It takes Great Effort to be Effortless

Sometimes a reoccurring theme or saying comes my way, day after day, several times a day; for a couple of weeks like a neon sign I need to pay attention to!

This past week + it has been...”it takes great effort, for something to become effortless”.  

How often do we look at the successful business person wishing we had it that easy?  You watch them having a long lunch, enjoying weekend getaways with friends and family and you wonder “why they have it so easy…why isn’t my life that easy”?  What we might not realize is that for the first 10 years of their career they worked 12+ hour days, 6 days a week and had no social life just to get their foot in the door.  Or the times they had to decline weekend retreats in order to save money.    You see, they put in a great deal of effort, so now  their life might be a little more effortless.

How about the person who seems to have so many friends and be in the “perfect relationship”; yet what you may not know is this person has spent thoughtful hours understanding relationship dynamics, surviving heart breaks, learning from them and being open to new ideas and opinions.  This person’s willingness to put great effort into their encounters has reaped many effortless friendships.

Then there’s the person who is fit, strong and lean.  You might think “they have great genetics” or “they have so much more time on their hands to workout, no wonder they are fit”…  But what we haven’t seen is for years, these fit folks would decline nights out in order to grocery shop for the week’s healthy foods and get their workouts in.  These folks would get up out of bed when they were sore in order to stretch and get their bodies ready.  They put in great effort so now their routines are seamless and a little more effortless.

Right now I am in the middle of a “no desserts/sweets challenge” until January 2nd 2014.  This is my 6th year of doing this.  There are about 50 or so others doing this along with me.  Some are going through the day after Thanksgiving, some the day after Christmas and some along with me until January 2nd.  I started doing this because I for one was addicted to sugar and I felt less than stellar; and the Holidays were especially tempting.  I found myself tempted constantly and ate more sugar than what felt good or was healthy for me.   So, I took on the challenge and invited anyone to ride along.  Most people thought I was crazy.  I admit, the first 2 years were hard and I got grumpy and thought of devious ways I could cheat!  Finally, in year 3, it became easier and I looked forward to it.  In year 4, I made it to March without sweets and in year 5, all the way through May.  It wasn’t that I wanted to torture myself…I just found that without desserts as a main focus in my life I made much better choices in my diet and felt so much better.  I actually enjoy not having desserts!  (shocking, I know!) My family history is one with diabetes and it is one I want and will avoid.  You see, all of my effort I put in to resist sweets is now effortless.  (note…I lived on sugar until my early 30’s!)  This is my battle, or was, but as someone might watch me eat healthy and say “no thanks” to desserts now, it seems as though it’s so easy for me…and it is most of the time…but not without great effort several years back.    I still have desserts occasionally and love them in those random times…but the sugar no longer controls me.

We all have those one or two “things” which seem to overwhelm us and we wish is was easy to change.  I propose the question to ask yourself is “are you putting in effort so that one day this can be effortless”?  What have others done who seem to have a handle on this issue and how did it become effortless to them?

Take some time to really look at what you might be struggling through and see if there’s  a way through your own effort you can eventually create a non issue with this and live in ease and effortlessness!