“What you do everyday matters more than what you do once in a while.”

Gretchen Rubin

Something that a lot of people don’t understand when it comes to self-improvement and getting things done in life, is that it requires more than a dream. Self-actualization is more than fantasy, but it is being able to exercise your ability to actually transform the way you think and the way you approach a task. In this post I will be discussing multiple ways I’ve managed to set goals and achieve them. For the longest time I hadn’t been able to execute my ideas, I was stagnant, I had incredible ideas but struggled to find an outlet. That is until I approached self-discipline differently.

1. Manifestation and Visualization

If you have been on the side of TikTok, YouTube or Instagram that deals with success; then you have probably heard about manifestation. In fact, you have probably tried it, maybe even without knowing. Manifestation and visualization can be an extremely helpful tool but the problem with it, is that people often don’t understand how it works.

To be able to imagine is to conceive a reality. No matter how insane or magical you might think it is. Every though you have every time you exercise your free will you are, manifesting. Think about it like this: whenever you decide what to eat for dinner, soon that idea becomes a goal, then it becomes a plan. Maybe you’ll go to the store to pick up some ingredients. Ultimately, culminating in the reality where you have a delicious homemade meal of your choosing.

Where the disconnect comes into play is people not turning thoughts into actions. When you’re not intentional with what you do and how your actions align with your goals, then you’re never going to get to where you want to be. If you want to save money: spend less and cut back on subscriptions, if you’re trying to reach a health goal: eat with intention. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be perfect about every little detail. Even you start small: journaling five minutes a day, going to the gym once a week. Slowly aligning yourself with your goals is totally ok. Any step forward, any step to alignment is a step, no matter how small.

2. patience is a virtue

” I finally found my rhythm when I realized that even the steps backwards were a part of the dance.”

Melody Godfred

Whenever you start any sort of instrumental lessons, the first thing they teach you is, how to practice consistency. If you practice one day out of the week, for 5 hours, you will be practically starting fresh each week. You’ll be resetting your progress because of those gaps in between each practice session. You’ll lose whatever finger strength and endurance you gained from five hours to the rest of the week where you don’t do anything. Rather than do this, music teachers often say that even if you just practice 10 minutes every day, not only will your strength grow but you will retain information and learn a lot faster as a musician. I believe this mindset applies to a lot more than just learning an instrument.

It’s easy to give up, it’s easy to decide that you can’t do this. Even though that is far from the truth. Everyone is fully capable of making a change but that change never happens all at once. The best piece of advice I’ve ever heard, is to think of patience as a trial. It’s the most necessary and integral part of any project and any goal because, when you first start out with something, it’s going to feel impossible. Your business will never grow if you don’t perpetrate its steady growth. You’ll never be a confident dancer if you don’t first stumble around the rhythm. Really, you should not be afraid to start rough, to be bad at something. Every artist started with a stick figure.

3. EMBODY resilience

You’re going to fail before you succeed. Maybe you’ll even fail after you succeed. In fact, you’ll probably fail, succeed, fail, succeed and then fail some more. You’re going to feel stupid and feel like people are looking down on you for even trying, but unfortunately that’s the right of passage. The cost of entry is being a beginner. You need to have the resilience and the willpower to not be afraid of messing up or looking stupid in order to take those first baby steps.

Resilience and being able to bounce back from a failed attempt are crucial in success for anything. Being able to not worry about what anyone has to say about what you do, is another important form of resilience. Often times people will never do what they want to do because they are afraid of being judged, of failing, or being looked down upon by their peers. The truth is everyone who has had big ideas and has tried to share them with someone else, has probably sounded crazy or gotten weird looks. People are afraid of the stability they would lose if they jumped onto a new path. You can’t let that mindset hold you back

“Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt, you fall but you keep going.”

Yasmin Mogahed

Audrey Durgen