By mile 60, Scott was vomiting and shaky. His hands dropped to his knees, then his knees dropped to the pavement. He collapsed by the side of the road, lying in his own sweat and spittle. Leah and his friends didn’t bother trying to help him up; they knew there was no voice in the world more persuasive than the one inside Scott’s own mind. - Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
You’ve lined everything up. You are ready to take that next step. You know all that you need to know, and now it’s time to put your plan into action. You have a clear game plan to making your dream a reality. Then… you wait.
And wait. And then you wait some more.
You worry that you don’t have it all figured out yet. You start doubting yourself. Then you go back to the drawing board to tweak your plan. You find another book to read, another blog to follow. You pore through bookshelves and Google results for even more information. Your dreams are never realized.
Does that sound like you? It sure sounds like me.
Scott was (and is) a world-class ultrarunner. He runs miles on top of miles. The situation above was in a race in the middle of the desert, where only the strongest even finish the race. Leah is his wife. At first glance, the idea of your husband collapsing on the side of the road and not trying to help him seems cold-hearted. But then, look at the last sentence – the only person who could get Scott up off the ground was Scott.
When we are faced with adversity that scares us or makes us doubt our own talents and abilities to get the job done, we go back and look for more motivation. We look for books that could give us another “secret”, or we read blogs of people who have done it so that we know it’s possible. But we never just do it.
What causes this? I’d say fear. We’re scared to be held accountable for the results. If we fail, we might be embarrassed or lose something important to us. Because we doubt our own ability to achieve something, we never bother trying. All the external motivation in the world can’t compare with the voice in our heads.
Your Brain: Your Own Personal Life Coach
A good life coach or personal development guru is not going to be someone who feels the need to keep you motivated. He or she can’t do that for you. If they are, then they are full of crap. The smart coach gets you to buy into it. The reasonable guru or mentor or what-have-you will take the time to help you believe in yourself, and in your ability to do awesome stuff.
You have everything you need.
Got a specific dream? Do a Google search and find some information. But then sit down and figure out why you want to do this. What is pushing you? What is motivating you? It can’t be money, or good looks, or anything frivolous. It has to have a deeper meaning. Once you nail that down, you have to accept that it’s going to happen.
Once you convince yourself you can do it, then you can do it. Nobody else can motivate you better than yourself.
Don’t believe me? Scott wasn’t even halfway done with a 100-mile race. All the other runners were out of site. He was blown up and exhausted. He remained lying on the side of the road for ten minutes. Once he got done arguing with himself, he promptly pulled himself up, began running again - and won the whole freaking race while simultaneously shattering the previous record.
Yes. You can do much more than you think. But I can’t convince you of that. You need to convince yourself first.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out these 20 average goals accomplished by extraordinary achievers. If you want to take it to the next level, join The "I Can" Movement!
Tom is an entrepreneur and freelance writer, working out of his apartment full-time, or wherever he feels like taking his laptop. He doesn't take long European vacations or blogs on the beach. He's an Average Joe that took control of his life. He wants you to do the same.
