A crucial life lesson from... a pigeon?!

What a Pigeon Taught Me About Life

This was one of my weirdest learning experiences.

It’s not every day that a dumb bird teaches you a crucial lesson.

So let me tell you the story and then we’ll fly into the lesson:

One day, I was on my way to work when I had to make my way up the stairs. But there was a pigeon sitting at the halfway point. I paid it no mind, because I assumed it would simply fly off once I came closer to it.

But, it did not…

Instead, as I approached it would make a small leap to the next step.

I would continue and take my next step as well.

And so did this pigeon.

It kept moving up one step at a time with each step that I took. We played this game of me moving up and the pigeon retreating for 7 or 8 times. And then, finally, it realized that it could simply fly away from this scary human.

I know you’re wondering:

Why am I telling you this?

Are You Smarter Than a Pigeon?

I love how my mind makes weird connections!

What I saw was a bird facing a threat (me), but rather than going all the way in protecting itself, it did the bare minimum. By only taking a small leap away, it didn’t solve the problem, but rather it kept pushing it out into the future.

And it did it again…

And again…

And again…

But with every step I took, the pigeon was still facing the same problem.

You know what we call this behavior?

Procrastination!

When I give you the example of a pigeon, it’s obvious to see this as stupid and useless behavior. But what I can guarantee you that you are doing this in some area of your life!

• Maybe you’re not facing financial issues

• Maybe you’re staying in a toxic relationship

• Maybe it’s not confronting your boss on an issue

• Maybe it’s not making a career shift you know you should

• Maybe you’re procrastinating on a daunting project

• Maybe it’s keeping bad but familiar habits

It’s literally the exact same behavior!

You’re taking a problem that you’re facing and you’re trying to push it off into the future. Just like this pigeon you’re hoping that in the future the problem is just going to disappear.

But we both know that they won’t…

Of Cows and Buffalos

Let’s move to another section of today’s budget zoo!

This is another story that I’ve heard that takes place in Colorado (IIRC). Might be another state, but in any case, the place faces frequent short, but violent sand storms.

Cows and buffalo have opposite responses to these storms:

Cows try to run away.

Buffalo run straight into them.

Cows prolong their own suffering by trying (and failing) to run away from their problems. Buffalo on the other hand, take the proactive approach. Because of this, they suffer less and get out of the storm as quickly as possible.

The real question is:

How do YOU act in your own life?

Are you a cow or a buffalo?

Do you act like our pigeon friend?

Are you creating problems in your life by running away from uncomfortable or scary situations? Is procrastination preventing you from living the life you truly want to live?

Honesty is the key here!

Once you can be honest with yourself, you can start making different choices!

Audio Lesson: Never Set These Goals Again!

What if you were setting yourself up for failure right from the get-go?

If you’re setting goals the wrong way (like most people), chances are that you’re doing just that! Today’s audio lesson is short and to the point, but it will help you feel more empowered to achieve your goals.

Listen here:

New Video: 6 Devastating Lies Men Are Told

There’s a ton of crap out there on the good ol’ interwebz…

If you’re not careful, you’ll fall victim to a web of lies and terrible advice that is meant to keep you stuck in life… It isn’t always said with bad intentions, you might hear this advice from well-meaning friends and family.

But…

Regardless of the intent, if you follow the advice I cover in this video, your life is gonna go downhill! I know, because I’ve fallen for all 6 of them at some point!

(By the looks of it, there might be an issue with the embed. If it’s not working on your end, click here to watch it on YouTube)

Overcoming Procrastination Today

Let’s talk about getting rid of the pigeon mentality.

What can you do to overcome procrastination today?

Wel…

The obvious answer is to take action (So inspire! Much helpful. Wow!) but that answer doesn’t really help ya, does it? The real question is HOW do you make it simple enough for you take action now?

In order to help overcome procrastination, (at least) 1 of 2 things need to happen:

1. You intensify the desire to achieve the goal or create a more urgent reason for you to take action now.

2. You do something that reduces the fear, uncertainty, dauntingness or complexity of the thing you’re procrastinating on.

Why these two reasons specifically?

This is because procrastination is simply a state where the fear to take action is greater than the desire to succeed. And because of this, we have two levers that we can use.

Let’s tackle each of them in turn:

Increasing Desire & Creating Clarity

The first thing you can do is an exercise called “The Trail of Whys”.

It’s an exercise that is designed to help you dig deep within yourself to discover and use a deep intrinsic motivation. When you find something you connect deeply with on an emotional level, you’ll be way more likely to take action.

Heres how it works:

1. Take out a pen and a piece of paper and write down a goal that you’ve been procrastinating on.

2. Ask yourself “Why is it crucial that I achieve this goal?” and write down the answer.

3. Look at the answer you’ve given and then ask the same question again: “Why is [insert answer] important to me?”. And write down your answer.

4. Ask the same question about your new answer. Continue this process until you’ve done at least 5 layers of “Why?” questions. You can go deeper if you like.

5. Continue this process until you’ve gotten to the core. You know you’re there when you get emotional about your answer and the thoughts going through your mind.

This video gives an example of how this process works:

Decreasing Fear

The other lever is decreasing fear of taking action.

Two of the primary causes of procrastination are the fears of failure and the unknown. Today’s audio lesson covers how to set input-related goals, which helps a lot! If you haven’t already, go and listen to that above.

About the fear of the unknown:

New goals are scary, because in order to achieve something that you’ve never had, you will have to do things that you have never done. You’ve got a path ahead of you that’s long and hard (giggity).

Here’s what to do:

Forget about elaborate plans and HOW you’ll achieve your goal!

Right now, I want to ask you one simple question:

What is something you can do right now that helps you achieve this?

Don’t overthink your answer! It doesn’t need to be a big thing, it can be a tiny action step. Even if it’s not the “best move” on the chessboard, that doesn’t matter right now!

The ONLY thing that matters is that it’s a positive action.

Got it?

Then go do that 1 thing right now!

Complexity is the enemy of progress!

You don’t need to know the entire 1012 step plan, you don’t need to project 6 months into the future. You don’t need to have all the skills required today. You don’t need to have ANY of those things.

Right now, all you need to do is count from 5 to 0.

As soon as you get to 0, you get up and you take that first step.

5

4

3

2

1

GO!