Gordian knot
: an intricate problem; especially: a problem insoluble in its own terms.
How often have you felt that trying to make lasting change in your life is like trying to untie a Gordian knot?
The voice in your head admonishes, “You’ve tried to [pick one: focus on high pay-off actions, lose weight, implement a Big Idea, drink less, sleep more] a dozen times before and it never sticks. It’s a waste of time to try again.” But the tenacious High Performance Warrior in you refuses to give up… good for you!
“I am going to do it this time,” you tell yourself, “I just need information and a plan. How many minutes a day of exercise? What’s the seventh habit of the highly successful? How many hours of sleep? Give me the detailed plan!” you beckon. “On Monday I’ll start The Plan and this time it’ll stick.”
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
-Albert Einstein
What if the missing piece to untying the knot is not so tactical? What if it’s not in gathering more information and creating the perfect plan around which you’ll morph your schedule, habits, and life? Has that worked in the past??
When changes lack staying-power it’s not because we’re “weak” or uninformed, but because we lack clarity as to why we really want the change.
Without having determined what really inspires us to embrace new habits, once the excitement of having The Plan That Will Certainly Change My Life wears off, the motivation to follow The Plan does too.
“The process of getting there is the quality of being there.”
Choose one change you want to make right now to support your highest level of performance. What is the quality that making that change will give you?
- Will losing weight make you more comfortable in your own skin and give you more confidence in client meetings?
- Will having the discipline to turn your email off allow you to tap your “inner innovator,” thus exploring the new thinking that differentiates your services in the market?
- Will exercising regularly give you the stamina to produce more at work and have energy to be with your family?
The first step to making transformational changes with staying-power is to dig a little deeper and understand the why. Once you’re clear on why you want to change and what meaning that change has for you, the what and the how are not only easy to embrace, but the process of embracing them becomes a joyful celebration of the synergy between goals and values… and that’s the kind of change that has staying-power.
