Take the Wheel

At the end of 2016 I found myself lacking motivation.

I wasn’t in the mood to read a book, even if I was craving for a good story, I couldn’t even write a post, even if the ideas were floating in my head. I was feeling like there was an invisible wall stopping me and just like that I stopped doing all those things that made me happy.  

At first I thought that my day job had gotten the best of me and that was of course the reason I wasn't writing. Then I watched a ted talk about procrastination.

Suddenly I felt, all the pieces of the big broken picture I were missing, coming back to place. A lightbulb lit up and the monkey in my head was startled.

Because now I knew what was wrong with me! There was a monkey in the wheel of my brain while the real Captain, the Decision Maker, was chilling somewhere hot and comfy, enjoying a cold drink while my world was collapsing.   

There was only one thing I could do. I had to get rid of the monkey because …how's that saying? "monkey see monkey do?" And the monkey indeed was doing the most useless and nonproductive things.  

Usually we avoid taking the blame for the things we just postpone to do. We blame tiredness, lack of time and we don't realize that we are the reason that we don't finish reading or writing that book. It’s on us that the clothes are piling up because we really don’t want to iron or wash them.

We will never have the time we want. There will never be the perfect time to start working out or to quit smoking. All we need to do is to just do it. Don't wait. Wake up one day and just don't smoke. Fight the need, change. Open that Word file and start working on that idea you're thinking for months or even years.

Time is now. Push the monkey away and let the Decision Maker take the wheel.

That is the only way to move things forward.