The Surprising and Unexpected Benefits of Not Cursing

I set a goal not to curse in 2016.  I did it to be a better person.  Surprisingly, it has also provided me with some positive and unexpected benefits.

I discovered these positive benefits yesterday at the peak of frustration.   If you are curious what peaked my frustration, it was setting up new Audio and Visual Equipment in my office.  I love new things just as much as I hate learning how to use them.  Maybe you can relate.

After shooting the 10th video to less than perfect sound (It actually sounded terrible), I hit the peak of frustration.   It was at that moment, that I seriously wanted to use those four letter words.

Yet, I set a goal not to curse in 2016, so I didn’t.  But I came close.  Very close.  I knew that if I kept going, I was soon going to be making a donation to charity.  [I set a punishment for cursing.  For every curse word I drop, I will donate $10 to charity.]  RELATED: 3 keys that make your systems and procedures personal

So I stopped, and went home.

That’s when I realized that other than the original goal, there were:

The Surprising and Unexpected Benefits of Not Cursing

1. A new finish line.  Most goals worth achieving do not happen in a day.  They take time.  It is not uncommon that the goal will take weeks, if not months, or even years.  I’m a hard pressing Driver, so I don’t like to stop until I have finished strong.  Yet, what I was working on did not have to be finished that day.  If I didn’t have the goal of not cursing, I would have keep going, become more frustrated, and wasted lots of time.
2. Reduced stress.  My goal of not cursing actually decreased my overall stress and frustration.  I’m convinced that if my vitals were checked, I had the benefit of lower blood pressure and stress hormones.
3. Increased discipline.  As a Trainer and an Entrepreneur, discipline is critical to success.  I greatly value discipline in my students, and now have a form of discipline for myself.  I’m economically motivated, so the $10 Charity Donation keeps the goal at the forefront of my mind.
4. More time.  Stopping at the moment of peak frustration allowed me to leave the office on time.  This meant that I didn’t miss my gym time, or time with my family.
5. Achieving my other goals. If I had keep going to the point of cursing, I would have continued after the cursing started.  Cursing is a stress reliever for me, but it is not the right stress reliever.  Once I cursed, I would have stuck with it for a few more hours.  Which means that I would have missed out on my other goals.  The afore mentioned gym and family time.

I set a goal for not cursing.  My reasons didn’t go much past, “to be a better person.”  And it only took one test of this moral goal to realize the surprising and unexpected benefits of not cursing.