To Have What You Want, You Must Give-Up What’s Holding You Back

June 25, 2018

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Nathan Waters - Total Health Performance

A few days ago I read this great article by Benjamin P. Hardy which had the title "To Have What You Want, You Must Give-Up What's Holding You Back". In the article he explains that we basically have the same thoughts every day and that we know what we have to do and how to do it but we have things that stop us. Things such as fear of the unknown cause us to give up on our dreams and sit in a comfort zone even though we know our life could be much better, we hold tightly to what we have.

Personally, I have to constantly push myself to do things where I don't know what the outcome will be. I get into a routine and can become so focused on it that I forget to look around and see other possibilities or opportunities. To keep having new experiences I really have to sit down and asses whether I am progressing in areas I want to or if I am just playing it safe. I think it is a good habit we all should get into. 

One I see daily is with health. Many people know they should change their lifestyle and eat better foods and exercise more but they are scared to change what they currently do even though they know they would be much better off if they did. Again, it is the fear of the unknown as mentioned above. Their current lifestyle has become their safe zone and stepping outside of it scares them, even though what they are currently doing isn't beneficial for them anyway.

Same goes with athletes who want to become a world champion or make the NRL for example. They may hang around people who don't share the same goals and drink and party, they may need to give up some time on social media, they may need to get to bed earlier and get more sleep, they may need to focus more on their strength in the gym, whatever it may be, they know what it is but they don't change their ways. 

"You’re giving up your dreams and your greatest potential for something you know isn’t serving you."

You have to decide what you want in life. For me, the thing that really made me change my ways was making the decision that I didn't want to live a life of regret. I wanted to achieve a goal since I was a little kid and knew what I had to change but hadn't yet. When I thought about it, it was much easier to give up drinking alcohol, change my nutrition, and miss out on time with some of my friends then it was to sit back at 50 years old and say "what if?".

When setting a goal you should write down what you are willing to give up to achieve it. We all say what we are willing to do but what we don't think about is what we are willing to sacrifice. 

So as the article asks at the end “Am I willing to give-up what I’ve got in order to have something better?” I think this is a great question to ask yourself and to help you move forward. 

Tags:

goal setting

goals

motivation