The Truth Will Set You Free – Part 3 of 20

I recently read a post on Johnny B. Truant’s blog that really hit home. So much so that I wanted to do two things: share it with my readers and 2) think on and write about each piece of his post. The post is “20 Truths About Life No One Wants To Believe” and the third one I am going to tackle is:

3. Most people are lazy.
People say they want to make some kind of a change. They get good, solid advice. Then they do nothing. NOTHING. In most cases, failure is not the result of outside influences. In most cases, failure is due to a simple lack of effort. It’s an ugly truth, but it’s the truth, all right: most people don’t want what they claim to want badly enough to actually put in the work required to get it.

I am lazy too.

No, wait, scratch that.

Sometimes I am lazy.

No! Wait. Scratch that one too…

First of all, I agree – whole-heartedly – with Johnny’s premise. The reason most people don’t have what they want is not due to lack of resources, or ability, or opportunity. It’s lack of effort.

But I want to use my response to Johnny’s words to make an important distinction: the brain, specifically/more-importantly, the sub-conscious, doesn’t understand negative qualifiers.

In other words, when we say “Don’t do that,” or I am not lazy,” all our brains hear is “Do that,” or “I am lazy.”

That’s why I do my best to say things like: “Remember to pick up the milk.” (And not, “Don’t forget the milk.”)

So, to circle back to the question of “laziness” and what we “are,” let me re-state things, in an accurate and resourceful way:

“Most of the time I am energetic and productive.”

“I am doing my best to focus on my goals and do the hard and necessary work required for their achievement.”

“I continue to experiment and act, knowing that all results are merely information and feedback* helping me to act more and more intelligently.”

What can you re-frame – accurately and resourcefully – that will transform your self-image and approach to life?

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* I prefer to say “feed-forward,” a term I learned from Marshall Goldsmith, but for the sake of clarity now, I’ll leave that for another post…