Yesterday sucked. It was one of those days where each time I had a chance to pick between the right choice and the wrong choice I ended up picking the wrong one. I ended up literally sick to my stomach by the end of the day, had a broken night of sleep, and felt the negative momentum carrying in today.
I know I’m not operating at 100%, but I’m here typing my second blog post of the day. Why? Because I don’t have a choice. The most important time to do your best is when you’re not at your best because that is what’s going to separate you from everyone else. Most people accept failure when they feel down. Not me, and you though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGLjMtDfhe4
Emotions come in waves. You’re not always going to feel your best, but you’ve got to put it all out there anyway. The difference between professional writers, and amateurs is professionals get past the block and write anyway. The difference between Michael Jordan, and the cats in your community league?
Michael Jordan made the effort to improve everyday regardless of his emotions, and he always gave everything he had even when others believed he didn’t have anything left to give. Mike didn’t drop 45 with the flu on accident.
Cool, But How Do I Apply This To My Life?
It’s relatively easy to maintain a successful lifestyle when you’ve already got good habits established, and you’ve learned to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Unfortunately, when you slip up, or you’ve never established good habits in the first place you can’t afford to coast. You’ve got to claw your way out of your shithole like a motherfucker.
If you allow yourself to fall back into bad habits (or continue them if you’ve never had good habits) you’re fucked. Everyday you allow yourself to be complacent you become a little stupider, a little less in touch with the reality of the world. Allow too many days to pass and you’ll fall so far off the path you’ll be gone. And once you’re gone, there’s no coming back.
When you’re not at your best, or you’ve just always sucked it’s tough to get shit done. You’ll find yourself getting distracted by bullshit like Facebook, and the news. They’ll have an addictive allure to them that will seem to call your name, and once you engage with them they’re nearly impossible to escape.
I know, because I’ve been there. This is why you’ve got to be willing to fight to the death and claw your way out of your shithole. You can’t half-ass your way out of a slump. It’s gotta be full-assed, or white surrender flag.
My Story
For most of middle school I was in a really dark place. I was a gaming addict, had a nonexistent social life, and was depressed. I often spent 8-10 hours playing video games per day. I tried several times to quit, but little progress was ever made, and I figured that was just who I was.
My 8th grade year, however, I fell for a girl and when she didn’t feel the same it crushed me. Instead of falling deeper into depression, however, I used that as my motivation to change. Don’t think it was easy though.
I didn’t become Mr. Productive overnight. I was a nerd, so reading books on self-improvement, and lifestyle development was easy for me, but like most people I struggled with taking action.
I’d workout consistently for several weeks, and then fall off. I’d be happy for a while, and then fall back into depression. I’d eat healthy for a while and then fall off, but I never accepted failure as my fate, and that’s the attitude you need to start approaching your life with.
Call To Action
When you feel tempted to watch Family Feud, or waste your day on Facebook, or whatever your weakness is you’re not always going to beat the temptation. You can craft an environment for yourself that limits temptation to improve your success rate, but ultimately you’re going to cave at times. You’re going to have days where you fall off.
What’s important is you fight though it. You have to struggle with every cell of your body to put in your 5 minutes of meditation, to write your 200 words, to turn off the TV. The tides may not shift immediately, and you may get lost in them at times, but when you’re completely committed in your resolve success is ultimately inevitable.
Progress has never been accidental for anyone. Progress is the result of the decision to be successful, a decision I’m going to ask you to make today. I don’t expect you to be perfect. How could I? Just yesterday I made all the wrong choices.
What I do expect from you is to make the commitment to always claw yourself back onto the path. Just like me you’re going to have a lot of failures, but you’re also going to have a lot of successes once you make the decision to be successful, and that’s a decision I urge you to make today.
Full-assed, or white surrender flag?
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Have had a lot of interesting epiphanies lately. Expect great things on the horizon…
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