We’ve arrived at the last quarter of the year, at last!
But before we start planning our goals for the next year & get ambitious. A mirror is placed right in front of us and reflects our unachieved goals.
Slowly, you find yourself dealing with regrets.
It’s inevitable of course, and there are actually tons of scientific papers about why we tend to remember bad memories more often than the good ones.
But this post is about the opposite of regrets and the bad memories of the past year, Today we are going to cover how to start taking actions so that you might finally say:
“I did it.”
The Key to Starting Anything
First. I want you to acknowledge that if you get to the point where you know what is your next step, you are on the right track, 100%.
Most of us contemplate every decision we make, for example: “Should I wash my dishes before I take the dog out or after?”, or “Should I study Biology or create a Youtube channel”.
but to be on the right track means to be taking action. to forcefully move from a state of passiveness.
and the word action doesn’t have to be in the physical sense.
Like Mortimer J. Adler wrote in his book How To Read A Book – “Thinking is only one part of the activity of learning. One must also use one’s senses and imagination. One must observe, and remember, and construct imaginatively what cannot be observed.“
there’s more than just thinking about various things in life and hope that one day you will have to motivation to do them.
Here I’ll provide with a few ideas that hopefully, will help you be better at starting your goals and stick with them, regardless of the amount of motivation you have at any given moment.
1. Always ask a follow-up question
Action typically begin with curiosity – you want to know pursue something, therefor you begin to explore the topic and ends up with some kind of a question. “Should I study biology?” for example.
This question is a base for a larger topic to explore, and it’s not sufficient enough to know what Biology is all about.
And as I wrote before, you want to be active in the thought-process.
When you ask a follow-up question, “What will I gain from studying Biology” or “What kind of job will I be able to apply if I have a B.A in Biology”. you begin to delve into the topic. you begin the exploration process. you become an active thinker.
The answers that will come up might be the opposite of what you wanted at the first place, you might end up thinking that maybe Biology isn’t for you. but that means you saved a lot of time for yourself by not indulging in the wrong direction.
2. Have you tried cold showers yet?
It has become a trend to plunge into cold showers, and there are even business nowadays that you can spend money to be sent into ice packs. kind of wild don’t you think? so, what’s the catch?
For those who don’t know, the one who brought light to cold resistance is none-other than Wim Hof. you can read him here.
But my approach for the cold showers are with a different purpose.
Do something you don’t want to do, first thing in the morning. That’s the whole point. it’s to break a mental barrier, to snap out of your comfort zone. and you might be able to keep the momentum toward your goal.
Dr. Andrew Huberman explained this concept beautifully in this video.