Could You Be Cheating on You?

Have you ever considered that perhaps you are not where you thought you would be at this stage in life because you cheated on yourself? One of my all-time favorite birthday gifts was a Garmin Vivofit, which I got a couple of years ago.  I set a personal goal of walking or running five miles a day.  We have a dog we walk three times a day, so I found this goal to be easy on most days, but it wasn’t very effective in managing my weight.  I decided that I needed to up my goal to seven miles a day, five times a week. The new goal was a bit of a struggle because seven miles was taking too much time, so I decided that I would have to use more of my time running, simply so I could achieve my goal in less time.  Now, let me share with you that I am by no means a good runner. I’m also not very fast, but I can finish two miles in the time that it would take me to walk one mile.  I did the math and decided that I needed to run to get it done. I also knew that I have the most time available to run in the morning, so the more I could get done in the morning, the less I would have to do the rest of the day.  Now, when I shared that I am by no means a good runner, I should have also shared that I am not one of those people who is blessed to get a runner’s high. I have to continuously talk myself into moving forward and focus on how great it will feel when I am done with my morning run.  I have my route planned out that I take every morning as I play this mind game.  I think about cutting corners or skipping a street here or there. My mind tells me that if I do this, I could be home quicker and enjoying some quiet time with a cup of coffee before the kids get up, but this is where my Garmin Vivofit comes in so handy.  I could cut corners, or skip a street and be home quicker, but my goal is 7 miles, not just to run. I have to constantly remind myself what my goal is for the day and that if I cut corners or I skip a street, I am really only hurting my own success.  I have decided that my brain must be slow in remembering this or perhaps that my brain is telling me to write a blog on cheating on your goals. Cheating on your goals can apply in lots of areas in your life. In fact, the number one reason for not achieving your goals is because you cheated on yourself.  Zig Ziglar said it best, “The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.” This doesn’t just apply to fitness; this applies to all areas of our lives. You see, when we make purchases on impulse, we could be forgoing our real goal of financial security.  When we make ourselves busy with “busy work” instead of making the phone calls to help increase our sales we are cheating ourselves out of success. If we stay in a job we hate, we are cheating ourselves out of finding a job that fits our true gifts and talents.   If we are entrepreneurs and work from home, yet we spend our time doing housework or napping, we are cheating ourselves out of success.   Does that make success? I once heard that if success was easy, everyone would have it. In order to achieve it, you must not only know what success looks like, but also what it feels like to you.  When you can identify these two things, you can overcome the urges to cheat yourself and find true success!