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How many times have you come up with the perfect plan to do something and then end up doing nothing at all because you feel paralyzed?
I have done this many times. *Sam Smith in the background* And I am sure that I am not the onlyyy oneeee! Okay, bad joke. Nevermind, moving on.
Let’s take an example. You want to lose 5 kgs, so you decide to create a plan to follow:
- You hit up Uncle Google (that’s what we call Google in Bulgaria hahaha). Search: “Weight loss plans” and you get millions of hits with all types of workouts (Full body workouts/Aerobic/HIT/ Cross-training) and countless types of nutrition plans (Keto, Paleo, Vegan). It confuses the F out of you! So you spend time trying to figure out which plan is the best and which diet to choose. Research. Research. Research. You ask friends and family for their opinion. You do research on which diet to go with. Just thinking about this process makes me dizzy!
2. After countless hours of trying to figure out which workout to choose, you finally decide to go with a full body workout (because that’s what 50 Cent recommends in his book Formula 50. I tried it. Didn’t like it tbh) and you pick a vegan diet (NO CHICKEN!? How will I ever survive without chicken!?)
3. And now you try to get yourself motivated. So what do you do now? I’ll tell you what to do, Comrade! Go back to Uncle Google and Google images of models and athletes with 6 packs. And with the click of a button you have access to billions of photos of steroid-infused, plastic surgeried (gotta add that one to the dictionary 😀 ), photoshopped and airbrushed ‘beautiful people’, who you aspire to be and have the same body as. For bonus points, make one of these people your desktop wallpaper!
4. Now it’s time to find a gym. And again we go back to Google. You check the location, membership costs, instructors, equipment you need. This one is cheaper than that one, but that one has better equipment and this one is closer to my house and that one is closer to McDonalds and Burger King. That’s the one I want! Done!
5. You pick the gym. Now it’s time to get gym clothes. “Which mall should I go to?” – you ask yourself. “Which shop, should I go to?”. “Gym shorts or pants?” “Nike or Adidas?” (Answer. Adidas. Because a true Slav only wears Adidas. Adidas Slav ryeprezyent.)
6. Now it’s time to go to the gym! YESSS. You made it! Give yourself a pat on the back! And now you are thinking: “But I feel so demotivated and overwhlemed! I also lost the energy and enthusiasm that I had before making this plan. I’ll just wait for myself to feel motivated again. I’m sure I’ll feel ready tomorrow. Yeah that’s right, I’ll do it tomorrow.”
7. Tomorrow swings by.. yet you don’t swing by the gym! You are too busy waiting for the perfect moment, where the conditions are perfect and your perfect self feels ready and motivated enough.
8. Many tomorrow swing by. And guess what? Your goal of losing 5kgs also swings by and you gain 5 more kgs! You don’t feel ready so you delude yourself into believing that maybe your plan is not complete so you spend even more time perfecting the workout plan and your nutrition plan. You further waste time from taking action by seeking advice/guidance/validation from people. You forget why you wanted to lose the 5gs in the first place. And what ends up happening is….
You never go to the gym.
You planned so much and did nothing. The perfect plan became the worst plan ever because it was not followed by action. However, the plan is not the problem. The problem is that by the time your plan is complete you continue to spend time on it. All of your energy goes into making a plan, as opposed to taking action and this exhausts you.
Notice how everything is about thinking, analyzing, planning and it rarely goes beyond that. It rarely goes beyond you thinking about what you need to do as opposed to actually doing it. Basically you end up bullshiting yourself that you are taking action. You confuse your thinking for action. And thinking gets you nowhere unless it is followed by action. So think less. Do more. Just DO IT.
Time and energy wasted with no results.
It’s like when you call up a bank and go through the ridiculous process of automated phone menus and get directed to Ms. Robot for the sake of stupid corporate efficiency.
“For English Press 1. For Arabic Press 2.”
*presses 1*
“For phone banking, press 1.”
“For loans, press 2.”
“For mortgage, press 3.”
“For credit cards, press 4.”
“For bank working hours, press 5.”
“For BULLSHIT, press 6.
*presses 6*
*OMG!? Can I talk to an actual person, please!?* – you think to yourself.
“If you are a customer at this bank, press 1. If you are not a customer, then do not call this number ever again, you traitor! *Huh? Wtf!? Presses 1*
“To connect to a representative, press 1.” *Presses 1*
“To talk to a representative about the weather, press 1.”
“To talk to them about your non-existent finances or love life, press 2.”
“To talk to them about celebrity gossip and BS, press 3.”
“To finally talk about your credit card, press 4”. *presses 4*
*Call gets disconnected.*
*throws phone in anger and gets nothing done!*
Today’s episode is about why analysis leads to paralysis and why plans are only that. Be sure to check out Samotivation on Facebook and Instagram!