Momentum

I believe that one of the best ways to create the life you want to live is to consistently take action.  That may sound like kind of an obvious statement, and it is.  But contained in that statement is what I believe to be one of the keys to success.  Think about how many people you know that consistently take action towards a specific goal.  It could be anything - fitness, nutrition, business, relationships, literally anything.  I can think of countless people that have goals in any number of those categories, yet they never seem to take any action to achieve them.  It's like they just expect it to show up at their door one day.

I think the issue most people have, and the reason they don't act, is because the first step is to accept responsibility for their current situation.  Let's take relationships for example.  Presumably, this person is unhappy with the fact that they can't find their "significant other."  What do most people attribute that to?  Bad luck, mostly.  So, they continue to do the same things and hang out with the same people and wait for someone to come along.  Or perhaps, even worse, they hang out with other people with the same relationship issues so they can commiserate together.  They never take responsibility for the fact that they could be the reason for their lack of success in this area.  They never take action to change anything because the ego always seeks to protect itself, and to take responsibility is to admit to making poor choices.  It's easier to do nothing than it is to change. 

But by taking responsibility for your current situation, a powerful shift in mindset takes place.  If you believe that your situation is a result of bad luck, then you're also saying that you believe you have little to no control over the direction of your life.  But by saying, "Where I am is a result of the choices I've made, and I take full responsibility for those choices," suddenly you go from being a passenger to the pilot.  If where you are is a result of what you've done, then you can choose to do things differently in the future.  In terms of this hypothetical relationship issue, maybe that means trying to hang out with a new group of people - which brings us to the second difficult part. 

Change is uncomfortable, and by default we do not like being uncomfortable.  Hanging out with a new group of people could make them feel awkward and out of place, so most people retreat to the safety of the comfortable cave of mediocrity.  In business, that might mean learning a new skill or going out and networking with new people.  In fitness or nutrition, that could mean being sore and eating foods that are good for you, but you don't necessarily like.  None of these things bring us comfort, which is why it is so important to get used to being uncomfortable.

Picture a train sitting still on the tracks.  Millions of pounds of steel just sitting there at a dead stop.  As the engine starts chugging away, ever so slowly the wheels start to crawl forward, inch by painful inch.  This is the uncomfortable part of change, and this is where most people quit.  But shortly after, something almost magical happens.  It starts to build up momentum, and things get a little easier as its weight almost seems to now pull it forward.  This is where you get used to being uncomfortable, and you start to build up momentum in your daily habits and the choices you make.  Suddenly it's not as hard to eat right, work out every day, or go to those networking events.  If that track is going in the right direction, it's only a matter of time before you reach your destination.