https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL5HTVD9EJI
There’s a lot of things you should be doing right now. Exercising, preparing healthy food, catching up on sleep, meditating, checking your email, etc. We live in a busy culture, and if you’re not moving you’re probably getting left behind. That’s we’re told.
People go, and go, and go. Constantly stimulated because they need to check their email, or their droid is vibrating or they need to creep on the cute girl that poked them on Facebook.
But what does it all amount to? Mediocrity. Constant distractions. A fragmented focus.
It’s interesting that we have time to zone out in front of the boob-tube or be on half-a-dozen social networking sites, but yet somehow we can’t find the time to hit the gym a few times per week.
Even right now, you’re reading a self-improvement blog so kudos to you on your upgrade from the boob-tube, but there’s a good chance there’s something much more valuable you could be doing with your time.
I’m not judging you, as I’m not perfect either, but in the time it takes you to read 4-5 blog posts you could have gotten in a quality cross fit workout. Alternatively, you could have been practicing Spanish flashcards, or reading a high quality book whose ideas have certainly spent more time being polished than any blog post.
Of course, I’m not trying to make you paranoid. I don’t want you unable to sleep tonight because you read a self-improvement blog post, as there’s certainly far worse ways of using your time. I’m not even going to say that wasting a day in bed surfing Pinterest means you’ll never be successful (Girls tell me about their addiction all the time).
However, it’s not a bad mindset to have. The most successful people are those that are most conscious of where their time is going.
Must Vs. Should
We all know we should exercise. We know we should eat healthy. We know we should get our 8 hours of sleep each night. So why are there so few of us who actually do those things?
Because most people are comfortable with not doing them. People’s circumstances tend to be about what they’re comfortable with. Why? Because if they were uncomfortable with their circumstances they’d have changed them, or currently be in the process of changing them.
Most people are so stressed out that gorging themselves with food and mind numbing entertainment is an attractive option because it allows them to escape.
They likely know that they should exercise, but for them feeling comfort in the present moment is a must. Thus their pain vs pleasure response tips in a way that makes exercising nearly impossible.
Raising Your Personal Standards
We talked a little bit about using momentum as a means of raising personal standards in my last blog post. If you haven’t checked that out yet I’d recommend it, but what I’ve found to be even more powerful in evolving your standards is changing your environment.
When I played soccer I noticed a HUGE change in my personal standards after making the switch from recreational to club. Going from the best person on your team to the worst is a huge slap to the ego, and affords you little energy to be complacent.
Moreover regardless of what you’re trying to improve you’ll find the best people have a tendency to bring the best out of others. Excellence is contagious to some degree.
However, I think the most important piece of advice I can give you is to take some time for yourself, and really think about what it is you want. Turn off your phone, turn off the TV, and just give yourself quiet time to think about what it is you really want out of life.
Not what your parents want for you, or what you think you should want, but what would really move you on an emotional level. If they found cancer in your body, and you had only a year to live, what would you do?
(Truthfully, all of our lives are ticking closer to death each passing second, and on the backdrop of eternity it matters very little if you live another 5 years, or 50.)
Create a vision for the most inspirational life you could imagine, and then be unreasonable in demanding the manifestation of that life.
It’s not that you shouldn’t live you dreams, it’s that you must. And if you’re comfortable with not getting exactly what you want out of life you won’t. Failure is the default, and if success isn’t your only option, that’s the reality you’re going to live.
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I apologize to anyone who’s had trouble accessing the community here over the last 24 hours. My hosting account with SETT had some confusions. Everything should be better now! 🙂
(Picture was taken of a dinosaur exhibit in the Milwaukee Public Museum in January 2013)
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