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Welcome…You are here at The Beacon…So glad you found us…I am David Darab, your host for this episode.Prepare to have your Blind Spots Illuminated “To begin, begin.” said William Wordsworth.Let’s do that and get started.It’s the New Year, 2021…Happy New Year to You! We are all excited to see 2020 end, and our hopes are that the countless challenges we faced last year will soon come to an end too!The New Year is a time of reNEWal, time for a fresh start, and a time to reset, recalibrate, and recharge. It is also a time we are constantly reminded about our New Years Resolutions. Seems that we can’t say New Year’s without adding the Resolution part too. Every year we pass this same threshold with the same hopes and desires for the year ahead.What will you do??…do you have a plan??Will you offer up some recurring laundry list of New Year’s Resolutions like you may have done many times in the past;I’ll go first…- lose weight- workout more- eat better- work less- spend more time with your family- save more- spend less- read more books- watch less Netflix- etc, etc, etc…. I can’t help asking you, “How’s has your plan been working for you?” You getting things done?You Moving your needle?You Accelerating?Are you Reaching your Goals?If your response was not a resounding YES, You are not alone. The experts tell us that half of all adults make New Year’s Resolutions, but less than 10% follow through on their goals each year. In reality, by Valentine’s Day, you may find yourself in the same “rut” as before.Fighting these poor odds and without a better strategy I gave up on New Year’s Resolutions years ago.The Truth is … Resolutions don’t work. Action does.I anticipate if you are like me, you know deep down, in your heart of hearts, that you could do better, achieve more, and become a better version of yourself.During these first weeks of the New Year Social Media and the Internet, heck…even my PodCast here… will have expert after expert share their guidelines, rules, hacks, shortcuts, and strategies for achieving more.How about, for a change, instead of getting burdened with lists, journals, apps, processes, and other people’s ideas, we just Resolve to do One and only One Thing.Act…Let’s make a New Year’s Resolution to Decide to Act this year! Let’s put aside all of our thinking, prioritizing, researching, and list-making and exchange it for one simple task… to Act!Of course, Simple does Not mean Easy!We are all very intelligent, with lots of knowledge of the things we know we should do. Just look at the list you create each year.I hate to break it to you, but Knowledge is the Easy Part…We all know that to lose weight we should eat better and become more active…We all know that to grow our Wealth we should spend less and invest more…But knowing is the easy part…taking Action is the hard part, that’s why it is so challenging to achieve and so easy to come up short year after year.This point is key and worth repeating…Knowledge is the Easy Part, Action is the Hard Part.It is your Action that leads to the Change you wish to make.The Words “Resolution” and “Goal” are Nouns, not Verbs.While the Words “Decide” and “Act” are Verbs defining Action.I like to use the acronym D.A.T.E…D…A…T…E forD.ecide toA.ctT.oday andE.verydaySo…why is taking Action so very Hard?Why is it so hard to 1. Decide and 2. Act?Let’s dig deeper here and go down a rabbit hole, deconstructing this process so you can understand better the challenges and roadblocks to Action.Once this is understood, it easier for you to conquer.I’ll take it for granted that those listening here are all high achievers, driven, competitive, and highly successful. We want and demand the very best from ourselves. We are, at most times, our staunchest critic. Failure is not an option, nor something we tolerate or enjoy, after all, we are “Perfectionists”. But alas, there is no such thing as Perfection. A belief in Perfection is in fact a defense mechanism. Waiting for Perfection gives you a way out, it gives you an excuse. It lets you stall, it requires you to do more research, to think some more, and avoid doing anything that might possibly fail. Because as we just said, failure is not an option…especially for a perfectionist.But, and here is the kicker…with the risk of failure, comes an even greater reward…the reward of success, of accomplishing something important, of creating the change we so desperately need, want, and desire.There is an irony here…we want one thing, yet do another…Does any of this sound familiar…does it sound like Resolutions, Rationalizations or Goals not achieved…??!!The contradictions never end.Why is it so difficult to do what we say we’re going to do?The answer is …as Seth Godin says, our “Lizard Brain”, or as Steven Pressfield calls it, “The Resistance”, our Inner Barrier.The Resistance is that little voice in the back of our head telling us over and over to back off, be careful, go slow, watch out, this is risky, compromise. The Resistance grows stronger and stronger the closer we get to achieving what we really want, the closer we get to Action. That’s because the Lizard Brain, or amygdala, that pre-historic area of our brain stem, hates change, hates achievement and risk. After all, it is the amygdala that is responsible for our fight or flight response. It is there to protect us, and it acts even without us knowing.So, we have decided to Act in order to achieve our goals, but for many, just as we are on the verge of action our primitive Lizard Brain, this Resistance, beckons us louder and louder to hold back. It is much like the effect Krypotite has on Superman…the closer he gets… the weaker he becomes.So…How do we Slay and conquer this Resistance, this Lizard Brain, this Inner Barrier, the Amygdala you ask??We slay it by Turning Pro, as in Professional, and leaving our Amateur ways behind us.Let’s consider the differences…as described by Steven Pressfield in The War of Art (a great read see the show notes for a link).An amateur plays for fun, a Pro Plays for keeps.To the amateur the game is his avocation, to the Pro, it’s his vocation.The amateur plays part-time, the Pro full-time.The amateur is a weekend warrior, the Pro is there seven days a week.The amateur attempts perfection, the Pro achieves something remarkable.The amateur delays and procrastinates, the Pro Decides and Acts.The Resistance hates it when we turn Pro.So…for this New Year’s Resolution let’s try something different. Let’s show up every day, no matter what, and decide to do act. Because we now know that no matter how small each act might appear, it is facing your Lizard Brain head-on and completing what you started that is most important. Each small act taken together builds on the one before allowing us to achieve our goals and move our needle. With each achievement, we grow stronger and more confident and The Resistance, your Lizard Brain, that Inner Barrier gets weaker and weaker.Now that you understand better what may have been holding you back, what are you going to do about it?What new decisions and actions will promote your progress? Are you starting them today?Too often, we schedule a time to adopt, embrace, and initiate better habits in the future. “I’ll start tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or whenever. We now know those are simply excuses.Yes, I know, Biology, evolution, and past failures are all conspiring against you. It doesn’t matter. The solution to launching a better way of being is easy. Simply Decide to begin. Decide to Act.In the final analysis, it comes down to your willingness to decide that today is the day, and now is the time to begin. The time to take your first small step into your potential.Every day you can decide to do things better, or do things worse. It’s your choice.So…Let’s review…New Year’s Resolutions don’t work…Decisions and Actions do!You now know that biology and evolution, create an Inner Barrier, a Resistance called your Lizard Brain, powered by your amygdala, which has thwarted your efforts in the past…You are now armed with a strategy to conquer this force…Action!The more you Act the easier the next Action becomes…And finally,I’ll end with a quote from Walt Disney…”The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”So that wraps things up for this Podcast. We hope that this information has created a few “Ah-Ha” moments to help you make great things happen this year. Please share this podcast if you found it helpful, and leave a review on iTunes too. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future podcast sessions. You can always find me, your host, David Darab, at my Twitter handle, @ddarab.Thank you so very much for tuning in and listening. We are very grateful for your time and attention and so very pleased to have you in our audience.We wish you a happy and healthy New Year._______________________________________________________________________REFERENCESThe Practice; Seth Godinhttps://www.amazon.com/Practice-Shipping-Creative-Work/dp/0593328973/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+practice&qid=1610296940&sr=8-1 The Art of War; Steven Pressfieldhttps://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026/ref=sr_1_2?crid=26SF519HT8RPB&dchild=1&keywords=the+war+of+art+by+steven+pressfield&qid=1610297028&sprefix=the+war+of+%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-2