And Now, The End Is Near

"And now, the end is near, And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case, of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and ev'ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way." Thanks Frank.

It is such a shame we don't have audio. Man, I can croon, enough to make Buble weep. So this is the last post in relation to the six and half minute video. Who'd have thought, way back when, that it would result in four blogs and a total of 3904 words. Not me, that's for sure.

So when you're sat in front of that blank screen, with that blank look, rummage back in time and remember that this all came to fruition from watching a short 'motivational' video. Inspiration is all around us, we just have to open to it and not force the issue. Banging our heads against the wall saying "I can't think of anything to write" will just become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's just how it works. You're happy enough to agree with sayings like:

“What you think, you create. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you become.” Anonymous

So, then one has to accept that the opposite is true. If you believe the initial premise, then the rest is just logic and logic is not my strong point, so it must be really obvious. Like I said in the first post, if I was going to 'invest' my time in watching this video, then I was going to get something from it, I was not wrong, it has just kept on giving.

Let's see if we can't wrap things up then. What's been the 'takeaway' ? Well we know that life brings with it challenges coupled with decisions. Be they minor or major, they need to be addressed. Quite often we know what we have to do but manage, adeptly, to avoid taking the necessary action.

We get caught up in what's known as the 'knowledge-action trap' Out of nowhere a whole string of reasons not to do something, bombard our minds and we become transfixed or paralysed, if you prefer.

One of the ways to bypass this is by disrupting our thought process. The '5 second rule' does this. It moves the process from one part of our brains to another and thus allows us to add in a 'starting action'

"I am going to do this because I know it will increase my productivity"

"I am going to get out of bed now so that I can start my daily routine with purpose"

I'm sure you can think of numerous positive reasons. Health, fitness, income etc.

Here's a couple of add-ons that I found fascinating. When you start to worry about something, your brain helps you out by adding to it. We are all to familiar with how that works, I'm sure. Certainly when it comes to starting out on a new venture. The 'what if's' can become a long, endless stream. You can, once again, thank your brain for that. Don't be too harsh on it though, it's just trying to keep you safe, looking after your best interests.

If you can get in at the beginning and start applying the rule above, then before you know it, you've calmed yourself down. Interestingly, the physiological manifestations are very similar to that of being excited. Once, you've controlled the process the body puts everything back to normal.

I have used this method myself over the last twenty-four hours. Procrastination has been sat on my shoulder reminding of why I should not to do something. It's not a life-changing decision but it does require me to take a leap of faith and stretch myself financially. Another car purchase. Plenty of good reasons to buy and absolute bucket load of reasons not to. My Basal Ganglia has been in overdrive.

My first instinct was to just carry on as normal and hope that someone else buys it, problem solved. I stuck my head in the sand. In essence, I had already made a decision by Doing nothing as opposed to doing something.

Then, I decided to practice what I preach. I had a bunch of questions that were making a good

case for me to continue doing nothing. You name it, I went down that train of thought. It's quite a chunk of money, I'm not going to see it until I've bought it, how am I going to get it home, what if it's worse than photographs, what if I pay and then the vendor disappears and so on and so on. I made a pretty case for keeping my head well and truly buried.

I put together a list of questions and sent the email. The answers allayed most of my fears. We negotiated and did the deal. Of course there is some risk but doesn't that fit with treading outside of our comfort zone ? Whatever challenges lay ahead are in the future and there's no point in me worrying about the unknown. Over, round or through them, they will be overcome.

Sound confident ? Well that brings us back to the statement in the last post:

Confidence is a thought turned to action combined with a willingness to try.

May I leave you with this last quote that I happened upon this morning. It's only words and although they have to power to influence, the change you seek has to come from within.Actually, that's not half bad but it's not the quote, that's below.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

The weekend is almost upon us, I hope yours is spectacular. Oh, this is Ziva, by the way.