You are more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action.
— Dr. Jerome Bruner
How often have you found yourself saying the words “I don’t feel like it”? Often they are used as an excuse for not doing something we know we should do. We know we should go to the gym, but the couch is so comfortable. We know we should order a salad, but burgers taste so good. We know our neighbor needs some help with something, but we have so much of our own stuff to handle right now.
The truth is that our feelings are fickle. They change too easily and are subject to the winds of circumstance. If we rely on our feelings to provide motivation we will often find ourselves sitting in a car with an empty gas tank.
The good news is that our feelings are fickle. We can control them and manipulate them just as easily as they can control us and manipulate us. We just have to take charge of our decisions instead of putting our feelings in the driver seat.
We have all experienced this at one time or another. You don’t feel like going to the gym, but once you are there you are motivated and energized. You don’t feel like eating the healthy meal, but then really enjoy the salad you ordered. You don’t feel like helping your neighbor but you feel the joy of service when you jump in and start to help. In these and so many other situations, we can see that our feelings will usually follow our actions if we just take the first step.
When we choose action, our feelings will follow. This will always lead us to better results in life than simply waiting for our feelings to give us the motivation we need to act. All we have to do is take the first step. And then take another and another until our feelings follow.
What goals or tasks have you been procrastinating because you don’t feel like working on them? What is one thing you could do now to start taking action? Go do it!