I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but I was on a Tony Robbins YouTube binge not too long ago (my job is hella boring, so I need things to listen to while I do it). I had listened to his TED talk and it wasn’t as creepy as I had imagined it would be. I don’t know if he’s for real or not, but I don’t think it matters – as long as you aren’t investing actual money, I suppose. But what happens when you take what he says and PRETEND that it’s real?
I’ve used this method when I’ve had to do something that seems daunting. When I moved with my two daughters from California to New York more than a decade ago, it seemed like an impossible mission. So, a good year before I planned to leave (actually, it wasn’t intentional that it be that long, but September 11 happened and I wanted to see what was coming before moving), I started to play pretend. (Internal monologue) “I’m not necessarily moving, but if I were, what would I need to do today?” Then I did that one thing. Or, “I’m not necessarily moving, but if I were, would buying this thing help or hinder my saving enough money to do it when I plan to?” It helped me to do what I needed to do and make the decisions I needed to make without activating the stasis and procrastination that I’m prone to when I’m faced with a large task. “Pretend” for me here doesn’t imply whether or not something is true; it just means I’m suspending my disbelief and acting as though it’s true without judging if it is or not.
Anyway, I’m brushing off that strategy again right about now and using it to get out of this horrid job, to lose the weight I need to lose, and to shake off the torpor that I’ve worn around me like a heavy velvet blanket.
Back to Tony: In a youtube video called “Greatest Secret Ever” (no hyperbole there, hmmm?), he asks, “What is the single force that controls the quality of your life…what is the one power that you have right now, in this moment, that can change everything? …The power of choice. The one thing that we have in this world, because we can’t control the events, but we can choose what to focus on, we can choose what things mean, and we can choose what to do.” So I’m pretending that this is true. I choose. I’m responsible.
On this blog space, I’m going to follow what I choose. We’ll see how far I get.