It’s stunning how upset people get when you tell them they can do things they don’t think they can do. We like to be the ones who declare our own capabilities and inabilities. Aside from the countless videos I’ve made on YouTube and Instagram about building discipline and habits, here’s a simple mind-hack you can start today in order to make you more disciplined and gritty:
Tell yourself, out loud or in your head, that you are this person.
Practicing kickboxing is really tough at first (as is any new skill). One thing that made the shitty beginning stages fly by was the way I thought about myself doing it. Mentality is 90% of anything you’re doing. I would show up to class not knowing what I was doing, but in my head I was thinking “I’m a fighter.” I would talk about it, practice in and out of the gym, watch fights at home, and consume it. So although my skills were that of a novice, by all accounts, I was a fighter.
If you want to learn sign language, there’s not a legally-defined amount of words one needs to be able to sign in order to declare themselves someone who knows sign language. Practice it. Consume it. Be curious about it. You’re a person who knows sign language.
Don’t compare your skills to those of others unless you are learning from them. I suck at filmmaking. I have no idea how to edit clips together to tell a cohesive story. But guess what? I have a YouTube channel where I’ve made several films all on my own with the help of no one. I’m a filmmaker.
It doesn’t have to be an arrogant way of inviting yourself into every club that exists. Just because I clipped my nails today doesn’t mean I am a stylist. That’s obviously not my point. But when you want to get into something, don’t hold yourself back by focusing on all the things you can’t do. Lose yourself in your own curiosity and declare in your mind that this is the person you are.
I am a fighter. I am a YouTuber. I am a podcaster. I am productive. I am one who exercises.
Just because I’m not particularly good at any of these, doesn’t mean I can’t live those lives. The next time I don’t feel like working out, I’ll say, “Well, you’re someone who exercises, so you can’t skip the gym.”
You are…?
Commentaires