Have you ever thought to yourself, “I  know what to do, I’m just not doing it?”

You have all these dreams and goal and things you want to do, and you try to achieve them, but you just can’t seem get motivated or stay motivated?

Any of these sound familiar?

Why can’t I eat what I’ve planned?

Why don’t I stick to my calendar?

Why am I still drinking or eating this even though I promised myself I was going to cut back?

Or maybe you do good for a long time but then you slack off a bit.

You’re doing great on your diet but then you “fall off the wagon” and now you just can’t seem to stay motivated.

Or you’ve been really good at working out and now suddenly you’re finding yourself in front of the TV instead of at the gym.

It all comes down to the same answer:

The reason you’re not taking action is because of a thought in your mind.

That’s it!

What? Yes, stick with me here.

The reason you do or don’t do anything is because of a feeling.

So technically, we could say the reason you’re not taking action because of a thought and a feeling.

I call this the THINK, FEEL, DO Cycle.

THE THINK, FEEL, DO CYCLE

Here’s how it works:

You have a circumstance, something that happens outside in the world, maybe it’s happening currently or maybe it’s something that has happened in the past.

These are things that are outside of your immediate control.

For example, the weather, your appearance, your weight, your body, your relationship, your job, what other people say or do, etc.

All these things you do not have immediate control over. They just are. They’re the facts of life.

Our circumstances are neutral until you give them meaning by thinking a thought about them.

There are 1000’s of thoughts you can choose to think at any given moment.

Each one will give a different meaning to the circumstance.

As soon as you think a thought, your body releases a chemical that vibrates through your body.

This is what you are feeling and also why we call them a feeling.

So, our thoughts create our feelings.

And as I stated at the very beginning, everything you do or don’t do is because of a feeling.

You tend to want only “positive” feelings and to avoid ones you would label as “negative”.

For example:

You step on the scale and the number on the scale said 275 pounds.

That number is neutral.

It doesn’t mean anything until you give it meaning with a thought.

Maybe you’re trying to lose weight and you used to weigh 300 pounds.

If this is the case, your thought about that number might be “This is awesome”.

But if you used to weight 140 and you see that number on the scale, you’ll probably have a very different thought, like “I’ve really let myself go.”

This is what I mean by a circumstance is neutral.

It means nothing until you give it perspective with a thought.

And there are tons of thoughts you can choose from.

And we get to CHOOSE every single one of them.

No one is holding a gun up to our head telling us we MUST think this way.

As soon as you think a thought, it’s going to release a chemical into your body that you’ll feel it vibrating around.

Again, this is why they are called feelings because you can literally feel them. So cool! Right?

A feeling is a one-word emotion – happy, sad, excited, worried, overwhelmed, desire. There are 100’s of them.

Our feelings drive all of our actions (or in this case, our inactions)

So many people think that our actions just mysteriously happen, but they are always driven by a feeling.

If you’re feeling defeated because of your thought “I’ve really let myself go”, your actions are probably going to look more like inactions, sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, and/or you might eat a Twinkie to make yourself feel better.

You know what you want to do to lose weight, but of course you’re never going to feel motivated to do any of it when you’re feeling defeated because of a thought you’re choosing to think.

All the things you do or don’t do create your result.

In this example, you’ll probably create the result of losing more weight.

That is the THINK FEEL DO cycle.

If you aren’t currently taking the actions you want to be taking, it’s because of your current thinking.

Find out what that thinking is, and you’ll find the feeling.

Find the feeling and you’ll know why you’re not taking action.

Alright if you know it’s a thought that is the reason, you’re not taking action, then

All you need to do TO take action is to change your thinking.

How do you do this?

The first step is always awareness.

You have to first pay attention to your thoughts.

It’s really helpful to grab a piece of paper and spend a few minutes witnessing yourself think.

You do this by writing down all the thoughts you recognize.

This way you can see them.

Then pick a thought or two and take it through the THINK FEEL DO CYCLE

When I think this  ___________________,

I feel this ______________________,

And when I feel this, I do this___________________.

Now you know exactly what’s going on!

Now it time figure out what we want to be thinking instead that’s going to drive the actions we want to take.

Ready?

We do this by working the THINK FEEL DO CYCLE backwards.

Ask yourself, “What actions I want to be taking?”

Make a nice long list.

Then ask yourself, “How will I feel once I’ve taken these actions or once I’ve accomplished my goal?”

The feeling you come up with is the feeling you need to feel in order to drive your actions.

This is the feeling that is going to motivate you to do what you say you’re going to do or what you want to do, and it’s available to you right now.

All that’s left to do is come up with a thought that creates that particular feeling for you.

Find the thought, feel the feeling, take the action.

Let’s recap.

The reason you aren’t taking action is because of a thought. That thought is stalling you because of the feeling it creates.

All you need to do TO take action is to work the THINK FEEL DO cycle backwards.

You do this by asking yourself what actions do you want to be taking, how will you feel once you’ve taken those actions or how will you feel once you’ve accomplished your goal. The feeling you come up with is the feeling you need to feel to drive the actions you want to be taking.

That’s the feeling that is going to motivate you into doing what you want to do, and remember it is totally 100% available to you right not.

All you have to do to create that feeling is to come up with a thought that creates that feeling for you.

Find the thought, feel the feeling, take the action.

I guarantee it will work every time!

If you would like some help incorporating the THINK FEEL DO CYCLE, you can do so HERE or HERE