You know exactly what you should and shouldn’t be doing.

Something that can bring joy or add value to your life.

You may not have a clear big picture or all the answers why you should be doing it, but deep down you know you should be doing it because it actually brings value to your life.

You know why you should be exercising today, you know why you should be practicing mindfulness, you know why you shouldn’t be eating junk food today, you know why you should clean that room today, you know why you shouldn't be playing video games for 6 hours today, etc. 

What are you doing?

Instead, you choose to mindlessly scroll social media, eat fast food today, binge Netflix after playing video games for 6 hours. Skipped gym and put the mindfulness practice for later.

How do you think you are gonna get a different result in your life for the better if you are repeating the same useless actions over and over and over and over again?

You do have some sort of idea on what you want to do in your life or where you want to be sometime in the future. You may not know how to get there yet but that‘s the game: You figure out 1 step at a time by taking 1 action at a time. 

Instead of distracting yourself with the plethora of available stuff in today’s world, why don’t you take 1 action today and see how it makes you feel?

Distractions are optimized in today’s digital world, so if you just choose to get distracted, you will keep yourself busy with so many things that will add zero value to your life and your loved ones’ lives.

I know it’s not easy

Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s so hard to break the pattern of habits that you’re used to.

Even though I am making this video, I still do things that I know I am not supposed to be doing. I struggle with it.  I shouldn’t be eating chips, I shouldn’t be going overboard on calories intake everyday, I shouldn’t be mindlessly scrolling social media, etc.  And I don’t do things that I am supposed to be doing: I should be cooking more, I should be reading more, I should be filming more, I should be taking photographs more, etc.. That’s the paradox. That’s my paradox.

But the idea is not to be perfect at once but to start doing 1 thing at a time that you know you should be doing.

It took all these years to build these habits and it is going to take some time to break that pattern. And you have to be consciously catching yourself and effortfully changing the direction once you catch yourself doing something you shouldn’t be doing or not doing something that you should be doing..

Again , I know it’s not easy.

Changing your habits and mindset

However, think about just 1 habit you can start building today that will add value to your life. Something you know that will compound over the years down the road.

Visualize you are 5 years down the road, what do you see in terms of that 1 habit? How far has that habit brought you to?

Even if you see that habit hasn’t brought much joy or value in your life, along the way, it will teach you a ton of stuff about you or the habit itself. So there’s always something to gain.

For example, you know you need to be working out and be consistent at it. Even if you workout 2-3 times a week, you will start learning about different exercises, eating habits, nutritions and so on. It is not just about doing the actual exercises but it is all about everything that comes with exercising.

And 5 years down the road, you will be glad what you discovered on the path to this ‘becoming’. It’s not just about the destination itself but it is all about the journey and the ups and downs that come with it.

What can you do?

Take a pen and a piece of paper, write down 1 thing you want to improve at or start doing that will either bring you tremendous joy or add value to your life.

It’s your 1 thing, it is not going to be the same as anyone else on earth.

What are the actionable tasks that you can start doing immediately that will take you 1 step closer to that thing?

Next Steps

Like I said earlier, start doing 1 thing at a time to get 1 step closer to that thing you have been wanting.

Don’t start thinking about the big picture or overall overview of that thing yet, that will just overwhelm you.

This quote fits perfectly here. I don’t know who said this but let me know in the comments if you know about it:

‘Life is like a zoom lens, there are times when you have to zoom in and focus at 1 object while other times, you have to zoom out and see the big picture’.

For now, zoom in and focus on that 1 object, in this case, 1 task you need to do to get closer to that ‘thing’ of yours.

I know I have been referring to it as a ‘thing’ but it can be anything like your goals, or dreams, you name it as it fits your purpose.

Anyway, continue taking a step everyday for 6-8 weeks then after that, sit down and reflect on how far have you come in those 6-8 weeks.

This is when you will see how far you have come, the areas that sucked, the areas you need to improve at and the areas you really excelled at.

What’s the big idea?

Look at the big picture for a moment now. How far have you come? At this point, you can have a glimpse at how far you have to go but don’t get too attached or tangled on it. Otherwise it will only overwhelm you.

Now start moving forward, leverage the areas you excelled at to improve and make it less sucky.

Guess what, at this point, you will have already made a lot of discoveries, things that worked out well and things that didn’t.

You will also have clarity and ideas on what might work better moving forward.

That’s it. That’s how you start figuring things out.

That’s the game of life, no matter how well someone is pretending to know something, they are still figuring things out coz there are always newer things that will pop up.

And that’s life. Life will happen while you're busy making plans and you will have to adjust your plans around the happenings.

Nothing of value or worthiness is going to be linear in life.

This is just an example, you can apply this to 1 or many areas in your life that you want improvement at. Moreover, just have fun while you are figuring all these things out. 

And don’t wait. Don’t wait to do it. Take action today. You may feel 5 years is so far away but guess what, 5 years is gonna pass by whether or not you do it anyway. 

That’s all for today. Now go crush that goal for today!

Take that much needed action.