No matter how much you try, there will be days when you can’t follow your patterns. Now, keeping fake excuses aside we need to understand what can we literally do about it?
The day I could not run.
Yesterday, I run for 4 kilometres and when I come back I saw bruises on my feet and it used to hurt me. So, I decided not to go for the run the next day.
The next morning, I anyway woke up late and I had an excuse not to go for the run.
So… ( what happened I will tell you next)
The question is… The reason I gave to myself is legit or just a fake excuse?
It is essential for us to know the answer to this question because we might end up cheating ourselves. So, before we think about how to fix the broken pattern we need to understand a few things…
Fake Excuses
The first thing that we need to understand is it is not a fake excuse, because your mind always going to choose comfort. If it’s striving a little then it will sell you the idea that how helpless you are. I remember procrastinating brushing my teeth. Now, you think about your important task.
The problem with this is the moment we get the task instead of getting started with it we think about it.
I remember travelling on a train once. It was 30 hours of travelling. I had the upper berth and in the lower berth, there was a Punjabi family, a husband-wife and their daughter.
I was sleeping with my mobile phone and suddenly a beautiful smell of paratha just pass by. I turned and looked down and I could not help but got water in my mouth. I was alone and I did not have any food with me. It’s been a long time I had something.
The first thought that came to my mind was, ” Oh! god, I wish I get one of them?”.
And in the next 8 seconds, I got 8 negative thoughts such as, ” why should they give you?”, ” When did you give something to someone?”, ” what if they deny it and you will get insulted?”, “no! no! who are these people, I don’t know how they have made it, I can’t just eat because the smell is good” etc. etc.
My brain gave me 8 consecutive negative thoughts that are enough to shut me down, but the next moment I said,” excuse me, your parathas are smelling delicious, can I have one of them?”
Guess what?
I got two of them.
If you see the first thought that comes to our mind is what we want, and the next thoughts are always to protect ourselves from the unknown threat. But we can simply understand as our mind plays games with us after the first thought.
Imagine, you remember, you have a presentation tomorrow.
The first thought that will come to your mind is, “Oh! I have to prepare a presentation”. Now, you can get started with it, but you let the chain of thoughts come in.
And you will always see this pattern that all the following thoughts make you scared or give you stress. ” shit, that boring job”, ” I don’t know what to prepare?”, “My boss himself takes all the credit and ask me to make the presentation”, or ” Our teachers are not teaching well, how can I be able to present?” etc. etc.
These many reasons are enough to give you stress and help you postpone or procrastinate the task.
But the reality is if you dare a little, face the uncomfortableness, get started with the first thought, you will end up doing it.
Who knows you may get a reward this time?
( Just kidding, nobody is going to give you any reward)
But, what if it is a legit reason?
So, in any case, if you are not feeling like doing it, just get ready to do it, and don’t do it. Come as close as possible.
let me explain…
I did not feel like running because I had an injury on my leg but I could walk, so I put on my sandals instead of shoes and move out. I remember when I don’t feel like recording videos, I just prepare myself and sit on the chair, if you are not feeling like studying then sit on the chair and open the book.
As a result of this, I went for a walk and came back, I record the videos and certainly, you will also be able to start the work if you have managed to get ready to do it.
What if it is a legit reason?
Once, you realise that your reason is legit, then you can handle it easily.
I remember, when I came to Bangalore I came up with nothing. I had a pair of clothes and that’s it. But when I was at home I had the video making set up and writing a diary was one of my daily habits.
So, for the next 20 days, I did not write. But, the day I went back home to bring the rest of my stuff, I wrote the moment I got it.
This is how simple it is.
The problem with people is they restart things. They feel once they discontinued, it’s over. But restarting takes a huge amount of energy. If it is an established pattern, then when you again get the time, you are supposed to get back and start doing the work.
I heard a 72 formula from Puja Puneet.
It says, it’s okay if you have not done something in the last 48 hours but if you have not done it consecutively for 2 days, then make sure you get time for it within 72 hours.
But, it does not matter how many days you are off the game. when you are back you should get on track. I would not suggest you make your life more complicated with these rules. Just get back. as simple as that.
Cheers,
Swapneswar Barik.