Making a Change and Sticking With It
When you decide that you want to change your dead-end life around into something a little more promising, it won't happen overnight.
Sorry to break it to you, but you're going to have to work for it. You can't just say, "Damn, I gotta make some changes", and then expect things to take care of themselves. You have to take an ACTIVE role in this!
I can't stress this enough, because I almost fell into this trap a while back. Once you are progressing towards where you want to be, this does NOT mean you can ease up and expect to coast the rest of the way. If you ease up for too long, you're going to regress backwards, and it ain't pretty.
To make a solid change in your life, you need to have the motivation and commitment to stick with it and follow it through to the end.
A fitting analogy is weight loss — have you noticed how many people make a New Year's resolution to lose weight in the new year, and they hit the gym in January, lose 5 pounds, and then slack off and end up gaining 10 pounds? The same thing applies to changing your life — if you stop putting effort into it, you won't get anything out of it.
Once you see changes occurring in your life, that's great — step back for a moment, be proud of yourself, take a deep breath — and then get back at it, because you will get benefits equal to the effort you put into it.
Another analogy: Let's say that you have an automobile, and you're driving on the uphill 'road of self-improvement'. The fuel for this car is EFFORT. If you don't put in the effort, do NOT expect that car to be going up the hill — it will roll backwards down the hill. The only way to keep that car going over the hill is to give it a steady fuel supply of EFFORT.
If you are going to make a change in your life, you need to have that fire within you — you need to be able to COMMIT to following this change through to the end. You need to have the motivation and will to put that effort in for an extended period of time.
I see a lot of people asking about why they have relapsed into their AFC tendencies from their old days, or why they just can't shake certain habits that are holding them back. In order to keep from going backwards or idling in life, you need to keep going FORWARDS.
Always keep moving in a positive direction. By all means, stop to enjoy the scenery — but don't you dare forget that you have a destination and that you WILL reach that goal. REFUSE to let yourself down.
It doesn't matter how much you read here if you don't want to make the effort of implementing the knowledge in your everyday life! It's pointless — you're just wasting your time reading these articles and posts if you don't intend to get out there and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN!
All the great athletes never got to be such dominating forces in their sports without practicing. You need to practice yourself silly and be able to overcome the small setbacks and obstacles in order to succeed. When you wake up in the morning, we recommit ourselves to making that day the ABSOLUTE BEST DAY that we possibly can — and then the next day we try to do that again, and again.
Guys, I can't stress this enough. You will only get as much out of your life as you put into it. Put the most into improving yourself as you can, and watch your life improve. Stick WITH that effort, and ANYTHING is possible.
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