What is the secret sauce? Lately, I have been focusing on how I can be a better me. I’m a bit of a self-improvement nerd and it seems I’m always trying to learn something new or build healthier habits.
However, I easily get stuck in the ebb and flow of self-improvement. For example, it might just be my personality but once I get excited about something, I am all in. Gung-ho.
But then, after my excitement wears down, I get lazy with whatever project I’m working on until I get re-jazzed about something.
I find myself constantly trying to learn something but I get bored or tired of the journey and take a long break sometimes months at a time. Then I find myself trying to find the easiest path to catch up or bypass where I left off. I’m trying to cheat myself out of the process. I want it instantly and don’t want to dedicate my time towards whatever it is that I’m trying to get better at. I want the secret sauce.
I can’t become fluent in Spanish by giving up every time I get tired.
I can’t be better at the guitar if I don’t give myself more time to practice.
I can’t be a better writer if I don’t pick up my laptop and just write.
I can be better at all of these things if I just stay dedicated. Not to say we can’t take breaks and I’m certainly not saying we have to commit our lives to certain things if they aren’t our passions. I’m just now realizing that dedication doesn’t mean just hitting it hard and then taking a sabbatical. It means to stay the course. Stay focused. Don’t give up.
Recently, I was eating at a gourmet burger restaurant. Not frugal, I know. One of the items the restaurant was promoting was a new burger that had a bunch of bells and whistles on it along with…the secret sauce. The legendary secret sauce. Every place has their proprietary *special sauce*.
I already knew the answer but I was curious if someone had truly come up with something new and creative.
As if one of their chefs had traveled to remote corners of the earth to research and explore rare ingredients to create this new, famed sauce that everyone would be spreading on their subpar burgers. This, this would be the fast track to becoming a celebrity chef. The making of a true icon of the food empire.
“It’s just thousand island dressing.” replied the girl at the register.
It’s always thousand island dressing.
Remember when I said I get stuck in the ebb and flow of self-improvement? The secret sauce is dedication. It’s always dedication.
Self-improvement is a weird thing. I think I am okay as far as a human being goes. I just want to be the best I can be. But the trick is to better yourself at a bunch of little things that make you better as a whole.
I’m still learning I don’t have to rush the process and try to fix everything overnight or instantly be 100% better at everything in my life. It’s just taking the small steps to get there. Large steps count greatly but the small steps are what keep us going.
The greatest musicians, the greatest chefs, the greatest scientists, whatever it may be, they are all dedicated to what they do. They get tired and I’m sure they get bored like the rest of us, but they stay dedicated and that’s what counts the most.
I can definitely identify with the cycle of excitement, boredom, hiatus and reboot. I’ve been working to put systems in place to help myself stay focused on certain goals (like starting a blog to stay focused on saving money!) but I’ll always ebb and flow. I started thinking of it as seasons. I am striving to learn discipline, but also to be graceful with myself. Even appreciate the seasonal way I work on some things. I love the “secret sauce” analogy! Thanks for your post!
Yes, same here with starting the blog! Seasons is exactly right. Sometimes those seasons last a little longer than we like 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment. You win the title of First Commenter!
I’ve always struggled in terms of sticking with a goal or project… definitely suffering from lack of dedication over here. For these types of things, I think it boils down to how badly you want something. That said, it’s never a straight line to achieve anything. You fall off the path, and then you get back on again. This is the relationship I have with my finances and basically anything else in my life.
Welcome to the blogging community!
That’s very true. A straight line would be too easy, but that’s what we always want 🙂 There will be straight parts of the path but there will also be lots of curves! Thank you for your comment, and the welcome!