We Want to Feel Better Than We Do Right Now
Everyone wants to feel better than they do right now.
We want to move from point A to point Z, point A signifying where we reside right now and Point Z signifying a certain success in our mind, whether it be losing 20 pounds or conquering our fear of public speaking.
Point Z represents the place we perceive our happiness to exist.
We want to travel this path as quickly as possible and we want to reap the rewards of happiness as soon as possible.
It is for this reason that most Americans are unhappy.
In a time of advanced technology, luxurious wealth and fruitful abundance, It is estimated that eighty percent of the world poplulation is discontent with their circumstances of life.
We have been seduced into a dabbler lifestyle causing us to stay the course only for as long as it feels good.
Because of the plethora of options available to us from food choices and activities to relationships and careers...
we're tantalized by novelty and lured to try things which we perceive will make us feel better than the place where we currently reside.
In the beginning the newness gives us a rush.
When something is new to us the learning curve is steep and we progress quickly.
Think about the last time you began a new activity, such as learning to play golf.
You progressed quickly and found yourself surprised at how well and easily you picked it up.
Then, we reached a plateau as the newness and excitement disappeared.
You were working just as hard, but making no more progress.
Excitement is a result of growth and expansion, not of being stagnant.
After we plunge underneath the surface of these new experiences we find that we lose the euphoric excitement we once had.
Most people quit and more onto something else which they perceive as more exciting at this plateau because the grass is always greener on the other side.
You tell yourself as well as anyone who asks that you never really enjoyed the game in the first place, it costs too much money or that your long-time injured knee couldn't take the strain; you create a believable story as to why you quit.
You then move onto something else to quench your thirst for excitement...
this is the pattern...
unhappy people live out this same pattern in both socially acceptable as well as unacceptable ways.
Some quit golf and move onto tennis, other leave their marriage and move onto another relationship and still others give up on their exercise program and move onto the latest dieting fad.
We all do it in an effort to feel better than we do right now in our lives.
The problem is that dabblers never reach a level of mastery so they never arrive at the level of true fulfillment.
Fulfillment is the feeling generated from realizing competence.
Dabblers stress out, they feel the discontent of looming failure and revert back to a consistent pattern of quitting and starting new instead of hanging in there and working through the discomfort.
Their perception is that is was going to be a faster and easier journey to travel from Point A to Point Z.
They wanted results and they want them now...
just like some many things in our culture: fast food and the information on the internet.
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
" Masters on the other hand, expect the journey from Point A to Point Z to be difficult and time-consuming, anything worth mastering always is.
Masters consider reaching their destination a must.
They expect to encounter plateaus where they feel they aren't progressing and expect to work even harder to experience growth and expansion then they've had to in the past.
Instead of stressing out and giving up, they use strategies which they've found helpful in the past.
One such strategy is to seek out a role model who has traveled the same journey.
Children are prime examples and can serve as role models.
Kids are masters of video games because they are determined to beat the game and don't give up when they encounter plateaus.
They strive to move forward and reach that next level.
Kids even get advice from friends who've beaten the game before in the form of cheat codes.
They recognize the patterns and keep going no matter what.
You have successfully used this strategy in the past whether you realize it or not.
Your successes include learning to talk and walk.
In both circumstances you didn't give up, you experienced plateaus but moved forward.
You had a final result in mind and held in there until you realized your potential.
You became a master of talking and walking and didn't quit when you sensed failure or when you fell and hit your head.
The end result you considered a must.
Your life would be different today if you hadn't given up when the going got tough and you perceived the end result, Point Z, as a must.
Unhappiness with our life circumstances is the result of the decisions we have made.
These decisions are made everyday in the form of what we choose and what we don't choose to do.
We can choose to be a dabbler or we can choose to be a master...
we can choose to continue the journey when we reach those plateaus or we can choose to move onto something else.
We can choose to take control of out life circumstances.
We want to move from point A to point Z, point A signifying where we reside right now and Point Z signifying a certain success in our mind, whether it be losing 20 pounds or conquering our fear of public speaking.
Point Z represents the place we perceive our happiness to exist.
We want to travel this path as quickly as possible and we want to reap the rewards of happiness as soon as possible.
It is for this reason that most Americans are unhappy.
In a time of advanced technology, luxurious wealth and fruitful abundance, It is estimated that eighty percent of the world poplulation is discontent with their circumstances of life.
We have been seduced into a dabbler lifestyle causing us to stay the course only for as long as it feels good.
Because of the plethora of options available to us from food choices and activities to relationships and careers...
we're tantalized by novelty and lured to try things which we perceive will make us feel better than the place where we currently reside.
In the beginning the newness gives us a rush.
When something is new to us the learning curve is steep and we progress quickly.
Think about the last time you began a new activity, such as learning to play golf.
You progressed quickly and found yourself surprised at how well and easily you picked it up.
Then, we reached a plateau as the newness and excitement disappeared.
You were working just as hard, but making no more progress.
Excitement is a result of growth and expansion, not of being stagnant.
After we plunge underneath the surface of these new experiences we find that we lose the euphoric excitement we once had.
Most people quit and more onto something else which they perceive as more exciting at this plateau because the grass is always greener on the other side.
You tell yourself as well as anyone who asks that you never really enjoyed the game in the first place, it costs too much money or that your long-time injured knee couldn't take the strain; you create a believable story as to why you quit.
You then move onto something else to quench your thirst for excitement...
this is the pattern...
unhappy people live out this same pattern in both socially acceptable as well as unacceptable ways.
Some quit golf and move onto tennis, other leave their marriage and move onto another relationship and still others give up on their exercise program and move onto the latest dieting fad.
We all do it in an effort to feel better than we do right now in our lives.
The problem is that dabblers never reach a level of mastery so they never arrive at the level of true fulfillment.
Fulfillment is the feeling generated from realizing competence.
Dabblers stress out, they feel the discontent of looming failure and revert back to a consistent pattern of quitting and starting new instead of hanging in there and working through the discomfort.
Their perception is that is was going to be a faster and easier journey to travel from Point A to Point Z.
They wanted results and they want them now...
just like some many things in our culture: fast food and the information on the internet.
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
" Masters on the other hand, expect the journey from Point A to Point Z to be difficult and time-consuming, anything worth mastering always is.
Masters consider reaching their destination a must.
They expect to encounter plateaus where they feel they aren't progressing and expect to work even harder to experience growth and expansion then they've had to in the past.
Instead of stressing out and giving up, they use strategies which they've found helpful in the past.
One such strategy is to seek out a role model who has traveled the same journey.
Children are prime examples and can serve as role models.
Kids are masters of video games because they are determined to beat the game and don't give up when they encounter plateaus.
They strive to move forward and reach that next level.
Kids even get advice from friends who've beaten the game before in the form of cheat codes.
They recognize the patterns and keep going no matter what.
You have successfully used this strategy in the past whether you realize it or not.
Your successes include learning to talk and walk.
In both circumstances you didn't give up, you experienced plateaus but moved forward.
You had a final result in mind and held in there until you realized your potential.
You became a master of talking and walking and didn't quit when you sensed failure or when you fell and hit your head.
The end result you considered a must.
Your life would be different today if you hadn't given up when the going got tough and you perceived the end result, Point Z, as a must.
Unhappiness with our life circumstances is the result of the decisions we have made.
These decisions are made everyday in the form of what we choose and what we don't choose to do.
We can choose to be a dabbler or we can choose to be a master...
we can choose to continue the journey when we reach those plateaus or we can choose to move onto something else.
We can choose to take control of out life circumstances.
Source...