Let’s Have A
(Heart to Heart)
What Keeps You Awake at Night?
I remember what used to keep me awake in the middle of the night, shall I list them?
My heart was pounding, and my mouth tasted foul.
I had a raging thirst.
I thought “here we go again.”
I felt the loathing, that I had broken promises to myself, yet again.
How am I going to get this thing under control?
As Ewan McGregor said
“I knew I was lucky, and somehow I knew that if I didn’t stop, everything would go tits up — my career, my family, my everything,” he said.
Its all going to go tits up if I don’t get a grip, but how?
And so round and round in my mind it went, night after night thinking.
I was going to have a heart attack and die!!
Misery, and so little sleep. I knew I would feel lousy in the morning and face another day, tired.
Talk about making it hard!!
Johnny Depp
I spent years poisoning myself. I was very, very good at it… It was best to stop. Now I look back and say, ‘Why? Why did I do that?’
This thing is ruining my life, what am I doing this for?.
I was looking for something and had tried quit drink courses. Useless!.
Then I read a book recommended by a friend.
A silly little book that had sat on my bookshelf for ages
By someone I didn’t even rate.
EAT THAT FROG-by-Brian Tracy
I read a chapter a day.
It was quite interesting, but predictable. bla bla
In chapter 4 he states
” Think about the Long Term,
Successful people are those willing to delay gratification and make sacrifices in the short term so that they can enjoy rewards in the long term.
Bla bla bla!”
Then I was invited to
Answer this question from the late Peter Drucker a management guru
“What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?”
That got me thinking!
“What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”
In other words
“What is my biggest frog of all at this moment?”
I got to Chapter 10 TAKE ONE OIL BARREL AT A TIME
Bam, it hit me!!
Each chapter has a little quote at the beginning.
This one goes like this.
Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.
Said by Samuel Smiles-
never heard of him, but I liked what he said.
One of the best ways to eat a large frog is to take it one bite at a time.
So, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post steer for the next oil barrel and have faith that the next step will become clearer to you.
Then I got to chapter 12 which changed my life.
Start off your day with the removal of a key bottleneck in your life.
It instructed me to identify one goal,
“ that if you achieved it would have the greatest positive effect on your life.”
No rocket science needed here!
This silly little book that I begrudged space on my bookshelf was a life changer!!
I only read it because I was bored!
That did it for me.
My mind was made up and I decided then and there to stop this merry go round and devise my own way to achieve what I honestly thought was impossible.
I took it one oil barrel at a time.
I was overwhelmed by the thought of “forever” and stopped for one day.
Then another day
And another
Then a week
A fortnight
30 days
Each milestone was noted as a win.
A series of these small wins got me to 100 days.
I kept moving the goalposts and you must too.
ME, ME, ME.
Enough about me. I have broken the golden rule and talked a lot about me when it is you we should be talking about..
Its actually hard to write this stuff, it’s really personal,
I don’t find it at all easy and have avoided it so far in my posts,
but it was how I felt, and it haunted me for years.
Hopefully it will encourage you, and you can take something from this to help your own struggles to get this baffling substance out of your life as I have done.
and hold your head up again.
