Hotdogs from a Popcorn Machine, what do you think? It’s probably not such a good idea for a popcorn machine to set a New Year’s Resolution to make hotdogs! Have you ever tried to make hot dogs with your popcorn machine. Sort of silly, isn’t it? I guess you could do it, if you forced it, don’t you think? That’s what it’s like when most people set New Year’s Resolution. They force their machine to do something it was not designed to do. They have a machine that does what it does and it doesn’t do this New Year’s Resolution thing.
The only way to get a machine to do something different is to modify, adjust or build a whole new machine. It’s usually not very pretty, forcing an old machine to get these new results. Machines just do what they do and don’t work too good when they are forced to do things they weren’t designed to do, do you? We are creatures of habits, habit machines, and we just do what we do. Our habit machine, our creatureness, has to be modified, adjusted or built differently to get different results.
Are you ok with me seeing you and me as habit machines? I’m not going to call you a popcorn machine. I’m just suggesting our habits (habit machinery) strongly determines what we get out of life. We are creatures of habit. It has been said, what we get out of life is determined by who we are. Who we are is our habit machine. We have have habits of action, of course, but also habits of thought, habits of feelings, habits of taste, habits of sight, habits of walking, talking ….. Our habits do have a very powerful influence on our lives.
Back to the popcorn machine and hotdogs: Machines do what they do the best. You can force them to do other things, but that is very stressful, energy draining and usually only temporary. Our machines are no different. If you look at last year (NO Judgment), that is what your machine does. To get it to do other things, you have to modify it, change or adjust it, or build a whole new aspect of your machine. Then your machine will again, just do what it does, however you have built it. If you try to force your old machine to do this new thing, you might get it, but ….. You know the but: you’ll be stressed out, drained of energy and your results will only be temporary.
Do you know how to build a new machine? I didn’t. I had some ideas, but I had never started out intentionally to build, change or adjust my machine. Not, intentionally, as I was focused on the results and didn’t even know I might be changing my machine. I wasn’t aware of my machine or even that I was building it. I just wanted the results: lose weight, earn extra money, have more fun, get better grades easier, making life easier, …..
Imagine you get a guy to build a machine for you. He has the tools, the time, the raw materials and you tell him go ahead. Build me an amazing machine! ……. But you tell him, he can’t use any tools. Oh, and you are in a hurry and want it by tomorrow. ….. And what do you mean by materials? Aren’t you the guy that builds machines? I hired you to build the machines, now build me a machine.
Your boss looks at your numbers and is impressed. He gives you a raise and says he’s looking for you to do 10% better next year. What is he talking about? That was my best? How do I build a machine to do better than my best. I am not going back to school or going to some motivational talk! Why can’t I just get the raise and give him what I got last year? I can not force anything more out of this machine! This popcorn machine can only produce so many hotdogs. Ok, I’m sorry, I said I would not call you a popcorn machine.
Getting a coach or mentor is highly recommended, but they usually only get fully involved with people who have the tools and raw materials to build machines. Do you have the tools or raw material to build your machine? Do you even know how? Did you intentionally build your machine or did you sort of accidentally get it?
Well, let’s not freak! Deep breath. If you were this guy, who, you had gotten to build your machine, what tools would he need? What raw materials might he need? Time, energy, support, ideas, ….. You are getting this! Deep breath! It isn’t going to happen overnight, but I can do this! See, we already have the first machine: “ the don’t freak out, be calm, I can figure this out machine.” Next, might be: the try something machine! the get some help machine; the do a little research machine; the stay balanced and healthy to excel machine; the impossible is possible - I’ve seen it too many times machine - I can stay on the quest a little longer machine; focus on the tiny stuff right now for sustenance and persistence machine; everything starts out ugly machine, get back up looking for learning machine….. Or whatever tools or power tools you need for building your new machine.
Me, I had no tools. I didn’t know I was supposed to have tools. If I had a few, I didn’t know I was supposed to get them out and start building a new machine. I looked at my old machine and what I was being asked to do and I said: “No Way! That is not going to happen.” It looked totally impossible, because it was. My old machine could never, never, never in a million years be able to do that. What was I to do? >>>> Get a few tools and build a new machine! I think you’ve got it!