Don’t Let Complacency Kill Your Dreams
Why do so many seem to quit just when life starts to get good? Have you suffered from complacency? Here’s why you need to keep your foot on the gas pedal.
You’ve put in the work. You’ve shown up every day. In your business, your relationships, in the gym. You’ve rounded a corner. Something inside of your life propelled you forward in ways you had only ever dreamed of before. Whether that be inside of your body in losing weight and gaining strength and stamina, or inside of a relationship that seems to be going great and firing on all cylinders, or perhaps inside of your business in finally making the money that you always hoped and wished and dreamed for. And then, likely over some time, you stopped showing up and doing the work. You suffered from complacency.
Quite often, once we see these successes inside of our life, we take our foot off the gas pedal. These new results that you had been desiring for a long time, and that have been firing you up and motivating you have now become your new normal. At first, you celebrated those wins, as you should. You should always celebrate when you win in your life. But remember, what got you there won’t get you to where you are going. In fact, it won’t keep you where you are at this new level either, if you aren’t careful. A lot of times, in that celebration, we fall back into our old patterns.
You create an amazing relationship in your life with a spouse or significant other. Then you get comfortable. What got you there becomes your new normal, and you grow complacent. You stop putting in any extra effort, and at times you even self-sabotage. That’s complacency, too.
Inside your business can be the same way. You create all of this new income or a new lifestyle for yourself, but you were so used to living a certain way and surviving on a certain amount of money, that you haven’t changed your old spending habits. You end up right back where you were even though you have all of this new money in your life.
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Why is it that oftentimes in life we get to a point in one of the Big 4 (physical, spiritual, relational and financial) areas of our life where things are working so well that we quit doing them? Has that happened to you? Is there an experience or example in one of the Big 4 for you where you can reflect? That’s why it’s so important to continually grow and learn and expand. It is so important to continue to show up every day and do the work.
Become ruthlessly committed.
The Navy SEALs say, “You will always shrink back to your lowest level of training.” That’s why the Navy SEALs continue to drill and practice and execute all of the fundamentals; yes, the mundane, but also what will keep them alive and will keep their brothers alive when they are in the heat of battle. Because when the bullets are flying by your head, you are going to sink back to your lowest level of training. So, you better continually grow and expand and practice and implement the fundamentals inside of your life, so that your lowest level training is way higher than anyone else’s. Continue to push that capacity, that threshold in your life. Continue to fight the urge to embrace complacency.
Complacency and comfort can take a stranglehold on your life and pull you back down into mediocrity. They can play tricks on you, and tell you that it’s okay to take your foot off the gas pedal. When you find yourself creating the outcomes and the results in your life and you’re doing things that are working, you’re doing what’s required to get those results, so don’t quit. Don’t stop. Recognize it. Celebrate it. Appreciate it. But then, keep moving forward.
It’s just like a flower. What you water will grow. What you don’t water will wilt and die. If you continue to water and take care of the flower and give it the nourishment and sunlight it needs, it will continue to thrive and grow. But if you quit watering it, quit feeding it and take it out of the sunlight, it will wilt and die.
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So, what’s working for you in your life? Recognize what it is, and continue doing it. Continue pushing to grow and expand and to increase your lowest level of training. You may never be in a situation like the Navy SEALs where, literally, your life is on the line, but inside your life, inside the Big 4 what you commit to matters. Keep doing what is working well for you. Don’t settle. Continue to improve. Continue to be an example for those around you. That’s truly what life is all about.
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Photo: Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash