Are You Dragging An Invisible Truck?

Let’s imagine that, like someone in a strong man contest, you are harnessed to an invisible 10 tonne truck.

Wherever you go, whatever you do you have to drag this truck behind you and it is hard work.

Now, let’s imagine that you want to go on a family picnic to the seaside.

It’s a beautiful day, there’s not a cloud in the sky and the fine beach is just a short distance away. But you are harnessed to this invisible truck and where you go, it goes.

There are two approaches you can take to going on your picnic:

Plan A.

You recognise it might be an effort so you start to train: working out on weights machines, eating high protein power foods. Bulking up your muscles for the struggle of getting you and the truck to the beach.

You know it’s going to be tough so you start listening to motivational speakers giving you all the encouragement you need to smash through your resistance, power through your problems on the way to your glorious goal.

You spend time everyday visualising the happy faces of your family enjoying fun in the sun on a day out to the beach.

When you are ready, when you have prepared physically and psyched yourself up for the big day you and your invisible truck start out towards the beach.

It’s a huge struggle. You (wo)manfully strain against the weight of the truck, pulling with all your might. Perspiration breaks out on your skin as you strain at the ropes. Painfully slowly you start to move in the direction you want to go. Your progress is slow, marked by grunts and curses.

If you are lucky you get to the beach physically and emotionally wrecked, or you give up, go home feeling beaten and you order another, even stronger, motivational recording.

or

Plan B.

You undo the harness, leave the truck behind, and walk down to the beach to enjoy a great day out.

So which approach would you choose?

Call me a slacker, but I would choose Plan B.

But there is a problem with Plan B.

If you are harnessed to an invisible truck that holds you back, you can’t see the truck or the harness. You can feel the resistance and the struggle when you move towards your goals but you don’t know what is causing it or how to get over it. You may have been struggling like this for a very long time and now it seems that this is just the way things are.

If you could only see the truck and the harness you might be able to undo the buckles and get on with what you want to do without that painful struggle.

Using these techniques it can be surprisingly easy to get free of that dead weight, or would you prefer to keep dragging your invisible truck around?