Is Compromise Keeping You From Reaching Your Goal?

How often have you thought, or heard someone else say “how did I get this heavy?” or “how did we get here?” I believe the answer often starts with this word: Compromise.

Compromise is a slow process of lowering your standards, and stepping away from your ideal goal, one small decision at a time. Before you know it, you are miles away from where you want to be.

For example, we set out to lose weight and we may even do a great job at managing calories but then we go out with a friend and compromise our diet by either rationalizing that it won’t hurt, convincing ourselves it doesn’t matter, or believing that we deserve it. I think we rarely ask ourselves the question “will this help me get us to our goal or will this take me away from my goal?” Since we never really think twice about it and ‘just do it’, we are constantly pushing our goal further and further away.

Synonyms for various uses of the word compromise: Bargain, settle, negotiate, accommodate, adjust, arrangement, deal, sellout, trade-off, jeopardize, spoil, weaken, endanger. We don’t negotiate with terrorists, so why should we EVER negotiate with the things that kill us or make us unhappy? Yes, FAT makes us unhappy, being unhealthy makes us unhappy, and making poor decisions also makes us unhappy.

Antonyms for compromise: Contest, disagree, dispute, quarrel, differ, guard, protect, save. THESE are the words we should be applying to our standards. We need to disagree with our cravings and desires, we need to guard and protect our body, goals and morals.

We KNOW working out makes us look and feel better, yet we make compromises that keep us from the gym. We KNOW healthy food makes us feel better, yet we make compromises when we face a menu. NO MORE!

Focus on your goal. The road to success is sticking to the map even when the destination is not in sight, knowing if you just keep on track, you WILL get there.

What is your goal, your ideal destination? What do you have to do to get there? Do you feel it will be worth it in the end? Is compromising worth it? Does compromising ever pay off? NO! Honestly, all compromising does is change the place we live for while because we rarely compromise once – we begin to make compromising a habit. It’s like we start wandering on the wrong road, off the chosen path. Before we know it, we’ve stopped at a place that’s not even our destination and are living there for a while, in constant compromise. Then we are faced with another opportunity to compromise again. Then we live in that world for a period of tiem. After a while we are not just a little away from our goal – we are MILES away our ideal destination – one small compromise at a time.

6 TIPS: ROAD MAP TO YOUR DESTINATION

1.) Set a FIRM goal. Keep your goal in front of you both visually and mentally so you don’t lose sight of your ideal destination.

2.) Make a list. Make a list of the things that HAVE to get done to accomplish that goal & post it.

3.) Track progress. Check off that list every day – as every day you have a chance to move TOWARD that goal or AWAY from that goal.

4.) Discover what has kept you from that goal in the past. Write it down and put it on the terrorist watch list. It’s CODE Red now. It’s time to get serious and treat the enemy like the enemy it is.

5.) Train to fight. To win a fight, you must train hard. Training is practicing over and over again. In order to beat bad habits and unhealthy patterns, you have to fight them. You can’t run from them because they will always come back to fight you. Instead, learn how to fight them and win.

6.) Embrace discipline. Laziness, complacency, self-indulgence and selfishness lead to unhappiness. Discipline is not a chore, it’s a way of life and it leads to balance, happiness and results. We often let the world run us instead it only tosses us around and beats us up. In order to gain control over our weight, our lives, our marriage, our careers – we have to practice a lot of discipline. Discipline to manage time, discipline to be obedient to what God puts in our heart to do, and discipline to be the person He wants us to be. We need to practice discipline when we are faced with advertisements of all the world has to offer and be able to strip everything away that would interfere with our goal and purpose in life. In many ways, discipline creates freedom.

We shouldn’t have to ponder on whether we should do something or not – if it helps us move us closer to our end-goal, then it’s a YES, if it moves us further away from our end-goal, then it’s a big fat NO! That in itself should free up so much time we spend wasting time on stuff that doesn’t matter or wasting time trying to make decisions we shouldn’t even waste our time on. This applies to diet, fitness, career, God, family…it applies to everything so don’t just apply it to one area – apply it to all areas of your life.

And if you think for ONE MINUTE, what you WANT is something that you can’t have – you’ll never get it. Don’t limit your goals by limited thinking. Remember “you can aim high and hit low, but one never aims low and hits high”.

TODAY, I will NO LONGER COMPROMISE. I will stay focused. I will do what I KNOW in my heart that needs to be done, whether I feel like it or not because I know it’s the RIGHT thing to do and the BEST thing for me. TODAY is the day I change.