#1208 As You Think - So You Are
I’d imagine you are seeing a lot about goal setting and resolutions. As the new year begins, many of us think about new beginnings. The oft-ignored diet or exercise plan seems to get dusted off in January. But why did they have dust on them to begin with?
Because it’s hard to convert intention to action, new habits are hard to sustain, and old ones are hard to break.
Think of new habits as acquisition costs. You are paying for something you want. If the porch paint is peeling, I will hire a painter to power wash and paint it. I am making an expenditure for the desired result. That’s an easy one. The cost is one-time, and the results are almost immediate and obvious.
If my LDL is rising, I can incur the cost of exercising and eating less cholesterol-laden foods, or I can continue and create a debt that includes a stent, bypass, or heart attack in the future. That’s less easy. The cost is long-term, and the results are neither immediate nor guaranteed.
This is the issue. We don’t see results immediately, but whether we form good habits or not, they will show up as a desired acquisition or a bad debt sometime in the future.
“We don’t change what we are. We change what we think we are.” Eric Butterworth
It all begins with thought. If you change your thoughts, you’ll change your life – but changing your thoughts is tough. We have long-held beliefs that govern the formation or dissolution of habits.
Here is what I do. I set the mood for what I want to accomplish. I set some goals for the year. I review them repeatedly until I am sure I want to trade a year of my life for what is on that page. Then, on the first of each month, I decide how much I can move toward any of the goals in the coming month, and I jot down those things I can do.
Next, at the beginning of each week, I decide how much I can move toward the monthly tasks during that week. Next, I scatter the things I want to do throughout the days of the upcoming week.
What I’m doing in all of this is mostly changing my thoughts. I set the goals, read them, break them down into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, and, in doing so, I am constantly seeing the goals and the expected outcomes. I am conditioning my mind, through constant exposure, to form a new set of thoughts that believe I can get things done.
As you think, so you are.
I also do practical things to make it easier. If running 400 miles a year is the goal, I want to average about 33 miles a month, or about 8 miles a week. So, if my average run is 3 miles, I schedule three runs a week. Next, the night before the run, I put the running gear out where I can see it when I wake up. Because of writing, planning, scheduling, and visual reminders, I have a better shot at creating my running habit.
The cost in the present can lead us to incur debt in the future. If the price is too high, I keep my wallet in my pocket. By breaking it down and using visual and practical cues, I lower the cost – I make my goals more affordable.
Conversely, I also spend time on debt. I have an image of a person I knew well, who is now deceased. He didn’t pay daily for longevity. Instead, he not only accumulated debt through a lack of initiative - he accelerated it through terrible habits.
I think of him and the debt he built that shortened his life and left his family destitute, and I run in the opposite direction. I don’t judge him. I don’t know why his thoughts and habits were so destructive, but I know they were. He was a charming guy and my cautionary tale.
I can’t control what happens to me. I may get sick or injured or suffer any number of things that can change the course of my life. The only thing I can control is the way I think.
You can change your life by changing your thoughts. Be intentional in your thinking.
PS: I have been asking you to create a motto. Here is mine for 2026:
“Quiet reveals what clamor conceals – Beyond the noise it’s still a Beautiful World.”
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