I just read Dusan Djukick’s book Straight-Line Leadership. I love this part about how we decide (or don’t decide) to take action, for example on that book we say we want to get to. She writes:
Your inner stance is the position or mental posture you create to live your life from. It is how you choose to live your life, exist, or “be” in regard to yourself, others, challenges, or life in general. … Most people have multiple inner stances that they function from daily. Sometimes people are so familiar with the stances they function from that they just assume the stances are “who they are” rather than something they either choose directly or choose out of agreement with someone or something else. They don’t realize that they can re-choose or re-create their stance when the current stance doesn’t serve them…It boils down to this: Where you come from determines the actions that you take in life and the actions that you don’t take in life. Your stances will always be the keys to your castle or your jail cell.
If you find yourself worrying about the fact that you’re not writing, blaming others for the fact that you’re not writing or trying again and again to write, you might want to trade this dis-empowering stance for one that will service you better. Opting for what Dusan calls a “straight-line position” means that you commit to writing, realizing that your choices dictate how you spend your time. Then you sit your butt down and get it done. “Straight-line individuals know that the only time you an ever change from a dream to a project is now,” Dusan writes. “In the end, it’s about doing what’s required. It’s about observing how you actually operate and when that’s not workable, choosing a stance that does work for you.”
I can tell you, this no-BS approach works. I don’t have trouble convincing myself to write, but exercise is another story. I’ve battled that reluctance for years. Since deciding to change my stance almost three weeks ago, I’ve been on the treadmill or on my skis every single day. And you know what? The exercise process is getting easier each and every day. I just have to remember that as Dusan points out, no one is disciplined all the time. It’s just a matter of choosing to be disciplined when it counts and not allowing yourself to get sidetracked.
So here’s to an inner stance that supports that book of yours.
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