Day 5 of saying an affirmation anthem to myself in a mirror at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. Five days. Why? Because I thought it was a good practice and a worthy experiment. I’ve had some goals I’ve been working on over the past five or six months and I’m curious to know if a positive self-talk affirmation practice twice a day will improve my output and/or change my trajectory. I can tell you I keep thinking a non-scripted thought, “I am ready for more challenge.” And also, “Make the most of strong moments by doing strong things.” Again, this is very imperfect work. I know my strength and focus wax and wane and so I have learned enough to know that I shouldn’t downplay the days when I’m feeling poised for a bigger challenge. I think the best thing I can do is get lots of work in on those days in order to send a message to my brain that I like those thoughts and am ready to work when I’m at my best. I think, in the past, I may have felt timid around big energy and motivation because I had the notion that, since it wasn’t guaranteed all the time, I shouldn’t set a precedent of crushing it if I couldn’t promise crushing it wouldn’t just up and clock out and hand the reigns over to Netflix.
But Momentum is messy and yes it is so messy. Leah, my coach, loves space exploration and I think she said she went to Space Camp twice as a kid. She told me once that in flight training, if something was going wrong in the cockpit, pilots were instructed to press all the buttons, do everything, keep moving in order to find a solution because freezing up seals the deal on not finding a solution AKA crashing. I like that image of frantic movement and action in order to give the brain momentum to discover a solution. That resonates with me.
And so messy momentum it is. What I love about those two words together is how they point to imperfection and movement in spite of the imperfection. Weird half-ass/full-ass/no ass steps do, in fact, lead to more of those kinds of steps and then, all of a sudden, “doing it anyway” gets easier and easier and the judgment around HOW you do it gets less and less. And here’s another bonus: my brain (perhaps your’s too) can be something of a forgetful Franny and so it’s a lesson that needs learning over and over again.
Today I’m going to lean into “I’m ready for more challenge.” Tomorrow, if I wake up with a different energy, perhaps not at my best, I am going to think of something kind, true and helpful that will allow me to experience success and motivation from that attitude as well. See you tomorrow. High five on day 5. I do think 30 days of this is really going to grant me deeper commitment to what I want the most.