I've been thinking a lot lately about where I am in life and where I want to be headed. It's an on going process that will never end. It's easy to imagine where I want to be, but it's a lot harder implementing the steps to take me there. It's much easier to dream and wish that I could keep doing the same things but with new amazing results.
That won't happen though. If I want certain things in life, I need to take the necessary actions. For example, in high school I wanted to go to college. A lot of high schoolers want to go to college, but not all do. I took the necessary steps. I applied to college, applied for a scholarship, and figured out what I wanted to major in. I was accepted to college, received a scholarship, and decided I wanted to major in psychology.
It might sound easy, but it took work to figure out which college, fill out the applications, write the essays, and discover what I was the most interested in. But it was more than just those steps- it was a lifetime of learning, studying, working to achieve good grades, participating in school clubs and events, and making good choices. I was set on a path to a college degree from when I was little, but I also had to make the choice for myself, and I did. I did three years of preschool before kindergarten because I was eager and ready to learn. Then after twelfth grade, I jumped right into four years of college.
Graduating with a Bachelor's degree didn't just happen, it wasn't just a lucky chance, it was a lot of little bits of work that added up to a grand happening. Sometimes I see people who have lost a lot of weight, or achieved great success at work, or some other thing adults love to have happen. It makes me wish I could do that too. Why couldn't I wake up tomorrow and have lost fifteen pounds or have a hefty bank account or have a published novel? Because I haven't taken the steps that they have to achieve the success. People who have lost great amounts of weight generally have exercised and been wise in their food choices. People who have succeed in business have generally worked late and long hours and sacrificed for their financial gain. People who have published novels have spent hours upon hours writing, editing, researching, and re-writing to have a publishable work.
If there is something I want to achieve, I need to work towards it. Scott Adams taught me not to set a goal, because until you achieve the goal, you are always failing. Once you achieve the goal you bask in the winning for a little, then set a new goal to which you are always failing until you achieve it. He taught that a better way to achieve your desires is to think of it as a system, a life change.
Work at making small but sustainable changes in your life to set you on a path you want to follow, not just an end destination. If you want to lose weight, make small diet changes, start with adding small exercises in your life and gradually build up as you acclimate to each change. If you want to be a nicer person, start smiling at two people a day or saying one nice thing to someone until it becomes a habit, and then you'll feel a difference in your life that will encourage you to continue on this way until one day you look back and realized that slowly you've become a better version of yourself.
Today I will do something small and sustainable to keep me on my path towards my better self.
