How your BUT looks is how your life looks..
As I was coaching a student in a recent school workshop about her struggle to stick to her study schedule, I shared with her this wake up call that gave her a little moment of 'wow'..
How your but looks,
is how your life looks.
Seriously.
Before you think I'm completely off my chops, hear me out -
There's 2 ways to live life -
Intention - BUT - excuse.
or
Excuse - BUT - commitment.
"I was going to start my essay tonight
BUT Love Island was on TV"
vs.
"Love Island was on TV
BUT went and started my essay anyway"
"I was going to hand in my resume after school today
BUT I was scared about being rejected"
vs.
"I'm scared about being rejected
BUT I'm going to hand in my resume anyway"
"I was going to go for a walk with Mum this afternoon
BUT it was cold and I couldn't be bothered"
vs.
"It was cold and I couldn't be bothered
BUT I went for a walk with Mum anyway"
Do you catch my drift now.. ?
Naturally as humans we're wired to seek comfort and pleasure.
So our brain is always going to offer us reasons
not to do something uncomfortable.
But if we never do things that
make us uncomfortable,
we'll never change.
We'll stay 10 kilos overweight.
We'll stay in the same job we don't like.
We'll stay living our life on autopilot -
not because it's fulfilling,
but because it's 'comfortable'.
Comfort won't take you from where you are now, to where you want to go.
That's why I commit to my discomfort.
Are you willing to do the same?
Whatever excuse my brain comes up with
for why I 'shouldn't' do something,
I follow it up with a BUT -
"but I'm going to do it anyway!"
Even when I'm cold.
Scared.
Worried.
Nervous.
Hungry.
Tired.
Because I want a 'but' that empowers me to take action -
Towards courage rather than comfort.
Towards the kind of person I want to be.
Towards the life I want to live.
So I encourage you to start paying attention to where you BUT is -
is it before or after your excuses?
And when you notice it's leading into your excuses -
FLIP IT.
Even just one time this week,
flip it.
Excuse-BUT-commit.
(rather than intention-BUT-excuse!)
Follow through on that commitment
and see how proud you feel on the other side!
And then you just need to practice and repeat.
Practice and repeat.
It's a daily discipline that sometimes sucks temporarily,
but in the long term, is how you achieve any goal.
