Some say in order to get the most out of your life, you need to spend every waking hour working towards your goals. Others say the true meaning of life is found in simple pleasures, and one should have a stress-free life to truly live to the fullest. However both of these extremes are better suited when there's an optimal level of both in your life. Yes, in order to achieve things in your life, you will have to work hard and make sacrifices, but you also need time to have fun and enjoy life.
Being at either extreme will either make you very lazy or very overworked. If you work too much, you'll burn out and kill your motivation and passion. If you have too much fun, you'll lose your ambition to do anything, and won't accomplish much in life. The goal should be to balance your hard work with your fun. This is why many large companies provide their employees with a work-life balance. They understand that employees will be more motivated, satisfied and productive if they are given vacation time off and weekends to relax and recover.
Some of us choose to work seven days a week with hardly any breaks. That may be the case when we have extremely high goals, but it can also be defeating. Working too many hours kills your efficiency and can actually inhibit your success. If you were to take at least one day, or one hour of each day, and spend it doing something you enjoy simply for pleasure, you'll be much more refreshed and ready to work hard when the time comes! So work hard today, stay motivated, but make sure to have fun! Taking the time to reward yourself with a break could be the most beneficial thing you can do for yourself.
Excuse the language in this one, but here Elliott Hulse provides a great insight on life. You may look at this title, and assume this is the opposite of motivation, but it is in fact the opposite. Essentially what Hulse is implying, is that you need to live your life the way you feel is right, not what others tell you to do. This video really impacted my life in a positive way, as I used to be someone who would literally lose sleep over other people's opinions of me. Now to say I've made a total 360, but I've certainly opened up much more than I have in the past.
Hulse talks about the importance of remaining detached from the comments and opinions of others. I liked how he talked about his own experience creating his YouTube Videos. He'll often receive positive feedback, where people say "Elliott, you helped me turn my life around!" And Elliott is glad he helped them, but at the same time he doesn't let it get into his head. He understands the importance of detachment, and realizes he's just doing what he enjoys, and is glad that others can benefit from his videos. Other times, Elliott receives hateful, negative comments on his videos. Elliott is sorry they feel that way, but tries to stay detached from them.
I loved how he went a step further with another, yet hypothetical example of this concept. He uses a great example of the hummingbird. The hummingbird represents you, following your passion or dream in life. Of course this is just a comparison, but Hulse talks about a hummingbird singing in the tree. One person yells that the hummingbird made his whole day! And another person yells that the hummingbird woke him up early, which pissed him off! Either way, the bird doesn't care, so he keeps on singing. That's just what the bird does. You need to realize, that like the bird, you have something or multiple things you want to do in your life. Unlike the bird, you instead choose to do what's comfortable and won't ruffle other people's feathers.
Remember that anyone who's one anything great, has been hated or judged by others. People voted against Abraham Lincoln. People judged Henry Ford. People thought Thomas Edison was an idiot. And still to this day, these people are judged for their success. People will always judge you, and they are likely doing so right now. Think about it. People you may be friends with or work with or even barley know might be judging you at this very moment. So people will judge you regardless of what you do, so you may as well do what you want. You may as well become successful and do what most others are afraid to do!
I want you to really think about this concept. Eat it. Live it. Breathe it. Don't just read this article and pass it by, I urge you to really try and detach yourself from the opinions of others. Only then will you truly be yourself. Only then will you be able to complete your life's work to the best of your ability!
In order for a car to go 100 miles an hour, it must first go 20 miles an hour
Before someone can bench press 300 pounds, they must bench 135 pounds
Before you can run a marathon, you must first run a mile.
Before you can be successful, you must build some momentum
Everyone who is successful at anything was once just getting started. The important thing however, is that you DO get started! What is it that you've been putting off? I don't care what it is or how long you've been putting it off. It doesn't even matter why you've been putting it off, because more than likely you will feel much better once you finally take that first step. At the very least get your feet wet.
I've spent so much of my life simply doing what was required of me. Going to work, going to school, filing my taxes, etc. And during this time I had goals. I had goals that I really really wanted to achieve in my life. But I never took any steps to get there. Now, one of my big goals is to be a motivational speaker. Instead of thinking up ideas and even creating doubts in my mind, I decided to start this blog to build some momentum. Sure, I may not be a motivational speaker yet, but I'm much closer to becoming one than someone who never did anything to reach their goal.
Similarly, I got extremely out of shape during 2016. It wasn't entirely my fault, because I hurt my chest and was unable to workout. And being so out of shape, it was intimidating for me to go back and try some tough workouts. So what did I do? I built momentum! I started by doing a 30 minute workout every single day. There was no pressure to perform, my only goal was to get a single workout in no matter how tired I was. Eventually, I got myself to the point where I could do longer, more intense workouts. And now, I'll be doing my first triathlon this coming Sunday!
You see it's not at all about being great to begin with. Nor is it about going all out on the first try. It's more about building momentum. Momentum is built through persistence. Persistence is built through will power. And that all begins with YOU. Making the decision to act, and work towards your goals.
Throughout the course of your life you will be exposed to a lot of pain, especially if you're trying to be very successful. A key skill that will help you on your journey to success, is understanding how to deal with different types of pain. Here, I've divided the types of pin you will encounter int three broad catergories. Knowing how to manage each type when you encounter it will make you much less prone to failure or quitting early.
1) Physical Pain
This is most commonly talked-about pain. This is the kind of pain you literally need to "push through" if you want to be successful. This pain occurs when you're doing physical activity. The majority of motivational videos are based upon pushing through pain in the physical sense. Understanding the basis of physical pain is very simple, but it's not necessarily easy. It takes a lot of willpower to increase your physical pain threshold. That's why many Olympians and professional athletes are such a rare breed. Because they're not afraid to push through extreme physical pain. You have to stay focused on the destination and reward for not quitting. If you focus too much on the physical pain, you will not be successful.
2) Mental/Psychological Pain
Have you ever been studying for an exam or reading a book, and felt exhausted after a certain amount of time? Or been sitting in meetings or filing taxes/paperwork for an extended period of time, and felt exhausted? This is mental pain. That's why people who work at a desk all day can come home and feel tired. It's not because they are physically exhausted, but mentally and psychologically exhausted. You must understand that your ability to persist through this type of pain is essential to your success in this day and age. With the advancement of technology, you may have to be at your computer or laptop for hours on end in order to be successful. You have to be willing to persist and push through the pain!
3) Emotional/Spiritual Pain
Whenever you are rejected by others or turned-down for a certain opportunity, you will experience emotional pain. The reason this pain differs so greatly from that of the other two, is that we on't actively seek out this type of pain. This specific type of discomfort occurs when another person rejects or betrays you, which is entirely out of your control. Ever applied for a job and didn't get the job offer? How did it make you feel? Most likely, you were less inclined to apply for a different job from that same company. That's becasue you let the hiring manager break your spirit, and you gave up. The way to push through emotional pin, is simply to be persistent. Here, you'e not just fighting against your own willpower, but your fighting against other people's opinion of you. You have to be strong-willed her. Other people will be against you, but if you persist against the grain, you will be successful. All in all, you need to be persistent in your pursuit of your goals. If you choose to push through the massive amounts of pain that will be throw your way, you'll eventually succeed. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight. You need to stay motivated over the long-term, and set our goals high.
A lot of times you'll hear motivational speakers, coaches, or other influential leaders talk about putting 110% or 120% effort into whatever you're working towards. On the surface, this may seem like a good phrase to use when motivating a group of people, but in a factual sense it's only physically possible to give 100% effort, right? When you give 100% effort, you're literally giving all you have, right?
Wrong
You see, when you give 100% effort, you're actually putting in as much effort as you THINK is possible. The issue that most of us have, is that we put mental limits on our ability to do things. We naturally leave 20% of our ability in "storage" and never truly put in as much effort as possible when we go 100%. The reason for this is biological. It's never evolutionarily helpful to exhaust 100% of your energy or abilities, because you may need that extra 20% later on to survive if you're a hunter-gatherer.
Today however, this evolutionary trait screws us over, because we naturally don't put in that extra 20% effort unless we can tap into it. So by saying you'll give 120%, you're mentally going above and beyond what YOU THINK your true abilities are. People who put in 100% effort say "I'm going to try my absolute hardest to win this game". Those who put in 120% effort say "I will win this game, no matter the cost!"
Think about it as if you're running away from a school shooter, dangerous animal, etc. I don't care how tired you are, you WILL not stop running from this threat until you reach safety. I know this is an extreme example, but when your life is in danger, that's one of the only times where we naturally can break that 100% mental barrier. You need to have that same mindset with whatever you're doing. Pretend your life is at stake.
In the past, most of us (myself included) have been putting in 70-100% effort, thinking we're doing all we can. Today, I want you to trump that 100% barrier. Put in 120% effort into whatever you set out to do today! Don't simply try your hardest, but find a way to make your goals and dreams a reality.
