After what was an intense and emotional month of May, I felt like I had fallen in a bit of rut. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just wasn’t “feeling it.” I was tired and lacked some purpose. I chalked it up to the past six weeks, and the transitions that my family were going through.
After all, my oldest daughter, Skylar, left at the first of May to chase her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Scratch that. She is a professional dancer. She is now onboard a Cruise ship in California performing. Amazing. My youngest daughter, Jade, just graduated high school and is getting ready to move out (in the next couple of weeks) and start school in Columbus. In the midst of all of that, Amy and I were working to keep our businesses running, speaking, and hosting events as well. There was a good reason for feeling tired, right?
But I knew that wasn’t it.
In the midst of running through this time in our lives, I had made a few personal compromises. For 6 months last year, I was writing a blog on this website every single day. It was a challenge. But it was a rewarding (and sometimes therapeutic) activity for me personally. When I decided to stop doing it every day, I told myself I would write a couple of blogs a week. In reality, however, I had fallen out of the rhythm. In addition, I have made the commitment to writing a new book. I have started the process and have made good progress. I was writing regularly. Then, with this season, I stopped that too.
Though I can certainly give myself a break because things were hectic, I realized something very important. I started breaking my promises to myself. I knew it deep down. But it was really brought to my attention as I watched this interview. I had stopped keeping these small commitments to myself…and these broken promises were ruining my productivity.
I think this is true for any area of your life.
If you want to be more productive, lose more weight, sell more, start a podcast, or make any change in your life, it starts small.
Start by making a small commitment to yourself. Then keep that promise.
When you can start by making that small promise, and follow through, you create a sense of accomplishment. When you can keep that promise, day in and day out, you create momentum. As you create momentum (on just that small promise) you create progress toward your goal.
So if you want to make progress toward any goal in your life, make a small promise to yourself. Then keep that promise…again and again.
To learn more about this concept, spend the time and watch this great interview with Chris Powell, Heidi Powell and Ed Mylett. And make sure you never miss any content. You can find it all here on our blog. And of course you can always sign up to be a VIP here.
