“We can either make ourselves miserable … or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
—George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete
Happy Boxing Day, BAPL Nation.
Have you ever felt like the day after Christmas is an anti-climax?
There’s all that build-up to the big day itself… The shopping, the family invites, preparing the big Christmas meal, getting ready to delight the kids… then, BOOM, it happens.
But when the next day comes, you look around and find yourself wondering, “Is that it? All that excitement comes to this?”
And then the build-up for next Christmas slowly starts again.
But that’s OK, isn’t it?
We accept it because the build-up to something is just as fun and satisfying—if not more so—than the actual result.
Besides, the result itself can sometimes be disappointing or not happen at all.
But the process? It’s always there.
The memories, the lessons learned, the skills gained, the failures and successes along the way, they’ll always be there.
No matter what you start, and no matter how many times you start, it’s never a complete waste of time and energy.
Because you learn.
You become beter.
You grow.
It’s OK to end a streak. It’s OK to fail. To lose a battle.
Maybe you cracked the peanut butter jar after promising yourself you wouldn’t.
Maybe you slept in despite vowing you’ll wake up the same time every day.
Maybe you missed your workout after saying you’d never miss it again.
Maybe you weren’t accountable to yourself or your family or friends.
You know what? You’re human. It’s OK.
It’s OK to accept what happened.
It’s OK to begin again.
We place so much pressure on accountability here in the Lab and in society, and there is a place for that. We can’t be successful if we’re not accountable. But it’s equally important to emphasize acceptance.
Sometimes we are so scared of failure that we don’t even start.
In my experience, the number one reason we don’t achieve our goals is because we don’t know how to begin again.
We become so scared of ending the streak that we kill ourselves trying to achieve it.
The truth?
Sometimes, we need to fail.
We need to begin again.
It’s OK if something ends. It’s necessary for the next thing to begin.
When you think about it, that’s how life really works:
Winter ends; spring begins.
Friday ends; Saturday begins.
Your career ends; you start a new one.
When you accept beginning again, you accept you haven’t failed.
You acknowledge your journey has simply been interrupted.
The current streak may be over, but the next one has begun. And that’s a good thing, because now you’ve got the experience and skills to do even better.
Learning how to begin again is a wonderful skill.
Learning how to accept it is an even greater skill.
If you need help learning how to create a next step so you can move forward, or if you need help mastering the art of acceptance so you can begin again, we can help.
BAPL is your accountability partner. We help you stay accountable to your goals and, when needed, we help you be accountable to the idea of acceptance. And Live in the Lab, our flagship show, is your SaaS—Show as a Service—where we tell real-life stories to entertain, inspire, and motivate you to be accountable to your Next.
Whatever ‘Next’ looks like for you, whether it’s the next step, goal, or streak, we’ve got your back. But we can only make suggestions and do what it takes to motivate you. The decision to act—that’s on you.
Until next time, be relentless in your pursuits, but don’t be scared to begin again.
kB
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