We’ve mentioned many times before………
About how relatively easy things are when they’re new.
The excitement and enthusiasm are there.
People feel motivated.
Optimistic.
And early progress is relatively easy.
Happens in most things of course.
But we see it in our new starters all the time.
Which is great.
Gets them off to a good start.
If you look at this graph of mood vs. Time, it’s the ‘Uninformed Optimism’ bit.
The ‘honeymoon period’.
Where we don’t quite realise what’s ahead of us.
But, at some stage, there comes this point.
Where the realisation sets in.
That it’s going to be harder to continue than we first thought.
We are all for keeping as much of the journey as exciting and fun as possible.
But it can never really be quite the same as that first bit.
It’s the ‘Informed Pessimism’ bit of the graph.
And people face two choices there.
Plot through and get to ‘Informed Optimism’.
Where you accept the challenges, frustrations and difficulties of the journey.
Feel they are worth it.
And carry on.
Or you can stop.
Drop off the graph completely.
Potentially to restart at some other variation in the future.
Back in the ‘Uninformed Optimism’ section.
Often repeating the cycle for years or decades.
Now I know I’ll get replies to this.
I know sometimes people have to stop for genuinely unavoidable reasons.
Logistics, money, etc.
But, after over 14 years in the industry, I also know that in the majority of cases when people tell themselves and others that they’re stopping for unavoidable reasons………
That they’re not unavoidable.
That it’s actually got to that point.
And they are, essentially, stopping because it’s got too hard.
But we don’t allow ourselves to say “I think I’ll just give up as it’s got hard”, do we?
Our Psychological Immune System protects us.
As always, we never exclude ourselves with these things.
I’ve given up on plenty of things over the years because it’s gotten too hard.
Sometimes I’ve realised that was why at the time.
And was cool with that.
Sometimes I’ve told myself other stories .
And realised years later what had really happened.
We all do it.
We all hit that ‘Informed Pessimism’ dip.
And we all sometimes stop.
And we sometimes knuckle down and power through to Informed Optimism.
And Success.
But, as always, releasing this and being honest with ourselves………
Is the key first step.
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And do you know another thing I’ve realised over the years?
The more saying things like this annoy people………
The more true it is.
I clearly said that I know that, in plenty of cases, the reasons are unavoidable.
So people reading this who genuinely faced unavoidable challenges will look at that and go “That’s me”.
Those that get annoyed probably know, deep down, that they gave up at ‘Informed Pessimism’ stage.
And I know this, more than anything because…….
The things that people have accused me of……
That annoy me the most………
Are inevitably true.
The stuff some our ‘competition’ makes up about us doesn’t really bother me.
Because it’s just not the case.
And as always, we don’t say these things to be mean.
We say them to help people gain clarity.
To see that ‘Informed Pessimism’ stage for what it is.
And, hopefully, keep going, back up that graph 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘
P.S. This is where you need to go if you (or a friend) want to find out more how we get our clients such great results, through a combination of support and help and the odd kick up the arse, helping them question self limiting beliefs and real clarity –> myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting 🙂
