TGIM: Out of Focus

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
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tl;dr Instead of focusing on delayed gratification, fixate on anticipating something of greater value.
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Happy Tuesday to my wonderful TGIM community! The goal of the newsletter being on Mondays is to have something to look forward to when the rest of the world spreads dread. And although I didn’t get this out before midnight, hopefully, this serves you well at the beginning of the week. Before diving into the meat and potatoes this week, I’d like to highlight an important point.
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I could easily say I didn’t have time to do this on Monday. I could tell you how I was putting a chest tube in a patient and an arterial line in another patient at work. I could tell you how I “had” to go to the gym and meal prep before my shifts this week. I could blame the conference I went to this weekend, and how I was so short on sleep that I had to catch up this morning.
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But all of that would be BS.

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Because I didn’t have to do any of that. I chose to prioritize those things.
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And it might sound like a silly distinction to make, but it drives me absolutely BONKERS when people say they don’t have time or complain about not having enough hours in the day (we’re all guilty of it).

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The day is PLENTY FULL of hours, you just choose how you prioritize them.

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And I chose to prioritize my workout, meal prep, sleep, and patients before sitting down to work on the newsletter, and that’s 100% my fault.
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Next time you catch yourself saying you didn’t have time, be honest. You had time. You just didn’t prioritize appropriately.
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Now that’s out of the way, the main energy for this newsletter is changing your mindset around delayed gratification.
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The book I’m currently reading, “Three Simple Steps,” talks a lot about not focusing on the things you don’t want and instead fixating on what you do want. You know when you’re learning how to drive and the instructor tells you not to look at something distracting because you’ll end up drifting towards it? Similarly, the author Trevor Blake argues that if you keep harping on what you no longer want, you will continue to get the same unwanted results.

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For example, if you don’t want to keep overeating, stop focusing on the overeating. The message continues to seed in your brain until, what do you know, you’re overeating again. Instead, you can picture that you are the person who makes choices that feel good for your body and eat in a way that makes you feel satisfied and not sick. By keeping the goal in mind, you will drift towards that instead of the distracting image in the rearview mirror.

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So instead of constantly thinking about the goal of delaying gratification, you can shift your gaze towards the thing of greater value. Keeping your attention on that goal will keep you feeling empowered and motivated instead of restricted and defeated.

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If your goal is to save money, you probably try to decrease your spending. But limiting your spending as a goal is restrictive and can give you that internal angsty feeling. Instead, think about the retirement account you will be able to live on or the big wedding you’re saving up for. The money you save now will result in these opportunities of greater value, and keeping your thoughts on that will leave you excited in the moment instead of defeated.
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While negative motivation is a powerful reminder, it often leads you to spin in circles. Positive motivation propels you in the long term and keeps you drifting in the right direction.

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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.

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This week, my podcast recommendation is new from Science Vs. “Does Tylenol Cause Autism?”

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With that, email me back and let me know how you will change your perspective to focus on your goal of greater value rather than delaying gratification.
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Until next time,
Shannon