How To Stop Procrastinating On What’s Important
Yesterday, I did something simple I’ve been thinking about doing for over a year. I rode my bike to the yoga studio where I teach on Monday nights for my 5:30 p.m. class. In theory, this sounds easy because I live only a 5-minute car ride from the studio, and from door to door on bike, it’s 1.66 miles, according to my Garmin.
I’ve been thinking about doing this since I started teaching at this studio over a year ago, after all, I have the perfect commuter bike; the greenway’s not paved yet, but it’s done, so the route keeps me off the busy street, for the most part.
For the last year, I’ve berated myself every time I choose the excuses instead of opting for my bike. My excuses were a wide range of limiting beliefs that were more like little lies I was trying to tell myself. For instance, here are a few of the lies I kept telling myself…
“I don’t want to arrive at the studio sweaty and gross (Really, Alisha? You’re just going to teach and get sweaty and gross).
“You’ll have to leave for yoga so much sooner than you do now, and it will add so much more time.” (In reality, I only left 10 minutes sooner for class than I normally do since I get to the studio pretty early anyway)
“Maybe you can’t ride to yoga because your mat won’t fit in my panniers correctly, you don’t have a bungee cord to anchor it, and it will mess up your balance. (the mat was fine in the panniers)
I had strong reasons for wanting to ride my bike to yoga, like
I don’t need to waste the gas when I have perfectly good legs
It’s great exercise
It’s good for the environment
I feel good when I ride my bike often, I like who I am more
I love the feel of being on my bike, and I prefer it to being in my car
Riding my bike helps me savor the present moment and enjoy life more
Riding a bike feels like the ultimate freedom
So why did it take me more than a year to do this? Honestly, it was a small thing that felt like a huge roadblock. The tires on my commuter bike needed air, and I couldn’t find my pump. The longer I waited to fix this, the bigger a deal this felt like.
What made the difference? What flipped the switch?
It was a little support and encouragement from my partner Philip. He rides his bike everywhere (I want to be more like him). He knows I want to ride more so a few weeks ago he suggested a ride out to the ice cream shop (he knows how to motivate me) and he pumped up my tires. A very very simple fix that could have happened a long time ago.
After that initial ride, I started riding around the neighborhood aimlessly for the fun of it, and then I started short rides to the grocery store near my house. Then yesterday, after a long day in front of the computer working, I decided it was time to stop making excuses.
This is also the power of having a good coach.
Think about what you keep telling yourself you want to do in life, your career, or your business. Do you want to start a podcast, write a book, make a career change, set better boundaries in your personal life, or show up for yourself differently?
Seemingly small roadblocks or limiting beliefs can get in your way, but there is a cost to putting off what you really want to do—the thing you keep telling yourself is important, but you’ll do it another time. Later, someday, another time, all becomes impossible and turns into never without the right support or nudge in the correct direction.
Tell me below about one thing you keep saying you want to do but haven’t done yet.