Stop Struggling with Your Nature: How to Be Productive, Profitable, and Happy
(Written by guest contributor Ray Edwards)
Have you ever noticed that over the years, you tend to do pretty much the same things? If you’re a reader, you remain one; if you’re a writer, you tend to write; if you’re a procrastinator, you tend to keep procrastinating, and so forth.
I think one of the real tricks of success is to simply recognize the things you tend to do, and then find ways to make those tendencies support your success. In fact, I think most people are miserable because they fail to do just that. Instead of working with their tendencies in order to succeed (almost effortlessly), they identify their tendencies as problems and vow to change.
That, my friend, is called swimming against the current. And while you may get credit for working your tail off while doing it, you’re not going to make much progress relative to the shoreline.
Case in point: I am an info-addict. For the longest time, I was worried about it. I struggled against it. I read books about it. I read articles about it. I listened to self-help material about it. See the irony?
One day, I stumbled across an article by Dan Kennedy in which he detailed his work habits, and I was shocked to discover that they were identical to mine. Dan saw it not as a weakness to be changed, but rather as a strength to be nurtured.
That changed my life. It gave me a way to stop fighting my natural tendencies and to embrace the way God made me. Processing large quantities of unrelated information allows me to form connections between ideas, concepts, and methods that I would miss out on if I limited my information intake. So now I structure my work and my routine in such a way that my behavior in this regard is strengthened, reinforced, and nurtured — and then put to profitable use in my writing. I channel that stream of information so that it’s not wasted.
In the same way, if you find yourself fighting the same old battles (chronic lateness, procrastination, forgetfulness), you’ve probably unwittingly been holding yourself back by resisting your own gifts. Why not look for a way to turn the tendency into an asset? Just because certain tendencies, behaviors, and attitudes are not “acceptable” in one context does not mean those qualities are “bad.” It simply means – at least in my experience – that you need to find a different context! (Of course we’re not talking about behaviors that are illegal, immoral, and unethical. Anything that falls into those three categories should be jettisoned from your life.)
Take a moment to think about this…
In what ways could your “limiting tendencies” become strengths?
How could you rearrange your life to make it so?
If you can find positive, proactive ways to answer those questions, then you just might be able to stop fighting your nature and find yourself more productive, profitable, and happy.
