A Means To An End
Once you’ve identified what’s holding you back, then it’s time to practice discipline and motivation. Discipline and motivation are so vital to overcoming procrastination. If you think of anyone you consider to be really successful, and if you ask them how they manage to continuously work on their goals and how they never stop until they reach that finish line, I bet they’ll say it takes a lot of discipline to stay focused and to keep going, even when the going is tough or unpleasant.
Practice focusing on reward, not on the work. Remember that the work is just a means to an end, and it’s what you have to do to get what you want. So, you may not feel like making ten cold calls today, but the results of those ten cold calls are going to produce sales and results for you. It’s a means to an end. You have to go through the pain in order to get the reward.
The example; I was speaking to a friend of mine who was expecting a while back, and she’s a first-time mom and she was asking me about the pain of labor. I’ve been through two deliveries, so she wanted to know the real truth, “Don’t tell me how easy it’s going to be.” She was nervous. She really wanted to hear all the details. And, she had heard horror stories, like we all have.
So, I was really honest with her, and I said, “Look, you need to look at it this way. I’m not going to candy-coat this. The labor is just a means to an end. It may be painful, and you know what…that really doesn’t matter, because if you don’t go through the labor, you’re never going to meet your precious baby boy or baby girl.”
It really doesn’t matter what it is that needs to get done. It may be painful. It may be hard. It may be taxing. It may be draining you. But you know what…if you don’t go through it, you’ll never get to the end. It’s a means to an end. So, I really encourage you to use that same advice with your own goals. Focus on the end result. Figure out what you have to do to get there, and then make those tasks a priority each and every day. Do the work and reap the rewards. The hard work is just a means to an end. But it is what’s going to bring you ultimate victory.