It’s easy to forget what we want. To lose sight of our dreams. To get distracted by chasing beautiful butterflies, and staring unconsciously at seductive bright shiny objects.
When you’re in the zone, you can see your true self. You know the talents you have, you know the work you must do, what it takes, the sacrifice you need to make, and the tenacity it will take.
Than something happens.
Time happens.
Our other self, with the strength of time by his side, the one that wishes to remain the same, and wants to complain about the ignorance and nonsense of our dreams, begins to sabotage our desires and blunts our purpose.
Steven Pressfield calls this the Resistance. Seth Godin calls this our Lizard brain.
Either way it is a real struggle. A struggle that will never be conquered. A war that never ends. The only hope is for advancement. For reinforcement. For a good and noble fight.
As I was reminded last weekend by Zig Ziglar, motivation is like bathing, you have to do it everyday.
I repeat.
Motivation is like bathing. You have to do it every day.
This is why I dig ditches.
I have a simple mind, easily distracted by my surroundings. Worse, my mind is susceptible to become and morph into whatever other mind is in the room.
If I am surrounded by gossip, I begin to throw daggers at others for no purpose or reason. If I am surrounded by talented people, I begin to dream, and renew my dedication for my own work.
I am a product of my own surrounding. I become, like a chameleon, whatever environment I find myself in.
The only way out is digging ditches.
I feel like I have become the character in the movie Memento. He wakes up every day and has no memory of who he is or why he is. It is a crime drama. He is the detective, trying to piece together the truth.
The night before he writes sticky notes and becomes good and explaining his motivation to himself; what he knows, who he suspects; and what he needs to do this day, before it is gone yet again.
When something is really important, he tattoo’s the content of the message on his body. The more important the facts the more ink it gets, and the more visible it is on his body.
My life has become Memento.
The more I do, the more wonderful people enter my life, and every time they do, I get confused and distracted from my purpose. I have gone from a state of depression and apathy, to state of bliss, and infinite possibility.
So I dig ditches.
I leave myself tasks to do. Short term goals. Long term goals.
I sometimes forget what the reason was why I am doing the thing I set down for myself, but I try not to get involved in something else, until I have checked it off my list.
Success begins and ends in digging ditches.
Rain or shine. Healthy or sick. Energetic or tired. Motivated or not.
One way or another that shovel must hit the ground every day, and you need to fling that dirt away.
The only way in is through.
Get back to work.
Keep digging.