3 Keys to Benefitting From Your Plan
The whole plan is necessary to receive the whole benefit. Don’t pick the pieces you like and leave the rest thinking you are going to get the benefit of the whole plan!
We have a healthy diet in our home, but recently, we enjoyed a “cheat day.” It was a day of debauched eating! We indulged in several delicious deviations from our norm.
The next morning, Kristy and I sat in the living room, drinking our coffee. She looked at me and said, “You led me astray!”
I asked, “How did I do that?”
She responded, “You lead me into eating ice cream! Then you made me eat several slices of pizza. We then ended the evening with several blueberry muffins!”
I laughed and responded, “First, you made the muffins. Second, if I had been “leading you,” you would have also exercised for an hour!”
The retort was classic as she said, “Well, I’m not a cult follower.”
She wasn’t feeling too good simply because she had accepted part of the plan but not the whole plan! That never turns out well.
Many of us see a plan to do great things. We are smart enough to recognize its potential in our lives, so we adopt it into our world. Getting into the plan, we begin to feel its effects in our lives.
The initial effects of most plans cause us to feel stretched and uncomfortable. We are doing new things or old things in unusual ways. This causes us discomfort. Because we feel “full” and uncomfortable we decide to put off the next part of the plan.
While Kristy was feeling bad, I was feeling fine. Why? Because I finished living out the plan. You can periodically eat junk food without terrible effects by following through with a good workout!
You started this thing for a reason. Remember what it was and keep going!
I encourage you, follow through with the whole plan! Here are three points that will help you maximize your follow through:
1. Keep the end in mind.
It is most important to remember why you started when you are in the middle.
I have a friend that runs marathon races with his son. He said, “Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going in the middle of a race is anticipating the look on my son’s face when we cross the finish line together.”
You started this thing for a reason. Remember what it was and keep going!
2. Take baby steps if you have to.
Many of us work hard to get it done! Sometimes the effort to get it done can wear us down so much that finishing becomes an impossibility. Finishing a few minutes later is better than not finishing at all.
My uncle Barry Sutton is a wise man. Years ago he told me, “I have rarely regretted a decision I’ve been slow to make, but often regretted things I’ve rushed into. Being second to make a decision is rarely negative.”
Break down your decisions. Slow down and break the strides down into smaller steps if you need to.
3. Keep moving.
No matter how small the steps are if you keep moving you will finish. The greatest distance will be covered if you take one step at a time.
Sometimes I can’t make decisions about what needs to be done in five years or even five minutes. Sometimes the biggest decision I can make is to put my right foot in front of my left foot. Then I will decide to place my left foot in front of my right foot. There are times the steps must become that small for me to keep moving forward!
If you will keep moving you will finish the plan you’ve adopted!
The great news is that when you finish that plan all its benefits are released into your life. Anything that you can plan for you can do!