This Is the Best Day Ever
When My Daughter is having fun and is enjoying the activity, she shouts: “This is the best day ever!”
Today is the only thing we have, it is the only thing we can take hold of, change and make things happen.
Do you make today the best day ever? Unfortunately, few of us do.
How can we take hold of each day as if it were our last? Let me start and attempt to help you to create the mindset needed to do this.
If we want to find joy, true joy in our lives, then we must change something. What that thing is, is up to you. For me it is my mindset. I have a daily habit that I had created to improve and make sure I am using my time in a more effective way.
By not changing yourself, you will sit with the same results you have always gotten.
This is not good for me and it’s not good for you. Unless you are already achieving what you want out of life. But, things change, and if we do not change, it leads to frustration and stress. Stress is the gap between your expectations and your reality. You manage your expectations, so you can change your reality.
These are 5 reasons we don’t make actionable progress in making each day count:
Don’t want to take risks
Fear of being judged
We get comfortable
Fear of failure
Excuses
Luckily these are all things you can overcome.
Don’t want to take risks
Contrary to popular belief, I am not a risk taker. Being more concerned with long term growth and thinking and planning my path forward is the way I go about my decisions. Overcoming this comes down to making a calculated decision on what you want to do and then actioning it. You start with small risks that will benefit you and move up from there.
I took a risk to start posting on social media. I was terrified. But what happened? Nothing. Nobody looked at my post or took notice. This is why it is not a big risk, as there is so much noise on the internet, nobody notices.
Fear of being judged
This ties in with not taking risks. We don’t take risks as we fear judgement. Especially of those close to us and then strangers who do not have any say in our lives. Once again it is up to you to decide how much others have influence over you. If you let them have say over your life, or goals, why don’t you take their story and follow it. the downside is that you will not reach your destination, you’ll reach someone else’s.
This is one of the biggest problems I had starting my journey. I had let people have a say over my life for too long, and then I ended up following their paths. No more is this happening. I am taking my life and happiness into my own hands.
We get comfortable
Humans are creatures of habit. What we do or do not do consistently form who we are. There is nothing wrong with watching Netflix, Drinking, or doing nothing. All these have their place in my life, and I use them as tools to break away and relax or spend time with friends or family. (All these I do in moderation, and sometimes even let go and binge.)
My point is that if you want to be a runner, you have to run regularly. You create what you want to be through your actions, and not words. Yes, we all have off days and do not follow through on creating our new identities. But this is where you need to be gracious towards yourself as we are not robots, we still need “me” time.
Fear of failure
I fear failure almost every day. Failure to exercise, to drink enough water, to rest, to be, do and make enough of everything so I can do everything. Luckily, we can be gracious towards ourselves. And we do fail almost every day, in big things and small things.
But we do not need to fear failure. We need to change the way we see failure.
As an example: if I have not completed my 10,000 steps for the day and only did 9,875 steps. I have not failed in reaching my goal. I have succeeded in gaining 9,875 steps above 0!
Excuses
We all have enough excuses to stop us from doing everything and anything. But what does that help us? Does it get us to where we are going? The short answer is no.
How do we stop making excuses? Become aware when you are making an excuse, or if there is a reason you cannot do what you need to do.
Here’s how you can overcome these obstacles:
Step 1: Practice being open minded.
Like really, genuinely open minded. Not the “I know what to do” attitude.
If you want to break through your fears, you need to be humble and be open to the fact that you could be wrong in every conversation. I have been practicing this for the past year, and it has changed my view on many things. My goal is to learn something from everyone I talk to, even on what not to do. I first listen to the argument, without responding. I then think about what they have to say from their point of view and how they have perceived the argument from their side.
Step 2: Take action
Many of us do not act. I am very guilty of this. I love to keep myself busy, preparing, gathering information, and trying to make it perfect. The sooner you realise it is much better to take imperfect action over perfect inaction, the sooner you will see progress.
Do not make the mistake of paralysis by analysis. That you end up doing nothing and then you are more fearful of taking real action. This takes regular practice and putting your excuses aside.
Once you realise your shortcomings and work on them, you will take steps closer to finding your joy in life. Realise that everyone’s joy will be different, so you cannot have a one size fits all approach.
I was terrified of doing things without thinking them through, but sometimes you must bite the bullet and act!
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