Live by Design – Act NOW…
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
People want to succeed, but at what cost?
Often people confuse success with getting big promotions, having a large sum of money in their bank account, owning an expensive car, house etc. We have grown up with such ideas.
People work hard to get that, but still feel unfulfilled. That’s because the efforts they make are maybe in the wrong directions. Success in real sense is when you are living a life of purpose.
You may be living in a villa or owning a fancy car and maybe admired by many who would want to follow your footstep, but what good it is if you are not feeling fulfilled from within.
I am not trying to undermine the effort put in to get that all. You have worked hard to get to a place where you are right now. How about working hard on you for a change, if you are feeling that there is more to life than this. This doesn’t mean that you quit everything. You have what you have.
“Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.” Washington Irving
When you live your purpose that’s the best feeling you will ever have and I bet more people will admire you not for your material successes but for being what you can be.
Newton law “A body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force. If a body is at rest it will remain at rest”
Usually taking action is where the problem lies. We plan and strategize but when it comes to taking action on our life goals, we often struggle and hold ourselves back. There is a high correlation between taking action and success and we all know it, yet we choose to remain in our comfort zones.
Funny thing is that we work like hell sacrificing many things for a job that we most probably hate, instead of taking actions on our purpose and fulfilment. Even if we do decide to take action we end up procrastinating, fear failure, having self-doubts and eventually giving it up.
“If you change nothing, nothing will change” Tony Robbins
If you are really willing to transform then you’ve got to take action NOW before these thoughts catch up on you.
As Mel Robbins explains in her book “The 5-second rule” about her process of taking action which is
5….4….3….2….1…. launch. As simple as that
It’s not 5….4….3….2….1 years but seconds and you’re a go.
If you let your mind decide for you then you will fall back to your comfort zone resulting in status quo.
“Mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master” Robin Sharma
Remember the last time you really wanted to do something and when it came down to taking action you held yourself back and that’s because you let your mind decide for you and all it could present to you were the worst-case scenario and excuses for not taking action.
You so much want to have that discussion with your boss about the promotion which you have been expecting, but you don’t, thinking “what is the conversation doesn’t go well”, “what is he doesn’t like it”, “What will he think about me” etc…
Your mind is not your enemy, just trying to protect you from getting into an uncomfortable situation.
I could never think of writing blogs and more so publishing them. I was thinking too much and delaying publishing despite having the content ready. Constant thoughts running in my mind “what if people don’t like it”, “what if I embarrass myself”. Finally, I did publish my first one even though I had to ask my friend to hit that “Publish” button for me.
Next one I published myself. Once I was comfortable with the content all it took was 5….4….3….2….1…. publish.
Only then did I realize that is was not that difficult as I had thought it to be. It’s just that you have to overtake these thoughts before they stop you. You need to take action NOW!
Amazing Quote by Sitting Bull (a native American chief)
“Inside of me, there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other one is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins, I answer, the one I feed the most”
Which one are you feeding?
Before I end this series there is one very important point, I wish to make.
It’s easy to give up on the challenges especially when you are taking big steps. Instead of failing by trying to take big steps, take smaller ones and when you get the taste of success, it will become a habit and you will want more and more of it. Slowly your actions will gather momentum. But remember to celebrate each success even if it’s a small step.
This is your journey to fulfilment so in all likelihood, no one will come to recognize you, but that’s not the problem the bigger problem is that even you yourself are not acknowledging it and celebrating when you should.
Celebrating your success is an important part of the journey to push yourself to an even greater achievement.
Don’t be hard on yourself, acknowledge that you have achieved something of significance and go for a bottle of your favourite wine, a meal at your favourite restaurant, a getaway or maybe share that success with your friends and family.
All I am saying is that celebrate and that will make each step of the journey worth the effort and you will be amazed how you are progressing further towards your goals.
I would have loved to grab a beer for finishing up with this series, unfortunately, it’s a lockdown and I am out of beer. Will have to figure out another way to celebrate this achievement 😊
Take care and God bless…
Click here for your Live by Design Blueprint
This is the final part of a series of eight posts. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Please share your suggestion, comments.
Author: Abhishek Budhraja
In case you have any suggestion, you can contact the author on contact@abhishekbudhraja.com or leave a comment below!