Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.
Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker
Life is hard. And it isn’t fair. And it really hurts like hell sometimes. But if you focus on what is within your power to change for the better, you can. And you will.
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If you create goals with confidence, but sometimes suffer from self-doubt, realize that it’s a sign that you’re on the right track, not the wrong one.
Because if your aspirations don’t push you beyond your comfort zone, you’re not aiming high enough.
The most worthwhile goals in your life will be mountains, not molehills. They will not only force you to face challenges you expect, they’ll force you overcome obstacles you couldn’t anticipate when you started.
It’s not the challenges we expect on a journey that force us to face self-doubt as much as it’s those we never see coming. Learn to expect the unexpected and don’t be deterred by it.
Whenever self-doubt strikes on your journey, remind yourself why you started and focus not on how far you are from your goal, but instead on how far you’ve come.
Focus on your progress and your victories, no matter how small. Focus on the knowledge you’ve gained on your journey and all the new insights you can convert into wisdom.
Accept setbacks and self-doubt as part of your journey and refuse to let them deter you from the greatness you know is within you.
Remember that you didn’t pick your goals because you knew they would be easy, you picked them knowing they were hard but worthwhile.
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Excerpt from: Courage doesn’t come from your comfort zone
You don’t get over the fear of doing something by not doing it.
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Seen in a meme:
“You can have whatever you are willing to struggle for.”
False.
No one gets everything they desire in life (whether they struggle for it or not).
Having said that…
There are inherent benefits in the act of consistently & persistently putting in the effort necessary to achieve a lofty goal, regardless of whether one is ultimately able to achieve it or not.
For it is from the struggles in life — not the attainment of one’s desires — that a person acquires strength.
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Excerpt from: What it means to “live life to the fullest”
The key to living life to the fullest is opening your mind and stretching beyond your comfort zone. Because if you’re not being challenged or intentionally pushing yourself beyond the realm of things that are familiar to you, then the experiences you’re having are no longer changing you.
“If we are growing we are always going to be outside our comfort zone.” — John C. Maxwell
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Consistently being on time is the product of proper planning, personal discipline, and a respect for other people’s time.
Making a habit of being late demonstrates none of these things and is often a sign of patchy priorities and selfishness. Habitual lateness says, “My time is more valuable than yours.”
Learn to be reliable and a person of integrity by adopting the discipline necessary be on time.
“Your ability to listen to and take action based on your inner voice — regardless of how you feel, other influences, or temptations you face — is the key to self-mastery.
When you increase (or decrease) your discipline in one area, it increases (or decreases) your discipline in all areas that require self-control.”
The excuses that often accompany one’s tardiness often demonstrate priorities issues and not unavoidable problems leading to inevitable lateness.
Learning to be on time will not only reduce unnecessary stress in your life, it will earn you respect from those who know they can count on you to be reliable.
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Whenever you feel overwhelmed and doubt your strength, resolve, or ability to survive a hardship or overcome a challenge in life, take a moment to remember how many challenges you’ve already faced on your journey and how far you’ve come.
Remember that stress is caused by trying to have power over things that are beyond your control.
Focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t do.
And breathe.
Every obstacle we encounter and learn from helps provide us with the knowledge & strength necessary to handle whatever comes next.
In the same way we don’t build muscles if we don’t use them, we don’t develop the strength to overcome obstacles in our comfort zone.
As such, encountering and working through problems is an essential part of life.
It’s not that we should wish to eliminate all challenges from our lives, but instead focus on developing the strength, discipline, and attitude necessary to effectively deal with each & every one that we encounter.
“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” — Carlos Castaneda
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Extraordinary people are not normal.
They play the game in unconventional ways. They walk the edge. They take risks. They challenge the status quo. They push their boundaries to see how far they can go.
Extraordinary is different.
If you want extraordinary things in your life, you either have to do uncommon things to make those things possible or you have to have the courage to let unusual and uncommon things into your life when they present themselves to you.
No, not every uncommon experience, opportunity, or person you encounter in your life will lead to extraordinary things, but the alternative is to maintain the status quo and gamble on the remote possibility that continuing to do and accept the same things in your life as you always have will somehow lead to different — extraordinary — results.
Don’t wait for extraordinary things to happen. Make the changes necessary in yourself and your life to allow them to happen.
You can start by broadening your perspective, increasing your tolerance for things that are different from you are accustomed to, and consciously pushing beyond your comfort zone.
Every new day is an opportunity for something extraordinary to happen. Don’t miss out because you rejected it for being, feeling, or looking different than what you considered “normal”.
Extraordinary isn’t normal. It’s *different.
*Different from what you are used to. What’s normal or common to one person isn’t necessarily normal or common to another.
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” — Jim Rohn
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Excerpt from: The master of your destiny
Do what is necessary to get the results you desire, and the discomfort you feel at the beginning of your journey will greatly diminish — or go away completely — if you commit yourself to getting through it without giving up.
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Excerpt from: The master of your destiny
Every challenge you face and overcome today helps provide you with the knowledge and strength necessary to overcome the challenges you face tomorrow.
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