Mindset Monday- When it's worth it!

This is episode 117 of the Empowered Team podcast. So when I say what is so worth it, it's often surprising because there's a paradox that goes with this. And I'm going tell you where this topic came from. So, first of all, I'm reading a book called Flow. It's an amazing book, and it's about all this research that's been done on what's called your flow state. And the author is Mahalyi Csikzentmihalyi. Very tough name. You can read that if you can see it. And this book, Flow, goes into all the research that was done on this flow state topic. But the topic today came up because my dog, Punkin, this little Chihuahua terrier mix, I adopted her from Mexico. I brought her home a few years ago, three years ago. She's about four years old now. And she drags her feet. She drags everything. She puts all fours into the ground and doesn't want to go out when the ground is wet or cold. Now, she's a really active, fun dog. If Paul calls her, if I call her, anybody in the house, she comes running. She's really attentive. She's really energetic. She's very active. She. And yet when it's really cold outside, we put the jacket on or we do all the things she'll ignore when Paul calls her, she'll ignore when I call her. And then we put all her stuff on. We'll get out on the front step and she'll put the full brakes on. She won't even move forward, so she clearly doesn't want to go. And then we start walking. And as we start going, she kind of drags. Like she's putting more energy dragging on the leash than she would if she were actually walking with us. So she drags and she drags, and then eventually she gets going a little bit. But by the time we go around a couple blocks and by the time we come home and by the time we get back in and take her leash off and all her stuff, she is jacked. She's sprinting around. She's so excited. And I'm speculating that she's excited that she got fresh air, she got some movement, she wants to play now. She's really pumped. And I thought about that for us as humans. And as humans, we tend to really drag our butts when it comes to doing something like a workout, like whatever. Whatever the task is. And then once we get into it, we kind of get into it. And by the time we're done we feel like it was really worth doing it. We feel incredible when we finished a workout. We feel amazing when we've done often a lot of things that are challenging to us that we didn't want to do. And there's a couple things that tend to be behind this. And I think of it as a number of thoughts. But the two main thoughts that come up so frequently tend to be that I don't feel like it and I don't want to. And I've got a family full of kids, so we've heard that I don't feel like it, or I don't want to, or we've thought it so many times. But it's not just in the cases of kids or teenagers or anything like that. You notice it when you for instance, I don't feel like making the bed. I notice this thought, yet I do it anyway. Or the email that I don't want to do or not working out. Everyone thinks that Paul and I want to work out every day, and I do want the results of the finished workout, but I don't want to work out, I don't feel like working out. I don't want to get up earlier to do that. So the thoughts I don't feel like it, and I don't want to come up so much that I've started to really pay attention and started to notice it. So here's where the paradox comes in. That book that I mentioned, flow, the research that's done in there on flow states and what they did to research people is they sent for thousands of people for weeks on end. They walked around with pagers, and with these pagers, they had to report whenever they were paged, what they were doing, how they felt, all kinds of things. And this went on for a very long time. So they had tons and tons of data. But ultimately the data that I want to point to for your purposes is this paradox, this thing that comes up, and it is this, that of the thousands people researched, they noted when they're feeling what they're feeling at different times of day, but when they're on the job, people feel skillful, challenged, more happy, strong, creative and satisfied. Yet in their leisure time, they feel a little more. They've used less skills, first of all, but they feel a lot more sad, weak or dissatisfied. Yet here's the paradox. People want to work less and spend more time in leisure. So there's the paradox. We tend to have a better flow state, we tend to feel better, have more satisfaction, feel challenged, feel strong, happy and creative. And yet, and those are the times when we're working or we're on a job or we're doing something that challenges us. And yet we tend to gravitate towards the things that don't give us that satisfaction, that have us feel weak or have us feel dull. Why is that? And this is the thing that as long as we understand this, this allows us to get over that hurdle of the thought I don't feel like it or I don't want to. And this is it. It's that. It's called the motivational triad. We simply are designed, our brains are wired so that we avoid pain, we seek pleasure, and we conserve energy. Those three things, avoiding pain, seeking pleasure, and conserving energy, cause us to go away from some of the things that bring us the most fulfillment, the most satisfaction, the most creativity and happiness and connection. When we understand that, then we can dismiss the thought that gets in our way simply, such as I don't feel like it or I don't want to, and allows us to go forward and do the things that we actually get the most fulfillment out of. So I figured that I would make a list of the things that I tend not to feel like doing but are so worth it, so worth it in the long run. When you get over that hump of that motivational triad, or that I don't feel like it, I don't want to. And they're things like working out, I rarely feel like going to work out. And yet it's so worth it when it's done, or getting outdoors, doing some activity outdoors, or a task or play outdoors. Another one is a homemade meal. I rarely feel like putting the energy in to make a homemade meal, but I'm so glad and so grateful that I did once it's done. Another one would be laundry, one of those tasks. But I love once the laundry is all done and folded and put away. That's so worth it. Food prep, I don't want to, typically, food prep, I don't feel like food prepping. And yet again, it's one of those things that's so worth it, connecting with people. People may not realize this, but for myself, I am an introvert. It takes a lot of energy to put myself out there and especially to connect with other people and especially new people. So connecting with people is a real challenge for me. But once I do, I'm so glad I did. Making the bed, meditating, planning, learning something new. These are all the things that I listed personally that are things that I find a little challenging to get into. I usually don't feel like it. I often don't want to. And yet once they're done, once I've done them, not only did I feel good doing them, I also found it so rewarding once it was done. So those are the types of things that are so worth it. So when you take a look at this for yourself, take a look at it from the standpoint of your brain is going to do what your brain is going to do. You're going to avoid pain, you're going to seek pleasure, and you're going to try and conserve energy. That's simply what our brains are going to do. And with that is going to come two main thoughts. I don't feel like it and I don't want to. Those two things are going to stop you from some of the most fulfillment, some of the most wonderful things, and satisfying things that you can do day to day. So that's where you can go and overcome that and keep getting the things that are so worth it in your day to day life. So have a fantastic rest of your Monday and I hope this drives you into a powerful week, especially with the things that you may not feel like doing right now, but you know are really gonna give that boost once they're done. Have a fantastic day. Love to you. Happy, happy New Year and we will see you soon. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team Podcast, you'll love being on the Empowered Team. The Empowered Team runs year round. It is our group coaching and accountability program where we take mindset and physical performance concepts and break them down to usable action steps that optimize results. To join, email us at Info Power with Subject Line Team. That's info at empowerconditioning. Com. We can't wait for you to be on the team.