The western world is saturated with self-help literature, self-proclaimed gurus, and nonsensical material attempting to manipulate you into following their "best practices." If you spend any time on social media the amount of content created to inspire and motivate you seems to be an established trend. Literally, this stuff is everywhere.
These worlds are drenched with inspiration to get you into shape, all the way down to how to get yourself out of bed in the morning. In my search on how to navigate life, I have sifted through a decent amount of this material and tried many things on myself. What I have discovered and come to realize is this.
I will be the first to tell you that there is no formula for fixing your life and making everything perfect. Life can be a bitch. Plain and simple. Does that mean you cannot be inspired or motivated by others? No. But I have yet to find an author or speaker who claims that their methods will not help you. It is like this culture has to maintain a frame that they can help you with all your issues and if they can't the failure is on you. This simply is false, and I hope you are aware of that.
It is as though the self-help movement has unintentionally propagated the fact that people are unable to figure life out on there own. That humans need a helping hand through every stage of life and that if you do not seek help your life will never change. This simply is not true.
It is my observation and opinion, though, that it is easier to look for advice from others than to do what we already know we are supposed to do. Why? Because if it fails, we can blame someone else other than ourselves. So the creation and establishment of this culture has been a two way street for sure.
Time after time I encounter people who are stuck in life or feel hopeless. YET, these men and women know something needs to change, and they have a rough idea of where to start. The thing is, the number of people who take action on what they know is right, seems to be far smaller than I hoped for.
In my non-academic opinion, there seems to be a significant mental barrier that needs to be overcome to start seeing a change in life, and I think it may be this. The desire for change needs to be higher than the desire for comfort. Until that happens no matter how good of advice you read, no matter how big your dreams, and regardless of how much you paid your life-coach it will all fall to the wayside. The main factor for your life to change is YOU.
There is also the possibility that the more you know about self-help you become aware of how you are failing yourself at life and you may create more self-judgment and self-pity because you feel like your life is in a downward spiral because you are not meeting the standards of what other people believe your life should look like. Just some food for thought...
Anyway, I am here to tell you that if you want to be a man of action you need to take it upon yourself to figure this out. You cannot rely on anyone else to be your guide or savior. You have to take full responsibility for your life. If you expect someone else to fight for your life more than you, nothing will change.
Now, you may be asking, "Tim, I thought you were just belittling self-help material?" I was, and I know it may seem like this is a self-help article. But it is not. How? Because I cannot help you. I am not your savior. This is me trying to shed the weight people try to put on my shoulders. I am on my own journey fighting for my own life.
IF you want your life to change then, YOU do something about it. What I have been doing is just sharing tools and my own observations that I have found helpful for me in my life.
So what does this all have to do with not giving up?
Well, what I am personally learning for my own life is that every day that I continue to show and choose to keep going, I get one step closer to fulfilling the dreams I currently have. Getting started isn't about knowing the best methods or having all the knowledge. It is just merely starting and not giving up.
I didn't learn how to be an electrician in a day. NO! It took the consistent choice to show up to work, learn from my failures, and keep moving forward for years. That is how I became a competent electrician. I am here to tell you life is no different. Show up every day, fight for your life, do what you believe you are supposed to do to better yourself, learn from your mistakes, and keep trying day after day.
Cheers,
Timothy
If you have not had a chance yet to check out the first two steps on how to become a man of action, please click on the links below.
