To evolve, we have to challenge ourselves. To grow, we have to push a little further than last time.
To see expansion in our lives, we have to do one more push-up, one more rep, one more mile, one more minute, one more page, one more sentence, and one more brushstroke. Whatever it is, one more will get us where we want to go.
As humans, we are made to adapt. Look no further than nature and the seasons to see how we can adapt from brutally hot temperatures to frigid cold.
Humans have been optimized to do this since the beginning of time. Just like a muscle that we rip and tear for it to heal and grow more, we can do the same to succeed in any area of our life.
Sticking with the example of one more push-up, we can quickly see progress in this challenge.
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If we add one more push-up every day (while taking Sundays off), we will be doing over three hundred push-ups a day within one year.
If we tried to go from zero yesterday to three hundred today, we probably wouldn't do it again tomorrow. But, if we stack one day upon the next the way a bricklayer stacks bricks to build a house, we can build muscles and adapt to the challenge.
The human body will only go where we take it and can go much further than we think.
It can adapt to anything we throw at it. There is more inside all of us than we are putting out. Even when we are at the limits of our physical expansion, we can always push it to one more.
So, what is your challenge? Start right now, and whatever it is, do one every day!
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Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 - "D”
D is for Design
"Your future hasn't been written yet. No one’s has! Your future
is whatever you make it. So make it a good one!"
Doc Brown
To live an intentional life, you must first design it.
We all get to create our future. So, whatever has happened in the past, whatever tragedy or despair has been put in your path, is a part of your unique journey. It's your superpower. You can transmute it for the good of yourself and others.
The secret is to turn your pain into your power. Make it your superpower.
Ask yourself, "How can the worst thing that ever happened to me become the best thing ever?"
From this moment forth, commit yourself to start each new day intentionally to grow into the person you want to be. Write down the things you want from life and go after them. It doesn't matter if you get them; what matters is that you try.
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Make a plan and decide if the goal is achievable.
If it is, then follow the plan no matter what. Your mind will try and trick you by talking you out of doing the things you wrote down; the things you know will lead you toward your goals. But you don't have to listen; you can tell your mind to shut up.
It will say things like "Start tomorrow," "You can do it later," or
"Just stay under the covers; it's warm in here."
This is the mind's way of keeping you safe (and small) because it knows the brain wants to conserve energy and do as little as possible.
However, if you have a plan that you stick to, then it doesn't matter what your mind says. You follow the program, and at the end of the month, quarter, or year you will quickly look back at the progress you made.
Intentional progress acts as evidence of a life designed on
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Alphabet soup for the soul vol.2 - "E”
E is for Ego
“In the war of Ego, the loser always wins”