A 9-minute read.
The world of self-improvement suffers from one major flaw…
Almost everyone who tries to better their lives gets caught in this trap.
We fall in love with the idea of the grind, the hardship, the everyday battle… and consume as much content as possible about “How to Level-Up Our Lives”.
We binge YouTube videos, podcasts, articles, and maybe even spend money to go to seminars…
But we often lack one crucial thing…
Action.
We get stuck consuming content, believing that it’s helping us achieve our goal…
When in reality, the content we consume is NOT going to get us the results we want.
If I just kept on consuming self-improvement and bodybuilding content, and never bothered to actually lift a weight, I would never had achieved the things I did.
You need real efforts, like tracking those calories, and actually lifting the weights every day in the gym to get real results.
(For more context on my business and bodybuilding background read this blog)
You need to APPLY the knowledge you’ve learned and do something (a cause) to create the outcome (effect) that you want to see.
The world operates on CAUSE and EFFECT.
Remember this: Every single outcome you want has a set of causes that must happen first.
Inaction is Rampant
The plague of inaction spreads into every facet of our live.
Look, it’s so easy to have all these self-improvement ideas and yet never take action.
We give ourselves excuses, “I’m too busy right now” “I don’t know where to start” “Maybe next month after my schedule clears up”
These excuses may help us sleep at night. But they don’t help soothe the raging fire within us that screams to be MORE.
So stop the excuses.
As humans, we are always able to find the excuse NOT to do it.
But let me tell you…there will NEVER be a perfect time.
The birthdays, the holidays, busy times at work. LIFE.
In the moment, the excuses may seem valid, but at the end of the day, that’s all they are…Excuses 🙂
Ask yourself, how did the millionaire with a successful company do it? (They didn’t always have a team to count on).
Or how about that person on Instagram with your body goals? (They didn’t just wake up like that!)
They had to start somewhere, and as humans, we’re more alike than we are different.
There is truly nothing out of the ordinary about the successful people you admire.
YOU can be that person.
Imagine how much farther down the path you’d be if you started when you first had the idea… or even just the last time it came to mind.
How would your life look now?
Imagine how much more fulfilled would you be.
Maybe…. you could have already achieved it.
And look, I understand, it’s uncomfortable and sometimes even scary to jump into business or change your lifestyle.
We love to be comfortable, but that’s not where we grow
If you truly want to create the life you desire and achieve something you’ve never had… you must be willing to sacrifice comfort and do something you’ve never done.
So if you’re tired of wishing you had that thing, or that life, and you’re ready to take action and actually start moving towards it…
If you’re really serious about self-improvement…
Here’s how you do it…
1) Set a Self Improvement Target
You need to have a goal so that you can work towards it.
Without setting a goal, it’s like getting in your car without having a destination, what’s the point?
Sure you can have fun driving around. but you’re not gonna get anywhere important.
So first, decide where you want to go.
Here’s an example: Maybe you want to get into great shape for the summer, so you can enjoy yourself and be confident at the beach!
That’s a great goal! You can make it measurable, and the idea of being happy and confident in your body at the beach is something you can feel and imagine.
Whatever your goal, make it exciting and vivid, something that’s really going to motivate you!
2) Analyze Your Current Situation
Before you start driving you need to know your current location.
Otherwise, the route you need to drive cannot be calculated. (Think about how a GPS gives you the route to go from where you are to where you’re trying to go!)
Are you miles away, or are you right next door?
Where are you now, relative to your goal?
Back to our example: How do you feel now in a swimsuit? Do you feel you have a lot of weight to lose? Maybe just a couple pounds? Maybe you’d like to put weight on or build some muscle?
What is the current state?
3) Determine The FIRST Steps to Go from Your Current Situation to Your Self-Improvement Goal
Now the fun begins…
So, you have your starting and end points…
Now, you need to figure out the first steps to go from where you are now to where you want to end up.
What are the first things you have to do?
Do you need to cut out soda? Do you need to start tracking calories? Doing cardio? (For my homies with fitness goals, check out my last blog post with 5 Actionable Steps to Weight Loss)
Perhaps at this point, you need to research how you can get to your goal. That’s okay, set yourself a timer, 30 minutes or less, and think about it and do some research.
At the end of the timer, stop where you are and use what you got.
As you’ll see, this doesn’t need to be perfect now, you just need something to start on.
Take “messy” action.
**If you need help with a fitness or business goal, reply below with your current situation, your target, and the steps you’ve already identified. I’ll check your work!**
4) Decide what to take action on first
What are you going to do first?
This step can be overwhelming and likely the reason you keep putting this off, but keep it simple.
Ask yourself, “Which task from step 3 should I start with?” Don’t stress over it. Give yourself 30 seconds to decide what is probably best and pick that thing.
Are you going to start tracking calories first? Go to the gym? Daily walks? Cut out soda? Cut out processed foods? Start meal prepping?
What do you want to do first?
Often once you’ve performed the analysis in step 3, you’ll have a pretty clear idea of what the first step could be.
Once again, if you’re not sure, don’t get caught up in deciding what action to take, just get started with what you think could work
And don’t worry we’ll discuss how to handle things if you don’t get the results you want.
5) Take Action on Your Self-Improvement Goal
Just do it!
If you can start on it today, do it!
Track your next meal? Hit the gym after work? Eat no processed foods at your next meal? Go for a walk after dinner?
The sooner you can take action, the sooner you can evaluate the effect of that action and determine what you should do next!
6) Repeat
Congratulations! Now that you’ve taken action.
You have enacted a cause that created an effect.
And now you have a data point to analyze.
Keep this in mind… some results won’t be shown out immediately, and you’ll have to stick to an effort for a while before you evaluate how it’s going.
Going to the gym one time isn’t going to change anything…
It’s only after repeated and consistent action that you will see and feel results.
(Make sure to celebrate the small wins on the journey). For example, Have you made it to the gym consistently? Have you felt more focused and energized throughout your day? Have you made healthier choices for lunch 3-days in a row? Small wins add up, so don’t forget to celebrate them!
In general, the idea is, once you have some results, analyze them, go back to step 2, determine where are you now, (did you move closer, farther, stay still), and then…
Decide what your next steps could be (continue with what you’re doing or change things up?)
Pick what to do,
And again… do it!.
The key here is being honest and holding yourself accountable. Cuz at the end of the day, we can’t be upset at the results we don’t get from the work we did not put in. Mmkay pumkpin? *Will Smith voice*
Will this work for me?
This is the method to success! It’s essentially the scientific method!
A feature of the scientific method is that anyone with basic logic can follow it and create results.
You don’t have to be some extraordinary super genius…you just need to put in a bit of effort to follow through all the steps.
If you diligently apply the principles, you are bound to eventually arrive at your goal.
Common points of failure
Just like we’ve been discussing, the number one point of failure is failing to take action, so if you neglect step 5, then you’re back at square 1.
There is no better time to take action than RIGHT NOW. The longer you wait, the longer you delay the results, and the less time you have to make progress.
If you’re serious about self-improvement and getting the things you desire, take the time today, and go through the process outlined above.
Don’t overthink it. Just start with step 1, day 1.
Get on track as soon as possible, the longer you delay the harder the game becomes.
Stay Dope,
- Unfiltered: How Meals of Dopeness Went From Snapchat Meme to Fulfilling Entrepreneurial Dream
- How It’s Made: Meals of Dopeness Edition
- The Stupidly Simple 6-Step Method to Measure Progress and ENSURE You Hit Your Goals Quicker
- 10 Reasons to Never Give Up [+ Video Story Time]
- How to Eat More & Still Lose Weight [Infographic on Calorie-Dense Foods]
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