379 The Work Is My Reward | January 2018 Sunday Week 3

Smiling Sundays - #370 January 14th The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast The Work Is My Reward “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” ~Napoleon Hill Now be honest, when you first saw this affirmation you were disappointed…you were like nu-uh… I don’t find the reward in the work…maybe you even cringed a little on seeing this. Work, effort, putting in the time to do something gets a bad rap. We look at the challenge ahead as punishment because we want to be at the end of a task right away, and we want the reward as quickly as possible. But getting the reward too quickly makes us not respect it as much then, and it puts a false sense of expectation upon ourselves—that the end reward, is the only reason we’re doing something. My original reason for starting a podcast was the reason that kept me stuck. I heard people were making money from them, and so I figured I could find a way to make money doing it too. And that’s not a bad reason for wanting to do something, we all have to make a living somehow…but money has never been a motivator for me. And so, I spent years wanting to do a podcast and make a bigger impact with my time…but I spent so much time telling myself I didn’t know how to do it, that I didn’t know if it would be worth my time since I might not make money from doing it…and so I kept waiting, talking myself out of why I couldn’t…until one day I just decided to leap. I said to myself, “if you never make any money off of this, even if no one listens…that’s ok because I want to make it my mission to put value out into the world. And so I lept, I took action and decided to commit to putting out a podcast daily no matter what happened. I just had to get crystal clear on what my mission was, to bring value into the world, even if I got laughed at for not being good enough…and that’s what helped me to overcome my fears of making mistakes or not being good enough. In fact, I had to launch, to make mistakes, so I could get feedback and create a better experience for listeners. And I’m still tweaking it and learning…and doubting myself from time to time At the time I knew it would be work, but I didn’t know how much. I originally was going to do it five days a week from Monday to Friday, but in my head I said… “wouldn’t it be cool if you had 365 days instead of 261?” And again I jumped and decided to commit to the work no matter what. Every week, I still get nervous if I can tell something new, or I get fearful thinking that I’ve run out of stories to share about my life…but the truth of the matter is, even if I tell similar stories or give the same message from time to time…it’s going as it should be. Everything I’m speaking of…is needed. And not because I’m saying that I’m important in how I craft the message, but more that we need to continually hear the subjects I’m speaking on. The subjects of mindfulness, of where we put our attention, or knowing that we are the ones in control of our lives, or that blame keeps us powerless, and many other deeper messages. We need these messages told to us…over and over again. It’s like prayer. When things are going great, it’s easy for me to not to pray much, if at all, as I can take things for granted. And so I can be harder on myself saying you know better, you know this already…but while we do know what we need to do…we still need to keep reminding ourselves of what we want in our lives because it’s so easy to forget sometimes. So with rewards, I know I need to keep reminding myself that the happiness wasn’t in obtaining the thing, the joy wasn’t in getting to the end…but the reward was being awake during the work. It’s like going on a hike. I live by the Smokey Mountains here in eastern Tennessee, and when I go hiking I’ve noticed how my eyes are more on the ground. I do it because I don’t want to misstep on my climb. While it’s partly due to safety, it’s also due to finding the quickest way to the top and then back down. I’ve forgotten that the whole reason for the climb was to enjoy the beauty along the way, not only at the top. I’ve said this quote many times, but it needs to be said again… “be careful of having your eyes so focused on the end goal that you miss the things along the way.” The best parts of the hike weren’t in only getting to the top to see that beautiful view…but it was looking the whole time I was climbing…because that was equally as beautiful as well. We are a society focused on goals, achievements, and on obtaining things. We’ve gotten used to telling ourselves the lie that the reward was in getting to the end of something…and while that is ONE reward…it’s not the whole reward. The greatest times in my life were when I had to climb, when I struggled and was tested; when I wasn’t sure how I would make it, but I believed in something more, I believed more in myself and found a way to be more creative to keep me from staying stuck; and the greatest times in my life were when I learned to let my mind be still within the moment…and take it in. There’s something beautiful about industriousness, in the work we push ourselves towards. There’s something beautiful in the sweat we pore from our bodies in moving forward no matter what the costs, there’s something amazing in the transformations that happen along the way of our journeys…and not because we focused solely on the reward…but we saw the reward in every part of the journey. Today’s Personal Commitment:What reward are you focused on right now? What journey are you taking at this moment? And are you enjoying each footstep in your journey…or only mesmerized by the gold at the end of your journey? Today, no matter how crappy you think the tasks are on your desk I’m going to ask you to transform how you see them. So think about what you have to do today and ask yourself: How you can talk about them differently How you can think about them differently And how you can go about them differently. Sometimes the easiest way to happiness is not in changing your path, but in knowing you were the one deciding whether to love your path or to hate and fight every step along the way. You are the one in control, not the task, not your boss, and not anything outside of yourself. Find joy in knowing that you are free. That you are free to choose where to focus. So, will you be so hell-bent on reaching the end that you miss all the beauty along the way, or will you find a way to know the rewards are in the work. And on a final note, I was part of a reality TV show on MTV called I Used To Be Fat. And no I didn’t name the show… I think they wanted to get a shock factor for marketing purposes, so forgive me for the harsh name of the show. But the reason I’m bringing this up is the gal I worked with, Holly, we climbed a trail called the Chimney Tops in the Smokey Mountains. I’ll place a minute clip from the episode on my site of us climbing that trail. And in the clip it’s so easy to miss all the beauty along the way trying to reach the top. One thing that they didn’t tell you in this scene is I gave Holly my backpack that I filled with rocks and sand to challenge her more. Yes, I am that mean. The thing I wanted to help Holly do in our journey together was to not focus on the weight loss aspect, but to focus more on the internal change. Because I know that lasting change comes…only when we change from within.  Holly did a great job for all the hard work I put her through, but she struggled a lot with whether she wanted to continue to keep working as hard as I pushed her. And you’ll hear in this clip how we can get so focused on the end goal that we miss the beauty along the way…even myself as I was pushing her to reach the top faster. But we only had so much time that the camera crew could be there, and it was a workout that I wanted to push her, so that’s my excuse for rushing…it’s not because I wasn’t enjoying the beauty along the way. If you want to see the full episode, I know you can buy the it on Amazon.The episode is called Holly and it’s season 2, episode 7 of I Used To Be Fat, and I’m sure you can find it other places too. The Work Is My Reward   Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together, Personal Development Life Coach- Chris O'Hearn Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247     Music by: - Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. - I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide