Recently one of my readers shared one of my posts on Facebook. Someone commented that my advice about how to stop wasting time was obvious but so true.
This comment got me thinking.
I’m the first to admit sometimes my advice is obvious.
The amazing thing is the obvious is sometimes what we most need to hear.
Despite what we know to be true, sometimes we do exactly the opposite of what is obviously going to make our lives better or easier?
Take these examples.
Want to have more time to work on your passions and dreams – stop watching so much television. Easy enough? Yet hard to do for many people.
Want to stop procrastinating – start on that report now and work on it until you are finished. Easy right? Apparently not or there wouldn’t be volumes of books and web pages on how to overcome procrastination.
Don’t want your love life to be complicated – don’t have an affair with someone married? Piece of cake, yet how many people have affairs?
Many of us (including myself) fail to see the most obvious solution or simply choose not to act on the most obvious course of action.
So why exactly do we do this?
Here are my thoughts on the 11 top reasons you might not be making the obvious choice.
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We’re bored
We’re at work and supposed to be working on a spreadsheet for the boss. An incredibly boring but important spreadsheet.
Instead, we decide to pop into Facebook for a while and then read through the latest online news. Before we know it, we are working back late to get the report done.
Related post – How to Overcome Boredom
We crave excitement
We know we shouldn’t do something but it seems exciting, so we do it anyway. Then we wonder why our lives get so complicated.
I am certainly saying you shouldn’t do anything exciting, quite the opposite; life should be filled with excitement, just not the type that gets us into serious trouble and screws up our lives.
Related content –
- How to Stop Creating Drama in your Life?
- Do We Life More Complicated?
- 10 Behaviors That Stop You Growing as a Person
- Know Your Worth – 10 Things To Stop Doing to Yourself
We’re being lazy
We can come up with all types of excuses for not doing something.
We tell ourselves we are too busy, we don’t have time – blah blah blah. A lot of the time they may be valid excuses.
Other times we just have to fess up to feeling lazy. Let’s not sugarcoat it.
It’s too hard
This one is very common.
It’s too hard.
We can’t be bothered putting in the effort and hard work to get it done. This one usually comes with a truckload of excuses, that don’t seem to include the words ‘It’s too hard’.
People don’t want to admit it’s too hard because they think people will judge them for it.
We think of the big picture
I had a case of this the other day. I had been thinking about something on my blog. I’d been trying to work out a way to make a connection with someone.
I had all of these complicated scenarios in my head when it dawned on me there was a very simple way of getting the task done.
While I was thinking big picture, I completely missed the most obvious simple step.
We think with our heart and body not our head
Sometimes reason, logic, and the most obvious thing to do just fly out the window.
We meet someone we fancy, sparks fly and all hell breaks loose.
We lack focus
We start something and our minds drift off to something else.
We flick from one task to another (which is not a problem by itself) but never finish each or any task (therein lies the problem).
We don’t care
Come on be honest. How often have you not done something or acted a certain way because you just don’t care?
This doesn’t have to be a bad thing but it is something we all have to own up to at some point.
We don’t want to
This one doesn’t need any explanation though it can sometimes be closely related to we don’t care.
If we really don’t want to do something, we just don’t.
We lack confidence
Everyone lacks confidence from time to time. This point is quite normal and one we can definitely work on.
We are afraid
As we all know fear can overshadow everything. We can often use all of the above points as excuses for not moving forward because we are scared. Fear is normal, moving through the fear is the key.
Please don’t think that I am being judgmental with the above list. I’m not. I’m guilty of all of the above at some point myself.
This is more about identifying the obstacles that stop us from making that obvious choice that we know to be right.
The above points are not necessarily good or bad. Naturally, it depends on the circumstances.
At times we have to own up to what is holding us back or causing tension in our lives. We have to own it and work through it, being honest with ourselves along the way.
Next time you get stuck or need to take action, seek out the obvious choice that is right for you.
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Read Next – 12 Ways to Show Up For Yourself
This is so well covered in Stephen Covey’s The 7 habits of highly effective people. He explains that the common denominator between all the successful people he has met and interviewed is that they do the important things they have to do first. They don’t procrastinate or postpone it, they do it. We should all try it!
Hi Carine
Great to see you here again. Thanks so much for your comment and for sharing what you read in The 7 Habits. I was inspired by your comment. I went through my bookcase and found my Stephen Covey book. I have the First Things First book which was the sequel to 7 Habits. I read it in bed for hours. I also Googled The 7 Habits because I don’t have that book and I wanted to learn more about them. It’s interesting stuff. Again thanks for inspiring me.
You are definitely right, we should all try getting in and doing the important things first.
So great to see you here again. I look forward to next time. 🙂
Cheers
Thea