There is an invisible line. It's a really big line. Ok, it's more like a chasm that we must crossover to achieve greatness. Not just greatness, but peace and joy. It's a barrier. A wall that keeps us from feeling the joy and success that we deserve. I am talking about the great divide between knowing and feeling.
How many times have you found yourself in this situation? You want to lose a few pounds. It is no mystery how to do it. We all know what to do. Cut back on calories and increase your activity. Stop drinking soda and start drinking more water. It is not rocket science. Ok, so we know what we need to do. All we need to do now is do it. That's the easy part, right? Fast forward a month, and you are still right where you started because you can't get yourself to do the things you know you need to do. What is that? What is stopping you from doing what you need to do?
The Great Divide
There is a huge gap between what we know and what we feel. The knowing is the easy part. We can learn anything. Just pick up a book, turn on your computer or ask a friend and you can learn anything you want. Need to know the best way to take down your Christmas lights? YouTube has a video for that. But YouTube can't come over to your house and make you do it. That is the first problem that creates The Great Divide: a lack of accountability. We love telling other people what to do, but we have a harder time listening to ourselves. And when there is no one else around to keep us accountable, we can do whatever we want. Or not do whatever we want. But if we want to achieve greatness, if we want to achieve true joy, then we have to start keeping ourselves accountable. Just as a friend would check in with you from time to time, you need to check in with yourself. Is there anything you are letting slip by in your life? It's time to keep yourself in check.
The second problem that creates The Great Divide is excuses. We love to come up with reasons that our life is unfair. We love to come up with facts and statistics that back up our claim that we just can't do something. "I would really love to lose 30 lbs, but my whole family is overweight. I just can't do it." Ever heard yourself say that one before? The truth is there is almost nothing we can't achieve with time and effort (maybe short of flying on our own or not paying our taxes). Anything we tell ourselves to the contrary is a lie. It's an excuse we use to let ourselves off the hook. "If I believe I can't do something, then it's not my fault and I can stop trying and go back to eating cookies." The answer to this one is simple: stop making excuses.
The final problem that creates The Great Divide is a lack of commitment. We say we want to do things all the time, but we never truly commit ourselves to it. How many times have you seen a movie and you were inspired to do something great. "I am going to go skydiving next week!" But then by the time you leave the movie theater and get to your car, you've totally forgotten about your big goal. This happens to all of us. The thing that separates the doers from the wanna-doers, is commitment. Those who make a promise to themselves and to those around them, tend to actually follow through. And I'm talking big commitment here. Set a specific goal and write it down. Then make a specific plan of action and write it down. Then do it! Work your plan and follow through. Hold tight to your commitment. Make that commitment mean something. Make it clear to the world and to yourself that when you say you are going to do something, you do it. It doesn't matter how many times you failed. It doesn't matter how many times you started and you gave up. This time is different. Because you have a goal, a plan and a commitment to yourself that you will not break.
This chasm called The Great Divide has taken so many out and has killed so many dreams. Don't let it do the same to you. You have the knowledge you need. Now is the time to cross over that big gap from knowing to feeling. By keeping yourself accountable, not making any more excuses and making a real commitment to yourself and to the world, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. And as you start to accomplish your goals, that is when you will start feeling it. Once you start seeing success, your emotional side will start to take hold and your journey across The Great Divide will be complete! Just remember to enjoy the other side once you get there.
