Not so long ago I decided I’d make a few changes. I did what all the gurus tell you to do. I had a “why” that was bigger than my “how”. I had a plan. I even started. And then, a few short days into my new life, I found myself doing the same old thing I had done before. Have you been there?
Of course you have, we all have. But what causes it? I’ve found there are several culprits and they all start with the letter “C”.
So today, we’ll take a look at the first “C” – Contentment.
Chances are if you don’t make changes you think you wish to make, you’re really contented with where you are. After all, if you weren’t contented, you’d make a change, wouldn’t you?
Perhaps not. There’s a different “C” for that situation, and that’s for another post. But, very often, we fail to change because we are unknowingly content with our situation. I discovered this quite by accident.
I found that I was content with my current situation when I started to rationalize my failure to change. “Hey, you’re already pretty good here” I’d say and follow with, “You know if you stay right here you’re going to be good enough, don’t you?”
But here’s the fallacy. In life, it is impossible to stay anywhere for any length of time. You might stay the same, but the world won’t. The likelihood that you will be the same three years from now is an impossible idea. The thought that you won’t change is ludicrous. By simply interacting with the world you’ll change.
And if you try to change just as the world changes, you’ll most certainly be left behind. The world changes so fast, you must either be proactive in changing to stay ahead or be changed by the world at its whim.
So, I’ve determined that I cannot be contented any longer because at the moment I’m contented, the world around me changes and thereby I do too. My contentment can only be momentary.
If you’re contented with your current situation you might just want to take a closer look. Oh look, things just changed. Best you plan to change too or you’ll be changed in a way you might not care for.