If you’ve been following this blog for the past week, you know that I’m at the beginning of a personal challenge to post every day for 31 days (backstory is here).
Can I be honest?
I’m regretting the challenge.
If you’ve ever gone from doing nothing in an area of your life to doing it every single day, most people would tell you it’s unrealistic. Now, I get that. And while I’ve already covered off on why it’s important to keep doing even when you don’t want to, it still hasn’t changed my desire to want to bail.
But, I can’t. And I won’t.
Last night, I received an unexpected comment from a dear family member that completely arrested my attention. Here’s a snippet of what she said:
You said you could skip a day and nobody would care, but that’s not true. I care. I’m looking to see if you will do what you said you would do or if at some point you will give up with some pseudo-legitimate reason. If you can do what you set out to do, I will be encouraged. You’ve already encouraged me, but I want to see if you stay at it.
It’s one thing to encourage with timely words, it’s another to encourage with a lifestyle of faithful commitment. I’m looking for both in you. 🙂 Keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t know who’s lives you’re touching. 🙂
If I had the liberty to share her backstory, you would understand the weight of her comment. As a result, I won’t give up. I just don’t want to anymore.
In processing her comment and my new found drive to not give up, I came to three conclusions on why we shouldn’t give up on our goals:
- You never know who’s watching you – No matter who you are, people are watching, evaluating and judging you based on what you say you’re going to do and don’t do. It’s not fear that should motivate you to continue, but it should compel you to stop and consider the full weight of your commitment before going public. Your ability to follow through on your commitment matters to people, even if you’re not aware that they’re watching.
- Resist the Resistance – As I said in this post, “if you’re regularly drawn to a goal, dream, or idea and yet every time you pursue it, you’re hit with massive amounts of resistance, it’s time to dig in and resist the resistance.”FACT: The resistance is all in your head. The resistance is the part of us that keeps us from doing the work that achieves our goals. We have to silence the resistance if we want to achieve.
- Failure is an option – While this may seem like I’m giving you permission to quit, I’m not. What I am doing is giving you permission to fulfill your commitment, look back and realize that it wasn’t worth it. At this point, it’s no longer about what will happen at the end of the goal, it’s about what happens during. Transformation happens during the process. If you never go through the process, you’ll never be transformed.
I don’t know what motivates you, but that comment was exactly what I needed to dig in and resist the resistance. Therefore, I’ll continue to publish—gladly.
What motivates you to keep going? Join the conversation and leave a comment below.
<photo credit> Gogri </photo credit>
