Staring at the scale, I already knew what it would say. It was the designated weigh in day to check my progress towards my weight loss goal. I knew I hadn’t lost weight. It wasn’t because the scale hadn’t been on my mind. I thought about it every day. The fact that I thought about it, and only it, so often was exactly the problem. I had focused on the wrong thing, with disastrous results.
Focusing On The Outcome is The Wrong Way To Achieve A Goal
I was focused on the wrong thing, thinking constantly about what the scale would say without changing my underlying behavior. I needed to define how I wanted to exercise, and how I wanted to eat. To achieve my goal, I needed to decide what kind of person I wanted to be each and every day, and what kind of decisions I wanted to make about how to treat my body. If I could articulate that definition, and execute it, what the scale said would take care of itself. I would know as I stepped on the scale that I had already achieved success.
Doing The Same Thing With My Finances
I also realized I had been approaching my finances the same way. For so long I have been focusing on how much was in my 401K, the balance of my credit accounts, and my checking account.
These things are simply the result and reflection of who I am, and the decisions I make financially.
I need to define who I want to be financially, how I want to treat my hard earned cash, and the kind of spending decisions I want to make. If I can do that, the balance of my accounts will take care of itself.
Action Time
I’m taking the time to define who I want to be, not just from the perspective of health and finances, but who I want to be as a father, husband, employee and other roles I have in life. I can’t work on myself as a person unless I can clearly articulate who it is I want to be.
Life isn’t a passive experience. If you want to happy, you have to become the person you dream about being.
I’ve read that what you are exposed to in the first 30 minutes after you wake up sets the tone for your mindset for the rest of the day. Each day I will look at my self definition so who I want to be will be in the forefront of my mind as I start the day.
This definition isn’t set in stone, it needs to tweaked, massaged, and altered as time moves forward.
I will become the person I want to be. If I can do that, the scale, my 401k and my other financial accounts will reflect that success as well.
How about you, EOD Nation, do you consciously work on yourself? Do you know who you want to be?
