I am jealous of my future self

I was just thinking about how much options and resources I’ll have a year from now… And it makes me jealous.

A promise

Last birthday I promised something to myself. I’d do what’s meaningful. I’d stop chasing expedient pleasures. I finally manned up enough to consider sacrificing present consumptions for future gains.

It’s been more than 4 months since then and I’ve had some successes.

I’ve got a good morning routine. I do high intensity interval trainings (cardio) daily. I have quit smoking and sugar and do eat healthy. I started studying regularly and recently started learning Python.

Last week I won a scholarship and it ensured opportunity for paid internship after graduation.

I’ve been saving frugally and have saved more than I’ve ever saved before.

The anticipated result

Right now, I am a nobody. I have so little career opportunity that it baffles me. But, my future self is drowned in choices. He has a paid internship waiting for him. He will have a lot of my hard earned money to invest from. He will own a blog with hundreds of posts. He’ll be skilled at Python and security analysis. He’ll also be really healthy and energetic.

I’m jealous of him for that. But I know for sure that, he’s super proud of me 🙂

How you can use this

I am a big fan of Dr. Jordan Peterson. It was his book, that made this shift in me. He has this suggestion that, we should really think about our ideal future self and worst future self. Then use the ideal one as a pull forward. While the worst one is gonna push you from behind. This is your heaven and hell. And they are great motivators.

Interested in finding your own ideal self after one year? Here’s how to –

Think of your ideal day. List the important activities that may really compound into huge gains later. For example: strength training, eating healthy, extra-curriculars, meditation, learning a new language, learning a new skill, blogging, saving money etc. Then think of the gains you’ll have after 365 days of continuous effort.

Use your worst/laziest day to get an idea of worse future.

Hope this post helps you gain clarity and motivation. See you in the next post 🙂

Is suffering necessary for success?

Do everyone have to be like David Goggins? He once famously said,

“I like to sit back and enjoy my pain, I earned them.”

I love David and his story. I love his determination and the fact that he showed us how much potential power our mind has over our body. But I don’t buy into this philosophy that you have to suffer to be successful.

Suffering is optional.

I mean, hard work? Yes. Grinding? Maybe. Sacrifices? Absolutely! But Suffering? No.

You can fall in love with action. Hard work will feel like the only thing you want to do at this moment.
Sacrifices may feel like little payments; for the big prize that’s on its way, towards you.

But if you have the slightest idea of how our mind shapes the reality we experience, you may agree with me that suffering is optional. It almost always is. Specially for privileged people who have enough food, shelter and aren’t being abused in any way.

Even then a master of his own mind will find peace. But most of us aren’t that good at it. So let’s not push it that far.

If you really want something, you will wake up at 5am and be grateful for it. You will then sacrifice all the social media, binging on YouTube, gaming or hanging out with friends and rather work your ass off. You will be proud, happy and grateful for that. I can attest to that. It’s never gonna feel like suffering.

A word of caution though: Don’t rush anything. And don’t take too much on your plate at once.

Remember the race between The tortoise and the hare. And always remember that- the road to success is, a marathon. It’s almost never a sprint. At least not if it’s something truly worth striving for.

Use the 21 day challenge technique. Introduce habits into your life one at a time. See if you like them after 21 days. Repeat the process.

Best of luck on your journey.

Don’t kill the kid inside you.

The kid inside you knows no reality. It doesn’t really care. It doesn’t have to. Only thing it cares about is what it wants. That’s it. Give it to him. Now. It’s not gonna stop whining until it’s been given to it.

So you have two choices. Listen to it and work your ass off to meet it’s unreal expectations. Or kill it.

I am here to suggest that you should not kill it. Rather nurture it. Work for it. Love and cherish it’s existence.

It’s the voice inside you that keeps saying you’re not done yet. That you don’t wanna be just good, you wanna be the best. That your not gonna settle. That you won’t take no as an answer. Ever.

It’s also the curious side of you. That believes the key to this world is knowledge. The part of you that is humble enough to ask. To bother others for an answer. That believes that there is an answer somewhere. You just have to find it.

The kid inside you will push you. It will give you energy, motivation and a worthy cause. It will take your hand and take you towards greatness.

Don’t let the kid inside you die. The voice that tells you that it’s all or nothing. That you deserve whatever you wish for. You may reason with it, show it better things to long for. But don’t kill it.

Be like an arrow on a trajectory, like a bullet on a mission..

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Want to know the secret to success? Is it law of attraction? Is it perseverance? Is it staying hungry and foolish?

First let me clarify I’m not in a position to advise anyone. I’ve been a self-help junkie since I was 16; it’s been only 2 months since I’ve started applying all the knowledge. Surprisingly, these self-help things been working for me. I’ve lost 9 kg of weight, learned a ton of topics- including but not limited to stuffs assigned to me by college authority, I’ve been waking up early almost everyday, my social skills improved, I quit smoking, quit sugar and am still pumped about the next day.

And that last part is what surprises me most. I never thought I could sustain a full gung-ho mood for such a long time. But I’ve never been happier!

Well back to the main topic of this post. What is the secret to success?

I think it’s this- ‘A goal that silences everything. Something that means so much to you that you don’t care if everything else fails.’

For me, that is to make the best of my existence and to inspire others by example.

What is it for you? Trust me, you know it already. Even if you can’t say it right now, somewhere in your heart their is something that matters to you more than anything else. (Hint- it usually involves doing good for other people)

Wait, is that all?

Well, yes and no.

Yes in the sense that after you’ve known exactly what motivates you, you’ll make your dreams come true no matter what. As goes the proverb- ‘if there is a will, there is a way’

Now let me clarify the no..

Having a goal is great. But you also may need this other thing I found helpful.

Visualization.

What exactly should you visualize? 2 things- How your new reality looks like & the process you’ll use to get there.

Now why does setting a goal and visualizing about success work?

Believe it or not, these claims are backed by logic and ton of examples.

Our brain loves problems. If you don’t give it one, it’ll just create one for you. But if you give yourself a worthy problem to solve, something that both your heart and brain agrees on, you brain will try and find the solution. It will even work to solve it while you’re sleeping!

Vision is costly. That is why we have selective vision. We can only focus on one thing properly. When you have an overarching goal- you’ll be super focused and you’ll see opportunity everywhere.

 

Visualization works for 2 distinct reasons. One is that it’s hard for us to do or accomplish something beyond our self image. If you believe you can’t- you probably won’t. But- we can use this knowledge to our advantage. Visualization helps you to fool your brain into thinking that this is the new reality. Your subconscious mind accepts this new paradigm and mental blocks are destroyed.

Secondly, visualization keeps you motivated. It makes you see how much better the new and improved reality could be. That makes you inspired for success.

So what is your ‘must have’? Try these two steps and you’ll definitely see amazing results.

Please subscribe ‘now’ for more posts like this! See you in the next post 🙂

The One Advice From Dr. Jordan B. Peterson That Changed Me

He has done it. He has changed another person for the better. Me.

It was March 24 of 2018. Just 2 days after My birthday. It’s a date I’ll never forget. I was reborn that day.

After reading his book (or shall I say listening to his audio-book? I did both), I started to change. Slowly but surely. First change that came was a more optimistic outlook towards future. Life wasn’t all suffering anymore. There was meaning; and purpose.

Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t all depressed or suicidal before reading this book. Actually, I was worse. Because, I was apathetic. I had dreams, but no initiative to realize them. Days passed me by, one by one; and I was doing nothing of value. Nothing of value to me, my loved ones or humankind. Well I guess, being a good consumer was my only contribution.

Then I started his book. I started standing up straight as he suggested in his first rule. I was hooked by his thought process and couldn’t stop listening to his book daily. Then came the 4th rule.

Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else Is Today.

It’s not this rule that struck a chord with me. I mean it did make sense. JP has the best arguments after all. But what really pushed me to the threshold of change was something I found in the paragraphs that followed. It was a question to be asked daily, as suggested by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson-

What could I do, that I would do, to make life a little better?

‘A little better you say?’- I thought to myself. I can think of something that would make my life a little better.

After then I started thinking continuously about ‘the little changes’ that I could make. I started envisioning a different future than the one I was destined to arrive at.

I thought- ‘Maybe I should quit smoking?- No,no,no that’s too much to ask myself. Maybe I will smile more, maybe I could start waking up earlier and then maybe I could exercise for a little while’.

I kept thinking. I came out with more ideas to change my life in one day than I have in the last 10 years.

Later that day, at night I finally decided to stop smoking. I know it sounds like too much. But my mind was so intrigued by the possibility of a better future! I started to see how my decisions determine the life situation I’m going to be at.

I haven’t smoked since then. Well, except for 2 different occasions. But it’s been more than 2 months and I consider it as good as quitting.

The next day, I woke up at 6 am. I wrote morning pages (daily journal) after what seems like an eternity. I exercised and ate breakfast. I walked outside for quite a while listening to 5th rule of Jordan Peterson’s book. Then I came back and sat down to study. After study, I took my guitar out and started learning lessons that I should’ve learnt years ago.

What’s surprising is, it felt good. It wasn’t at all boring or tedious. I was pumped all day. After I was done with the guitar, I kept thinking what else could I do! I came out with so many more ideas!

Did it last past that day? Surprisingly- yes! I kept doing this for another month.

Then the month of Ramadan came and I had to switch my schedule to match my meal time. Such as, I had to wake up at 2:30 am to exercise and then eat. Then, I would study at 4 am, then sleep, and wake up at 10 am again.

I still do all the things I started doing then, till this date. I also added a lot more. I am looking forward to go back to my initial routine as soon as Ramadan ends.

The funny thing is, the best rule for me from 12 Rules for Life isn’t even listed as a rule in the book! 😀

Have you read this book yet? If not I highly recommend it.

If you have read it, what changes did you make? How much did this book and Jordan Peterson affect you? I would love to hear what you have to say 🙂

How to Build New Habits and Stick to Them| Learn New Habits to Become Successful

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This post originated from a video I made for my YouTube channel recently. You can watch it here- How to Build New Habits and Stick to Them| Learn New Habits to Become Successful Please subscribe to my channel, if you like the video 🙂

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You can make or break your whole life with habits. Do you believe that?

If you do, do you use this knowledge in your daily life?

If you don’t, please keep reading.

Somebody one’s said that, ‘your habits determine your future’. I believe it. I believe that, little actions, done everyday, can compound into huge results. We all know, how money compounds with regular interest. Thus investing money is one of the wisest thing you can do. But, money is not the only valuable resource that we have. It’s not even the most valuable ones. The most valuable of your resources are your mental energy and time.

How you invest these three resources can easily predict the kind of life you are headed towards. As somebody once said, “if you don’t change the direction you’re going then you’ll likely to end up where you’re heading”.

how do you determine, the direction you’re going? Of course, by your daily habits.

So, where is it that you want to go? What is the definition of a ‘good life’ for you? I can not determine that for you. Obviously, you have to decide that yourself. What I can do is to show you how, daily habits are the key to you arriving at your desired destiny.

Let’s say you want to be a writer. Well then, you have to write everyday. That is what good writers do. They write every day. Muse or inspiration doesn’t come to the unprepared. If you sit down to write at the same time every day, then muse will visit you. Inspiration loves the disciplined.  Want to know more about this? Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. This logic applies to other creative endeavors too, such as- songwriting, painting etc.

If you want to acquire a new skill, well, practice it everyday! Want to be a blogger? Write on your blog everyday. Want to master the violin? Then do deliberate practice every day.

Now I have just said an important word that you should focus on. It’s deliberate practice. Only doing the things you wanna learn isn’t enough. You have to know how to practice as well. You have to know how to push yourself a little everyday.

This ancient wisdom from Aristotle sums up what I’ve been saying so far. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act but a habit”.

Now, I’ve said a lot of vague motivational stuff so far. But let’s see some practical examples, of how you can easily incorporate new habits, in your daily life.

 

First I’ve to say, the tips I am going to share here are not my own. I’ve learnt them from B.J Fogg, Steven Duneier, Steven pressfield, Charles Duhigg and many others who have researched about habits and human excellence. I’ll have their TED talks linked below. I highly suggest that you watch them if you have enough time. If not then don’t worry I am going to talk about them briefly here.

The first tip is from B.J Fogg. It’s been a life changing tip for me so far. The idea is simple.

To integrate a new habit in your life, do it just after an existing habit.

For example, do 5 push-up after every-time you come out of the washroom. Or, maybe listen to an audio-book or a Joe Rogan podcast while in the transport. Maybe meditate after waking up, or floss teeth after brushing them.

But As B.J Fogg suggests, start small. Floss one tooth, read one page or do only 5 push-ups at the starting phase. You can increase the quantity gradually.

I myself learn French for 5 minutes in Duolingo every-time I come out of the washroom. I also write morning pages, just after waking up and then exercise and eat a good breakfast. Then I take a shower and sit down to study for 8 pomodoro sessions. I also floss every-time I brush my teeth. Here, each of my activity work as a cue for the next activity.

Now why does this work? Well if you read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg you will know that cues are needed to trigger habits. If you are not much of a reader then at least please watch his TED talk, B.J Fogg has a Ted talk too. Both are fun to watch.

Second Tip is to,

Break down the goals you want to accomplish to little steps.

This tip can be so helpful for students who want to have good grades with little effort. Just study for half an hour or 1 hour. But do it everyday. You’ll be surprised to see how far you’ve come. To know more about this philosophy, I highly recommend Stephen Duneiers TED Talk. I’ll have it linked below.

Please try these tips today. After just a week, you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come. Don’t procrastinate. Give it a shot. See you in the next post. Until then, use your money and time wisely.

Resources,

Stephen Duneier- How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals | Stephen Duneier | TEDxTucson

B.J Fogg- Forget big change, start with a tiny habit: BJ Fogg at TEDxFremont

Charles Duhigg- The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg at TEDxTeachersCollege