OVERCOMING SELF-DEFEAT: How I overcame myself to run every morning – part 1
on October 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pmI have been having the hardest time getting myself to run every morning and getting up at 6 am. I was trained in sales that a “SCHEDULE IS AN ATTITUDE.” But I was having trouble reaching that attitude.
My personality is no help… I’m enchanted by possibilities and open-endedness. I have a hard time making a solid decision, because that seems like it would limit me from everything else I can do.
It’s like if I had a $1000 to spend, all the possibilities for the things I can buy with it go through my mind, in an endless merry-go-round… A nice road bike, a good camera, new tires and radiator on my car, etc. Then I realize a month later that I have spent it already on the little things that I didn’t account for. Without deciding at all, I had decided to fitter away the money on “one more drink” when going out, or “oh, those gloves look nice” even though I had another pair at home.
I also have all sorts of excuses to fall back on. “I have asthma, I’ll just walk… <5 min later> Oh, why walk? That is not my goal.” And I do other things until I convince myself that it’s no good to even walk.
Sometimes I can’t even get out of bed at 6 am. “It’s dark outside.” “I’ll just snooze… <9 min later> I already failed so I’ll just sleep in.” (Slightly perfectionist.) Or, “Oh, the weather looks cold… It’s rainy/snowy; looks like it might rain/snow; or looks like I would be too cold.” (Total wimp.)
Several times, I got it in my head that if I plan a whole year’s training schedule in advance, and book it in my calendar, I can force myself to do it out of sheer guilt for all the time I spent planning and writing it. Over the years, I found that nothing is more debilitating than a plan like that… because usually, day 1, I fail, and that means I fail for the whole year! (he-he)
I had tried telling friends and loved ones that I was going to get on a running schedule. I tried setting goals, like for a half-marathon. I tried taking it one step at a time, micro-planning every little thing I needed to do to get out the door. Even the smallest things seemed to stop me–like, “My ipod is out of battery.”
But then I had an inspiration one day when reading about personality types. My personality type is motivated by change, possibilities, and doing things that are meaningful, not routine. I can do routine things when I’m focused on what that means to someone else, while I’m doing it… like washing dishes. But I can’t do it when it’s scheduled into my life on a daily basis because it feels like what an elevator must feel like to a claustrophobic.
I realized that if I am to prepare to succeed, to win in this, I must plan for my personality type. Now this may sound like the simplest thing ever, but it translated into something huge for me.
(to be continued…)
Hey there Misheel. It’s great to hear that you are figuring yourself out. The biggest key to success in life and in business/career/whatever is really about learning more about yourself and learning to leverage your strengths and work through/around/with your shortcomings.
I still think Mongolia’s plan as you go style would fit you so much better than Japanese, American, or Western European way of scheduling everything in 15min increments for three months out.
There is so much more flexibility, freedom, and availability to focus on the most important item at any given moment under the Mongolian time management.
You would do well when you get here. It will take two years to really get used to things, but it will be SOOOO worth it. You don’t even know. Just the ability to be with family, kids, cousins, aunts/uncles, grandmother, etc will be really great for you.
With love from Mongolia,
Your brother