yes fuel

7/12/2016

Dear Why Team member,

I hope this message finds you well and excited about another week that YOU can make great.

But do you need a fix? Why? Is something broken? Why do we often feel we need a fix and why do we so often choose the quick fix? What is your quick fix? Does it work? How long is it before you...

...need another one?

We humans at times can just feel out of sorts, even saying, "I need a quick fix". While our minds, of course, are incredibly helpful, when not attended to they can run us off the road. If we are not paying attention, investing out attention in proactive ways, we can end up living a more reactive, quick fix dependent life.

Proactive living is empowering, reactive living is weakening and more dependent on the quick fix. If you consider your preferred fix, it is likely an action you take to distract your mind from it's constant preoccupations with what can go wrong in your life, your anxieties and fears. The mind retains very useful information by maintaining what is referred to as a "continuity of consciousness", meaning that it retains over night, during our period of unconsciousness, what was learned in the day and days before. Of course we know that our minds retain very helpful and useful knowledge, but the mechanism that allows for this, means that our minds also retain our fears and limiting thoughts. The mind's preoccupation with the past as shoulda, coulda, woulda and the future as "what if this happens?" and "what if that happens?", can be so debilitating, it can even keep some people from leaving their home.

It is no wonder why we can feel broken at times, thus desiring our favorite quick fix - fixes that can often become addictions.
Do you need more of an overhaul than a quick fix? Why just the band aide? Maybe an overhaul and/or a little more preventative maintenance. Hmm - cause to pause?

Consider that the best path for our preservation may be less about speculation or prognostication and much more about preparation. How do you hit your daily marks to be your best version of you? Why daily marks? Have you ever considered what it means to hit your mark? Actors, prior to a performance on stage, mark spots on the floor of the stage they must hit at specific times for them to achieve the results they desire. What are your marks and where have you placed them? Successful people are simply people who are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Those who are a success in life, decide in advance the marks they want to hit, and through daily disciplines, they hit them. Unsuccessful people prefer the quick fix, the last minute bailout, preferring this path of least resistance over the daily, weekly and monthly disciplines that lead to success. Successful people prepare in advance to be the very best they can be, more often resisting what they want now for what they want most.

What do you say "yes" to on a daily basis that most people, including yourself at times, say "no" to? And if you do find that you are saying no to the behaviors important to you, more often than yes, ask yourself why. It is likely because you allowed your mind to become distracted, more reactive. Choose the power of attention and intention NOW! Consider how easy it is to say no to the morning workout, but for those who say yes to it regularly, how much less do they depend on the quick fix?

I highly recommend you read the book titled, "The 12-Week Year" by Brian Moran, for a helpful life formula that will fuel a more intentional and empowering approach to life. There are 13 weeks in a quarter - a day is a week, a week is a month - a 12-week year with the 13th week for celebration. Why celebrate New Years just once a year when you can celebrate it four times a year? It is off-the-charts powerful and all about the proactive repair and preventative maintenance of an outstanding life, a life that stands out from the crowd, the crowd that is so much more reactively dependent upon the quick fix.

Rely less on your quick fix. Be more intentional with your life. Invest more attention into who you want to be and why.

Place and know your marks - then hit them - and no doubt you will make it a great week, month, year and life.

Steve Luckenbach

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