2 Simple Mantras That Will Crush Your Indecision and Anxiety

Life Lessons From a Couple of Unlikely Mentors

Question: How do you take positive action when there are no immediate consequences for taking negative actions or for not taking any action at all?

Think for a moment: why did you graduate high school?

You could also ask, why do you come to work every day and do your job?

Or how about this: why do you take the speed limit into account when you’re driving?

The likely answer…

Immediate Consequences

You don’t graduate high school, you’re less likely to get a job you want, which means less money, which means fewer options.

Don’t show up for work or do your work sufficiently? You lose your job, lose your money, you lose the things that money allows you to have.

Drive way over the speed limit, you get a ticket or in extreme cases, you get arrested.

Okay, Now Think About This

Why do you continue eat poorly and skip workouts?

That toxic relationship you had — why are you bringing it into your current relationship?

Why are you being indecisive? Insecure? Non-committal? Irritable?

The answer of course is…

Most Consequences In Life Are Delayed

And though they take time to reveal themselves, the seeds of these consequences are germinating in the meanwhile.

Underlying currents of self-loathing, self-judgement, anxiety, fear gradually corrode our confidence, happiness and peace of mind like battery acid long before we realize the external consequences.

Now, in some some instances, individuals need professional help to work through their traumas.

But for many folks — myself included — what we need isn’t someone to listen to us. To combat our bad habits, we don’t need to explain them any further or to be understood.

No, what we need is for us to give ourselves a swift kick in the ass.

What we need isn’t to ask more questions. What we need is to be our own drill instructor, our own Pai Mei, our own Mr. Miyagi.

What we need is to be our own Shia LaBeouf? Our own Bob Newhart?

Whaaaaaat?

That’s right.

What we need is to simply…

“STOP IT” and “DO IT”

I love this video.

It’s ridiculous.

He’s ridiculous.

But at the same time, I admire him. He gets to the point. No hand holding. No bullshit.

(And when was the last time you were ridiculous and didn’t care what people thought?)

Here’s the other video.

These examples are silly. But comedy is based on truth.

So if you react to them with cynicism or dismiss them for being trite — if you feel even a sliver of defensiveness rise up in you or you’re offended just a little, it may be an indicator that you know they’re right.

Because no matter what your opinion, you can’t deny that if you 100% followed through on these two phrases, they would cure your issues of indecision and the consequences that follow.

Addressing your demons is often a long journey. And you may need more than just four words to abolish them. But remember that delayed consequences will eventually be immediate consequences.

So any time you feel yourself doing or thinking something you know you don’t want to, recalling these two phrases can prove quite useful.

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This article is Day 1 of the 30-Day Fishbowl Series

You can start the series by clicking HERE.