Just Give In

That’s it!!! I’m doing it this time. Tomorrow morning, I’m getting up and going to the gym. I am. Seriously!

The next morning, the alarm clock buzzes at 5 am. Are you kidding me?! I’m snoozing…I’ll get up in a bit. Right.  The result: No gym.

Part of the problem is that we made the decision while we were wide awake! When we had to execute the decision, we were barely awake. And often it’s the body that supersedes the mind. No gym.

People give up what they want most in life – good health and vitality - for what they want right now – comfort.

My friend used to say to me, “Mike, you can make money, or you can make excuses, but you can’t have both.”   You can substitute anything you might want for “money”, like good health, good relationships, or a good marriage.

It occurred to me the other day that it really comes down to just giving in. We can continue with the constant regret of poor decisions or finally just give in to the self-discipline of execution. It’s the age-old Nike tagline, Just Do It!

Self-discipline sounds so regimented, controlling and downright miserable. It took a long time for me to see that self-discipline looks and feels a lot better on the back end than it does up front. But if we’ll just give in and do what we say we should do, based on where we want to be and who we want to be, we’ll eventually be on the other side of self-discipline.  Freedom.  And that, my friends, is anything but controlling or miserable.

Andy Stanley hosts a terrific podcast called Your Next Move. And the tagline of this podcast is the essence of this message, “Better decisions, fewer regrets.”

Let’s give in and make the decisions to fulfill the life and experiences we want. No regrets.