Tag: progress

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Your Trains Off the Track – What Doesn’t Work To Catch Up in Life

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There’s many reasons we fall behind. We’re sick, bored, depressed, busy with other aspects of our life.

Life has a way of kicking our asses even when we’re in a solid place mentally with our actions being consistent and congruent with what we want to accomplish.

Right now, I’m stagnant and falling further behind. I’m struggling to control my actions and emotions. I’m acting like a childish dick who lost his lunch money on taco day – What the fuck am I going to eat now!

I’m not sure why I’m in this slump. I’m uncertain of what will work to get my life back in order and on the tracks after I’ve derailed. However, I’m absolutely sure these things won’t help anyone play catch-up.

  1. Beating the shit out of yourself for being in your current position – This one is always they hardest for me to avoid. I can be very self deprecating and drive myself into a further hole with all the belittling self-talk. I have to get to a point where I say “Ok self, I’ve most likely made some really shitty decisions to get into the situation I’m in, I can’t change what’s happened, but I can work on making my future situation much more enjoyable and fruitful.” I have to stand up to myself and put the negative voices in their place in order to have the mental freedom to make progress.
  2. Rushing to get everything back together in a couple of days – This leads to more stress, aggravation and subpar output in your performance. When I rush, I end up having to redo the task down the road in order for it to be worthy of being considered complete.
  3. Forcing yourself to do the things you hate at the wrong times – Work on the things you are motivated to do at that time. If you’re forcing yourself to make sales calls when you really have the burning desire to create marketing materials, you will end up banging your head into the phone and your potential customers will sense that in your voice and tone. Prioritize your to do’s based off of what you can produce at the highest level of quality at this juncture.
  4. Continuing to remind yourself of how far behind you are – I get it! I’m not where I need to be. My life’s in shambles, I’m overwhelmed by list of to-do’s, I’m not sure what task to start with and I’m driving myself crazy over it. At this point, I need to politely tell myself to “Fuck Off” and pick ONE thing I have some motivation to do. As I work on that one item, I’m always surprised by how motivated I become to do something else. Especially when I’m really engaged and excited by the results of what I’m creating. It’s a process of moving forward; objects in motion, tend to stay in motion.
  5. Wasting time on your fucking phone – The answers you’re looking for aren’t on Facebook, Tinder, SnapChat or anywhere else on that productivity drain we call a smartphone. On numerous occasions, I’ve spent 45+ minutes sitting on the toilet (not actually going to the bathroom) checking out each social media app on my phone looking for answers and this is what I’ve found. Your news feed is full of idiots talking about shit they don’t understand, SnapChat is making you jealous of other people’s lives that appear to be much better than yours for the 10 second snap they recorded and the person your chatting with on Tinder will most likely be a giant disappointment because they don’t look like their pictures. There, I’ve just saved you an hour or more of your day by summarizing what you’re going to see every time you jump on social media. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place to enjoy all these aspects of social media, but that time isn’t right now when you’re already down and behind on your life. Forget about that shit for a while and focus on what matters, YOU!
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Fiendin For Some Progress

tyrone

I’m irritable and discontent.  I’ve been sick for the past two weeks.  I’m fighting with myself daily.  I haven’t written, worked or done much of anything during this time.

When I woke up this morning, it appeared today was going to be another in a long stretch of days that went on aimlessly.  Wasting my time until I fell back asleep.

I went to therapy this morning and explained my situation.  I was told to show up at work no matter how I felt and give it my best effort.  I wanted to tell my therapist to fuck off.  I didn’t want to go.  I wanted to rest, hoping it would make me feel better tomorrow.

I spent the first hour at my office reading about the stock market.  I looked at my positions eagerly and felt I needed to make a move.   All I could think about was quickly making the money back that I lost.  This is thought process that keeps me losing money.

I didn’t make any trades.  Instead, I did the absolute last thing I wanted to do today.  I hit the phones to make sales call.  Like most people, this is one of the things I enjoy doing the least.  Actually, I hate the thought of making calls, but the reality is never that bad.

Every time I wanted give up or I got nervous about picking up the phone, I told myself, “One day you will be dead, no one will remember any of this.”  Level setting my fear with the fact that I would die one day made it feel infinitesimal and took away any pressure or fear.  I realized how insignificant hearing no meant.  Nothing catastrophic could happen.

I got my hustle muscle going.   It’s amazing how your worries, discomfort and illness stops when you are moving along, forced to be in the present.  I didn’t have time to focus on any of that nonsense because my mind was on the task at hand.  It felt good to sit in that uncomfortability rather than what was stewing in my mind.

I made a little headway on a couple deals.  Nothing too significant.  But I had a goal I was chasing.  I became determined, driven and full of energy.  .

My day was transformed, as well as my mindset.  I wanted to keep going and doing more. I became almost obsessive about how many calls I made.  I kept telling myself, this is the last one.  I did that for an hour straight before I finally stopped making calls.

I felt a spark and passion for my life.  Reinforcing the fact that doing whats most uncomfortable usually brings about a rush of excitement and stimulation; as long as I go into it without any expectations.

We feel most alive when we are moving forward in a desirable direction.  I’ve said this repeatedly, but I will say it again – Progress equals happiness.  The slightest shift in perspective can have the greatest impact on how we feel.