Episode Transcript
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0:46
Something that I've noticed the derails a lot of people's goals
0:50
or attempts to form new habits.
0:53
Is the feeling that it's pointless to even try.
0:56
If it feels like it won't matter if you do anything, why would you try.
1:01
So when people feel like this, they usually give up.
1:04
And it's a pretty understandable. But what if we want to break through that barrier, then the opportunity
1:11
here is to learn how to work with these feelings of pointlessness.
1:16
If we can find a way to feel empowered when things feel pointless.
1:20
A whole new range of possibilities open for up, open up for us,
1:24
including the possibility of moving through the most difficult parts
1:28
of a project or a habit change.
1:32
What would it be like if you worked with the desire to give up when
1:35
things felt hard and pointless? Let's look at how to recognize the feeling of pointlessness and then how you might
1:44
work with it to create something new.
1:48
So, how do we recognize feelings of pointlessness?
1:52
It can be difficult to recognize this stumbling block.
1:56
So let's look at some common ways.
1:58
Uh, of what it might look like in your life.
2:02
You missed a few days of a new habit. Maybe it's a workout meditation journaling.
2:07
And you feel discouraged and you want to give up.
2:10
The reason is the feeling of pointlessness. Ah, I know I'm never going to get this.
2:15
I suck. I can't do it. You think no one is going to care.
2:21
You want to write a book or blog for example, but you have the feeling that
2:26
you're writing it and no one will read it. That feels pointless.
2:31
So you might not even try. You want to sign up for something that could change your life?
2:36
Maybe it's a new course. Maybe it's some coaching or a mastermind group, for example.
2:42
But you think you won't actually pour yourself into it.
2:46
So. You won't get value out of it.
2:49
What's the point. If I'm not even going to show up for it.
2:54
You feel overwhelmed by the huge pile of tasks, clutter email in front of you.
3:00
And you feel like you can't tackle all of it, so you don't even start.
3:05
It feels like too much, like something you can handle.
3:09
So it feels pointless to even try. Every time you give your best effort, things return back to where they were.
3:18
No matter how hard I try things just end up the same way.
3:22
So you just give up. Or you feel like you have the same conversation with someone and
3:29
it's just not getting anywhere. It's frustrating.
3:32
Because you're going around in circles. It's pointless to even try with this person.
3:37
So it's best to just exit. Fire them quit breakup.
3:41
Ghost them. You were giving your best effort and then you got derailed by
3:47
something out of your control. Maybe you got injured, maybe you got sick.
3:52
Maybe it was someone else's mistakes or crisis or world events, a pandemic.
3:57
Why even try. You feel lost in the unknown?
4:03
It's better to stick with what, you know. Or you're so far behind with bills that it feels impossible to catch up.
4:10
So you ignore them. You can see in all of these situations.
4:16
That it applies to just about everything in life.
4:20
Wanting to meditate. Date, declutter exercise.
4:23
Get out of debt, create something meaningful.
4:26
Build an amazing team. This feeling of pointlessness stops us on all fronts.
4:33
But it's time to take it on. How do we do that?
4:37
How do we work with that struggle?
4:41
There's nothing wrong with feeling pointless, the feeling of pointlessness
4:46
at times, it's it's human feeling. It's human nature.
4:50
The difficulty comes when we believe it and we make it mean something.
4:55
So my encouragement is to make it mean nothing other than it's
5:00
just how it feels right now. That's meaningful to the extent that we can always care about how we feel.
5:09
I feel sad, lonely, uplifted, curious, playful, angry.
5:15
They matter, but they're not the entire world.
5:20
Feel the feeling, give it some compassion.
5:25
Breathe. So we have to take it head on just like we talked about in the last episode.
5:33
Then we've got to find a way to feel more empowered.
5:37
Missing one or two days is just an expected part of the
5:40
process of learning and growth. Messiness is a part of life.
5:45
Something beautiful to love and embrace.
5:49
This coming from a perfectionist. If no one will read a single word of my writing, would there still be something
5:56
powerful for me in the writing process?
6:01
If I keep ending up in the same place, is there something for me to look at here?
6:06
Something that I could learn from it? Would that make these repeated attempts valuable to me, if I learned something.
6:16
If I keep failing to finish a course or a program.
6:20
Is there an opportunity to shift something?
6:24
To shift, maybe change gears to something that would be more powerful for me.
6:29
What would it look like if I changed this pattern forever?
6:33
Could I let myself be curious when I'm lost in the unknown.
6:38
If I'm far behind, could I focus just on taking the next step?
6:45
If I have a mountain of tasks. Could I love the activity of climbing that mountain.
6:50
Could I find joy in each step.
6:54
What would it look like to find meaning in the place that feels pointless?
7:00
Let me know what things that you feel are hard and pointless for you right now.
7:07
Maybe we can tackle these together.
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