"The Three P's"

So it's been a few days since I've posted.

Why?

Hmmmmm........

I could come up with dozens of "valid" reasons.

However, when I look underneath those reasons (excuses) I can point it to the title above:

The three P's:

Perfectionism

which leads to

Procrastination

which leads to

Paralysis

My mind is always working.

Always.

For me there is never a thing as a peaceful moment.  Peaceful for me is when there are only two or three thoughts are running around in my head at the same time.

The funny thing is most of the time, those thoughts are negative.

And whenever I want to start something; that's when they get the loudest, telling me all sorts of good reasons (excuses) why I can't do something.

And it usually has to do with the Three P's:

First, comes the thought that I need to get something done.  Let's say going to the gym.

Then, the thoughts come in:

They are relentless......and pick up steam the longer they are there.

• You're not going to do it right.
  
• 
  
• Since you haven't worked out in X amount of days, weeks etc, you'll be terrible of it
  
• You may have a heart attack if you try
• It's too hard
• You won't do it right
• What's the use, it doesn't work anyway
• You need a little extra sleep
• I will go tomorrow (one of my favorites)
• My shoes are too old
• It's too cold
• It's too hot

Anyway, I could go on forever.  

And the more I let these thoughts control my behavior, the less I will do.  A friend of mine told me something that I still use to this day:  "You can't think your way into right acting.  You have to act your way into right thinking"

Think about that.

What this means for me is that when I'm DONE, I will feel like doing it.

Notice I didn't day I should wait when I FEEL like it--hell if I wait for that, I may never do it.

And here's the key:  the more I act that way, DESPITE the way I feel, the better I will feel and over time I will begin to feel like doing it before.  

But the action ALWAYS has to become before the feeling--because thoughts=feelings=actions.

Why not cut to the chase and get straight to the actions?

Simple.

Not easy,

That's how and why successful people are successful. They know this intuitively.  They feel just as crappy as the rest of us and have as many. if not more of those negative thoughts.  

They just ignore them.

Or better yet, as a friend of mine used to say tell those thoughts "Thanks for sharing that but I've got some things to do.  We'll talk about this when I get back."

Wow.

I feel better already.

Until next time.