This Sentence Changed How I Approach Self-Improvement

Let’s talk about something frustrating, shall we?

I’ll go first, and heads up–it’s a good one. Here goes. The feeling when you’re all hyped up to commit to a goal, but you continually fail at following through when it counts. 

Your heart is in it, but when the time comes to act you fall flat. Again. And again. 

And soon, it feels like you no longer have a choice but to keep failing. Why try? Your momentum is in the wrong direction, and there’s no way to change your own mind now.

Here’s an example. You tell yourself you want to wake up earlier. You set the alarm, then proceed to snooze it every day that week, with disappointment growing each day. As you roll back under the covers, you’re aware that you’re not reaching your goal, but something in you doesn’t care enough to flip the switch.

Or, you promise you are going to watch less TV, but at the end of the day you’re too worn down to not click “Play Next Episode”. You feel helpless against your own desire to give yourself what you want in the moment.

Been there, done that, and here to report that It’s not fun. In the midst of this fun internal struggle, two questions lingered in my mind:

1. Why was I consistently making the WRONG choice, over and over, no matter how much I wanted to make a different one?

2. What if I was able to apply that same grit, that same determination and unflinching resolve, to the thing I ACTUALLY want to do instead?

Then, I stumbled across this quote. And it completely changed my mindset.

“If you can endure in self-destruction, you can endure in self-improvement too.”

Read it again. Say it out loud. Soak it in. If I can endure in self-destruction, I can endure in self-improvement too.

You have the power to commit to a decision inside of you, you just might be used to committing to the wrong one.

All you gotta do is flip the focus. Yes, it’s way easier said than done, considering what we want to START choosing is often the harder of two things. But keep in mind, clearly you already have the ability to choose an action and stick to it with all your might, despite all desire to do otherwise. 

See what I mean? Take a U-Turn. Pivot that momentum in the right direction and see what happens.

You can endure.