Saturday, August 21, 2021

Ten Reasons Why We Fail: Reason 2


In continuing my remarks about a recent Mark Manson article I read on ten reasons why we fail, the second reason listed is that we fail because we're not persistent enough. Most of us give up on something way too soon. Not only that, it involves consistent habits and showing up everyday and the failure to do so can involve the dreaded "P" word: procrastination.

In the book The Now Habit by Neil Fiore, he tells the story of one woman's lesson on battling procrastination. Laura was a science teacher working on her masters degree and she was great about starting things but seemed to falter in finishing a project. She was also an avid runner and trained for a marathon but on the day of race she was well prepared except for the last six miles which is known as the wall when the runner's body is screaming for nutrition and demanding rest. It was during this period in the run when she found herself saying something that later helped her get beyond her procrastination and on to finishing her research project. 

"I'm in pain" she said "it hurts to run, it hurts to walk, it hurts to stand here and it would hurt to lie down. Regardless of what I do, it hurts so I might as well finish the race and get it over with as soon as possible."

She realized it takes work to procrastinate and it takes work to face our fear of finishing. There is really no escape from some form of work. Why not choose the work that's going to reap the most benefits?

 

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