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No matter how good you get about making progress and getting things cleared out, you must at some point take a look at what is and isn’t working for you. If you’ve been composing a list of your inner techniques, then you have a list of good resources for going where you want to go.
What to do when you find yourself off-track.
If you know what you want and are working to make it happen then, all things being equal, you should get there rather predictably. What, then is going on if you keep finding yourself off course? The obvious answer: Things are not equal. Something is throwing things off.
As tempting as it may be at this point to blame external problem, I’d advise working from the inside out. An external problem may indeed show up as being the cause, but you latitude of control with the external world is limited. On the other hand, your leverage in your inner world has no such limitations. As such, if there is a solution that can be arrived at by working from the inside, that will probably be more effective.
The log.
A quick note here: This technique has the system requirement that you have a certain level of trust and honesty with yourself. If you’re not yet that experienced at looking at the parts of yourself that you are looking to improve, then realize that until you have that level of comfort, your mileage will vary. (I’ll be going into this more in a future post).
Basically what we’re going to do is keep a tally or log of what is stopping you. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and it doesn’t need to be comprehensive. What it does need to be is well-used. Anytime you feel yourself drifting off-course, stop at that very moment, and look at what got in your way. Were you lacking patience? Do you need a broader viewpoint? Do you need more drive? Are you discouraged easily? There are any number of things that can get in the way. Just jot down what it is and then put a tally mark. Then when it arises again, put another tally mark. Keep doing this, even if it’s only in your head (not recommended, but doable. The problem with the mental method is that it’s subject to tampering, and can also be “conveniently forgotten” more easily than a physical counterpart.). One neat feature of this technique is that simply raising awareness of a problem will oftentimes cause it to start disappearing once you are aware of it.
As you keep it up, you will start to see themes emerge. At this point, you want to stop and analyze your data. When you look here, what do you see? Look below the surface, as quite often what is stopping you isn’t the cause, just the symptom. If you can find that cause, and then work on it, you can lock on to that and work at the root of the problem. As you do so, the symptoms will start resolving themselves. As the symptoms disappear, you get the reinforcement that comes from seeing your goals stay on-track for success.
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