Get to Know This Emotional Cycle: It Will Improve Your Life
My Inc.com article yesterday, “Get to Know This Emotional Cycle: It Will Improve Your Life” began
Get to Know This Emotional Cycle: It Will Improve Your Life
Healthy, active, productive activities are often hard to start. Learn this cycle to identify when to use your willpower to help.
Yesterday was rowing day. It was also the first hot, humid, sticky day in New York City. I didn’t feel like doing it. I could think of dozens of things I’d rather do. Unlike those guys in the picture, I row indoors on a machine.
I stuck with my plan, though, with my usual trick: changing into my workout clothes, an easy action, knowing what would happen next. Eventually my mind said, “I’m in the workout clothes. I might as well work out.”
Once I started rowing, everything changed. I got hot and sweaty, but I liked it. Before I started I didn’t want to get hot and sweaty, but once I did I felt like, that’s the point: I’m keeping fit, I should sweat.
You know the feeling. It doesn’t just come from exercise.
Before starting to write this piece, I knew I wanted to write. I wrote out my notes but when I sat at the computer, everything seemed appealing except writing–browsing, eating, etc.
Now that I’m writing, I enjoy it. I want to keep writing. My friend instant messaged me and I told her I couldn’t talk now. Thirty minutes ago I would have chatted and put off writing.
Notice the similarity? Although the behaviors of rowing and writing look different from the outside, emotionally, the pattern is similar.
Read the rest at Get to Know This Emotional Cycle: It Will Improve Your Life.
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