“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
~Will Rogers, Cowboy, Comedian and Actor
In our hectic everyday lives it can be so easy to become complacent about things that bother us and about the things that we know we are supposed to do. A deep lethargy can set into us, and do it so slowly and subtly that we don’t even realize we have fallen asleep on our own life.
We can be sitting in a pile of junk, knowing that we would feel better if it were only clean. But yet we seek out that one clear corner and cower in it day-after-day. Or we can be feeling depressed knowing that our self-esteem would improve, if only our backside didn’t have so much cellulite, but we never get on that treadmill. Or maybe we are wanting a change in career, knowing that we should learn a new skill, but never seeming to implement that thought into action.
When we have a big task to complete or a large challenge to overcome, it can seem so overwhelming that taking it past the point of realization and thought is virtually impossible.
Well, I have been there, I have faced the place of hopelessness, daydreaming and inaction so many times in my life. After all those false starts, after living through the periods when something that could have taken me two weeks wound up taking me two years, I have finally mastered the ability to face that lethargy monster and move it out of my way quickly and efficiently.
You’ve heard the old adages: Make hay while the sun shines. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. No time like the present. Just do it.
The truth is clear, if you want to have the energy to complete something, if you ever want to manifest your desire in your life, all you have to do is start! And that is always the hard part. Whether it is something pleasant or something harrowing, the best way to move beyond it, to achieve it, to get it out of your life or whatever, is to just do it! Can’t argue with that logic.
Things which seem very difficult at first glance tend to grow into absolutely terrifying obstacles the longer that you procrastinate on them. I don’t care if it’s a paper that’s due, a room that needs painting or getting that lump in your breast checked, it is always more stressful, more frightening and more depressing when you choose to live with the knowledge of it instead of simply doing it now. Honest.
So instead of ignoring that skeleton in the cupboard until it rots away or instead of trying to swallow a whole pie at once, a great approach for making that guy seem less threatening and less daunting is to gift yourself with five minutes of action.
Here is how it works. You are watching t.v. and some hot guy (or chick) comes on the tube. You instantly look down at your not-so-svelt abs and feel a momentary dislike or discomfort about yourself. BOOM. Stop right there.
You don’t have to feel bad about yourself and then reach for the chips and turn back to the t.v. Sure, you can do that but, what will that change? Nothing at all. You will keep feeling those glimpses of derision and continue subconsciously piling them up upon yourself. All of which is in no way going to lead you to the happier result.
So you stop at that moment, when you feel dislike for your current circumstance. Now, you don’t have to turn off the t.v., throw away the bag of chips and tie on your sneakers for a ten-mile run. Just gift yourself with five minutes toward achieving your positive goal. You can just mute the t.v. and set down the chips for five minutes. Only five minutes is all that it takes!
Now, get up and use that five minute gift to jog in place, or do jumping jacks, or walk around your house, or throw a ball with your dog. Then, when you have used up your five minute gift, go back, un-mute the t.v. and unroll that bag of chips, if you choose.
There is now an elevated vibration about you. You feel better about yourself and your life. You can continue what you were doing before, without feeling guilty and bad about yourself. Whether the feeling lasts for five minutes or five hours, you know that you are taking right action on your own behalf.
Do this every time you catch yourself consciously feeling bad about something that you could be taking action on. We feel bad only when our actions are not in alignment with our own highest goals and desires. By following this simple habit, at the end of the week you may have done 30 minutes of exercise or cleaned ten square feet of that pile of junk or written half of that paper that’s due.
Marathon runners don’t just wake up one day and decide to run 26 miles, so you don’t have to either. Run the 1/4 mile that you can squeeze into your five minutes. That is a start. And, instead of the low vibration of depression, you will have the heightened vibration of knowing that you have taken some action for your own betterment.
Eventually you may find that, when your five minutes is up, you are actually not wanting to stop. Instead you may find yourself just getting up when you see something that needs doing and bringing it to instant completion. Imagine how good that would feel!
Even if you never find yourself on such a roll, at least there will be positive progress towards your goals. And, when you achieve them, you can say that you did it all in just five minutes.
