Simple Success
It only takes a mindset shift.
What am I talking about? Success only comes through grimy, hard work, endless toil, until one day there is a cataclysmic break through! Right? I’m going to challenge that mindset in this blog and (hopefully) perpetuate you to think in different terms, regarding your success. Let’s begin.
There is no doubt that we are a product of Western philosophy, which subconsciously teaches us to DO the things we need to do to HAVE the things that we want so we can BECOME the person we want to be. There is a flaw in this line of thinking, however. Before diving into this, let’s get one thing clear. I’m not saying hard work is a bad thing, nor am I saying that you can achieve great success without hard work. I am saying that DOING is just a piece of the puzzle. You have to be excited about doing what it takes to achieve success. Ramming your head into a wall continuously doing the same things every single day, expecting a more marvelous outcome, is ridiculous. It also assumes you have an unlimited source of willpower. Which you don’t. How do you alleviate this issue? You know yourself DEEPLY. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill hippie talk, it’s real talk. If you can’t specifically define what success means to you, then how do you expect to achieve it? It would be like trying to catch your shadow. Here is a question for you:
Who do you want to be?
There is something powerful about you staking a claim on who you will be. When you wake up in the morning, do you say to yourself, “I’m going to be so-and-so today.”? For most things, like driving, we don’t say “I’m going to be a driver today.” We just get in the car and go. We subconsciously knew that we were capable of it. You may have been scared the first couple of times that you drove, but now it’s an afterthought. The same can be said about riding a bike, if you’ve ever rode. Skipping rope also applies. Once you learn to do it, it just happens. Do you see what I did there? You tell yourself, “today I am ___”. “But that’s simple, and success isn’t easy.” Simple and easy are different. If you’ve ever started something new, you know there are growing pains along the way. However, after a while you become more skilled at the task and become proficient. If you love the task enough to make it a hobby, you may even obtain a level of mastery over said skill. Why can’t you apply the same thing to yourself, and who you want to be? I’ll use a specific example of fat loss, since I work closely in the fitness, nutrition and wellness field. Instead of trying to DO everything under the sun to lose fat mass, why not just apply what I’ve been talking about? To do this, you must change. Change yourself, who you are. You have to let other people know about this change so they will associate with the ‘New You’, rather than the old you. You don’t want co-workers bringing you 3 shipments of Krispy Kreme donuts to the office every week, because that’s not who you are anymore.
Are you scared of change? Are you scared others won’t accept the new you? Listen, if your friends disown you because you want to be healthier, happier and an overall better person, you are better off without them. I’ve lost plenty of ‘friends’ because of stances I’ve taken for my own life, for who I want to be. And you know what, once I changed who I was, all of the things I needed to DO came naturally. It’s just who I am. It’s what I do. Change your BEING and DOING becomes nearly effortless. A key ingredient to this self change is taking responsibility for who you want to become. No one else can be a martyr for your reasons of not being all that you can. You are solely in charge of your life. How stupid would it be to get in a car and say, “I’m going to drive to my favorite place today, but I’m only responsible for the gas peddle.” So you press the gas peddle and eventually wreck the car. This process happens several more times and you finally inquire, “why does the car keep wrecking?” Yeah, pretty stupid. That is your life when you neglect to take responsibility for taking the wheel of your life and steering it in the direction you want to go. If you don’t take the responsibility for your life, in this manner, you don’t deserve to achieve what you deem to be success. This applies to all areas of life. It starts with BECOMING who you want to be. This leads you to effortless DO the things that need to be done in order to HAVE the things you want.
Extra Credit:
The traditional way to look at life is: our present self is shaped by our past experiences. Everything we are is a product of those events and people in our past, which molded who we are today. While this can be true, as there are plenty of studies showing its efficacy, I’d like to present another way to view it. Your present self is shaped by the future that you’re stepping into. I’ll use an example to prove my point: You’re having a HORRIBLE day at work. Everything is going wrong. But, you’re not bothered by it because you and your favorite people are going for a month long trip, exploring all the major cities in Europe. You could care less about all the negatives of work that day, because you’ll be free at the end of that day, with no more worries of the stress for a month! On the flip side, your last night in Europe before flying out the next day, you’re thinking of all the stress that will be awaiting you at work when you go back. Your present self is shaped by what the future is giving you. Therefor, if you are intentional about predicting your future, it will shape your actions in the present. For the CrossFit clients at CrossFit Winder (Forge-Rx) the Open is around the corner. They signed up for this 5 week online test of fitness. By doing so, they have effectively changed their present to include being more intentional about their performance, recovery and nutrition so they’ll have the best outcome possible for themselves. There are plenty of ways to put this into motion, but it starts with you. If you’re not sure how to go about this, then find a coach who can help you through the process. You CAN become successful! Just make the decision to.
I can’t take full credit for these thoughts. This blog is a mashup of ideals and philosophies from several men and women much more intelligent than I am. This is what i ended up with while trying to make sense of it all. Several notable people whom I borrowed these ideas from are Guy Ferdman, Ben Bergeron, Max El-Hag, and Evan Peikon.
If you liked this blog, please recommend or share with your friends. If you want coaching you can contact me at tyler@forge-rx.com.