-James Anthony Froude
Many of us have spent time over the past few years reading motivational books, letting the greats pour into us, attending workshops and paying for professional development courses. Today I want to challenge you and ask you a tough question; Now What? You have made the amazing decision to better yourself professionally, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually by investing in yourself. But if you do not put what you have learned into practice, all that acquired knowledge goes down the drain and you are not reaping the full benefits of the seeds you have sown.
It’s easy to know stuff and still be stuck in the same mundane routine and then complain about why we are not seeing different results after all the time and money we have invested into getting better. At times we are not willing to put into practice what we have learned because it’s harder than we thought and takes discipline or maybe it feels more comfortable to stay the same. I know you want to see progress in your life and I also understand sometimes it takes getting detached to the familiar, our comfort zone. This might mean leaving some friends behind and making the decision to use your time to work hard at your goals, well what’s the fun in that? At that particular point there might be no visible fun but what I can promise is that once you decide to implement the changes, your new tribe who will understand and support you in the new season will meet you where you are.
How to survive the “good” change
- Trust the process ( you have to believe this is the way to a better you)
- Keep revisiting, re-reading and refreshing your mind with the books as you put into practice what you are learning
- Find people that are doing the same thing in your community and on social media (Instagram, Facebook, the quotes will encourage you on the hard days)
- Keep your “why”, your purpose in sight. This is the reason behind you wanting the change
- Think of the growth you will experience and how you will feel and love your life after you do the work
- Take time to reflect on your priorities and make the decision each day to take one step forward towards your goals.
- Have fun in the process, reward yourself for the hard work you are putting in
There is no use in us gaining all the knowledge in the world if we don’t use it to better our lives and the lives of those around us. I think a lot of us can get stuck in the cycle of buying lots of books, reading them and remaining stagnant. The amount of space on our bookshelf has been taken up but we have limited capacity, minimal productivity and minimal results. This doesn’t add up. If you have lots of resources you should theoretically have a lot of output and results if you were applying the principles in these books. Simply put, we are not properly utilizing our resources. Just having many finance books doesn’t make us good at budgeting. We have to put in the work and stay disciplined.
Someone who is diligent with the one book they have and working at applying one principle they learned in that book in their life will likely see more results than some of us who read multiple books without putting anything into practice. You have the resources and now it’s time to take action and put in the work. I am challenging you to put into practice all the skills and tools you have accumulated thus far, implement them into your life and see the difference it will make. Now that’s a worthy investment.
