Imagine this: your body naturally opposes anything that puts it outside of its comfort zone… so you make such gradual, incremental, deliberate changes that you essentially slip past your body’s comfort zone radar detectors and ninja your way to a better life without getting thwarted with every single one of your body’s exhausting resistance mechanisms.
I honestly think this is a viable path.
An important reminder: regression is the default.
If you don’t actively oppose the way of reality… you’ll become:
We must rebel against:
Progression is reserved for the brave ones who reject the default reality and choose to live a life that’s against the grain and in alignment with their highest version.
What thought(s) significantly changed your life for the better? …For the worst?
Good. Now never forget the power of your thoughts.
What’s one of the most powerful things you’ve ever been told? …Most hurtful things?
Good. Now never forget the power of your words.
Who has had one of the biggest influences on your life? …One of the worst?
Good. Now never forget the power of influence you have on all of those around you.
Grandiosity is a cunning distraction.
Here we are, filling our heads up with all of the brilliant, jaw-dropping, earth-shaking things we’re going to do with our limited time, energy, and attention…
While we take somewhere between zero and one microscopic step towards bringing those grand visions to life.
Don’t let grandiosity fool you. It’s not leading you any closer to your grand visions.
Unless, of course, those grand visions are driving you to do more of the things that’ll actually bring them to life.
Remember, life is measured in steps; not visions.
Less grandiosity. More humble action.
“Slowly, but surely” is a wildly underrated strategy.
Did you read that third word? Like, really read it?
“…Surely”
It’s the “surely” that makes this strategy a game-changer.
“Surely” is the kind of bet I like to make in my life.
When boiled down, self-discipline is really a function of trust.
The most disciplined are the ones who make and keep the most promises to themselves and the least disciplined are the ones who make and break the most promises to themselves.
If you seriously want to become disciplined, then you need to prove it by taking yourself—the promises you make to yourself—more seriously.
If you’re already a notorious self-promise breaker… then become keenly aware of this and stop promising yourself more than you can deliver.
Just as under-promise, over deliver is a great strategy for a successful business, so too is it a great strategy for becoming self-disciplined. And marginally increasing the seriousness of your promises as trust (in yourself) is restored is how self-discipline is increased/built.
And take note: as is true with other relationships in life, trust is built slowly, but can be broken rapidly. So be patient, take “marginally” seriously, and build discipline as you would a brick wall—one brick (one promise) at a time.
P.s. I also published: 25 Lessons From 1,000 Days Of Daily Writing on Medium.
“Money isn’t the goal—freedom is.”
Careful.
Because if money is the means to an end… and you’re miserable along the way (trying to make a bunch of money so you can buy freedom)… you’ll end up confined within a prison of your own making—unfree—without realizing it until you blink and years of your life are gone…
…And you’re left with bags of money (best case scenario) that can’t buy back any of the freedom that came with the youth that’s been spent.
If freedom is the goal, make freedom the means.
Better to creatively find ways you can work less (so you can enjoy more free time) or more freely—doing what you love, with people you love, on a mission you love working on—so that freedom is your reality with each step along the way.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.