Here’s my secret to move the needle on your goals, to change, and to make things happen. First, Just Do It! Second, Apply the DCP Strategy (DCP = Decide, Commit, Plan). Let’s jam!
Just Do It! Mindset
I have two fundamental problems that get in the way of moving the needle and making progress toward my objectives.
Fundamental problem #1: Procrastination
Procrastination is a problem for me, especially for anything that involves other people. I don’t like social events, don’t like talking on the phone. And I don’t like writing emails. These are things that I would procrastinate on to no end. Not only does this tendency slow down progress, but it feels like SUCK. When I procrastinate on these things, I can come up with any number of excuses why I just can’t do it now. This creates a mental burden that sticks with me throughout the day and week. This has been the hardest lesson to learn to fight this tendency and Just Do It! Just pick up the phone. Schedule that meeting. Just 🤬do it already! This is a constant battle and I have to remind myself every time that it avoids so much mental anguish and anxiety to Just Do It and move on.
What are you procrastinating on? Perhaps set a timer for 2-minutes and JUST DO IT! Who knows, maybe that 2-minutes could spare you hours, days, weeks of anxiety.
Decide -> Commit -> Plan
Fundamental Problem #2: Obsession & Indecision
Ooh, this is a biggie! I love to go down rabbit holes. I love to research and contemplate and discuss and just all manner of delay tactics to making a decision and going forward with it. here’s my story to make this point.
The year was 2018 and I was researching and obsessing over the idea of moving out of my house and back in with my parents so that I could rent out my house and accelerate my move to financial independence. I obsessed on this for months and nothing came of it. I didn’t pull the trigger and stayed where it was safe in my little zone of comfort and kept on doing what I was comfortable with day in an day out. This didn’t get me anywhere.
Fast forward to 2021 and we’re a year into the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in the United States and again, the idea entered my head of moving back in with my parents and renting out my house. The trigger was similar dissatisfaction at work and the desire to be financially independent and able to choose to work or not. I wanted to be able to say “screw it” and walk away from a bad time at work. But, this time was different!
DECIDE -> COMMIT -> PLAN
I had recently read a blog article, which I haven’t been able to find again, that broke this issue down simply. As humans we can get stuck in the infinite planning loop. We fail to take action because we don’t have a solid plan yet. We need to keep planning before we move! This is a recipe to never move. The idea is to turn this order of plan -> do around on it’s head. Instead, first DECIDE what you will do. Then COMMIT to it. Only then do you PLAN.
This mindset is transformational. It’s like buying a plane ticket to a destination without any of the plan figured out about where you’ll sleep or eat or what you’ll do. You decided that you wanted to travel the world. And because you bought the ticket you are now committed and know it’s going to happen. You know that you will be on the airplane. Whether you have a plan or not, it’s happening!
This makes the planning so much easier because now there’s no escaping it. The outcome is inevitable: you’re traveling the world. There’s nothing to it but figure out where you’re going to sleep, eat, and what you’ll do.
Change Your Mindset
These two mindsets have significantly changed my outlook on life for the better in recent years. I feel as though I have moved the needle on many of my objectives by following these two principles. Just Do It! and Decide -> Commit -> Plan.
Change Your Mindset and give these strategies a try for yourself over the next few months. Observe how you feel and if they made a difference in your life. Were you able to move the needle on things that have been stuck on the back burner for a long time?
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