Give Up

If you are going to give up, here is a list to get you started.

• Comfort: Real change requires that you move from comfort to discomfort. You have to purposely give up what you are comfortable with and do something that doesn’t necessarily feel good (at first, anyway). Real growth and real change always require that you take actions outside your comfort zone. Give up comfort.
• Security: What you know feels safe. What you don’t know feels uncertain and scary. Most of the time, what you feel is a false sense of security. You live on a small rock spinning at 80,000 MPH and circling a ball of fire. You have very little control. Change comes when you leave security for the unknown. Give up security.
• Beliefs: A lot of what you believe serves you well. A good bit of what you believe is the source of all of your problems. Your problem isn’t your problem; what you believe about it is your problem. Wherever you recognize a gap between where you are and where you want to be, some belief and the accompanying actions that result from that belief is what keeps you from having what you want. Give up beliefs that no longer serve you.
• Waiting: Waiting isn’t a strategy for being who you want to be, having what you want to have, and contributing what you want to contribute. Good things do not come to those who wait. Good things come to those who take consistent action and persist. Give up waiting.
• Avoiding Conflict: Mostly we avoid conflict. But some conflict is necessary if you are going to produce breakthrough results. Avoiding the difficult decision doesn’t mean that the problem or challenge you are facing will go away. Avoiding a difficult conversation doesn’t resolve the problem; it mostly makes them worse. Problems don’t age well. Give up avoiding conflict.