I would like to pay tribute to willpower. It’s the greatest starter human kind has ever known. That ends my tribute.

Willpower may get you to start but it doesn’t have the stamina to get you to finish. Even if it did, your accomplishment would fall apart soon after. Just look at the success rate of Oprah’s diets over the past 30 years, or your own.

This isn’t about dieting; it’s about the ingredient necessary for any long-term change.

That ingredient is awareness.

Most of us are not aware even though awareness is in abundant supply. Awareness gets crowded out by thinking. When we are thinking, we are unaware. Thinking may lead us to willpower and that gets us to start. That’s a good thing. But when we stay in thinking mode, we miss out on the awareness required to finish.

Awareness is noticing and sensing without thinking. It’s separate and apart from thinking. Awareness can cause you to think new things, but thinking will not lead you to awareness. It will take you in the opposite direction.

Animals are aware. Take the elephants that head to higher ground when they sense (become aware) of a tsunami well before it’s picked up by the well thought out measuring instruments made by man.

Animals also don’t have willpower. You won’t see a dog just start to chase a rabbit. He’ll go until he can’t go anymore or comes back with bunny on his breath.

Becoming more aware will get you to finish more often.

One thing to become more aware of are your gut feelings. They arrive without thought. Feeling those sensation doesn’t require thinking. In fact, thinking waters down the raw sensation. We do back and forth assessments in our head about what the feeling means. That conversation may lead you to start something but if it continues, you’ll never finish. You’ll be caught up in thinking.

Awareness will lead you to more AH-HAs; thinking will make you more unaware.

Become more aware of your body and what it’s sensing. Begin to pay more attention to your “here and now” sensing apparatus know as your body. It dances circles around your thinking and will lead you to more “common sense” starts that don’t rely on willpower to finish.

All the best,

John