Act your way into feeling. That is the message for today, and it is one of the best mental skills you can develop and hone in your life. I learned this concept during my Cutco days, and it has proved invaluable since. It’s important to first understand that this is a skill that can come and go throughout your life; you have to work to keep it sharp. This mindset was taught to me in the form of the “Decision Train.” The train consists of three parts:
- Decision
- Action
- Feeling
The goal is for these three components to show up in the order that they are listed above.
I will decide that this particular thing is going to get completed.
I will then take action on it.
From there, the feeling of accomplishment will follow.
This can apply to even the smallest objectives we have in our lives. In fact, I’d argue that it is most important to apply it to the small tasks we have for ourselves. None of the ideas I’m sharing here are new; they are learned concepts that are so simple, but that doesn’t mean that they are easy to master. I, for one, am a constant work in progress as it relates to this skill.
You have likely heard the mantra that “how you do one thing is how you do everything.” I don’t necessarily believe that this is the case across the board. For instance, it is entirely possible to be someone that works extremely hard at your job, yet cuts corners here and there when you’re cleaning the house. I do, however, subscribe to the intent behind the quote. If you show up and do your absolute best in one specific area of life, then there is a good chance that this will cause a ripple effect to other areas.
The inherent issue with the Decision Train is that it is most natural as humans to approach it completely backwards. We wait until we “feel like it” to go and do the thing that we know needs to be done. We procrastinate, we rationalize with ourselves, and we’re simply conditioned to seek comfort.
Consider this as to relates to getting in shape. The best way to approach this is to decide that you are going to get into the best of shape of your life. There is no other option, you commit to making it happen. From there, your action steps are simple: exercise daily, or five days a week, for example. And finally, each time to you complete this exercise, two amazing things happen for you.
- The feeling of accomplishment is amazing, and you’re always glad that you took action it.
- You build the skill of confidence in yourself because you followed through on what you told yourself you were going to do.
The other option is to wait for the perfect feeling of motivation to arrive, and then you take action on exercising to follow through on your initial decision. In my experience, this works about 10 percent of the time. I’ve worked out consistently for 15 years, and I can confidently say that at least 90 percent of the time, I don’t “feel like it” before I begin. With any goal in life, executing on the action required 10 percent of the time isn’t going to get it done. Just take action. Just take the first step, and you have a leg up on most people.
I fell into this exact trap with 75 Hard! I learned about the program through Andy Frisella’s podcast, and boom! Five months later I started it. I say this facetiously, of course, because the reality is that if I’m following my own advice, when should I have started the program? Immediately. It should have gone like this, in a perfect world: “Oh, that program sounds really tough. It also sounds like it would be extremely beneficial for me. I’m starting today.” From there, in the case of 75 Hard, my first action would be to begin “45-minute workout #1.” Obviously, it didn’t go that way. Instead, I put it off and made excuses as to why “now wasn’t the best time.” So, if I’m preaching these concepts to other people about taking action immediately, what was the disconnect there? Well, it ultimately came down to a combination of fear, the wrong version of the Decision Train at work in my mind, and our incredible ability as humans to rationalize with ourselves.
When I “decided” to do 75 Hard, it was late March of this year. I put that word in quotations because it doesn’t really count if I “decide” to do something at some point in the future; that is the wrong way to approach our Decision Train. One key component of the program, as you may already know, is absolutely no alcohol consumption for 75 days. I like to drink with friends, and I knew that there were several events in the near future in which alcohol would be a big component. The biggest event was my “birthday weekend,” which was going to include attending the famous Indy 500. How could I possibly be expected to abstain from alcohol during these joyous occasions? I realize now how ridiculous it was to think that way. I was waiting until I “felt like it.” I was waiting to take action on a challenging goal until the stars were aligned and it was the “perfect set of circumstances.” After about a month of telling people in my circle that I planned to start this thing on the first of June, I finally decided to be honest with myself. I decided that the perfect set of circumstances will never exist, and the time to push myself and work towards the best version of myself was right now. This decision took place in my mind late in the day on April 26, and Day One of 75 Hard began April 27. Now, as I write this blog with only six days remaining, I couldn’t be happier. That is the realization that I hope you take away from reading this. It doesn’t have to be 75 Hard, but with any goal or dream you want to work towards, there will always be obstacles; it is 100% guaranteed. There will always be a way to rationalize with yourself and convince yourself to put it off. The key to feeling happy and fulfilled, however, is to constantly work on the simple skill that I will call “just do it now.” Just get moving, stop making excuses for yourself as to why it’s not the perfect time, and take the first step. Your future self will thank you over and over again.
