Sticking to a challenging fitness regimen and aspirational lifestyle behaviors is hard! Working out when I don’t feel like it, or completing hard tasks even though I am (or feel I am) exhausted inevitably leads to a couple of places mentally. In the first case, I begin second guessing myself and my motives for enduring discomfort and pain (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual), and I wind up undermining my efforts. “Aw, take a break. This is silly. You should just rest. Seek pleasure not pain.” These undermining voices can convince me to slack off.
Or, I can swing towards hasty rage like effort, and blindly push forward ignoring damage to myself. When I feel that twinge in my muscle, I will push harder and wind up with a pulled muscle or injury. Or, I will attempt a difficult and nuanced effort in the social sphere when I am actually too tired, and unable to properly prepare – “push through anyway, risks be damned!” In this polar opposite of the slacker I wind up harming myself in rash attempts to push forward.
In my study of archetypes, Robert Moore gave me some insight into this dichotomy of these polar opposite voices. On the one hand there is the weakling, and on the other is the tyrant. How can I escape these obviously lame (immature) process of bouncing back and forth between these two pols, which both lead to failure?
Pushing hard “without knowing why” gets to the root of the problem – it is a kind of masochism of self. “Pushing too hard without the proper reason and goal” is a clearer articulation of the problem in my view. Having a healthy and inspiring goal, and maintaining a clear vision of that goal, is what “knowing why” is all about.
Knowing Why also keeps false songs of pleasure, and temptation to slack off, at bay. The365Commitment and the habits and goals that we develop within this framework above all require a clear understanding of what it is we truly aspire to. Know why you are pursuing your goals and keep them top of mind often.
If you find yourself swinging between apathy and tyranny, in terms of your goal pursuit. Stop and get clear about why you want that goal to begin with. Perhaps your goal is immature? Perhaps you have not properly formulated a goal/vision that truly inspires? Or, maybe you just need to practice focusing on and remembering why you are on this journey.
Knowing why, cultivating a mature vision, will allow you to push yourself forward hard, but without catastrophic injury. Knowing why will allow you to not listen to the voice of the weakling within. Knowing Why, pushing toward that divine King energy.
Ben Wagner (258)
Member The365Commitment
