ask yourself which situations you want to change first.  You might choose your career, relationships, health, financial situation, or anything else that makes you feel powerless and stuck.  Then think about one simple action you can take to inspire some positive change.  It doesn’t have to be a huge action, just SOMETHING to start building momentum.  For example, if you were considering your current financial situation, perhaps you could establish a budget that would help you gain betting control over your spending habits.

2.      Once you’ve decided on your action step, you’ll have to push yourself to take it no matter what!  This may seem incredibly difficult or even scary at first, but remember that most often the things you fear are not going to happen.  In fact, you may not even have a clear reason for feeling scared – you’re just afraid of the “unknown”.  Give yourself a pep talk or push yourself in any way you have to in order to move forward at least a little bit.  After you take that first step, be sure to let go of any expectations of the things that will happen because of it, and allow yourself to feel great simply because you did something about it!

      According to Lao Tzu (a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is debated) is to have said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  My father, who was neither Chinese nor a philosopher simply used to tell me: “You’ll never get finished (or the task completed) if you never get started.”  Maybe my father was smarter than I gave him credit for?

3.      Repeat with the same step, and/or others, over.  Once you’ve taken one step forward, you’ll need to keep pushing yourself to take others.  Consider this:  Even if you take a hundred small steps in a month, you’ll be putting forth positive effort to make changes in your life, which cannot help but bring about better circumstances!

     The good news is that taking action quickly begins to build momentum.  Just as chronic non-action can create a cycle of negativity and stagnation over time, being proactive can create a positive cycle that continues to grow!  It gets easier the more you do it, which eventually makes it seem almost effortless – and you continue to empower and strengthen yourself with every step you take.

    The bad news is that it is always our tendency to take the road of least resistance.  And that road is always the one the means we can do nothing.  Your biggest roadblock to advancement will be YOU!  This is because we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER


THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The greatest influence in your life

can be YOU!"


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