I have a problem.
One that keeps me up at night,
A concern that’s on my mind all day
And for the last several years, something I’ve planned my life around it so I can get a fix every few hours.
My problem is caffeine.
And I drink far too much of it.
Before I go any further I have to stop and acknowledge that something so trivial as drinking too many cups of coffee is in fact one of my major problems, I’ve somehow been dealt a pretty incredible hand in life and am incomprehensibly lucky.
But it’s because I feel for whatever reason I’ve been given such a fortunate experience of life, it’s my responsibility to make the most of it and to strive to achieve all I can, hopefully one day being in a position to have a serious positive impact on the lives of others.
My problem started during the last few years at University. The late nights, early mornings and a time spent ploughing through countless pages of research were made that much easier by having a hot cup of coffee on hand next to you.
It’s a habit that’s stuck with me since and now when I spend many hours a day in front of my computer editing or planning and it’s rare not to have a cup of coffee or tea on the go at any given point.
I had my tipping point recently. One morning I went to meet a client and hadn’t had time to grab a coffee on the way. It was a project I was really excited about and someone I really enjoy working with, but however hard I tried to focus and concentrate I could feel I wasn’t as sharp as normal.
In fact I was so slow and useless may as well not have been there.
So this brings me on the main and hopefully most practical part of this blog. Sacrifices.
More specifically, things you need to sacrifice in order to be successful.
I’ve tried to give up caffeine before and most commonly last barely a couple of days before falling back in to old ways. What’s more on the days I do give it up, I feel so much better. I’m more alert, more productive and generally more like the person I want to be.
My intuition says in many ways we all know the bad habits or activities that drain our precious time and that ones we need to give up in order to achieve our goals and aspirations.
I know deep down I want to be successful more that I want to drink coffee. It’s a close run thing, but I know it’s true.
I also have far more serious ones that drinking too much coffee but to me it’s a symbolic way of acknowledging and making a change to give up these self-sabotaging behaviours
I’m at a very exciting point in my career with lots of new things on the horizon, I have no idea how they will play out, but I want to be able to look back and know that I gave full effort and commitment to them.
So as I write this I’m drinking my last cup of coffee (and last caffeinated beverage) until this time next year.
My intuition says sometimes there’s things we have to sacrifice if we really care about being successful, for me caffeine is at the top of the list.
I wish you every success.
Jack
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