5#4 5. Re-dedicated
If you've ever gotten something, and then lost it due to forgetting / not being able to maintain it..
I'm with you.
One of the most recent examples of this for me was beginning to work out again, after 6 months off.
Before the months off, I was able to do 4 muscle ups.
After the months off, I was not able to do muscle ups.
And that was my main annoyance.
THAT was the exercise which I LOVED to do, since I've worked to get it for nearly two years..
And it was gone.
And it took 4 weeks before I was able to do 1 muscle up again.
I told myself I won't stop working out for so long again - because this wasn't rest - this was degeneration.
My excuse for why I wasn't working out, after 3 months turned NOT into rest, but into degeneration.
From a "2 months off" it turned into "getting worse as the days go by and not doing anything about it, past 2 months"
What could I had done?
Could I had really worked out after 2 months off?
Weren't my habits gone?
Was I not at fault?
Aren't we only human?
.. The main problem wasn't the ACT of working out.
It was getting to the AREA where we workout.
.. During the months off - I could have kept GOING to the area, even if just for a minute - to just stand and look around there, in order not to lose the habit of working out.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I've used this before.
We used to take a walk to the place where worked out, and we just had a conversation there, and then left.
.. And what do you know, we began working out every single day, just because "we were there anyways" - without any conscious effort to begin a workout.
It would had been a fail-safe. It would had been a hidden crutch, which only took a minimum of 3 minutes to do, yet would had saved 4 MONTHS of effort.
3 minutes a day for two months to save 4 months of effort.
It only took me 3 minutes to get to the place for working out.
Honestly..
Re-dedication is painful if you start saying "What if I had never.."
So don't say that
Instead, use:
1. Fail-safe/fake habits and crutches
2. Maintenance and Thriving periods
.. to never have to re-dedicate yourself again.
We all have things that we are focusing on in our life
Our "Main focuses"
.. Honestly, 1-3 main focuses are as much as one can super effectively handle.
What you want to do after you pick your 1-3 main focuses, is you want to choose which one you're going to be THRIVING in and which other two you're going to be MAINTAINING (aka, keep the wheel / plate spinning with)
When we think of achievement, we most likely think that we have to THRIVE at every single area of our lives at once
.. But that's not as effective as you imagine
Push your skills in fitness, while business and relationships take a maintenance mode.
After a period of time (a month or two)
Push your skills in business, while fitness and relationships take a maintenance mode
After a period of time (a month or two)
Push your relationships/memories, while fitness and business take a maintenance mode
After a period of time (a month or two)
Push your skills in fitness, while business and relationships take a maintenance mode.
And your THRIVE/MAINTAIN cycle continues.
Obviously, you can have just 1 focus. Or just 2 focuses, but as from practical experience, I don't recommend pursuing to thrive in more than 3 major areas / focuses.
If you do obtain a 4th focus..
After you're done thriving with it, you won't maintain it.
Why?
Because what tends to happen if more than 3 major focuses are THRIVED/MAINTAINED.. is overwhelm
You may simple be overwhelmed
And that's the truth
I was
I was more than one time
.. Until I found the technique of "keeping the 1-3 plates spinning" - you don't spin every plate at once with your hand. You don't have 3 hands - so you spin the plates to keep spinning, one by one, going from one to another, as needed. That's the whole idea of how to never have to re-dedicate yourself again.
Oh, and not every area of your life has to be a MAJOR focus - some things could be so easy for you, you could keep them as "underlying", if you don't care about thriving in them:
For example,
You could have a travel period, a business period, and a relationship period, yet workout VERY well through every period - if you're able to do that.
If you find your fitness falling off (I did) because you're going so hard at the current other things..
Then I'm sorry, but fitness won't get to be an underlying area. It'll have to receive THRIVING attention every two months or so, so you could keep increasing your abilities in fitness.
I wish I could have like 10 "underlying" focuses - but I don't, I'm not able to
.. and I don't really care to have that much
Sure, I'm impressed with somebody who CAN effectively have 4-5 major areas they're thriving in at the same time..
But honestly, that comes with pretty big sacrifices - like no fitness & relationships & health.
I'd rather be less versed in 2 areas at the same, than die sad&quick.
After all, 3D printed organs are promising.
(and coming out in 10-20 years.)