Stop Protecting the Habits That Keep You Stuck

One thing I have learned myself, and I've, I've seen this in so many other people, is that sometimes comfort becomes like a cage.

Now, there's nothing wrong with comfort.

We all need rest and safety and familiar people and even familiar places.

I love a comfortable chair as much as anybody else, and at this point in my life, if a chair does not support my back, then the chair and I aren't gonna have a long-term relationship.

But comfort and avoidance are not the same thing.

Comfort restores us.

Avoidance keeps us from moving.

The problem is that avoidance rarely announces itself.

It doesn't walk into the room wearing a name tag that says, "Hello.

I'm here to steal your ambition." It usually sounds reasonable.

It's things we say to ourselves like, "I'll start when things calm down.

I need to feel more confident first.

I'm waiting for the right time." And sometimes waiting for a better moment is necessary, but sometimes we keep waiting because taking the first step, well, it just scares us.

We can spend years getting ready to begin.

I know this because I may be the world's biggest procrastinator.

If you looked up the word online, you'd probably see my face beside it.

I might even be listed as one of the founding fathers of procrastination, although I probably would've put off attending the first meeting.

[chuckles] Every year I tell myself I'm going to make some lifestyle changes and get healthier, but then the holidays are right around the corner, so I decide I'll start after that.

I mean, who can start making better eating habits during the holidays with all the amazing food and parties we attend? But then the holidays are over, and all of a sudden it's too cold outside, and I don't wanna walk in the rain, so I bought a treadmill.

Problem solved, right? Mm, well, not exactly.

Then my back started hurting, and I told myself I didn't want to risk injuring it even more, so I better start walking every day as soon as I felt better.

But once I felt better, I found another reason to wait, and then another one.

I had become really good at finding excuses for why I couldn't get healthier.

If finding excuses counted as exercise, I would've been in incredible shape by now.

I once read a quote that said, "If you don't make time for your health now, you'll be forced to make time for your sickness later," and that really stuck with me.