Lachlan Brown
When it comes to getting off the couch and getting your life together, we often stall before we ever make it to the front door.
That’s because trying to get your shit together and actually getting your shit together are two different things. Success depends on your willingness to be uncomfortable for a while.
So whether you are trying to save money to pay off a mortgage, or you are trying to find a job so you can put food on the table, here are 10 harsh realities about life that can actually help you when you are trying to get your shit together.
1) There are lots of things out of your control.
A lot of us experience a great deal of anxiety thanks to our preference to control everything in our lives. But the truth is, we don’t have much control.
Think about your body right now. Your hair grows by itself. The heart beats by itself. Your glands secrete their essences by themselves. If you’re going to be human, it’s fundamental to accept that in life we don’t have much control.
Let go of what you can’t control, so you can focus on the things you can change and impact. You can’t change your boss’s idiot attitude, but you can find another job that doesn’t come complete with an idiot boss.
2) Worrying wastes your life.
Worrying is created in the mind and really doesn’t offer any value to our lives. Will worrying change what’s going to happen? If not, then it’s a waste of time.
But if you spend all your time sitting around worrying about the things that have gone wrong in your life, you won’t have any time left to set them straight. Start picking away at your to do list, and focus on work, not worry.
3) Don’t confuse being busy with being productive.
If you’ve ever wondered when it’s time to stop reading about starting a business, or paying a bill, or putting your Ikea furniture together, and start actually doing these things, it’s right now.
If you are using up time to prepare yourself for things in life that haven’t happened yet, consider what you might learn as you dive into those things.
Being busy doesn’t yield results, being productive does.
4) Manage your money or you’ll waste it.
Even if you have all the money in the world, if you don’t know what you are going to do with it, it’ll end up wasted.
If you have very little money, take time to consider how you are going to spend it. Prioritize what you need with what you want, and you’ll make your money go further.
When you want to save money, don’t just say you’ll “save money”. Set your sights on something you want to save money for: a car, a house, a trip, a new pair of shoes. Saving money creates discipline in your life, and we could all use a little more discipline in our lives.
5) Live with less and be happier.
Clean out your closets and take a hard look at what you own. Stuff clutters up your life, and you’ll be able to live a much clearer existence when you get rid of the distractions in your life.
Physical things keep us from doing the things we want in life. You can clean out your brain too by only focusing on what is important to you at this point in your life.
6) Stop worrying about how you look.
No one cares how you look. Taking pride in your appearance is great, but don’t obsess about it.
Get yourself dressed and get on with your day. That brand name pair of jeans isn’t doing the work for you, you are doing the work. So focus on the work.
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7) What goes around doesn’t always come around.
Do good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds. If you do good deeds because you think Karma will knock on your door and grant you three wishes as a result of doing a good deed, get over it.
If you want to live a better life and you want to get your shit together, stop doing things for the possible reward. Do them because they make you feel good.
8) Change is hard.
Really, what else is there to say? Of course change is hard. If it weren’t hard, everyone would be doing it.
Grab life by the horns and dig in for some serious change. Getting your shit together means riding the roller coaster of life without a seatbelt sometimes.
You need to be open to what’s coming your way so get ready for it.
9) Start before you are ready.
When you catch yourself saying you are not ready to take on a major change in your life, do it anyway. Book that trip to Fiji, put a downpayment on a house, tell someone you love them. Do all the things that scare the crap out of you. Because that’s how you facilitate real change in your life.
10) There’s no guarantee of a tomorrow
And as if these 9 other things weren’t enough to get your butt off the couch and get you moving toward living a better life, remember this: none of us will live forever and there’s no guarantee there will be a tomorrow. And then you can’t do anything. Do it while you can.
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