This is a post directed towards the newbies, or those who feel like shit’s just going wrong and having a hard time changing things.

Belief

For a frog in the well, well is his world; for he believes what he perceives to be true. This is his belief, that there is nothing beyond the well, and no matter how hard you jump, or high you jump, you are still in the well. So he lives his life in the well, till he dies. If you tell yourself that you “cannot change things”, “I’m too old”, “It’s too late”, “I’ve tried everything but it’s still the same”, “I keep trying but it’s not getting better”, you have already put the barrier of limitation around you. If you believe these things, you are restricting yourself from moving forward. No matter how much information you gobble up to move forward, without the actual belief, you will not move very far. Forget what everyone else believes, what matters is what you believe.

You need to first believe that “Things can and will change”, and you have the ability to “make choices and take action” towards these changes. Life will happen to you, but you can also make things happen in life.

Ownership

You now believe that “Things can and will change” and that you can make things happen in life? Are your friends making you do something you don’t want to do? Are your parents telling you to do something, that you can’t go above their word? Is someone stopping you from achieving that small goal that you have?

Everything that you decide to do, or say, is within your power of choice. You are making these decisions, not them. Everything that you do from the beginning of the day, to the end, is a choice that you make. Don’t blame the rest of the world for something that you are not doing. Take ownership for your actions. Understand that choices you make, are within your power, thus, the actions you take are for yours to choose.

Action

Start making choices, as small as it maybe, towards the simplest things you want in life, to the largest. Start off small. Don’t put your dish in the sink and leave it, wash it and get it over with. You can’t go lift right now? Not fit enough? Start by walking around the block. Can’t walk outside? Start doing jumping jacks at home, do a few push up every day. You can’t spare 5 mins to do this? That’s because you are not taking ownership for your actions. Start drinking more water. Haven’t tried standing up straight? Make a conscious effort to stand up straight with your shoulders back. See how it feels. Too many books to read? Start by reading a single page every day. Just a single-fucking-page. You love video games? You play it too much? Play 3 games instead of 4. Play for 2 hours instead of 3. Don’t use the other half watching Netflix. Use half hour from that to watch Netflix, use the other half to do some push ups and read a page on the book that you’ve been waiting to read. Start taking action, no matter how small it is. Otherwise, you will never see the change you want to make.

Discipline

You’ve started taking small steps and changing little things to better your life? To slowly make the changes and feel them? Good, but now it’s time to keep doing them even if you don’t feel like doing them. We’ve all heard that motivation is fleeting. Don’t rely on that, instead, replace it with discipline. If you have already started to read 1 page a day, do not stop it. Do it even if you don’t feel like it. Then increase it to 2 pages, then 3, then 4. You are doing 5 pushups a day? Do 5 push ups in the morning, and another 5 in the evening. Every, single, day. Do not stop it, even if you don’t feel like it. Increase these 5 push ups to 6, to 7, to 8… Discipline, sometimes you have to do things, not because you love it, but because you need to do it to keep progressing and work towards your goals. It’s not because doing those things feel great, you do it because you know if you don’t, you will not stay stagnant, but start going backwards. Discipline may be the hardest of these 4 points to master. Because it will test you. In fact, you can throw all the rest out, and learn to discipline yourself, you will be able to make changes beyond what you may actually even believe.

I’ve tried to keep it KISS. You get the gist of these points. When you are going through the day, if you catch yourself neglecting any of these points, then make a conscious choice to change it then and there.