What Do You Really Need?

StfUuq - The Brutal Reality of Excuses and How to Conquer ThemDo you really need more money in your bank account before you can create something worthwhile?

Do you really need to develop a routine before you can start making something great?

Do you really need more time in the day before you can dare boldly?

Or is it possible that you can create something worthwhile regardless of the number of zeros in your checking account; or that by making something great you create the routine you need; or that just maybe ‘no time’ is precisely the right time to dare boldly…

Breaking Through Excuses

Writing a book, building a business, creating something without permission – these things are hard to do and they’re plagued with setbacks and failure.

Of course, the enemy knows this and uses it against us.  Excuses are just another tactic used by the enemy to stop us from creating our life’s work.

But like anything the enemy throws at us, we can overcome it.

We can prepare ourselves by recognizing these universal truths of creation:

1)  Excuses are ever-present.

I promise you this – there are a million reasons you shouldn’t start today, why tomorrow works/feels/seems better – but none of these reasons matter.  They don’t keep you from doing the work: you do.

With a simple choice, right now, you delay building your worthwhile project.

Or, with the same simple choice, right now, you begin building your empire. 

The choice is yours every day.

2)  Nothing is built in a vacuum.

There will never be a perfect time, place, or set of companions for you to begin your journey.

There will always be mountains to climb, swamps to traverse and dragons to slay.

This isn’t a reason not to start, it’s the reason you MUST start - otherwise there is no journey, no hero, and no story worth telling.

3)  You have one life but many chances.

The crazy reality of life is this: it isn’t training.  This isn’t a sparring competition getting you ready for the actual fight.

This is it. 

This is the real thing.  This is the main event.  You were born into it.  You have one life to live - no do overs, no second chances.

So you have a choice: fight like hell or throw the match.

Either way, you’re going to take a hit (many hits, actually).

While it might seem like throwing the match, which requires less of your energy and strength up front, is the easier choice, the fact is this: you’re going to take way more hits throwing the match than if you stand your ground, keep your gloves up, and hit back.

And I’m sorry to say but opting out to spectate or referee isn’t an option.  You might not like it, but that’s the reality.

So how will you fight?

The Best Way to Overcome Excuses

Is by starting.

Start right now.  Not tomorrow, not next week - right now.

Now is the best time for you to start; now is the best place for you to begin your journey; now is the best way for you to climb the mountain and slay your dragon.

It’s not easy, but let’s be honest: would you have it any other way?

Good luck and keep fighting.

Experiencing Drag

It’s tough, time-consuming work to finish a project.

While there is always an optimistic energy when we begin a project, finishing takes time, energy (physical and emotional), and comes with no guarantee of success.

When we’re doing something that requires our daily, personal energy to accomplish, a lengthy project can wear us down and make us question our efforts.

This is drag.

And unless you do something about it, this energy-depleting self-doubt (aka: drag) will bury you.

2 Techniques for Overcoming Drag

If you find yourself experiencing drag, there are two techniques you can use to reenergize your effort and avoid burnout:

#1. Take a Knee

Before you scrap your project or give up on your goal, take a knee.

Sometimes the constant effort we put into a project wears us down.  When you’re going full speed every day, it’s hard to recognize the success we’ve had thus far.  Without recognizing our accomplishments, it’s hard to continue fighting - the emotional drain can sometimes be more detrimental than the physical drain.

Taking even just the shortest moment to collect yourself, relax, and take a breath can do wonders for your project and almost certainly ensure you go back into the arena with more passion, strength and commitment than ever.

#2.  Keep Pressing

The worst time to question strategy is in a tactical fight.

In other words, it does us no good to question why we’re doing something when we’re in the thick of the fight.

Why?  Because it’s difficult, if not impossible to judge your progress. 

Have you taken or lost ground?  Are you closer to reaching your objective?  Is your strategy still based on known conditions or have circumstances changed?

These are questions that are impossible to answer when you’re on the ground taking daily action to develop your project.

So don’t ask yourself these things – now’s not the time.

Right now is the time for you to put one foot in front of the other; to put effort and energy into the task right in front of you; to keep pressing forward.

If that means writing one more sentence, write one more sentence.

If that means making one more sales call, make the call.

If that means starting over at day 1 to create (or break) a habit, start at day 1.

Guarantees

The truth is, there are none.

Neither of these two techniques will guarantee your success.

Your project might never come together the way you want it to, your final product might not live up to expectations, or people might dismiss what you create.

These things might not work out and this is a tough thing to accept.

But if they might not work out, it also means they could.

And if they could work, it’s your job as an instigator to do everything in your power to see if they can work.

So if you’re committed to the fight, if you’re certain this is your path, and if you’re determined to see it through to the end (win or lose), then don’t let drag beat you down: take a knee and keep pressing.

disrupting the status quo

The Creative Process

Some days, I know exactly what to write, what to build, and what to develop.

Every so often, I'm hit with a rush of ideas as I'm driving home, reading a book, or going for a long run.  The ideas are clear and I know exactly what I need to say, build, or write.

When I get home to my office, it's on.

These days are good.

Blank Days

Other days, the ideas don't come so easily.

On these days, I'm blank.

I know I have to write, but when I sit down, nothing comes to me.  I stare at a blank screen and every attempt to fill it with an idea comes up short.  It's infuriating.

These are the tough days.

And they happen the majority of the time.  

The Worst Part

Having no clear idea what I intend to write on a daily basis isn't the worst part.

The worst part is knowing beforehand that I have nothing to write.

That's when the fear hits:

"I shouldn't be doing this - I'm not good enough."

"What am I doing?"

"People will see I'm a phony...my stuff's not worth reading...this is a waste of time..."

These thoughts come to me on those blank days (every time without fail).

The Importance of Process

When the fear hits on those blank days, it's important - I would hazard to say mandatory - to slow down.

Identifying and understanding this fear as just that - fear - helps to quiet the negative self-talk propaganda.

This leads to an important realization: this fear inducing pressure is fabricated; it's a direct result of the importance we attribute to the results of our work.

And the results are important - but they're not more important than the process itself.

The process: that is why we do what we do (the artist, the creative entrepreneur, the unconventional leader).

We do it because the process is art, it's a gift, and, by giving and creating daily, we inexorably create our life's work.

Disrupting the Status Quo

It's easy to let the pressure of writing keep us from writing.

It's understandable to let the fear of shame keep us from creating.

It's almost forgivable to let the fear of failure keep us from starting, finishing and shipping...

But then we become exactly we set out to change: the status quo.

No, creating, building a business and leading aren't for everyone.

But if they are for you, then go to work every day (the disruption of the status quo depends on it).

 

Winning the Creative War

The Pain of Creation

Every act of artistic creation (business, blog, book or otherwise) begins in the mind.

They begin as acts of love (we care about our ideas) and defiance (challenging what is with what could be).

But being inside your own mind isn’t a pretty thing.  It’s nasty in there; what is right seems wrong; up is down; and every course of action can be rationalized (adding to the frustration).

Struggling with a creative puzzle or wrestling with a conceptual problem is brutal.

It challenges your skill; do you have the ability to bring this vision to life?

It challenges your character; do you have the fortitude – the grit – to take it all the way?

It challenges your belief in yourself; can you keep working toward an elusive goal, even when nothing pans out for weeks, months or years?

Do you really have what it takes to fight these creative battles, day in and day out?

And if the answer is YES to all of those questions, are you sure you’re not just lying to yourself?

The Inner Creative War

These are the internal battles of someone trying to do something new, of someone building something from scratch, of the person creating something unique, not because he was told, but because he chose.

It’s not reserved just for writers (experienced as writers block) or entrepreneurs (experienced as failure to launch), but for every single person who stands up and challenges the group; who leaves the tribal boundaries; who demands self-determination, regardless of the consequences.

It’s a battle waged by artists and inventors; by builders and breakers; by warriors and leaders.

It’s a war fought by those brave enough to question, challenge, and try.

And like any war, there will be casualties: your dreams may not become reality, your goals might not pan out, and your projects might fail.

It’s difficult, it’s unforgiving, and it’s (often) unfair.

When I characterize creation as an act of war, I mean it.

Winning the War

And yet some of us still feel compelled to create, even with this guarantee of discomfort.

Perhaps it’s because we expect the discomfort will fade when we “make it.”  And it might.

Or perhaps it’s because we believe the reward at the end will outweigh the pain of the process.  And this might be true.

Or perhaps we have no other option because the discomfort of not creating is more painful and terrifying than the possibility of trying and failing.  And this is probably the case.

Regardless the reason, the fact that some still want to create, still need to create, is what matters; because these are the people who will create.

Winning the creative war isn’t a matter of how.  For the creator, it’s a matter of when.

Oddly enough, that is exactly how you win.

It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much can you take and keep moving forward? That's how winning is done. [Rocky Balboa]


p.s. are you fighting the creative war right now?  Share with us in the comments below what you're creating and where you've found success (or how you've dealt with failure).

 

Goals

A Pause

The beginning of every year starts with reflection.

We reflect on the past year, on what we’ve done (or not done), on what we’re proud of (or not so proud of), and how we intend to make this year better.

When we reflect, it’s common to see a multitude of failures: failure to start, failure to finish, failure to ship.  Sometimes it hurts to think about.  Of course, with the right resolve, we quickly commit to something bigger and better for this year.

The Path Forward

As with the start of every year, plenty of books, blogs, newscasts, and TV shows will talk about this commitment to something bigger and better for the new year.

They’ll explain you need to set goals, but not just any goals: you need to set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented goals (or some variation of this).

They’re right; setting these types of goals will increase the likelihood that your next venture is successful.

They’ll tell you that this time you REALLY need to commit; no half-hearted, wishful thinking.  You need to commit and make sure you stand by your commitment.  They’ll suggest you announce your intentions to someone else or that you make a contract to yourself that you personally sign.

And they’re right – getting something or someone to hold you accountable will increase your chances of success.

They’ll suggest getting a journal to record your daily progress, stocking your bookcase with productive content and filling your MP3 player with motivational podcasts.

And, for the most part, it’s all right and should help you realize your goals.

But you already know that.

So there is no reason to reiterate the information that is already out there – not on any of that stuff at least.

The Hard Part

But I will ask for 1 minute of your time.

In 1 minute write out every answer you can think of to the following question:

This year, I am committed to NOT…[fill in your answers here]

The REALLY hard part about commitment isn’t the grit needed to keep going when things start breaking, or the focus needed to finish and ship; no, the really hard part is all the things you must purposefully ignore if you really want to be successful.

If you want to be successful, you must commit, and when you commit, you close doors.

Closing doors is the hard part.

So I’m asking you to do the hard part – close doors this year.

Identify all the things you WON’T pursue this year; list out all the projects you WON’T start; write down all the things you WON’T agree to; determine all the ideas you WON’T develop this year.

The Scary Part

“But what if…”

Stop.

That’s the Enemy talking.

The Enemy wants you to keep your options open because if they stay open, you’ll never focus on one thing long enough to ACTUALLY instigate (start, finish, AND ship).

The Enemy wants you to keep all your doors open because when things start breaking (and they will), the Enemy will have an easier time goading you into changing direction, quitting on your project, and moving into one of your many open doors (available options).

The worst part: you won’t even recognize this is the Enemy because you’ve been taught to never put all your eggs in one basket.

Somehow, instead of that phrase reminding you to diversify your investments, it has mutated into an excuse for idealness, non-commitment, and retreat when things start breaking (“live to fight another day” right?).

This is scary.

Your Part

Don’t be a victim of The Enemy this year.

Don’t waste away another 365 days building someone else’s dream, slaving away just to slave away, or living a life of quiet desperation.

This year you can instigate your great project, begin building your empire, and continue (or start) creating your life’s work.

The power is so completely in your control it is painful to mention because more than a few will ignore it.

They will ignore that delicate inkling in their heart that tells them to start, finish and ship their great idea; the one that pulls at them every so often and asks to be considered; the one that that quietly begs to be given a chance.

They will ignore it and the spark will fade.

And another year will go by with nothing but reflections of what you did (but mostly didn’t do), what you’re proud of (but mostly what you’re not so proud of), and intentions of making this next year better.

Fill in the Blank

Don’t wait another hour to close some of those open doors: close them now.

Don’t wait another day to start on something worthwhile: start today.

Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what to do and how to do it: draw your own map.

This year I am committed to NOT [fill in the blank in the comments below]

Life is paradoxicalOpposites

We think pain and pleasure or love and hate are opposites of one another.

We think of these emotions as opposite ends of the spectrum, as if each lies on either side of a single line.

pain --------------------------------- pleasure

love --------------------------------- hate

This couldn't be further from the truth.  

In either case, they are simply variations of one another; unique but related; two sides of the same coin.

But they are not opposites.

In both cases, we are experiencing some kind of emotion.  Whether you experience pain or pleasure, love or hate, you are still experiencing something.  So the opposite of pain isn't pleasure, nor is the opposite of pleasure pain.

The opposite of both is numbness – it is indifference – it is nothing.

When a project breaks, we might experience anger at ourselves because we failed, fear that this case isn't unique and that we might never succeed, or jealousy of others for effortlessly accomplishing that which we suffer for daily to create.

When a goal comes to fruition, we might experience joy in its realization, pride that we have accomplished so much, or gratitude that we were given such an unlikely opportunity, with such an unlikely skill set, in such an unlikely environment, to make our dreams reality.

In either case, we are experiencing the emotions of someone who cares.

If you want to experience the latter, you must be willing to experience the former; that's the price you pay when you care, when you're invested in the outcome, when you're committed.  But if you'd prefer to never feel the anger, fear, or jealousy of failure – the pain of failure – then you only have one option: become indifferent.

Stop caring.

Avoid commitment.

Indulge in the emotional morphine of indifference and all the pain goes away; and so does all the pleasure, all the happiness, all the joy.

You can't have one without the other.

That's the paradox; that's the battlefield; that's the choice.

"The opposite of love's indifference." [The Lumineers]


Never fight alone.  Join the Resistance:

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Fear
"Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain." [Emerson]

Or maybe not.

Maybe that fear never dies.

Action quells fear because it changes our focus.

Instead of experiencing the terror of a hypothetical, negative future, action requires your mind to focus on the present circumstance.

Action shifts our brain from theorizing to creating; from fantasy to tangible reality; from superfluous ideations to the practical manipulation of our environment.

And when we take action on the thing that we fear, we go through this same shift.

But it doesn't destroy fear.

Stop taking action and fear will most certainly return.

Which isn't to suggest mindless action as the solution to conquering your fears.

Any robot can follow rules, stay busy, and avoid the fear of real life.

Nor should you detach yourself in order to avoid fear; the detached person who avoids his emotions altogether isn't enlightened but ignorant of the consequences of his actions.

Because real life is fearful. Living is scary. There are very physical consequences to our action and inaction, and we have to make choices (with physical consequences) daily.

Ignoring this fact doesn't make you immune to this reality.

The truth is, fear, as upsetting as it is to experience, is necessary.

We need fear because we need courage.

The courageous person isn't fearless.

On the contrary, the courageous person experiences fear far more palpably than the coward because he takes action in the face of fear, while the coward avoids it altogether.

The courageous person accepts his own fear and continues to fight; the coward lets someone else fight for him.

The courageous person stares down the Enemy every day and takes action; the coward makes excuses and avoids taking action.

The courageous person does the thing that might fail; the coward sticks to things that work.

Without fear there is no courage.

And without the courage of the few, we'd be left with the status quo of the cowards. 

So don't stress if you're working on a project and you're scared to death - it doesn't mean you're cowardly.

If you're terrified, then you're doing something that might fail, that challenges the status quo, that requires courage.

Keep going.

We need you.

 

 

In the first part of this series, I described the conventional forces of the Enemy – the Army of Bad Habits (the largest of Enemy forces)

In the second part of this series, I explained the unconventional force of the Enemy: Negative Self-Talk Propaganda (the most insidious of Enemy forces).

In this third part of the series, we will examine who leads these Enemy forces, why he is invincible, and what we can do to outwit and beat him.

The leader of the Enemy forces isn't your boss or your competitor; it’s not the world conspiring against you; it’s not your bad luck or your genetics.

The leader of the Enemy is nothing external at all.

The leader of the Enemy is  the battle-hardened, combat-veteran Commanding General: your brain stem.

The brain stem is that small part of your brain, way in the back, which connects to the spinal column.

“The brain stem is the Commanding General of the Army of Bad Habits, and it will stop at nothing to keep you from creating your life’s work.” [The Art of Instigating]

The brain stem is the conduit from your brain to the rest of your body, and it controls life-sustaining, essential functions, including your heart beat and central nervous system.

That’s right: the same thing that is essential for your existence controls the Enemy, seeks to destroy your worthwhile project and will put a halt to your life’s work if you're not aware of it.

Without the brain stem, we can’t live (hence, the brain stem is invincible).

But without outsmarting the brain stem, we can’t create our life’s work.

Outsmarting the brain stem is simple if we understand two basic facts:

1)   The brain stem’s existence is to preserve itself

2)   The brain stem is living thousands of years in the past

When we understand these two basic facts – that the brain stem’s motivating factor is self-preservation and that it’s living in the past – we can develop a fighting style that outwits and beats the Enemy.

Since the brain stem’s purpose is self-preservation, it hates anything that might expose us.

That’s why it’s so hard to produce creative work; when we do something extraordinary, when we become the outlier, we stand out from the pack.

And standing out from the pack does not improve our survival rate.

Because the brain stem is living thousands of years in the past, it doesn't understand that standing out from the pack today is actually nonlethal.

Today, we can separate ourselves by being great at what we do with no threat of being destroyed by wild, man-eating animals, but our brain stem doesn't understand that.

No amount of rational thought will convince it otherwise.

The brain stem is unforgiving and irrational.

For the brain stem, shipping your product to market and exposing yourself to criticism is like taking on a monster-sized, man-killing wolf with nothing but your bare hands.

It’s hard; it’s scary; you might not make it.

So how do you outsmart and beat the Commanding General of the Enemy?

You do it anyway.

To beat the Enemy, to outsmart the brain stem, all you have to do is get to work.

When you take action, go to work, and start creating, the bull**** of the Enemy goes away.

But it will come back.

It always does.

And that’s why taking action every day is so important.

No matter how many times you go up against a monster, it never gets less scary.

But every time you willingly go up against the monster, you become stronger.

When it comes to instigating your life's work, creating something worthwhile, and building your empire, your goal is to become the strongest.

So go be the strongest.

Get to work.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series explaining the Enemy (the thing stopping us from creating our epic work). You can read part one here. If you are new, read my new book: The Art of Instigating; this article will make more sense, I promise.


In the first part of this series, I explained the conventional forces of the Enemy: the Army of Bad Habits (the accumulation of years of individual actions, repeated daily and consistently).

Fighting the Army of Bad Habits isn’t easy, but it’s also the simplest to understand and identify.

The unconventional force of the Enemy is much harder to understand and identify.

The Enemy’s unconventional force is one that uses subterfuge to confuse us into giving up on a project right at the start, or bailing on our project near the end.

It gets us when and where we’re weakest.

The Enemy’s unconventional force is negative self-talk propaganda.

“Negative self-talk propaganda is all the terrible, unproductive, fruitless, worthless, silly things we say to ourselves when we’re building something worthwhile.” [Tom’s Blog]

Self-talk originates in the rational part of our brain (the left side of the brain; although exactly where our rational thoughts come from is still being debated and a topic for another post).

These thoughts are negative because they don’t help you create anything.

Negative self-talk propaganda will rationalize why you shouldn't do anything inventive, productive, or creative for as long as you live.

And, in fact, negative self-talk propaganda will try its hardest to out-rationalize your positive, ambitious side by explaining why anything you decide to create will fail; why anything you long to build will just enter the abyss of unsuccessful; why no matter how hard you try, it will all be in vain.

If you’re hoping for a rational reason why you should instigate, you might as well stop looking, stop instigating, and start following orders, instructions, and rules.

There is nothing rational about building your empire or creating something from scratch and without permission (or at least nothing to out-rationalize why you SHOULDN’T do these things).

The negative self-talk propaganda in your head is very, very good at rationalization; its entire existence is based on subterfuge and undermining your productive thoughts.

It’s propaganda because we've learned, over time, what society (school, family, work, etc.) thinks we should do, and those memories affect and change our internal monologue.

This propaganda is the negative things we say to ourselves as we try to build something epic, something we've seen others do but we know we can do better, or something unique but we’re not sure how others might take it.

It’s propaganda because it’s not true.

Anything you thought could be done can be done.

Anything you think you could do better can be done better.

Anything unique you want to bring to the world deserves to be brought into existence.

Negative self-talk propaganda can’t be destroyed; it can’t be killed and buried like we all wish it could.

It exists, and we have to deal with it every day for as long as we live – no amount of therapy will get rid of it.

The way to deal with negative self-talk propaganda is simple:

  1. Identify that it exists, that you can’t get rid of it, and that it will be talking to you for as long as you’re on this earth trying to make something worthwhile
  2. Take action every day to prove it wrong

Negative self-talk propaganda HATES when we take our lives into our own hands, develop our goals, and ship them to the market.

It hates it because it can’t do anything about the persistent effort we give to a singular endeavor.

If you think you should quit, if you think it might not work, if you think it’s stupid…do it anyway.

Go to work.

You’ll find (very quickly) the negative self-talk propaganda fades….

At least for a time.

As with everything worth doing, the Enemy will always be there to try and break us down.

Don’t let it.

Instigate your life’s work.


Continue reading Part 3: THE ENEMY DEFINED (PART 3: THE COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE ENEMY)

Note: if you haven’t read The Art of Instigating, read that first.  Grab a copy for free by clicking here.  It’s short and sweet, I promise.


The Creative War

When it comes to doing creative, courageous work, there are forces at work that act against us.

Any time we strive to create something from scratch and without permission, we go to war with the Enemy.

The Enemy is composed of two major fighting units: conventional forces (the Army of Bad Habits we’ve accumulated over the years), and unconventional forces (the voice in our head that feeds us negative self-talk propaganda).

These units are led by a hardened combat veteran that wants nothing more than to see your creative work fail: the brain stem.

Understanding the Creative Enemy

To fight the Enemy, we must understand the Enemy.

We will start with the Army of Bad Habits (arguably the simplest to identify, although not necessarily the easiest to defeat).

The Army of Bad Habits is nothing more than the accumulation of years of individual negative actions repeated consistently over time

These actions, over the course of that time, have gained brain map territory and strengthened their trench lines (neural networks).

Now, anytime we do something counter to those bad habits, it’s like trying to take down Goliath as David (but we’re stone-less and blindfolded).

Try as we might to change a bad habit, or replace a bad habit with a good habit, we still have the Enemy’s neural network deeply rooted in our brain map territory.

The Truth About Habits

This is essential to understand: you will never entirely rid yourself of your bad habit, nor entirely rid yourself of the desire (no matter how faint) to repeat the bad habit.

No matter how often you repeat a good habit, it will never become fixed and automatic (but it will become easier).

The same principle that allows us to create new habits (the plasticity of the brain) is the same principle that allows old habits to strengthen and remain, to some degree, in our brain map territory.

A habit does not mean automatic and thoughtless: a habit is simply muscle memory.

We can choose to strengthen a good habit each day, or we can regress and act on the old, bad habit again (thus strengthening the old neural networks of that bad habit, no matter how many years it’s been dormant).

That’s why the person in Alcoholics Anonymous admits to being an alcoholic, but fights daily to remain sober (and, therefore, fights daily never to resume the old lifestyle, never to repeat the old, bad habit).

Brain Plasticity

The plasticity of the brain is both a blessing and a curse this way.

It’s a blessing because it means we can always, ALWAYS change, no matter how far we’ve fallen, regressed, or deteriorated.

It doesn’t matter if you failed to become the person you wanted to become, or failed to write the book you dreamed of writing, or failed to start the business you envisioned years ago; every single one of these failures is nothing more than a roadblock, obstacle, or setback – none of these failures are hardwired in the brain, nor do they define us.

If we choose, we can create new habits, destroy the deep rooted bad habits, and get to work on instigating our life’s work.

You can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks.

But only if the old dog WANTS to learn new tricks.

And here’s the curse of plasticity: nothing about creating new habits is easy.

There’s no quick fix.  There’s no magic genie waiting to grant your wish at the snap of a finger.

If you continue to perpetuate your old ways, to reinforce your bad habits, the Enemy gets stronger.

The Army of Bad Habits will continue to fight to strengthen their trench lines and gain more brain map territory.

The Lifetime Creative War

This is a war that lasts an entire lifetime, and it’s a war each and every one of us fights.

Any person looking to create something from scratch, without permission, is entering the warzone.

There are no gifted people without struggles or problems; there are no talented people that create freely and easily.  That gifted, talented, and supposedly carefree inventor, designer, writer, entrepreneur, or athlete you see is fictional.

They care – and they fight, just like you and I.

There are no breaks – just our own actions, our own thoughts, and our own work.

Remember, we can break old habits and we can create new habits, no matter how old we are.  That’s the beauty of brain plasticity.

But it also means, the longer we wait, the harder that fight becomes.

So pick up arms and start fighting (sit down at your desk and get to work; go to the gym and workout; throw out your processed, junk food and fill your fridge with healthy food; stop avoiding and start making calls...you get the idea).

Why?

Because your life’s work depends on it.


Continue reading part 2: THE ENEMY DEFINED (PART 2: NEGATIVE SELF-TALK PROPAGANDA)

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