Hi everyone, It's Carli Taylor for this week's Mojo Monday. So before a start, I just wanted to mention the weather in Melbourne. It has been incredible lately. It is May, we are in mid May and we're still walking around in tank tops and t shirts. We are still soaking up the sunshine. I was just yesterday I had the warmth of the sun on my back and it was just it was just beautiful. It's almost like we've borrowed
a week from summer. But I just also with that, like so many things in life, this there's this tension. So this sunshine holds this kind of tension because while we're enjoying the warmth and the beautiful days and the blue skies, we also have to think about our farmers, particularly in Victoria, and what this lack of rain means for them. So they're having the same experience of these beautiful days, but it has a very different impact on them.
So it's really a reminder that life is rarely one thing. Okay, we have our perspective of our experience and it's full of contrast. It's full of mixed feelings and competing truths, and so that kind of maybe in a roundabout way brings me to the topic of this week's Mojo Monday. It's not about the weather. I actually want to talk about willpower. So willpower can be our fuel for being disciplined.
So it provides us energy and motivation to resist short term comfort, short term temptations and distractions, and it allows us to focus on more on long term goals and maintain a consistent approach. But so many of us struggle with willpower because most of us already know what we
should be doing. So we should be getting up earlier, we should be exercising more, we should be eating better, we should stop scrolling, we should start the project, we should pay that bill, we should clean up the house. We know what we should be doing that knowing isn't doing. And this is where there's this tension inside of us.
There's a kind of tug of war going on. There's a part that's clear and focus and even wise might not feel like it, but we do have this wise part of us that knows what we should be doing. And that's the one that sees the big picture and knows exactly what we need to do or what we need to do to move forward. And then there's this other part. This one is a master at coming up with reasons why today isn't the day. And I'm sure that sounds familiar for many people out there. It's not now,
not yet, maybe later, I'll do it tomorrow. So we tell ourselves we're waiting for something. So maybe we're waiting for more time or more motivation, we're waiting to feel like doing it, or we need a clearer path, or we're waiting for the perfect conditions. But the reality of this is that life doesn't deal in perfect conditions. Life deals in messiness and it deals intentions. Life is really messy.
And I've got really clear on this recently. We will never have a we will never have the perfect conditions, we will never be completely safe. We will always be confronted with various levels of pain and discomfort. And the reality is there will always be a tension between what we want and what we actually do. So the tension between comfort and growth, the tension between the safety of the known and the uncertainty around putting ourselves out there and taking the risks we need to take in order
to grow. And it's within that tension that we have a choice. And I think this is where awareness. Self awareness comes in because often we feel like we don't have a choice. But that choice is not going to be a perfect one and it's not going to be pain free, but it's a real choice. So you can start, even if it's messy, even if it's tiny. You can edge your way forward, one uncomfortable inch at a time.
So here's the reflection for this week. Ask yourself, what is the payoff of not staf what's the hidden cost of that? And then what is the payoff of starting even if it's just small, even if it's just five minutes a day, And if things stay exactly as they are, what are the consequences in say six months time or a year or six years. So that leads to your future self. What does your future self need you to do right now? Not to feel better, but to be better?
And I use this all the time now I consider the needs of my future self and I find this so motivating. It motivates me and it's like filling me up with the willpower because my future self, whether that's the near future like tomorrow or next week, or whether it's six months or six years, will be the result of what I do now. So Donald Robertson, who pull's hat on the podcast a couple of times. He's a psychotherapist and here for expert in stoic philosophy. But he
said something years ago which I love. He says, get out of the library, something like this. I don't have the exact quote, but it's get out of the library and become a warrior of action. And I just love that because you think about it, we are consuming knowledge all the time. We're coming up with ideas, we have these fantasies about what the future looks like. We actually need to embody those. We need to close that gap
between the knowing and the doing. And yes, there is no denying that that can be super uncomfortable, but so will staying stuck. So will stay in your comfort zone. So there is that cliched saying which I've heard many times before, but I'm going to say, You've got to choose your discomfort. So I hope that has been valuable for you. If there is something that you know, you need to get started on a small step, a small step towards whatever it is that needs doing, and take
that today. Because as soon as you take that first step, just notice you're going to get this little dose of motivation and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, the wheel power is going to kick in. So thanks everybody for joining me this week. Have a great week everyone, and I will catch you next Monday.