Jack was determined to succeed. He had set a goal to lose 10 kilos, and he was going to do it.
Even though he had set this same goal before, Jack believed that this time it would be different. This time he had found a diet and exercise program that he could stick to.
Jack was proud of his determination as he took out his food diary and wrote his goals on the front page.
With this task complete, Jack began his first day, which he found relatively easy to do. However, that ease was short-lived. As the days went on, it got harder and harder to keep the food and exercise programs going.
Regardless of all of the hardship, by the end of the first week, Jack was excited and relieved that he had gotten through it.
Now there was only one thing left to do: get onto the scales.
This diet had promised weight loss of 2-3 kilos per week, and because Jack had not deviated from it at all, he anticipated that he had lost the maximum of 3 kilos.
Jack was filled with excitement as he stepped onto the scales and looked down at the numbers. His heart sank. Just under one kilo.
Jack couldn’t believe it! All that hard work, denying himself food, going to bed hungry, and for what?
All Jack could think about was that this was not right. At this rate, it would take weeks and weeks to lose the weight! His mind went into overdrive as he started questioning whether this diet was right for him and whether it was worth all the hard work he was putting into it.
With all these thoughts of doubt circling his mind, it was not too long before Jack gave up on his goal of losing 10 kilos.
This would be yet another goal unfulfilled, another failure. Sadly, it was the continuation of the story of “I can’t stick to things”, which would continue to repeat throughout Jack’s life.
Jack is not alone. We have all said we will stick to something and ending up following through with our commitment. There are many reasons why we don’t stick to our goals, our plans, or a commitment we have made to ourselves.
One reason may be that when things get difficult, or when we don’t like the results, we start rationalising with our brain why this time it is ok to give up on our goal. We may rationalise that it’s not working, or that we have worked so hard that we deserve a break, or that we can always start tomorrow.
These may all sound reasonable, even rational. But once we believe these rationalisations, it will be extremely difficult to stick to anything.
This week’s challenge is to bring your awareness to how many times you let yourself off the hook by rationalising. How often do you commit to something and then don’t stick to it? It could be as simple as drinking more water throughout the day, going to bed earlier, watching less TV, or reading every day. Whatever your commitment, see if you can identify when you rationalise.
A great way to do this is by setting hard boundaries, like “I will drink one glass of water every two hours”, or “I will be in bed by 10.30 pm”, or “I will only watch two hours of TV per day”, or “I will read 5 pages of a book first thing in the morning”.
It is important to realise that our rationalisations will try and convince us that it is ok not to stick to our commitment. These rationalisations will try to get us to cross our own boundaries, but the danger is that this rationalising is sabotaging your efforts and keeping you stuck in the story of “I can’t stick to things”.
So commit to your goals and set up a plan (with boundaries) on how and when you will execute them.
Disrupt and break the story of “I can’t stick to things” because you deserve to fulfil your goals and become all you were meant to be.
Forever Creating
Deborah Ruth
