Remember How Far You’ve Come
When you delve into personal development, most of the time the focus is on change.
What do you want that you don’t have? What is not going well? Where are you less than satisfied?
There are so many things that I want to work on. I want to grow my passive income streams. I want to do/make epic things. I want my own place. I want more energy. More freedom. More calm. More close friends. More openness. More courage. More focus. More self-control.
But when I focus on what I haven’t done… well, frankly, it starts to feel like I’m on a treadmill. There will always be more things to do, higher levels to achieve, more add-ons and expansion packs. On one hand, this is exciting (I love progress!), but sometimes it wears me out. Thinking “I’ll be happy when…” is a slippery slope.
The “Things Not Done” category will always have way more stuff in it that the “Things Done” category. This is the nature of life.
Always come back to what is already going well. Focus at least 50% of the time on all of the awesome things that you’ve already created. Not just for your own sanity, but because it’s easier to keep on leveling up when you feel good about yourself. And you SHOULD feel good about yourself. Look at you! You’ve done so much! There are people out there who would cut off their left thumb to have what you have.
Things I’ve Already Accomplished
- I became vegetarian and then vegan.
- I am at my ideal weight, I have no trouble maintaining it, and I have a healthy attitude towards food.
- I have exercised five times a week for a year, at the end of which I was able to jog for 40 minutes.
- I am a freelance designer and illustrator. I have clients all over the world, and I have a waiting list. I have more opportunities than I can accept.
- I have good control over my finances, I know exactly where my money goes, and I even save. I am paying my own way through university.
- I was accepted into my first choice university, where I am maintaining a 4.1 GPA.
- I have a lovely, supportive boyfriend.
- I recognize that the point of life is to enjoy it.
What about you? What have you already accomplished in your life so far?
Really?! WOW! Congratulations!! I’m so proud of you. Why don’t you take a moment to bask in your greatness? :)
Posted on December 12th, 2010
Filed under: Featuring, Feeling Awesome, Learning, Living (All Posts)
Topics: achievement, personal development
3 Comments »
great post. it’s so easy to get caught up in new desires and forget what we’ve already accomplished!
here’s a few of mine:
1. went vegan almost a year ago
2. ran a marathon & training for another
3. have a perfect relationship with my girlfriend
4. have a bfa & mfa
5. support myself doing exactly what i want, every day!
6. have excellent tattoos & pink hair, basically look like i’ve always wanted to ^_^
7. found & live in the city of my dreams! (in the US anyway)
8. meditate daily
9. learned the punchline to the big universal joke! (that life is whatever you want it to be/you can be or do or have anything/thoughts manifest reality/we are all one/everything is love) haha what a punchline
thanks for helping me think of those things!
Here are some more to add to your epic list. Not sure if you consider these accomplishments but they are things that I admire about you:
1. Often does ONLY what she wants to do, only things that make her happy.
2. Pro lifestreamer.
3. Got coffee etc. under control! Owns it!
4. Experimented with raw food (not sure exactly whether you were completely raw or for how long)
You rock! :D
I also think that “finally looking like what I want to look like” is an interesting accomplishment, because it’s not something that often comes up in personal development. Still, I can totally related to that. I have always wanted to dye my hair an unnatural colour, but I still haven’t!!
Awwww thanks Allison! Haha I still have coffee, but only about once or twice a week now instead of 4-5 times a day!
Kel and I were raw for a solid month last summer, and now we’re probably… 70% raw? Hard to tell, maybe I need to investigate.
As far as body mod/ looking how I want to look goes, I think what I am proud of is the taking of chances – it took many many iterations to find hair I like! But I am getting bored with it now, that is the struggle of personal development huh, always wanting more :]