10/26/2023
Sometimes just getting started is the hardest thing š«£
For me in this momentā¦itās starting / restarting this YouTube thing.
For youā¦maybe itās a your weight loss journey or some other mountain that you want to climb in your lifeā¦
After weeks of procrastination I find myself askingā¦why is starting so hard?
Wellā¦I canāt promise you I have all the answers, but if you keep reading Iāll share what I am learning in my ongoing journey / relationship with procrastination and how Iām what helps me to overcome it.
And maybe, just maybeā¦we can all be more productive together than we have been.
What do ya say? You in?
Alright šš» pretend fist bump šš»
Letās go.
šI heard a great quote this week that saidā¦āThereās wisdom in procrastinationāā¦and man that quote hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was driving down the road when I heard it and I just felt immediately convicted.
The entire idea behind the quote is that ultimately, when we procrastinate and put things off, itās not really for the reason we often think.
Itās not because we are lazy, or distracted, or busy, or whatever the excuse might be. Those things are just the WAY that we choose to procrastinate.
No, thereās a real reason a deeper reason for why we keep putting off something that deep down feels pretty important to us.
And ultimately if we want to overcome the urge to keep putting off the things that are really important to us, it starts, with understanding WHY we would do something like that in the first place. š¤·š»āāļø
When I stop to reflect on this in my own life I realize that deep down in some weird and twisted way, procrastination is really just a means of protecting myself.
Because ultimately, Iām scared.
But why? Scared of what I ask myself?
Wellā¦I find that the answer to that question really depends on the situation, but whatever that answer is, there in lies the key to overcoming it.
For so many there is a lot of fear around starting a weight loss journey.
For me with this new idea of expanding our reach with YouTubeā¦I have found that thereās definitely a lot of fear around that as well.
What if I fail? š«£
What if you fail? š¬
What if we all fail? š
š»āāļø
Because you know what I have personally found to be the best and most efficient way NOT to fail is?
Just donāt start.
Just keep putting it off.
By all means keep thinking about it, Matt.
Keep planning.
Keep preparing.
Keep telling everyone youāre going to do it.
Keep telling yourself that youāre going to do it.
Keep getting ready to do it.
Keep putting it off to tomorrow. Thereās always tomorrow, right?
Butā¦by ALL means necessaryā¦DONāT actually do it.
Because if you DOā¦well, now itās real.
Before there was no risk and we could just stay nice and cozy in our warm little comfort zones, but NOW we have stepped out of that comfort zone and intoā¦
The unknown š±š±š±
And the unknownā¦well that is scary as hell. šØ
The culprit hereā¦is fear.
Weāre scared. Plain and simple.
What will people think?
What will they say?
What if Iām not strong enough?
What if Iām not smart enough?
What if Iām just notā¦enough?
What then? What will happen?
Itās kind of terrifying to think about.
But what I have learned about all this fear is that itās not exactly TRUTH. And, itās certainly not rational most of the time.
You might have heard the acronym that a lot of people use when they talk about fear which is,
False Evidence Appearing Real.
But the reality is if I stop and thinkā¦and if YOU stop and thinkā¦we can always find the evidence we need to neutralize the fear.
No matter who you are we can always look back in our lives to find those times where we DIDNāT fail. Where we DID start. Where we DID persevere. Where we DID achieve something.
And whatās most amazing is that not only does this give us the proof that we need to know we are CAPABLEā¦
But it gives helps us to remember HOW we accomplish anything worth while in our lives in the first place.
Because if youāre like meā¦you forget your successesā¦a LOT.
And you have to be remindedā¦a LOT.
(Though we are GREAT at remembering our mistakes and missteps, right?)
When I think back on my own life and I give credit where credit is due, I realize Iāve accomplished some pretty cool things.
I learned to play the saxophone, the piano, the guitar, and to sing. Iāve written beautiful songs and recorded them.
I learned to be a photographer and filmmaker and have a catalogue of beautiful work both personal and with past clients when I used to do it professionally.
I learned how to lose weight and even though it took me a few tries I eventually learned how to keep the weight off for good.
I learned how to coach others to do the same and have so many amazing stories from successful clients whose lives have changed completely.
I figured out how to be a good husband and how to raise kidsā¦
𤄠Ok letās be honestā¦Iām still figuring that one out. š
But my point isā¦there are a LOT of things that I have done in my life that I sometimes take for granted and I donāt give myself credit where credit is due.
At least not when it comes to starting something newā¦or restarting something I āfailedā at already.
Itās so easy to forget all that we have already done and accomplished when we are faced with the daunting challenge of something new.
Or even worse, something we tried and it didnāt go well and we want to try again.
We so easily forget HOW we accomplished everything in the past.
I so easily forget all the wrong notes I played when I first started playing guitar or piano.
I so easily forget all the bad photos I took or the poorly done videos I made early on.
I so easily forget all the times I got off track and gained all the weight back.
I so easily forget all the early weight loss clients I coached years ago before I had the experience I have now and how I honestly wasnāt enough at the time to help them in the way they needed help.
Butā¦when I stop and I really think about itā¦and I take myself backā¦
I realize that DESPITE all those wrong notesā¦
DESPITE all those crappy photos and videosā¦
DESPITE all those times I got off track with my weight lossā¦
DESPITE all of those early clients I failedā¦
I have a lot to be proud of.
I HAVE accomplished a lot.
And I didnāt accomplish it by trying to be perfect.
I didnāt accomplish it by putting it off.
I accomplished it all, by showing up every day, and just putting in the reps.
By doing the things over and over and over again.
By playing thousands of wrong notesā¦I learned how to play the right ones.
By sorting through THOUSANDS of photos that werenāt great to find the few that wereā¦I learned what makes a great photo.
By making every mistake in the book and realizing what DIDNāT work for sustainable weight loss, I eventually learned what does.
And by making a lot of mistakes as a coach, I eventually became a great coach.
*** Side note, I realize Iām at risk of sounding conceited here, but one of the most important things Iāve learned about self confidence is the ability to give credit to myself where credit is due. It feels good. You should try it and itās not as gross as some people make it out to be ***
And THAT my friends is the big, amazing, life changing, lesson or idea that Iāve learned in my battle with fear, procrastination, and perfectionism.
That failure is not the outcome.
Failure is actually the way. The path. The secret. The treasure. The fuel. The accelerant.
Failure is how we get from point A to point B, and then C, and D, and beyond.
Failure doesnāt mean you wonāt be loved, you wonāt be enough, or that youāll be alone.
Even though, deep down in our hearts and our minds, we default to that limiting belief.
But when put all of those false and limiting beliefs and all that false evidence aside and we seek out TRUTH, we realize that:
ā
The failures
ā
The mistakes
ā
The wrong notes
ā
The crappy pictures
ā
The missed workouts
ā
The times of cheating on our ādietā
ā
Every single time we gained the weight back
All of these things are ACTUALLY an essential part of the process.
They are something to learn from.
A never-ending series of failed experiments that all have something to offer us so that we can improve.
The TRUTHā¦is that without those failuresā¦we canāt go anywhere. At least not anywhere meaningful.
Without them we canāt learnā¦
We canāt growā¦
We canāt become the person we want to be.
So if you are listening to thisā¦I actually wrote this as a first script to what just might be my first new video on Youtube as I start that journey again.
I decided to just get it out there here first.
Itās my way of taking action IN SPITE of my fear.
Because if it werenāt for all those wrong notes, I wouldnāt get to stand on stage praising God on Sundayās.
If it werenāt for all those crappy photos and videos, I never would have learned to make the video that will come out of this post / script and I certainly never could have recorded an entire course for our weight loss program.
If it werenāt for those many times I lost the weight and gained it back again, I wouldnāt be here now having kept the weight off pretty effortlessly for the last 7 years.
If it werenāt for those early clients I failed, I wouldnāt be the coach I am today leading a team of coaches.
And someday, Iām going to look back as a successful coach who became a successful YouTube creator who impacts the lives of people I never could have reached otherwise, and Iāll remember it all started with not just one, but MANY flawed videos.
Soā¦if I mayā¦I encourage you to do the same.
Just get started with whatever it is you are putting off.
Donāt worry about it being perfect.
Itās not supposed to be.
Itās the repetition of imperfect work that leads to growth, and transformation.
And our transformationā¦both yours and mineā¦they start right now.
Or maybe restart.
Regardless, it doesnāt matter how many times you stumble.
It doesnāt matter how many times you start over.
All that matters is that every time you stumble or something doesnāt go how you hoped it wouldā¦
That you get back up and dust yourself off, and that you learn.
THATā¦is what itās really all about.
Itās not about the pounds lost.
Itās not about the subscribers or the views.
At the end of the day itās about who we are and more importantlyā¦who we are becoming.
I donāt know who Iāll be in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and. beyond.
But, I know one thingā¦Iām excited to find out.
And the only way to do thatā¦is to get started.
Whoās with me? šš»