Do you ever find that you do not carry out your plans? If not, perhaps your plans are too complicated. If you follow a simple plan every single day great things can be achieved.
Years ago, I tried lifting weights in an attempt to develop a magnificent physique like that of my hero - Tarzan of the Apes. I did not succeed!
A big stumbling block was the advice in the magazines to train on only 3 days a week with a rest day in between. This was probably good advice from a physical point of view but psychologically it ignored the power of daily momentum.
If you practice something every single day, you develop a feeling of drive and power i.e. momentum. Your self-confidence grows like Jack's famous bean stalk. You feel that you, too, are climbing swiftly, or at least steadily, towards your goal and the giant's huge treasure chest. You are highly motivated.
But if you take a rest day even if it is well earned, you give yourself an excuse to take another rest day. Your action plan becomes blurred and lacks clarity. You lose momentum and have to start up all over again.
Doing something every single day has a powerful simplicity about it.
When the Japanese runner, Seko, won the Boston Marathon in 1981, he was asked about his training methods. He explained his method in twelve words.
“I run 10 kilometers in the morning and 20 in the evening.”
This double action a day plan enabled him to outrun the world’s most gifted runners. When Seko was told that his plan seemed too simple, compared to that of other marathoners, he replied:
“The plan is simple, but I do it every single day, 365 days a year”.
Simple? Yes. Easy? No Most people fail to reach their goals not because their plans are too simple or too complicated. They fail because they do not follow their own plans. All plans are useless if they are not followed.
Seko’s plan was effective not because it was simple but because he followed it 'every single day'.
Albert Einstein summed up the importance of continuous movement in his own imaginative way:
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."
There were no bicycles available in medieval times but they could teach us a thing or two about momentum.
According to the famous legend, King Arthur's knights of the Round Table followed one dominant idea - the love of God, humans and noble deeds. The King expected his knights to perform one noble deed a day before the evening banquet.
This noble deed expressed their love of God and humanity. Fictitious or not, the King, or his creators, knew the power of daily achievement and momentum.
After achieving at least one noble deed a day, the knights could enjoy their roast venison and goblet of wine with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.
A year or so ago, I wrote one article a day for about three months. This gave me a daily feeling of achievement and success. I am not sure if my readers felt the articles were a success but the feeling of daily momentum helped me to continue the practice for some time.
Movement creates more movement. Take one step and you will take another.
Once a habit is formed you may no longer need to keep up daily activity. My habit of writing articles is now so deeply ingrained that I can no longer stop myself writing articles!
When in need of advice, I write an article to myself and anybody else who might find the ideas helpful!
Probably I would have done better to continue writing a daily article but if you or I cannot make daily progress, we can at least make weekly progress.
In reality, you don't have time to form all the habits or develop all the skills you want to by doing them all every single day. Momentum can still be maintained at a lower level even without daily activity.
Regular weekly or monthly action will be time enough to make progress on the skills or activities which are not your main ones or which become less important as you move on to new interests.
If you are learning a martial art, you might not have time to attend a class every day, but you can attend at least once or twice a week. If you do, you will make progress. I see the evidence for this on a regular basis with my own martial arts students.
Those who attend classes twice a week usually reach black belt before those who attend once a week and those who attend sporadically can take as long as seven or eight years to reach their first black belt even though some of them are very talented. They may just be too busy or may find regular training too boring.
So then, try to work on your main goals every single day but, if you cannot manage that, work on them once every other day or once a week or even once a month. You will still make enough progress to keep you motivated.
If you don't keep moving in the direction you want to go, you will get easily depressed and feel like a failure. If you take action daily and move steadily toward your goal, you will find it hard to stay defeated and depressed.
Daily, focused action and momentum are signs of life and success. The failure to take daily action can lead only to stagnation and frustration. The only thing that can go from one part of the world to another without moving is the road.
Daily action leads to momentum - the power of continuous movement. Once you have started moving and kept it going for a while it will become easier and easier to continue along your chosen path.
If you keep starting and then stopping, the path becomes tougher and tougher. Starting is usually the most difficult task. Getting out of your favorite chair is tough but, once you're up, walking is comparatively easy. If you get back into your chair you need to use an extra burst of energy to get up again.
If you start a task and then stop, you have to gather your thoughts and any necessary materials together before you can start again.
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves in 1991 made more profits than any other film in the world. Why? Because Robin is a man of action who is involved in daily action in pursuit of his goals. People instinctively love someone who takes regular action.
In a spoof, role reversal TV series called 'Maid Marian and Her Merry Men', Robin is spending time worrying about what he should wear. He comments:
"I wouldn't be seen dead in this."
Maid Marian immediately rebukes him for his lack of speedy action:
"You will be seen dead in this in approximately two seconds time if you don't get moving!"
We all need to start moving and keep moving. Tarzan hardly ever wasted time speaking unless he was with Jane and even then he was a man of few words. He seldom stood still. Instead, he just grabbed the nearest vine and was off swinging through the jungle - not a bad role model!
Tarzan did not, of course, carry a notepad and biro with him. However, we can.
A list of what we plan to do is worth carrying with us at all times. It can be a powerful tool in our attempt to maintain both motivation and momentum.
Just writing or typing what you plan to do today can make it far more likely that you will do it. I tried this today and immediately did two things I had been putting off for a long time.
Remember too that a simple plan acted on daily is far superior to a complicated plan which is never carried out.
John Watson's main motivational ebook can be found at http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php
The sales page alone is highly motivating!
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