Willpower stinks. In my experience
willpower lasts anywhere from 2 to 14 days. Although I am a
big fan of discipline and routine, I know that I can't
rely on my willpower to push through all
obstacles. I need something
compelling, as well as methods that nearly "foolproof" my
plan and create flow.
Recently I noticed some no-so-great
somethings about myself. When visiting my
family I got up to get myself more food and when I sat back
down I thought, "hmmm-selfish--not to offer anything to
anyone else." Suddenly it occurred to me
that I could slide towards self-centered if I wasn't
attentive, living and working alone, being my own boss, and
schedule-setter. In addition to my
over-focus on "self," I'd become really lax on cardio health
and still struggled with
overworking.
So, I
got bold. I chose to
incorporate an element into my life that would cause a
dramatic shift in the way I work, think and live my daily
life. I got a
dog.
Huh?
This
became my Side-door to selflessness, improved cardio and
better work-life balance. My "System" (aka
Cooper) summons me to provide for another, get out on 2-3
daily walks and to lighten my workload.
It has been an incredibly challenging transition
(which influenced my recent delay in newsletter
creation!) I've been putting in silly
amounts of training hours, but with a long-term outcome
in mind. I'm committed to having a
peaceful, happy, well-behaved dog, which I know will result
in greater health, exercise, balance, and joy for
me.
Side-Doors and
Systems
Side
doors are the
alternate routes to a goal when the initial route is
ineffective or
unappealing.
Systems are the supportive methods which
promote momentum and have built-in accountability-where the
way it is set up causes you to have to "show
up."
Consistently.
Imagine you want to lose
weight. Dieting is a direct way (for
many, a temporary way). One creative way
(Side-door & System) is to assemble a healthy dinner
club where you get together with a few friends and batch
cook, portion out the dishes and exchange them, so each of
you has a few days worth of delicious healthy food
(Systems). Or maybe you join a hiking
club (System) where hikes progressively increase in length
and difficulty (Side-door), thereby impacting your level of
health, and wellbeing (Side-door). As
many can attest, a happy byproduct of getting physically
active, is often being inspired into taking better care of
our
bodies!
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In the end, who cares whether something
is a Side-door or System-it doesn't matter what you call
it. I just made it up to create palatable
structure. Call it what you want.
Bottom line: Find a new way that excites you and
holds you accountable simply by
design.
Setting Up for
Success
What
can you establish in your life that requires you to get
engaged and remain in action towards your
desires? When we fortify willpower with
Systems and Side-doors we're excited about, there is much
less push and much more flow. This
is not to say that achieving your goal will be effortless,
just more
fortified.
Again, have fun, get creative, try
something new, approach from new angles, get engaged in your
life and your process and surround yourself with the
? conditions that summon your excellence.
Let it pull your goals to
you.
Much joy &
love,
Robin
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