Beyond the Adrenalin Rush; the Self-Help Danger Zone

In the course of my work (helping people create their best life), there's a place I'm always educating and warning my charges about. It's that place beyond the adrenalin rush. You've been there. We all have. Some of us go there ten times a year. Some of us get there in a day or two, and for others, it takes much longer. It's that place beyond the excitement, beyond the euphoria, beyond the initial rush of blood and beyond that temporary 'feeling' of motivation. I call it the Self-Help Danger Zone; the place where dreams are destroyed or realized, where momentum is gained or lost, and where we grow, learn and adapt, or crawl back to our destructive old ways.

Too often, it's the place where the chronic under-achiever and the habitual giver-uperer (a word) returns to his/her safe, boring, familiar, frustrating little box (habits, attitudes, behaviors, destructive relationships). And sometimes, but not often enough, it's where those people who are desperate for, genuinely ready for, and totally committed to, change, leave their emotional security blankets and psychological anchors once and for all.
That's right, forever.
Not for a while, but for the rest of their life.

By the way, do you know how many people who make decisions and set goals actually create forever change? While I don't have exact data on it, I can tell you with some certainty, not many!! And how many people invariably end up back where they started, or worse? Sadly, the vast majority. For some, once they hit the Self-Help Danger Zone it's all down hill. Every time.

They are champions of the short-term change. They can do anything. For a week or two.
"I've given up smoking ten times."
Actually, you've never given up at all, you've just taken a few breaks. When you give up smoking, you'll never do it again. Ever.

The 'Zone' is a very real place, and in our quest for our best life we will all end up there at some stage. It's what we do when we get there, which will ultimately determine success or failure. Many of us have a history of 'nearly' doing great things but once the euphoria and the excitement have died down (and they will), we start to 'find reasons' to stop whatever it was that we started.

Here's the cycle:
We get motivated. We make a decision. We change a behavior for a while. We lose motivation. We revert to our old behaviors. Three weeks later, we start again.

Beyond the adrenalin rush (the excitement of starting something new) is a kind of an 'Emotional Bermuda Triangle' and we usually find ourselves (or maybe I should say, 'lose' ourselves) there, anywhere from three hours to three months after we make that decision to change something significant about us, our life, or part thereof. We lose motivation and focus, our mindset changes (for the worse) and gradually, our excitement is replaced with indifference. Our momentum comes to a grinding halt, and like many times before, we throw in the towel. We give up. Again. And like every other time, we rationalize it, we explain it and somehow, we make ourselves feel better. "Now's not the right time for me." Funny that.

We all have the ability to create incredible outcomes in our life, but many of us continue to find new and creative ways to under-achieve; to sabotage ourselves and to waste more time and potential. But panic not, there's always next Monday; the official day we start stuff.

In order for us to create forever results, it's imperative that even when the excitement, the euphoria and the adrenalin have worn off, we keep doing what we need to do to create our best life.

Some stuff to chew on:
1. Most people who start a diet don't last two weeks (more than half).
2. The majority of people (about 85%) who join gyms don't use their membership as they intended when they signed up (they don't go!).
3. The vast majority of people (nearly 100%) who do lose weight, regain it.
4. Every New Year millions of us make all kinds of resolutions that never result in genuine change, even though we desperately want it. Not because we don't have the potential or ability, but because we simply don't finish what we start.

I know we've had similar chats to this before, but it seems that some of us keep making the same mistakes and repeating the same behavioral patterns. Lately I feel like I'm constantly re-living the same conversations, about the same issues, with the same people!! Don't make those decisions and don't set those goals unless you're absolutely prepared (mentally and emotionally) for the realities and the challenges of life beyond the adrenalin rush. It's ain't about the next month, it's about your life.

The key to life-long change is this:
Doing what we need to do, irrespective of how we feel on a given day. Always finding a way. As I've said before, it ain't about motivation, it's about commitment and perseverance. Don't give me the talented person, give me the person who will talk less and do more. Give me the person who will get that shit done. Once and for all.

Are you that person?