My Quest Hub
Anything more than Nothing is Something
Trevor Silvester
June 2020
My life is full of people wanting it.
Change.
My therapy clients come to see me, revealing their inner struggles and looking to change their lives from the inside out. Students who come to train to become Cognitive Hypnotherapists do so overwhelmingly because they want to change the direction of their life.
Both sets of people want it. Some achieve it but others don’t, and the question why intrigues me. Actually, answering that question is the single biggest motivator for me as a therapist.
Why don’t they want it enough?
They say things like “I was going to work on my website, but I was too tired.” “I was going to email you with the task you set me, but I was really busy at work.” “I intended to go out for a run, but in the end I couldn’t be bothered.” “I was going to be really good with my diet, but I had a really stressful day.”
The thing is, the people who want it enough are also tired, have stressful days, are just as busy, and have family commitments or some other constraint on their time.
They just want it enough for it not to stop them.
Because the thing is, you can’t negotiate with success. You either do what it requires, or it goes to someone else. Usually that’s the person who doesn’t care that they’re tired, who starts earlier or works later, who turns off the TV, who sacrifices ‘me time’, who finds a way around every obstacle.
If success was easy, everyone would have it. But after watching our graduates build businesses for the last 20 years, and observing my clients for even longer, there is one characteristic that bridges the gap between those wanting it, and those wanting it enough.
Consistency.
We see people graduate and soar like rockets, only to fall to the ground a few months later like sticks. We see some fizz and sizzle but never actually fully launch. And we see some turn up, quietly, doggedly, persisting. Eating the elephant of changing your life one bite at a time. And that’s the key.
If all you can manage today to move toward your goal is next to nothing, do that. Anything more than nothing is something. It’s the ritual of action that matters, not the size of it. It’s the habit of squeezing movement out of constraint. Of not closing your eyes until you’re further ahead than you were yesterday, even if only you would know the difference.
Lasting change isn’t created by big dramatic actions anywhere near as often as it is by a host of small ones, and yet it’s usually the big ones we measure our progress by. That’s a mistake.
Stop that.
Celebrate wanting it enough to do more than nothing by as much as you can manage today.
Tomorrow, rinse and repeat.
Soon, your enough will be enough.