Everything was normal when you were kids.
You and your friends had the time of your lives, goofing off during class, rolling around in dirt, scribbling cute drawings with crayons.
Bliss. Everyone was happy.
Then, years pass by.
Suddenly, everyone else your age seems to be THRIVING.
They’re achieving amazing goals, rocking their hot body, cherishing a wonderful social life, skyrocketing in their career, you name it.
More important than the materialistic stuff though, they truly love their life and are happy.
But…how are things going for you?
You…well, you feel like you’re the same person you were 6 years ago.
You might even feel worse.
…Whoa, what happened?
When did you all…become so different?
How did the gap between you…and all those people your age widen so much?
Aren’t you tired of feeling behind in life?
Aren’t you tired of knowing you’re not living up to your potential?
Tony Robbins says that progress is equal to happiness. Without it, life gets boring, FAST.
Even MILLIONARIES get depressed because once they get all the money they want, they stop progressing and growing in life.
“Progress equals happiness. Even if you’re not where you want to be yet. If you’re on the road, if you’re improving, if you’re making progress, you’re gonna love it. You’re gonna feel alive.”
-Tony Robbins
In this post, I’ll show you the EXACT steps you need to FINALLY see amazing progress in your life.
Steps that will help you create a beautiful life that you’re in love with, and excited to wake up to. Get ready to change your life!
Table of Contents
Step 1: Start Thinking On Your Own
Okay so, the first thing you need to do is START THINKING ON YOUR OWN.
There’s more to it lol, just hear me out.
So what does it mean to ‘think on your own’?
Ever since you were in primary school, you’ve always been told what to do.
Finish your homework, study for this job, go do this do that if you don’t want to suffer in life, yadda yadda.
You don’t even need to stop and ponder, “Wait, what am I supposed to be doing with my life?”
Since your parents, the government and schools are thinking for you.
It’s really easy to sit back and take your hands of the reins, letting them steer your life.
It’s so easy – so a majority of people live like this.
But…. the life that they have planned for you?
It’s…not much.
Average and mundane, to say the least.
Unless you have ambitious parents who want you to be a sports star, that’s a whole different story.
They usually pick the safest option for your life.
Understand that. Parents just want to keep you safe. They do it out of love and fear.
But 9 times out of 10, the safest option isn’t what’s truly meaningful to you.
It isn’t what will bring you the most joy and fulfillment in life.
Understand that the world doesn’t owe you anything.
No one owes it to you to give you a fulfilling life you’re in love with and excited to wake up to.
NO ONE can give that to you except yourself.
Until you start thinking on your own, and not depend on anyone else to do that for you.
If you ONLY depend on OTHER people to tell you what to do, you’re giving all your power away!
Why would you do that, you amazing being?!
Sure, I mean you can ask for advice about the small stuff in life, like what groceries to buy, the best way to manage finances, buying houses, etc.
But ultimately, the big decisions (your career path, your lifestyle, etc.) are up to you.
☝☝☝☝☝
Step 1.1: Take Responsibility
So how do you start thinking on your own?
By taking responsibility for your ACTIONS and your LIFE.
This is what separates those ahead in life and those stuck in place.
You know the popular quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”? (From Spiderman, haha!)
Mark Manson explains how the opposite is also true –
“With great responsibility comes great power”
A lot of things happen to us in life that we can’t control.
We didn’t ask for them to happen.
Yet, they also become our responsibility now.
For example, if you were robbed, it isn’t your fault, of course. But you’re still responsible for how you’ll handle it ->
Whether you’ll report it to the police, ignore it, or do something else, cry, etc. all the choices you make are YOUR responsibility.
And these choices have consequences too, which also becomes…your responsibility.
Does that make sense?
Basically, when something out of your control is screwing up your life, you have two choices:
- a) Cry, complain and victimize yourself. Make your life worse.
- b) Figure out how to make the best out of this situation, and improve it and/or accept it. Make your life better.
You can’t blame or give excuses anymore if you’re not happy with your life.
You’re the only person who can fix it, by taking responsibility and making good choices to improve it.
Some people figure this out sooner than others, and work hard for years improving their life. That’s why they’re so ahead.
Your second life begins the moment you learn this.
You’re only learning this now, so it’s okay, you’re a newborn ATM. (lol)
Sadly, some people go through life without learning this at all, and live miserably till they die.
You’re incredibly lucky to find this sooner, pat yourself on the back.
Step 2: What kind of life do you want to live?
Think on these for a moment:
If you had all the money in the world, what would you be doing?
What kind of life would excite you the most?
AND ALSO...for what kind of life would you suffer for?
Getting to your ideal life requires you to overcome tons of obstacles along the way. That’s why the process of getting to your goal should be something you’re willing to go through.
Write it down and describe it. Don’t hold yourself back!
You might have daydreamed about your ideal life and created fantasies about it.
Oh and…like most people (I felt this way too!) you might feel embarrassed to write your ideal life down. Lol!
I get it, you’ll feel crazy, maybe childish and worried whether people will laugh at you or not.
But chances are, there’s already someone out there living your dream life and they’re definitely NOT embarrassed.
🤭 Be a dreamer.
At this point, try not to be too specific just yet. Give an over-arching view of your ideal lifestyle. ☺️
Like, “I’m travelling the world with my family”
Or “I’m living in a country I love and I have a leaned and toned body”
Also!! Your dreams are malleable and can always change. So if you do start to question whether you truly desire your dreams or not, it’s okay.
It’s part of the process of figuring out what you really want in life.
The biggest dream building mistake: (WATCH OUT!)
Avoid having a dream that’s ONLY filled with materialistic stuff.
Like, if your dream life only has sports cars, designer outfits and mansions, you might want to rethink.
You don’t actually want those shiny, luxury things. You crave the fake feelings you get from them.
You crave feeling of status you get from a designer handbag, though the feeling vanishes after you buy it.
You hope you’ll finally be loved and appreciated by other people when you get a luxury sports car and mansion.
All these fake feelings are temporary and won’t give you true fulfillment and joy.
We’ve all been brainwashed by the media.
You’re taught that you’re only successful if you have a mansion, 100 designer bags, and a private jet.
This is completely bullshit.
If you’re a person who earns a living doing what they love, in good health, and surrounded by people who love you for yourself and not your sports car, you’re already successful.
This took me years to figure out, and will save years of your life as well.
Step 3: This stage is the learning stage.
You’re gonna consume content related to how you can improve YOURSELF.
Now, why am I telling you to specifically improve yourself and not your life?
Once there was a woodcutter who chopped trees with his axe. One day, his boss hired another woodcutter.
The new woodcutter was extremely good. He chopped down 10x more trees than others.
Crazy dude, I know.
He became the best employee in record time. The old woodcutter was dumbfounded. What the heck?
The old woodcutter, worked harder than ever chopping down trees to beat the new guy.
He couldn’t do it.
Finally, he got sick of it and asked the new guy how the heck he managed to cut down so many trees.
He said, “I always sharpen my axe for 30 minutes before I start chopping. When’s the last time you did?”
The woodcutter replied, “5 years ago.”
You are the most valuable tool that you have.
The more you “sharpen” yourself, the better your life automatically gets.
Learning is how you sharpen yourself.
Okay so, when most people think of learning, they think of boring school textbooks and lectures.
Real learning isn’t like that. Lol, thankfully.
When you learn outside of school, you can actually use the knowledge to transform your life.
It’s awesome.
So, what should you learn first?
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING you need to learn to improve first is your mindset.
The life that you’re living right now is the result of your mindset.
Your mindset is the foundation for EVERYTHING in life.
If you’re working towards the life you want to achieve, but lack a good mindset, it’s SUPER difficult.
Let’s say you want to be a famous dancer. No matter how good you are at dancing, if you believe you can’t do it and have stage fright, you’re gonna fall flat on your face.
To get to your dream life, 80 percent of your effort should focus on improving your mindset.
How can you achieve your goals if you’re constantly stressed, anxious, insecure and you hate yourself?
You can’t. There’s too much weighing you down.
You can learn how to fix your mindset through YouTube videos, self-improvement books, or talking to a therapist. Those are a great place to start!
Learning is the first step to change – so pat yourself on the back! 🙋♀️
If you’ve mastered your mindset already, then awesome! Now, think of ONE area of your life you REALLY want to improve.
Consume content related to that, and how you can improve that area of your life.
For example, let’s say you want a fit physique. You’re not gonna walk into the gym without knowing what exercises to do, right? 🤡
You’ll research what the best exercises for your muscles are, and how to avoid injuring yourself.
Step 4: Take action.
Start taking baby steps in real life while you’re learning.
Ask yourself this,
“What is one step I can take, right now, that will bring me closer to my dream life?”
Let’s keep the action step simple! So you won’t feel too overwhelmed.
I wanted to improve my social life in the past.
So, the action step I took was approaching and starting conversations with new people.
It was scary! 😫😣
And amazing…
Because I could finally use the knowledge I got from books and YT videos in the real world.
After I started taking action, I created so many beautiful relationships that I’ve always wanted before. I usually felt lonely in the past.
My social life is better than ever! ❤
Let’s say you really want a nice, lean healthy body.
The action step you could take is….exercising for 10 minutes everyday. It’s up to you!
Make sure to keep it small though. If your action is too intense, or too scary, you’ll get burnt out and quit early. We don’t want that!
Related: How I’m Overcoming My Comfort Zone and Why I’m No Longer Scared of the Unknown
Step 5: The Compound Effect – Secret Ingredient
Okay, so, this blog post isn’t gonna give you the life of your dreams immediately.
You WILL 100 PERCENT reach your dream life, as long as you constantly learn new things and take action every single day.
It’s guaranteed. Isn’t that amazing? 😁
Change and growth are slow, but the rewards are SO worth it. Your future self is gonna jump up and down from joy because of all the effort you put in today. 😊
After a week, you might not even see that big of a difference in your life.
You’ll be tempted to go back to how you were.
Remember that good things always take time – every single step you take today to improve your future will pay off!
Do something your future self would thank you for.
Here’s a short summary of it: Creating New Habits – 4 Lessons From The Compound Effect
Thank you for reading!
Much luv,
Sri 😘