Because “life hacks” just won’t cut it.

For starters, I’m not very good at living in the moment. I constantly find myself wishing for things to be over, or for something to end and the next thing to begin, or for things to just “get better” eventually. That might just mean I have a habit of engaging in things I’m not really interested in, and I’m quite aware that this way of thinking doesn’t do me much good, but it’s how my mind works most of the time on default.

Occasionally, even when everything seems like it straight up sucks, I find these oddly-placed moments of realization — like mini epiphanies sent from some universe of positivity, with a little assistance from the self-help books I drowned myself in after graduation. I try and jot these thoughts down, to figure out how my mind is framing the world at that very moment, so I can hold onto it for just that much longer. Or even so I can try and re-think it later on. Below are some statements from those little episodes — things that I (and maybe you?) should try and remember more often.

1. The only thing between you and what you want is (usually) yourself.

I find this extremely fascinating and thrilling. When you realize that (for the most part), the biggest and most prominent roadblock between you now and what/who/where you want to be is yourself. You have (again, for the most part) the infinite power to make decisions, to take action, take inaction, change your habits, stay, or leave. In most cases, there is literally nothing stopping you, and that makes me feel extremely powerful. We DO have the power to be whoever we want to be, and do whatever we want to do. We just have to do it — if this seems overwhelmingly difficult, see point number two below.

2. Progress is perfection.

Those moments, however infrequent and small, are so very perfect. When you can consciously think “Hey, six months ago I could not do this at all, but look at me now!” Whether you can do one pushup instead of none, or play a song on the piano with slight accuracy when after a first practice it seemed impossible… Those are the moments I want to live for, and I prefer them over a definite finish line. Upwards and onwards — always.

3. Extreme results require extreme efforts.

I read this in an article here on Medium and the simplicity, yet incredible truth to this statement made serious sense. I proceeded to write it out in large font in my notebook in rainbow pens because, why not? But really, it’s extremely accurate. “Moderation” sometimes just won’t cut it — moderate practice of anything might be too casual to get you anywhere. Not saying you have to immerse yourself in something 24/7, but you need to take it seriously if you’re going to get anywhere with it.

4. If it were easy, everyone would do it (and they do).

In my opinion, this clearly and simply separates people who do great things from those who do not. It’s so easy to be completely average — watch Netflix, tweet about Sunday brunch, work 9–5 in a job that is moderately tolerable at times, pay bills, go to the club, scroll through Facebook until your finger hurts, read self-help books and be too lame to take any action…and your biggest worry is who will get evicted from the Big Brother house (or however it works), or whether your Instagram theme is “on point”. I just described myself with a few (not all) of those points and I’m fully aware of how easy and effortless it is to coast along life being as average as possible. It’s so simple — that’s why so many people do it! But every time I realize how average I am being, I really want to change it. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not trying to throw shade at the majority of the population. Heck, I just watched back-to-back episodes of Bachelor in Paradise. The average person (me) does average things most of the time. But I’m looking for more.

Like many others, I want to do something big and meaningful though have no idea what it is yet, and that something might be really meaningful to a few people or a few hundred, or to just me. But I want to do it anyway. So when you are struggling for something so hard but at the same time so desired by your soul, remember that it’s hard for a reason. The outcome is special because the only way to get there is a tough one. If it were as easy as sitting watching OITNB all day, literally everyone would have fucking Academy Awards and Nobel Peace Prizes and Olympic Gold Medals littering their bookshelves, all without breaking a sweat.

5. Use your time.

We all have the same amount of time in a day — some use it well, some do not. How you define “well” is completely different for everyone: Those who are fine with living a spectacularly average life will consider spending their time doing average activities mentioned above as “time well spent”. Totally fine.

However, those who want to do bigger and better things need to re-think how we are actually using our time. Do you really know how much time you spend on the internet? On your phone? Stalking other people’s highlight reels on social media? Watching rather pointless YouTube videos? Getting caught up in TV shows that have no meaning to you? There are actually some handy time management apps like Rescue Time that will give you a big fat slap in the face to wake you up from this average trap and let you know that you are WASTING YOUR TIME for the most part (sorry for yelling). On numerous occasions I have become embarrassed, impressed, surprised and also slightly disappointed when I add up all the minutes I would spend watching “life hack” and “how to get fit” and “summer DIY” YouTube videos that pretty much added no value to my life (though I still enjoy the occasional video). There are SO many others things I could have spent that time doing — it’s never too late to change your ways though, so I’ve unsubscribed from most channels and re-considered my priorities, and challenge you to do the same.

6. JUST DO SOMETHING.

Sorry if it sounds like I’m yelling (again), but I kind of am — mostly at myself, since this post has been a bit of a wake up call for me. If your dreams seem super daunting and scary and difficult and you don’t think you are good enough to even warrant dreaming about it — STOP that and just DO something. You literally have to start somewhere, and that “somewhere” is likely going to suck at first. I want to write songs and make music, but have hardly ever even started really writing a song. Why? Mostly because I am afraid of sucking and I know that I will in the beginning — almost everyone does, and there is not much way to avoid it. So seriously, just start. Start somewhere. Start right now. Start here. Even ten minutes a day. Remember — upwards and onwards only. It’s unlikely that if you suck at first, you are going to get more sucky, so really there is no downside. You just need to want it badly enough and keep your eyes on the prize.

Let’s do this!