Self-improvement
Stop procrastinating.
Get your shit together
Are you truly living the life you want to live? Have you lived up to your goals and ambitions? “Hopefully it isn’t to late to make it happen” You’ve probably thought to yourself. Whatever it is to “make happen” you need to do. No, not even need, you must do it, there simply is no option here. You must accomplish your goals before it’s too late!
These are all scary thoughts. The thought of death. The thought of never living up to what you truly desire. And the thought of regret in an elderly bed. What if I told you that you could perhaps prevent this?
Everyone knows what to do. Everyone knows that if you read 3 hours a day you would be smarter or that if you spent time exercising each and everyday you would build the body of your dreams within 5 years. The truth is that everyone knows what to do — they just don’t do it.
So then why don’t people do them? Why do they procrastinate and what can help fight this procrastination?
Why waste something so valuable as time?
So then, how do you stop the mindless scrolling that is social media, the addictive effects of pornography, and the laziness of a sedentary life?
What do I do?
You’ve tried for so long to stop the procrastination — to quit whatever it is that you know (either consciously or subconsciously) is addictive and toxic to your life. To abandon whomever is truly bothersome in your life. Whatever it is that you desire and want you, for some reason unbeknownst to you, cannot accomplish it. WHY? Why is the torch of life so hard to bear?
I am here to bear that torch, to embrace the torch, and to provide an answer to the chaos that is life.
Here’s what I did to establish full control over myself. Step by step:
n1. Know what you want
One of the most troubling parts of life is trying to figure out what you truly want. What career do you want, what do you want out of exercise, or what do you want out of brushing your teeth everyday?
Most of the time it is for external validation. Which is to say that you only do it to please those surrounding you. Is that truly what you want — or does it dig deeper than that?
Although it is good to pursue hobbies that have an element of external validation — it is surely troubling to pursue a “passion” only for external validation. As it would no longer be a passion. That is why you must know why you pursue something in your free-time.
Take exercise for instance, you must know why you want to exercise. It’s all well in good if the first reason that comes up is external validation but it mustn’t be the only reason.
As Nietzsche once said,
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche
n2. Channel your sense of competitiveness as motivation
This applies to almost all of the so-called “vices”. Perhaps it’s hatred, love, fear, or, for me at least, competitiveness.
Competitiveness has always been deeply rooted within myself. The solution is NOT to ignore it and silence it — the solution is to use it to your own advantage. To allow that competitiveness to grow inside of you and to use that competitiveness as your key source of motivation.
Want to do better than everyone? You have to work harder, you have to be smarter, and you have to be stronger. You have to make more money, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, you have to be happier than they are.
You should think of strength, intelligence, accomplishment, success, discipline, and passion as the keys to happiness. Notice how I didn’t say “key” but “keys”? That means that there’s other ways of accomplishing this happiness — namely through friends, family, social life, and even religious belonging (which no, I am not entirely opposed to religious belief — despite common misconception).
You can surely achieve happiness through being content with that which you already have —so why even bother to accomplish more?
If you grow content in the size of your plant but stop watering it then it will surely die. You must keep moving forward.
n3. Write it down
I know this point may seem cliche and a waste of time, but, in my experience, it is the most helpful of all the points.
Write down the keys to what you desire:
- Why do I want this?
- What is it I want?
- When will I work to get this?
- What will I do to get this?
These are the key questions in getting what you want. You must write these down in an easily accessible place to yourself. Your phone, your laptop, a piece of paper, whatever it is — WRITE IT DOWN.
Something that’s been especially helpful has been to write down each and every one of my goals along with a schedule of my day. I plan out my entire day. This is my weekday schedule:
- Wake up at 6:00 AM and read for 30 minutes (leisure reading)
- Down a cup of matcha green tea with stevia
- Take a cold shower
- Go to school at 7:00 AM
- Arrive home at 4:00 PM and exercise for 30 minutes (weight lifting)
- Write for 3 hours on Medium // Pursue a different hobby
- 8:00 PM read for an hour (intellectual reading)
- 9:00 PM go to sleep
n4. Time waits for no man
Realize that if it takes a long time to accomplish or achieve something that that time would’ve happened no matter if you pursued your passion or played video games all day.
Your time in this world is finite. You must use what little time you have to pursue your passion.
The way I see it, the future will happen no matter what you do: you might as well maximize it for yourself.
n5. Dopamine Detox
A dopamine detox is when you quit all addicting things in your life. Namely Pornography, Video Games, Social Media, Alcohol, and Drugs.
Now before you say this is a-scientific (meaning “against common knowledge in science”) I’m going to have to dispute that claim. A dopamine detox has loads of evidence and has even been promoted by Psychiatrist Cameron Sepah. Furthering this, a study found that students who took just one week off of facebook noticed depression rates go down by 17% and regained 13.3 hours of their time.
Think about the time you’ve wasted — and in addition the time you could gain — all from limiting all these unnecessary pleasures.
n6. Enjoy (and respect) the Present Moment
How can you enjoy the present moment if you’re so caught up in the future? Now that’s a question I asked myself when I first began this self-improvement journey and one which I can surely answer now.
The more you do these things — the more you read, pursue your goals, eat healthy, and exercise — the easier it all becomes. You will soon enjoy your daily exercise or your daily reading or your daily fruit/veggie.
It’s all a matter of conditioning. You can condition your mind for success.
With that, it seems there are few legitimate reasons not to do this.
