{"id":1737,"date":"2013-02-14T13:50:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T21:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the365effect.com\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2017-02-14T15:15:24","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T23:15:24","slug":"5-key-strategies-to-strengthen-your-backbone-and-not-your-wishbone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the365effect.com\/5-key-strategies-to-strengthen-your-backbone-and-not-your-wishbone\/","title":{"rendered":"5 key strategies to strengthen your BACKBONE and not your wishbone"},"content":{"rendered":"
Everyone’s heard the idiom “The straw that broke the camels back” but have you ever thought about how that applies to your own life? What are your strategies for strengthening your backbone?<\/p>\n
The idiom is from an Arabic proverb about how a camel is loaded beyond its capacity to move or stand.\u00a0 The inconsequential addition of a single straw (the final straw) is the process that causes failure or the broken back.<\/p>\n
What is it about those “Final Straws” and how come there always seems to be so many of them?<\/strong><\/p>\n Here’s a question to think about\u00a0 – Are the same straws breaking your back over and over again no matter what you’ve loaded up?<\/p>\n When thinking about today’s post I reflected back on my The 365 Effect journey.\u00a0 I started The 365 Effect in 2009 and at that point I’d no idea what I was getting myself into.\u00a0 I didn’t have a plan, a language or a process outlined for the HOW I was going to finish off this year-long commitment.\u00a0 All I knew was this:<\/p>\n That’s it.\u00a0 That was all I knew going into my first The 365 Effect back in 2009.\u00a0 I can tell you right now the amount of “Straw” that I carried at times, especially in the first 4 months was staggering.\u00a0 I was presented with so many different breaking points that at times I didn’t know what to do.<\/p>\n What I did know though was that it was only going to be my RESOLVE and my DISCIPLINE that got me to the end\u00a0 of my 365 days.\u00a0 I couldn’t wish<\/strong><\/em> for things to be different or to change in those moments of inner turmoil.\u00a0 My backbone needed to be strong.<\/p>\n It takes daily commitment and action to master anything.\u00a0 You will find your “Straws” over the course of 365 days of daily commitment and action.\u00a0 In fact you will find many, but in finding them you will learn how to NOT let them break your back (your focus, your vision, your honor, your will etc).<\/p>\n Chart your daily course of action.\u00a0 There isn’t a ship in the world that puts out to see without some sort of navigational aid.\u00a0 You must schedule your days and maximize your most effective times and energy cycles.\u00a0 If your body in the morning feels like the “Tin Man” from the Wizard of Oz don’t try to plan your workouts then – schedule them in at the best time of the day for you.\u00a0 I love this image of Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule and am personally trying to plan each day with this model in mind.<\/p>\n We carry around way to much BS.\u00a0 Everyday we ingest more and more crap from the external world.\u00a0 News media, gossip, workplace posturing, negative self thoughts and the list goes on and on.\u00a0 We fill ourselves up with it, so much so that we are left without room to do all the amazing stuff we hope to accomplish in a day.\u00a0 A good read is one of the principles of The 365 Effect called Backpack Thinking<\/a>.\u00a0 In essence, it simply means don’t try to carry EVERYTHING around with you at all times.\u00a0 There are times when you need to bring more stuff to the table and have more resources at your disposal but for the most part you have to “unclip” that invisible backpack that hangs from your shoulders once in a while.\u00a0 Even more important is to take stock of what you’re carrying around and check to see if it even has relevance in your life anymore.<\/p>\n Ever bitten off more than you can chew?\u00a0 Of course you have but what did you do next?\u00a0 You most likely reassessed and then broke it up into smaller more manageable pieces.\u00a0 It’s something that we tend to do without thinking but not something we tend to think about when setting a goal or commitment.\u00a0 People tend to do well in REACTION to biting off more than they can chew (or they crash and burn or crawl up into a ball and hope it will go away) but they rarely start off thinking small.\u00a0 Getting S.A.M.<\/a> on your side takes the “Wishbone” out of the equation right from the beginning.\u00a0 In order to build that strong backbone you must succeed and build a success mentality from the very beginning.\u00a0\u00a0 Pick apart, whittle down and simplify your actions into an “Unable to Fail” commitment that you can’t help but succeed in on a daily basis.<\/p>\n No matter how much of a “Rock Star” you think you are, chances are that you can’t be as big as your want to be on your own.\u00a0 Sure you can go off and make a ton of noise and raise a ruckus but you will never reach your true potential until you ask for help.\u00a0 Help however, can come in many different ways but without mentorship, alliances and insight from those much smarter than you , that “Wishbone” of yours will only get bigger.\u00a0 It takes a strong backbone to ask for help and an even stronger one to help others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00ab\u2666\u00bb<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n As always, I welcome all comments and thoughts.<\/i><\/p>\n If you\u2019re finding \u201cThe 365 Effect Blog” interesting then please\u00a0subscribe to the newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and make sure to\u00a0say hi on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and our FaceBook Group<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n Click on any of the links above to be taken there immediately.<\/i><\/p>\n\n
I was the “Line in the sand”, it began and stopped with me.<\/h1>\n
\"The individual activity of one man with a backbone will do more than\r\na thousand men with a mere wishbone\"\r\nWilliam J. H. Boetcker<\/em><\/pre>\n
5 key strategies I’ve learned while working The 365 Effect<\/em> to strengthen my BACKBONE and not my wishbone<\/h2>\n
1 – Discipline<\/h3>\n
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or \r\nor the pain of regret or disappointment.\r\nJim Rohn<\/pre>\n
<\/a>2 – Schedule<\/h3>\n
\u00a03 – Let GO of negative and non-serving bullshit<\/h3>\n
4 – Simplicity<\/h3>\n
5 – Support<\/h3>\n