Welcome to the Mind Fuzz newsletter, a recap of three things that are on my mind this week.
1. Relying On Motivation
I’m going to be completely honest – I didn’t want to write my newsletter this week.
As I write this, my mind is aptly fuzzy, and I really don’t feel like untangling it. But isn’t that what persistence and discipline is all about?
It’s so easy to stick to your goals and get shit done when the motivation is there, but relying solely on motivation is why most people fail.
Doing the stuff you know you need to do, especially when you don’t feel like it, is where the growth happens.
And it’s funny – when you actually start that thing you’ve been dreading doing for so long, the friction just seems to disappear.
No word of a lie, just a few sentences later and I’m already feeling like I’m in the groove.
Just start that thing you don’t feel like doing – you know you’re going to have to do it anyway.
2. Lifting For Vanity
I lost 6kg during my backpacking trip through Europe.
Six weeks later and I’ve almost put it all back on (and plan on putting on even more in the coming months).
Whilst I can sit here and say it’s for health and fitness reasons (being fit and strong is great), I’m really doing it mostly for vanity.
I’m not really ashamed to admit that, but I certainly think it can be dangerous to base your health and fitness goals mostly around looking better.
When you’re on fire, moving good weight, running fast and looking good? There’s no better feeling.
But this high often tends to lead to a more significant low when your life is out of balance and you can’t eat or train like you normally would.
And if I was permanently stopped from being able to do that for some reason, I question how much enjoyment I’d get out of life.
3. Making Things Happen
“If I’d learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. Don’t talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a visa, pack a bag, and it just happens,” Alex Garland from The Beach.
I was having a conversation with a friend this week. They turned to me and said, “you know, you could just go and do anything you wanted to right now.”
It’s so easy to pigeonhole ourselves into a life that we believe is ours. We identify ourselves by the personality traits that we believe we have, only making those traits stronger as time goes on.
But we hardly ever realise that we can put an end to that and change our lives entirely in the blink of an eye.
You can quit your job and start something in a completely different field.
You can break up with your long-term partner, or move to another country.
You’re dreaming about another life… you know you can just do it, right?
A closing question for you
Are you stopping yourself from living a better life just because you want to remain comfortable?
