“When your feet cold, mines is sizzlin’”
—Jay Z
Do you pay enough attention to your inner dialogue?
The conversation you have with yourself, day by day, moment by moment, largely determines the actions you take on a regular basis. These actions become habits, and habits in the long term are your character. Character is destiny.
Most of the time, you can’t control what arises in your head. All kinds of doubts, fears, and concerns regularly pop up without “you” having anything to do with it. That’s just the nature of the mind.
(Meditation does help with this however)
Unfortunately not you, nor I, nor anyone else gets to decide exactly what surfaces in our head.
However, what you can decide on is your response to the things that surface.
99% of the time, “Do it anyway” works as a one-size-fits-all answer to all of the doubts, concerns, and “what if” scenarios that the little voice inside your head cooks up.
Let’s say you are about to hit a new 1 rep max on the deadlift. Right before the pull, your mind will come up with a million reasons for why to hesitate. Your foot is out of position, or suddenly there’s not enough chalk on your hands. One of your headphones is loose in your ear.
Your mind will say, “Wait, fix this, adjust that, then you can do the thing.
But if you fix these “problems” it won’t matter, because more will just spring up in their place. The only answer is to stop hesitating and do it anyway.
Or let’s say you want to approach a girl, and the same kinds of doubts arise. You aren’t dressed your best, or she’s listening to her iPod. “It will be awkward” you think, or “Today’s not the day”. Again the only real answer is do it anyway.
Any time your mind thinks: “But what about…”
You think: Do it anyway
“I feel sore from yesterday”
Do it anyway
“I’m scared that..”
Do it anyway
“What if they think..”
Do it anyway
“What if she…”
Do it anyway
What if..
What if..
What if..
DO IT ANYWAY
You will always regret NOT doing something more than you will regret any negative consequences of doing it.
There may be better or worse times to do something, but there is no perfect time. There is NEVER a perfect time.
The perfect moment never comes because your mind will always come up with a reason why the moment isn’t perfect.
Waiting (and waiting.. and waiting…) for the perfect time is a Catch-22. The nature of the mind makes “the perfect moment” an impossibility.
Needless to say, most people let their mind get the better of them. They wait and wait and then never do anything at all.
Avoid this trap by taking control of your inner dialogue. Next time your thoughts start to get in your way, all you have to do is think..
Do it anyway!
Are you aware of unhelpful thought patterns? How do you respond to them? Or do you respond at all? Does your mind come up with the same doubts, excuses, etc. that mine does? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.