Change is hard!
There I said it. So many of us lead hard lives as it is that when presented with choices to make a change, we don’t. Why do something else hard by choice? And sometimes you are so clouded that you don’t even realize you need to change. Logic says that if you don’t know what you don’t know then how do you know you need to change it. It’s a good question and one I am not sure I know the answer to –but if you have had enough of the way your life is or the direction it’s going or feel like shit– or you feel out of whack, I am going to take a guess and say you probably need to change something. But it’s so hard …. (insert whine here).
A friend of mine mentioned a book yesterday entitled Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard
From Forbes Magazine: The authors argue that if we can learn some fundamentals of how our minds function, we can do better overcoming our opposition to change. We can figure out how to keep our desire to improve things from being overwhelmed by our skepticism, caution and fear.
The authors of Switch argue that change works best when each individual who begins a change or who leads changes focuses on three big things at once:
- Motivate the elephant. The elephant is our emotional, instinctive side, which is lazy and skittish and will take any quick payoff over a long-term reward. We all have that. The elephant is usually the first cause of any failure to change, because the change we want usually involves short-term sacrifice in pursuit of long-term benefit. Think of any time you have chosen to oversleep or overeat or think about it tomorrow, and so on. You can’t get anywhere with any change effort unless you engage a person’s emotional side to get their lazy elephant to turn to the path of change.
- Direct the rider. The rider, perched atop the elephant, is our rational side. We presume our rational side holds the reins and chooses the way forward. But the rider’s control is precarious, because he is tiny compared with the elephant. Whenever a six-ton elephant and a 150-pound rider disagree about where to go, the elephant wins. But often what looks like elephant resistance or rider weakness is really just lack of clarity. You must give the rider clear direction with which it can steer the elephant.
- Shape the path. Change often fails because the rider can’t keep the elephant on the road long enough to reach the destination. The elephant’s hunger for instant gratification pulls against the rider’s strength, which is the ability to think big picture and plan beyond the moment. The more you can make straight and clear the path ahead, the more you can diminish confusion between elephant and rider and make progress for both of them easier and more likely, no matter what is going on between them.
So – here are some words to inspire you to make a change today: Every change, on every level, starts with a person at a time deciding to take the lead. So, take the lead in your life…
I am not saying one book will spur you to become a different person but challenging yourself to read and dive into alternative ways to approach obstacles in your life can really help stretch your mind, body and soul and give you inner strength that can come in handy when you are ready to make some major decisions in your life. Muscle memory isn’t just about one’s physical body — the more you use your mind and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, the easier certain things will become –and you are ready for the new challenges that await!
Today’s workout was a doozy for me. I feel worn out from it and about halfway into it, my mind started to taunt me. Seriously, taunt me. My asthma was like hey, remember me<hack, hack> and my body was like ouch, this hurts –how many minutes do we have to do this? But I fought through it one rep at a time!
warmup
DROM
Drills
Skill
Hang Cleans
WOD
15 min AMRAP
- 10 box Jumps
- 7 Hang Power Cleans (65#)
- 7 Push Presses
total rounds: 7+4 reps
We did this similar WOD back on August 9 — and I see improvement so it’s a win today in my book!