If you keep going - AseemPuri

IF YOU KEEP GOING...

There are many areas in our life where we know we need to make changes but we delay or ignore the need until it is too late. This can be something as basic as keeping dental hygiene or developing a habit of exercise everyday or calling our parents regularly. It can extend to not planning our days weeks and months at work well or delaying key projects until they become urgent and critical.

Why does this happen ?

Human beings love comfort and love the immediate. Hence our most preferred state of being is immediate comfort. Hence eating a chocolate now is better than fasting for sometime and eating vegetables later. Immediate (now) comfort ( chocolate) is better than long term growth ( veggies, fasting, weight loss).

So how can we overcome this. By reversing the question.

If you keep going the way you are ….then…. (what will happen). Write them out

If I keep going the way I am eating sugary foods regularly then I will become fat, unhealthy, develop heart disease and be unable to live a long healthy life. I may even die before my spouse or other loved ones leaving many unfinished tasks

If I keep going the way I am wasting time on the internet then I will not be able to write my book or do the courses I want or learn new skills and hence will be unable to get promoted or grow in my career

The purpose of this exercise is to make the consequences of our short term comfort driven behaviour obvious to ourselves. This will ensure that we can see the impact of our short term actions on the long term.

When you make the consequences clear then your behaviour in the short term will begin to change. You will be able to see what is the benefit / cost of each short term action on your long term health, life and career success.

Change the perspective , ask a different question.

Now pivot and choose to take short term actions that will bring you long term benefit and growth.