I emailed a friend a draft version of one of my posts recently, hoping to get her opinion on the piece. After speaking to her, I got the impression that she thought my words were a little harsh. She wasn’t thrilled by my tough love approach.
After rereading the draft, I decided to delete some wording (which is the purpose of a draft after all), but my friend’s comment got me thinking.
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Whilst I don’t want to come across as harsh or preachy, there are times when what we all need (including me!) is tough love.
There are times when we need to face some hard truths.
We need to understand that the way to move forward is through self-awareness and self-discipline.
We need to understand that sometimes the only way to get the job done is to get in and do the work.
Related post – 12 Ways to Stop Letting Yourself Off the Hook
No amount of excuses will alter that fact.
We need to be accountable and not let ourselves off the hook for not doing what we know needs to be done. We need to take responsibility for ourselves and for our actions (or lack thereof).
We need to see tasks through to completion because, let’s face it, starting can be the easy part. Finishing is a whole other story.
Need help with finishing this book from Jon Acuff can help – Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done
We need to stop lying to ourselves.
We lie to ourselves so often that we start to believe our own lies. We believe we have no time even though we just finished binge-watching a complete season on Netflix in one sitting.
Related post – How to Stop Lying to Yourself About Your Actions and Feelings
A good (albeit gentle) kick can do wonders to shake loose our endless reasons for putting things off, not following through, or not finishing.
Tough love
The tough love lowdown is this.
We can’t keep making excuses for ourselves and expect to achieve our goals and dreams. We can’t expect to achieve extraordinary results if we slack off all the time and give in to our excuses or give up the first time we hit a setback.
I’m not saying this stuff is easy, just that sometimes it’s necessary. Occasionally, a little tough love is exactly what we need to push ourselves forward. Make sure your tough love comes with a dose of self-compassion and kindness. The idea is to motivate yourself, not bully yourself.
Be brave, bring on the tough love, and get moving. What extraordinary things do you want to achieve? More importantly, what actions are you prepared to take right now to make them happen?
If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Share the tough love. We all need a reminder now and then.
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