As I am writing this, I am 35 years old, so I know that I have plenty of important life lessons still to learn. By no means am I close to figuring it all out. In fact, I feel like the more I learn, the more I realized I don’t know. As they say, “You live and you learn”.
I want to give you 3 lessons that I have learned along my journey so far. Once I started grasped these and implement them into my daily life, I have felt positive changes in my attitude and in my actions. Hopefully they will do the same for you!
1. Life is NOT fair!:
There are times when this works in your favor, and some times it works against you. There is absolutely no reason to complain about it, because very rarely, if ever, does it help. In my mind, the best thing a person can do is to learn to shrug their shoulders and say, learn from it if applicable, and keep working hard!
Have you had a time in your life where you are more qualified than someone else, and they get the spot on the team or the job? Too bad, life’s not fair. Or maybe you worked hard to make the team and then got injured during tryouts? Too bad, life’s not fair. Perhaps you work harder than someone else, but because of genetics, they’re still better than you at the sport. Too bad, life’s not fair.
I know that this sounds harsh, but if you can get yourself to a place where you keep moving forward no matter the setback, you will find that eventually you will become successful! Do your best to take that setback, whatever it may be and turn that obstacle into fuel or strength to push forward in your journey. But remember life is not fair…it’s how you respond from it that matters!
2. If you want to be good at anything, you need to work hard.
If you want to be great, you need to put in an uncommon effort:
Becoming good at anything takes time and effort. If you want to get to the level of a good high school athlete for example, you need to spend a lots of time working on your skills and going to practices. There will be days when you may not feel like it, or you have to put some extra work in during the off season, but for the most part you enjoy everything you’re doing and playing during the seasons, and that’s awesome!
If you want to be elite, you will have to put in an uncommon amount of time and energy into whatever ventures it is in which you want to be great. You will have to work at times that you don’t want to because you will have to fit it in around different priorities. You will have to push yourself during your workout to the point where you feel discomfort, because that’s how you grow. You will have to miss events with family and friends because you have competitions or practices. This is the price of greatness! You must understand that there will be sacrifices, and you must be OK with those sacrifices. If you want to be the best, it requires the best effort!
3. Life is less stressful when you worry ONLY about the things you can control:
I believe that there are only 2 things that you have complete control over.
(1) Your attitude.
This is much easier said than done. I believe it is a skill you can improve, but it takes time and effort to have control over your attitude. It can be quite effortless and natural to look at things in a negative light, but rarely does anything good come out of this. Instead, take a moment and decide what about the situation is positive or how you can turn it into a positive one. Do your best to look at the bright side. There always is one if you look hard enough. Then, see where improvements can be made in the situation!
(2) How you respond to an event.
This is partially your attitude, but also includes your actions moving forward after the event. You have complete control over your actions. You can have all of the most productive and positive thoughts in the world, but if you don’t put them into action, they don’t mean anything. Figure out what positive acts you can make moving forward and take action!
So to recap, you have complete control over your attitude, and your actions. Nothing else. After that, the less you can worry, the better off you are.
I hope that these help you continue to help you grow a positive mindset. Keep attacking your goals every day, and remember to control what you can control!