Hello friend!
It´s almost certain that at this moment of your life, you are struggling with something. Big or small, it should be there, testing you and your will.
So I´ll be very honest and open with you, because like me, you might be going through a similar experience right now.
Since more than 3 years that I placed myself into a path of self-pity and self-sabotage.
No matter what I tried to do, the tons of ideas and projects I had in mind, the entrepreneurship path I envisioned for myself, was just not working and everything seemed unreachable and undoable. Not because it really was, but because I convinced myself of it and I constantly came up with excuses: one after the other, and so it kept going… and man!, can we be creative when it comes to excuses!
It was and still is, a struggle. Not a bad one, don´t get me wrong. It´s just that now I´m aware that everyday I have to keep doing the work, no matter what. If I skip a day, I know it´s a setback and I have to throw myself at it again with more conviction than the day before. Just don´t let your mind fool you in the process, because you might know what you have to do, but that doesn’t mean you are actually doing it. So stick with doing, not knowing.
When I started to study ancient Indian philosophy, I was fascinated by it´s practical aspect, although the theoretical and behavioural philosophies astonished me as well. Specially the prescriptions and proscriptions, which, I must say, are major guidelines for life (10 in total). And because today the idea is to dig a bit deeper into how you can overcome yourself in every aspect, let´s focus on the “tapas” concept (and no, I´m not talking about the Spanish food) which is part of the theoretical philosophy.
If we can dissect the sanskrit word “tapas”, in it´s core means “self-overcome”. And when you get the ability to approach any obstacle or challenge in your life applying this self-overcoming aspect, you will be able to achieve the goals you set for yourself. I know, talking is easy, but stay with me. Think about it, in the last month, how many things did you envisioned to accomplish? It doesn´t have to be a big goal, can be small stuff. Give it a try. Ok, so how many? Plenty, hein? Now, try this, how many of them did you actually get done? Take your time… not much, right?
And why is that? Why do you think this happens? Well, the answer is simple: you didn’t want to. At least, not bad enough! Thinking that you “want” something doesn’t get you anywhere. You need to take action.
Now do the opposite, think about how many of those things did you get done. A few. That´s not bad. Do you agree that you could have done more? I guess so.
Good news though, you have in you what it takes to accomplish, to reach your objectives, to get things done. When you put the focus and the strength to do them, you accomplish. And when you accomplish something hard, it feels even better!
So here´s a piece of advice, whenever you feel like not doing something you need to get done, when your mind and your body start to conspire against your will, fight it back! Apply this concept of tapas and work on overcoming yourself. See it as an opportunity, look at it as growth and learning, until it becomes a habit. Fight back the laziness, the self-sabotage and self-pity, punch them in the face! As Steven Pressfield puts it in his amazing book “The War of Art” – “Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.” , so yeah, we need to get things done, no matter what.
Here´s how to OVERCOME YOURSELF:
1. An Obstacle/Challenge is presented
2. Resistance manifests (self-sabotage, self-pity)
3. Self-awareness comes in
4. You apply tapas (overcoming yourself/will power)
5. You reach the goal/objective
An important note, you should do things for your own good, not for someone or something else. Do them because you want to, because it´s important to you. Focus on yourself.
BE what it takes!
Have a great day!
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