Hard Habits – Problem Solving with SODAS
Hard Habits
by Pennie Rumsey
I have been exercising on and off my whole life. In high school I knew exercising was important but my habits were so sporadic. I would set a goal and work at it for three months then stop exercising after I had reached my goal. This pattern continued most of my adult life until my last child, Spencer, was born 3 years ago. There were a lot of different reasons, but I finally decided to make a life-long commitment to begin exercising and keep going for the rest of my life. I remember how hard it was to make myself do it for the first while. It seemed like I was emotionally bench pressing my house! At first I had to just make myself do it, then eventually I came to love it. Now I hardly have to think about it. I just decide and then I do it.
Recently, I have had new mountains to climb. Again, I have that feeling like I am emotionally bench pressing my house. Every step I take requires me to let go of more emotional weight.
I have realized this week that in order for a person to climb their mountains they must have 3 things:
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A burning desire of what they want to harvest (their why)
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Knowledge of what to do, but not the need to do it perfectly
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Grit to DO it in the moment
Desire
If you know your why and have a vision of what you are going toward, it will keep you going no matter what. Especially if that why is connected to your reasons of who you are and what you are born to do. Desire will grow as we nurture it with prayer and action. You can begin even if you just 'want to want to'. What is that thing you desire the most?
Knowledge
Your vision and desire will propel you to be able to learn what ever you need to learn. It is an education of the heart. Your heart learns truth, and puts together a puzzle until it figures out what to do with all those pieces. Eventually it comes to a point where you must let it all go and trust your heart to do, say, or lead you to the right place and time. What do you need to learn next to be able to live your mission? What are you learning now?
Grit
You have probably heard the saying that “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”. Grit is the moment when planning and preparing come to an end. Grit is when thought becomes action. Grit is the time when the rubber meets the road. Essentially it is the front lines of the battle zone of procrastination. Once you commit to require yourself to get it done in any one given area of your life, it will become easier in another area. What deliberate action are you taking to strengthen your self-government muscles?
This week's audio Gem is a segment from Step 5 of the Implementation Course. In this segment Nicholeen discusses the natural instinct of natural law, and how the law of cause and effect impacts our emotional reactions, and even leads us to addictions. The solutions is that we learn to analyze and learn how to do SODAS.
We all have challenges in front of us. Regardless of how it may appear from the outside of another person's life, we all have emotional weight inside of us to different degrees. Life would not be a test, or allow us to grow if it did not require our constant effort. The important thing is that we learn to analyze and grow in self-government until we overcome our challenges.
Swim upstream and choose to do hard things, then you will choose greatness.
To the victory of your family,
Pennie Rumsey
Student Inspirer
