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"Moving Forward"           

"THE ART OF BEING STUCK"

By Marcos Lopez-Miro 

 

There are many actions that we take in a daily basis to make sure that things are "stuck" so they don't move. For example when we place the car brake so the car stays still, or when we lock a door so nobody will intrude into our space. We are experts are making things being "stuck", especially in our own lives.

 

With the passing of time and with being more conscious of my choices and my emotional states I got to the conclusion that we are "masters" in the art of being "stuck". We have become so good at using our environment to cover up for our lack of motion that we have become content with whatever comes into our life, regardless if it is not something that doesn't takes us to where we want to be.

Being stuck means being stall instead of moving forward towards of what we really want. We could create a long list of causes for being stuck but the number one is FEAR. Yes, we want to move but we can't move and the reason we can move is we are fearful of what we imagine lies before our eyes in the journey to our final destination.

 

We all have tried some time in our life to find a tool, a process, a thought, a message that will give us the MOTIVATION to get us out of that zone without motion to start advancing towards what we want. Motivation to act is originated from knowing that if we do something it will generate pleasure, or on the other hand it will generate pain not doing it. Now, the trick here is that if the level of pain or pleasure isn't high enough we will not start to move.

 

Our gate to open our mind and body into motion isn't Motivation but Discipline. Motivation comes from being in a specific emotional state; and to create and maintain an emotional state isn't an easy thing to do. Many athletes use a picture, a video, music and other tools to keep them motivated, but regardless all these tools these athletes will never achieve their goals without discipline. There are times when an athlete may lose motivation but by using discipline this athlete will remain in course to achieve the final objective.

 

Discipline is about doing what you know it needs to be done without any emotional attachment to the action. The magic of using discipline as your moving forward tool is that it will generate motivation by itself. As you create the habit of discipline, doing what you know it needs to be done, it will generate positive emotional states that will motivate you on keeping your discipline. As we repeat the process we will create a positive cycle were discipline feeds motivation and motivation feeds discipline.

 

The benefits of using discipline as our daily tool to keep moving forward is that it will not just move us closer to our final destinations but it will also provide higher levels of self-esteem and confidence and will help us to use our energy in a more focused and effective way. Discipline is the basis of self-control and without it we are just letting our emotions take de best of us.

 

Now it is time that we change our doctorate in being stuck by a doctorate on having discipline. The first step is to enroll ourselves into the school of discipline by committing ourselves to try at least for six months to do all things that we plan to do. It may seem a very broad challenge so let's make it more specific by establishing a goal to achieve in the next six months. Next, let's write down the things that we need to do during these six months to achieve your goal. We need to make sure that these actions are specific enough so we know what needs to be done very clearly. The final step is to develop a schedule of when we want to do each activity in a daily, weekly and/or monthly basis to achieve the six months goal.

Now that we have planned our activities is time that we just commit ourselves to do each activity without any emotional ties to the activity or moment. As a helping tool we can create our own "mantra" or sentence that will keep our mind focus on the activity to be done. It can be as simple as "Just Do It!" but the key is that it has to help us to keep us in motion instead into our thoughts and emotions that stop us from taking action. As we practice with our "mantra" it will become an automatic response and we will feel more in control of what we are doing or want to do.

 

As Thomas A. Edison once said "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." Let's just try it one more time there is nothing to lose but a lot to gain. Each experience makes us grow regardless of the outcome.

 

 

Let's Keep Moving Forward!


  

Copyright 2012-15, HUMDEV

  

Discovery
The objective of this section is to provoke self-awareness by presenting questions or thoughts. Take time to reflect on what it means to you and how well are you aligned with it.
  
  
"OUR GREATEST WEAKNESS LIES IN GIVING UP. THE MOST CERTAIN WAY TO SUCCEED IS ALWAYS TO TRY JUST ONE MORE TIME."  
                                      -   Thomas A. Edison
  
Feb 2015
  
Welcome to Moving Forward, the newsletter dedicated to helping business leaders and their teams to achieve new levels or performance.
  
Marcos Lopez-Miro is a bilingual (Spanish and English) executive coach with expertise in behavioral coaching and operational execellence. His work experience includes organizations like Motorola, Panasonic, Bellsouth, Caterpillar, Maytag, Chevron and BHPBilliton.
  
For more information visit: www.humdev.net
  

 
For more information on how HUMDEV can help you an your organization contact:
Marcos Lopez-Miro
Phone: +1 561.716.8952

 
Let's Keep Moving Forward!
  
Marcos Lopez-Miro
HUMDEV
+1 561-716-8952