Making change in your life isn’t hard. It happens in an instant. A new understanding or a new decision will change everything. The hard part is sticking to it because it’s so damn uncomfortable.
That’s why Tony Robbins says, “if you’re going to storm the island, you have to burn the boat”.
If you give yourself an out, you’ll quit before you get to the other side of the dip. (Seth Godin wrote a whole book about The Dip – the predictable spot to quit – where things get hard and you feel defeated. Spoiler alert: this is the worst possible time to quit)
But getting to the other side of the dip is hard. Way harder than you think its going to be. It feels impossible. So if you aren’t forced to get there, if you don’t burn the proverbial boat… you’ll turn back.
The other side is where you find all of the things you were looking for when you attempted to make the change in the first place. Maybe its peace, maybe its confidence, it could be where you find your value, it might be where you find what your heart desires, or maybe it’s freedom. Freedom to do what you want, when you want, the way you want.
The freedom to live where you want, be who you want, have the relationships you want, and enjoy your time the way you want.
These things are on the other side of the dip.
You don’t actually have to burn the boat, because that adds an element of fear and safety. In order to create, we need to feel safe.
I used to never stick with something because I thought I had to always go all in. I would abandon everything, but because I felt naked and alone in the storm I would quickly switch directions if it didn’t work and start again somewhere else.
That made things worse.
All you have to do is not allow yourself turn back. Keep refining things, keep finding a way to make them work, keep track of what is working, and keep exploring the island.
One day you might need your boat to move forward – you just can’t allow yourself the option to go back to where you came from.
P.S. The $50 discount for my workshop runs out on Tuesday. Click here for more details