A body in motion tends to stay in motion, while a body at rest tends to come up with a lot of excuses. – the Wealthy Gardener
There’s nothing wrong with a comfortable life. There’s nothing wrong with not striving. If you choose an easy life, and get what you want, that’s your business. But you won’t gain wealth without overcoming challenges and obstacles.
Wealth building is not for comfort seekers or leisure lovers. Rather, achieving your financial goals takes daily work and discipline. It requires doing what must be done, when it must be done, whether you feel like it or not.
You must confront and overcome your daily resistance.
Overcoming daily resistance
Resistance is an opposing or oppressive force against goals.
It is our inherent human laziness, procrastination, distraction, excuses, and a desire for anything but doing the day’s productive work. Resistance is the reluctance to engage in action and sacrifice our free hours.
“Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s this day-to-day living that wears you out,” states a character in The Country Girl. “Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution,” wrote @Steven Pressfield, “the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”
Urgent tasks get our attention, while important tasks get our resistance.
A good friend of mine worked in the executive offices of an international coal company. Of all businesspeople, he was one who had my fullest respect. But in 2015, coal prices plummeted. Worse, there was decreasing demand for coal, and the situation looked bleak for the industry. Most coal companies declared bankruptcy.
“Bill, have you considered a new company or industry?” I asked when I couldn’t take it anymore. His job was in jeopardy. “Consider your options.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said. “I know I should be looking.”
He never looked for a new job, and he eventually lost his current income due to an inevitable bankruptcy. It wasn’t fear that had stopped him. It wasn’t inability or stupidity. He just didn’t do what he knew he should have been doing.
“What lies in our power to do,” noted Aristotle, “lies in our power not to do.”
Take the first step of action
How do we beat resistance? Madame Marquise du Deffand tells us, “The distance doesn’t matter; only the first step is difficult.” The first step out the door is more challenging than the two-mile walk that follows it. The same rule holds true in every dreaded exertion of our work — it’s always about the first step. In all duties it is the beginning that tests our resolve.
What we begin, we tend to continue.
“Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do,” said Mark Twain. “This is the golden rule for ac-quiring the habit of doing your duty without complaint.” Alistair Cooke tells us, “A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.”
At the start of every day, I perform 150 pushups. It is easy to do, but it’s even easier not to do. To beat resistance, I force my-self to do one pushup, followed by the rest. I rest a minute and do another set of thirty pushups. After fifteen minutes, I’ve completed all 150. It’s simple enough, but it’s a ridiculous mental challenge.
I rank this pushup ritual among my most difficult daily tasks, not because it is hard to perform but because it is hard to begin.
And every task of the day seems to have a similar degree of resistance, especially tasks that can be easily postponed.
We beat resistance by taking one step of action.
@Brian Tracy advises doing the most undesirable task of each day first. If you must “eat a frog” during the day, he says, it’s best to eat the frog first — before all the other actions on your list. And if you must eat two frogs in one day, he suggests eating the ugliest one first.
A body in motion tends to stay in motion, while a body at rest tends to come up with a lot of excuses. A task begun is nearly half done.
The Life Lesson: I felt steady resistance to do the hard work of the day, but learned to conquer each task by taking one step of action.
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