The Invisible Sabotage
We all have it. We have that dream, that urge to do something amazing. We want to be a politician, we want to own our own business, we want to do something awesome. Its in all of us. And for each of us it is unique. We think about this dream day in and day out, yet we never take action towards achieving it. Why is this? Why is it that we want something, we want to be something yet we never reach that dream? Well its due to the invisible force of “the resistance” as Steven Pressfield calls it.
This invisible force is the thing that each and every human being feels. We feel it when we try to do something great or strive to become better people. Examples of ways this force tries to sabotage us is with social media, food, TV, shopping, drugs and alcohol. Virtually any thing that distracts us from who we ultimately want to become. More often than not we give into these distractions because it is so much easier than treading through mud to ultimately get to our goals.
All of us at some point set out to achieve our best selfs and change the world in some way, but somewhere along the way we get derailed and discouraged. Let me give you a personal example. About every 6 months or so I am struck with massive passion about some dream. Two years ago a buddy and I started a fitness account. We dedicated ourselves in the gym and on the Gram (Instagram) to growing our page. We edited videos, we bought wrist bands and t-shirts to sell and spread awareness. Our page was growing at a pretty good rate, but then inevitably shit gets harder. Its harder to gain followers, harder to think of new content and the growth of our paged came to a stop. Instead of pushing through the sludge that always shows up on our way to greatness I pursued other “ventures”. I went full in on trying to build a public speaking brand, publishing talks, emailing and scheduling speaking gigs, but guess what? When the sledding got tough again I sought out another thing to accomplish.
As you can see the cycle of “ventures” leads to little to no real sustainable success. After falling two more times since the public speaking attempt its beginning to seem like the option for best success is the one that stick on the tough road the longest and pushes through the sludge of resistance. I wish it were easier. I mean wouldn’t it be nice to just coast and work for like 6 months on something and then achieve greatness? Thats just not how it is. Studies and people who have truly achieved their greatness have proved time and time again that the way of the tortoise will always beat the way of the hare. Whether it is Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule or Cal Newport’s theory of “Deep Work”, greatness isn’t achieved from bouncing around on the surface. Greatness, our own greatness, that one that we lone for is achieved with intentional and deep focus. It is achieved with a boat load of resilience and fortitude to break down brick walls and move past road blocks.
