Stop Waiting For It To Happen

Great conversations with 2 of my sons that sparked some thoughts for me today. It is no secret that I am a bit of an oddball. My wife reminds me of that all the time. I wake up early, I rarely miss a workout, and always have a mindset with specific goals in mind. People who know me think I am constantly moving. My mother will always ask me what I am doing when I'm on the phone with her, because typically I have some task/job that needs to be done, so what better time to do it, than while talking on the phone?

What you don't see are the times that I wake up early with no plan for the day and sit around wasting time away because that is when I'm not in action, that is when I do not have something on my mind to get done, or more likely that is when something is lingering to work on that I just don't want to work on. Just ask my wife and son about flooring in his bedroom that needs to be fixed... But at the same time, get me a new part of the Jeep and watch how quickly that gets installed.

The difference is simple. When I have tasks that I want to complete and things I want to do motivation is easy, but for those things that I do not want to tackle the desire is not there. I tackled about 15 items on a list over my vacation during the holidays, the flooring was not one of them, and the one other job that I did not want to do...well, I just never got around to it.

Motivation is a lie that we tell ourselves. I'm just not motivated enough or I need something to motivate me. Many times relying on our internal motivation to get the job done. But there is something better than motivation, called discipline or habit. Building discipline in our lives stops us from doing things we have already decided we are not going to do and doing those things we decided are important to us. Habits are the same way.

There is plenty of information out there on how to build habits. James Clear nailed it with his book Atomic Habits, by far one of the best books written on this topic. In addition to Charles Duhigg's, The Power of Habit. Jocko is one of my favorite authors on the art of discipline, starting with Discipline Equals Freedom.

As you start on this year, what new disciplines are you starting with or what new habits are you looking to build? If you are not building you are not growing. If you are reading this, hopefully, you are, so now head on over to Thrift Books or Amazon and get yourself a copy of these books to start reading this year.

Links to Books Recommended above.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhhig

Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink

Thrift Books - Great option to buy used books at a fraction of the cost