Break Bad Habits
Build Better Ones
Become Better Men
- Nate Whitson -
"I never doubted the whole game." — Michael Jordan
In Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan stole the ball from Karl Malone in the final seconds of the game to seal the deal.
He later was recalling the story of these final moments and he mentioned how he had mentally pictured (before the play ever happened) exactly how the play would unfold—how Utah would likely try to get the ball to Karl Malone, how the defense would shift when they did that, and how he would time his move to get the steal.
“When it happened… I saw everything with great clarity… I knew exactly what I was going to do.”
Holy crap.
That's amazing to me!
"I saw everything with great clarity", he said...BEFORE it happened.
More importantly..."I knew exactly what I was going to do."
I mention this story because it has an incredible takeaway that you need to know.
Michael Jordan is by far the G.O.A.T. and Lebron sucks in comparison.
Ok, that's true but that's not the takeaway I meant to share.
Here's what is more important:
Everyday, you are tempted to cave in to your weaknesses and many of us consistently do. Why? Because we haven't learned the right strategy or system to help us escape the temptation.
We don't have great clarity, like Michael Jordan did.
Thus, we don't know exactly what to do when the temptation shows up.
But...what if there was a way to see the play (your temptation) BEFORE it showed up so that you actually could have clarity about what to do in those moments?
That's what I want to show you and tell you about right now.
I call it my If-Then Pause Plan.
The If-Then Pause Plan is a simple tool that helps Christian men that I help coach and guide to build better habits and behaviors.
It is the way that you can see the temptation before it hits you and know exactly what to do when it does.
Here's how it works.
Think of a common temptation that you deal with often that seems to trip you up more than you'd like to admit.
Maybe its...
- overeating at dinner
- getting stressed and mindlessly watching Netflix
- hitting the snooze button
Whatever it is, picture it now.
Next, use the If-Then formula below:
If (and when) the temptation shows up...
Then I will...
Now, fill it in for you. Here's a couple examples of how it may look:
- If I feel tempted…then I will pray Psalm 23 and go outside for 10 minutes.
- If I feel irritated with my wife…then I will take 3 breaths and say something nice to her instead of what I normally say.
- If I feel lazy… then I will do 10 pushups and read one verse in the Bible before deciding what’s next.
This simple plan is the equivalent to seeing how the enemy will try to beat you and seeing the strategy to use clearly before it ever happens.
This is so powerful because willpower is not!
Willpower fades and if you're caught off-guard by your temptation, then you're likely to lose (again) and feel discouraged and defeated.
But by having a tool like the If-Then Pause Plan (which you can learn about and get for free here), you'll be better prepared before it ever happens and start making progress in an area that may have been tripping you up for way too long.
Is Michael Jordan (like it or not) the G.O.A.T.? Yes.
Now that you know his strategy, will you be the G.O.A.T. of self-control?
I hope so!
Nate
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P.S.
Think this sounds too simple to work?
That’s exactly why it works!
Big, complicated strategies usually don't work. But this is a small shift you can actually use in real life - in conjunction with my Start Super Small System. (Btw...check it out and learn more about it here if you've got an area of your life you're hoping to change but change has been hard!)
The If–Then Pause Plan takes 10 seconds to create—and can help you win battles that have been beating you for years.
Give it a shot and see what you think. What have you got to lose! (Besides your bad habits and continually losing the same battles!)
What's YOUR plan??
