Pressing Your Own Buttons

      It’s happened to you or perhaps you’re the one that made it happen to someone else!  In a situation at home, at work, or at school, someone has pressed your button and you, like everyone else become irritated!  However, sometimes that “button pushing” has been to get you motivated enough (or irritated enough) so that you take action an get things done!  

      Now you well realize that in most situations the things people have “tricked” you into doing by pressing your buttons are in reality things that you should have done (or should be doing) anyway.  Wouldn’t it be better for you to learn how to “press your own buttons” so you become self-motivated to, not only get things done, but also enjoy doing many new things that you are not doing now?  Pressing your own buttons can seem like a massive undertaking. One that there are a million different ways to achieve if all the articles on the internet have anything to say about it. However, pressing your own buttons is a personal undertaking, one that may have similar milestones for everyone, but really can and should be molded or formed to a person’s own personal needs in order to be the most successful. I’d like to share with you 6 steps you need to personalize your situation to be able to press your own buttons.

1.    Find an Activity that Challenges You

This is truly a personal choice that will have to be made by you and no one else.  The activity that will most help you press your own buttons is the one that challenges you. Not your neighbor or your sibling, or your workmates, or schoolmates. But you! This could be something as simple as folding an entire basket of laundry in one sitting or the completing of the Sunday morning newspaper crossword in INK!  If you’re more adventurous you may consider some other activity that involves a challenge to learn new skills, such as deep-sea fishing, skydiving, or some other sport. Just remember, the activity has to be something that personally challenges YOU!  If you would like to have some suggestions on how this might be done visit https://embracingsimpleblog.com/fifteen-30-day-challenge-ideas-will-change-life/

2.    Commit to yourself

Whatever challenge you decide to undertake, don’t forget, you’re doing it for you. This activity is not to impress someone else, although that may be a by-product of your involvement in the activity.  Make a promise to yourself that you will try your hardest and not give up when the going gets tough.  Without this personal commitment you will, in time, loose interest in the activity and it will fade from your mind as something that is no longer important to you.  The idea is the same as those many New Year’s resolutions that are forgotten by March or April so people are always “renewing” their resolve at the beginning of the next year. To help you in understanding and implementing self-commitment check out this post https://www.lovequestcoaching.com/blog/2019/1/29/how-committed-are-you-to-yourself-5-ways-to-increase-personal-commitment-in-life 

3.    Set Realistic Goals

This is another area where most people fail themselves by having such high achievements in their minds that NO ONE would be able to attain them.  Instead, make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. You aren’t going to fold all the laundry that you do on Sunday by the end of Sunday. But maybe you could at least hang up the stuff that will wrinkle. Or perhaps you will only use a pen on the crossword answers you feel 100% certain about, pencil on the rest.  Maybe on some other activities you should really be in the beginners class and not the advanced.  Be honest with yourself and as you set these goals always remember that once a goal is reached (that is ANY goal), you can always then re-establish the marker for the next realistic and attainable goal.  Resetting the goal to a higher level on each successful advancement is being realistic, rather than setting the “goal to the moon” in the first place and quitting when you are unable to reach it!  Visit https://memory.ai/timely-blog/how-to-set-realistic-goals to help yourself understand how to set realistic and attainable goals.

4.    Turn off the T.V. (or the Internet) In General

Get rid of any useless distractions. That show you’re watching while lounging on the sofa is not going to help you concentrate or make time go faster, so just don’t go there. You can’t push your button on one activity if your brain is partially paying attention to another.  Many people think they can multi-task, but the truth is that in order to give one activity your best efforts you must give it your full concentration.  When I was growing up, I recall an older gentleman who worked for my father at the gas station saying to me when I had gotten my driver’s license: “Don’t ever forget.  If you have one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on your girlfriend, you have one hand too few to really accomplish either task properly!”  It took me awhile to completely understand what he was telling me, but I learned in time.  And so should you if you are wanting to get things accomplished by pushing your own buttons.  So, kids, phones, whatever the interruption might be, do your best to remove them before they become a distraction to you. Think you might need some help in this area?  Here it is: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/increase-your-focus-reduce-distractions-tips/

5.    Track Your Progress

Find an easy way (understand this as, not time-consuming, expensive, or labor-intensive) to track your progress. Sometimes this is a calendar to check off days. For others, maybe you need to keep a journal about your feelings, how it went, or your next goal to achieve.  Whatever the case may be for you, follow your progress and you will see that as time passes you are continuing to advance toward your goal.  So days it may only be “baby steps” but the point is you will be able to note the progress being made.  This will motivate you to continue moving forward until your goal is reached.  Here is an article with suggestions: https://www.twentyfree.co/track-progress-towards-goals/

6.    Enjoy Your Experiences

This is another area where many people fail in motivating themselves (or pressing their own buttons).  They view the activity that they have involved themselves in as a necessity or choir!  They are unable to “see the forest for the trees,” that is, they can’t get past the day-to-day events necessary for them to see the results when they ultimately reach their goal.  Instead, train yourself to enjoy what you’re doing and the experiences you are having while doing it. Look past the moment so you can visualize the results at the end.  However, it’s not totally about the results at the end of your process.  No, it’s not completely about the destination, it’s also about the journey.  So enjoy the journey you are taking to reach the goals you have set at the end.  One thing that will help you is to enjoy your everyday life as it is now.  You can learn how to do that: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/25-simple-ways-enjoy-your-life.html

     Learning to press your own buttons is a process, not a one-day training online event. It will take time and it will take practice to find out exactly what it takes for you to be in the zone to ultimately press your own buttons to achieve all the goals that you have set for yourself.  Just never forget that YOU will also be the decisive stumbling block of reaching those goals.  You will be your own worst enemy because we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Just because it hasn't been done

doesn't mean it can't be done!"