Change:What are you willing to do every day?

​Many of us will never make the personal changes we'd like to make. Not because we aren't able, but because we aren't willing.

You can blame the brain if you'd like. The neurons that want to connect to form new habits take about 30 days to even think about hanging out together. And they don't connect based on how loud you scream at them to connect today, they connect based on how frequently you show up trying to convince them to connect at all.

I'll use my writing as an example. There was a day when sitting down in the morning to write seemed painful to think about - this is not want I want to do this morning.

Now, even though it isn't a pleasant task every day, not doing it is much more painful to me than doing it.

It's a habit. It's a part of my biology. It's a part of my identity. Not because I wrote a book once, but because I show up to write at least a half hour every day.

I'm a writer not because I can write, but because it's something I'm willing to show up to do at least a little of every day.

That's the big question about change. Many of us start with asking what do I want to do or be. Wrong question. The right question is what am I willing to show up every day to do?

The right question isn't about want, it's about willing.

Unlike the movies where super changes happen because of super powers, in real life super changes happen because of super commitment. In real life big changes don't happen by stepping into a phone booth once, they happen when you show up to the keyboard every day.

They happen when you run a mile every day, not a marathon one Saturday.

They happen when you read a few scriptures in the bible every day. Not when you read a whole chapter once in a while.

They happen when you eat a helping of broccoli every day, not when you eat a whole head of it in one sitting at Easter.

And that head of broccoli, it doesn't pop up over night. It starts with a seed that needs daily attention. Then it becomes something you eat.

It's everywhere in life. The reality that all things that bear fruit don't bear fruit without time. Without a process. Without work and hardship and commitment.

No fruit in life shows up because we want fruit. It shows up because we are willing to be fruitful.

There is some really good news in there. Most of us quit on our change processes because they seem too big. Too daunting. Well they are, mostly because we see the big change as THE change.

But it's not. A big change is actually the result of showing up doing a much smaller thing every day. Something we were once unwilling to do every day. But if you do that, show up, if you're willing to, the day will come when you won't remember how big the change you're currently living out ever seemed or felt.

Today, don't think about the big things you want to do.

Think about the little things you're willing to do every day.