WHY WE FAIL TO SUCCEED – Part II

This week we continue to look at how Amy Morin, international bestselling author, psychotherapist and speaker delves into the topic of how to become mentally strong. She has helped a lot of people to accomplish goals by outlining the common things that get in their way. We will resume with the Fifth Common Obstacle, taken from “How to Overcome the 9 Most Common Obstacles that Prevent People from Living Their Dreams.” 

The fifth common obstacle we encounter is “Not Making Our Goals a Priority.” It’s easy to say we want to change, but actually doing the work is much different. You have to decide what kind of priority you’re going to give your goal. Otherwise, all your good intentions will get lost among all your other daily and weekly activities.

It’s about being organized… structured… and not just flowing with how you feel. If you put something onto your daily calendar, you are much more likely to make it happen if you establish a time. Let’s put it this way – if you don’t work a time into your calendar, something else will often come along and fill it up.

Okay, number 6! A big obstacle Amy states that many of us run into, is “Underestimating Just How Hard Our New Goal Will Be.” We often become very excited when we begin to implement a new goal. When clients walk through our door and become a part of Genesis, they are excited when they begin their journey. Clients start feeling great for the first time in a long time, getting off of meds, losing weight, feeling more energy and simply feeling better – then something happens. It can be illness, a family crisis, falling off track with their food and now feeling trapped on how to get back, or maybe they fall prey to one of the most pervasive pitfalls associated with a healthy lifestyle… busyness. It’s all hard work. If it were easy, everyone would do it!

Okay, number 7… “Giving up before You See Results.” Impatience is the enemy of change. We want it and we want it now. If the going gets tough, we want out, but unfortunately, it’s in the midst of that tough challenge that life change is made.

It’s always worth it. More is taking place on the inside than you ever imagined. Our bodies are complicated. If you give them what they need and take away things that are destroying them, you will succeed. It’s just that, for some of us, our bodies have taken a hit for one reason or another, and we will have to stick to our goals longer than we might think in order to experience lasting change.

Okay, we’re rounding the corner here with number 8 – “Sabotaging Yourself Just Before the Finish Line.” There really is such a thing as a fear of success, and it exists for different reasons… some are very valid reasons. 

The problem is that much of our reasoning when it comes to sabotaging ourselves is based in fear, and fear is never the right choice when it comes to your health, or any good decision for that matter.

Number 9 - our final obstacle, “Setting Your Sights Too High.” If you are really excited about changing your life, you might be tempted to set the bar really high. This is especially true if you know others who have reached what you consider to be a high bar. If you take on too much, too fast, with unrealistic expectations, you might just set yourself up for failure.

So, give yourself short-term goals and objectives to celebrate along the journey so that you can find joy and satisfaction in all that you are accomplishing – not just focusing on what you haven’t accomplished yet.