TAKING ACTION IS EASY; ACCEPTANCE IS WHERE WE GET STUCK
Think about any change you would like to make on a three-stage continuum; awareness, acceptance, and action. You become aware of the need to change something, you accept, internalize, and commit to make the change, then you take actions to make the desired change.
Most people assume that action is the really difficult part; they believe that the long journey is from acceptance to action. That’s a false assumption. Smart people always figure out the actions they need to take. The really difficult part is acceptance of the need to change; the really long journey is from awareness to acceptance.
Just think about it; why do we typically date someone for years before we decide to get married? We are trying to move from awareness to acceptance. We are thinking to ourselves; “can I really be with this person for the rest of my natural life?”
Once we get to acceptance, a whole flurry of actions follows immediately. Will you marry me? When should we do it? What’s the location? Who should we invite? And so on. It takes two years to make one decision, then two weeks to make 100 more.
If you can compress the time between awareness and acceptance, you can unlock enormous reservoirs of time and energy. In my experience, he or she who accepts the fastest wins.
INSPIRATION FROM OTHERS
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” – General Erick Shinseki
QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON
- What is one area of your life where you know you need to make a change?
- What would it take for you to accept this change?
- How could you demonstrate your acceptance of this change to yourself and others?
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