Remove the Choice

The trick is to settle on a commitment where you just do not have a choice anymore. You are doing it no matter what. It does not matter what circumstance you are in, you are going to do it anyway because it is a commitment. Getting to that mentality is absolutely critical and ultimately lands you in situations like this:

I just have to. That is it. I do not have an option. It is miserable outside, temperature plummeting, a blanket of snow on the ground. However, I already find myself heading down the stairs of my hotel room and before you know it I am plotting away making my own tracks in some new fallen snow.

Take stock. What in your life are the must dos? Do you have any? Are there certain habits or important things that you will accomplish everyday no matter what? I have several now. Some of them absolutely and completely suck but I do them anyway and because of that I gain tremendous benefit.

Wake every day at 5am – I do this now everyday, no matter how bad it is. I got in late last night. Plane landed at midnight, but the time I got in it was 1 am. However, I do not have a choice. I got up at 5am and accomplished my morning routine. I will take a nap sometimes, for certain, but I keep the commitment. I just quite simply do not have a choice. My brain has just given up on the notion of trying to convince myself to sleep in, “just this once.” It is done, over, I wake up at 5am for the rest of my life. My whiny little brain can just shut the bleep up about it. When it turns 5 am, I am up – no matter what time zone I am in. My brain has tried that trick too btw. Well, it is 5am here, but it is really 2am back home, so you can really sleep in until 8am. Nope. No excuses. 5am is 5am.

Run – I am going to run, I do not care what is going on, I am going to hit the road and get a few miles in. I will try to push myself, but even if I cannot I am at least going to put that mileage in. Even if I have to run on a treadmill half asleep, I am going to log the time running. It is a commitment, and I do not have a choice in the matter. Remove the choice, that is the trick!

I have a few others. Review my 365 list, prayer, meditation, reading, work on my memory palace and my latest addition – reach out to someone new are all my “no choice” commitments. I do them no matter what. No matter how inconvenient.

My last one – write a blog entry. This is the second longest one that I have been doing. I write this entry once a day. This is day 676 for me. Some of them are good, some of them I wrote half asleep. I have written them on airplanes. In one case I dictated it to my wife over a radio when I was backpacking at high elevation because I could not get my Internet to work. Everyday, no matter what is going on, I find the time to sit here and come up with an idea to write about. Even if I have nothing to say, even if I have a bad attitude, pissed off, depressed, or feeling brain dead. I write. No option to quit now.

Is there anything that you are willing to do everyday until the day you die? Is there something that you can commit to starting right now that you will do everyday without fail? If you do, I have a suggestion. Start right now. Start counting the days. Today is day 1. Do it and then make the mental decision right now, I will do this everyday, no matter what. I will do it everyday, I no longer have a choice.

Guy Reams (676)

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