It's Your Brain; Use It Wisely.

Your brain is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) assets you'll ever have, but are you using it to achieve your full potential in life?

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

Or have you given up on achieving anything worthwhile because you don’t have enough willpower? You never set any goals for yourself because you never achieve them anyhow. And yes, we've just started a new year as well...did people irritate you with their "New Year's Resolutions"...or did you have some yourself? If you did have some, are you still working on them, or did they just fade away like the rest of the "hype" that comes along with every new year?

Just Taking Each Day As It Comes.

You’re not in your twenties anymore, so it’s normal to start getting overweight. It’s normal to start developing some aches and pains in your body.

By the way, you’ve already tried every diet on the market and you’ve been on so many fitness routines that you’ve lost count of them.

Sounds familiar?

They either don’t work, or you just don’t have the willpower to stay on it for long enough anyway.

Okay...now we are getting a little closer to the truth.

You are not getting overweight and you are not developing those aches and pains just because you are not in your twenties anymore. It is more about not having the willpower to do anything about it.

But why don’t you have the willpower anymore? It has a lot to do with what you are focused on.

Whether Consciously or Unconsciously, You use Your Brain and You Get What You Focus On.

If you are blaming your age for losing willpower, getting overweight, developing all kinds of aches and pains, lack of energy, not achieving any goals anymore, you are missing an important truth. It has very little to do with your age (if anything), but it has a lot to do with what you are focusing your mind on.

Let's just clear this up first...

I am not saying that the "aches and pains" are just all in your mind, or that they wouldn't come if you don't think about it.

In a recent post, I have just written about how I am experiencing the effects of old sports injuries which are catching up with me at the moment.

We think we are indestructible when we are still young...well, I know I was. But that's not what this post is about...lol.

The fact is, currently I can feel the consequences and I have to live with it.

But, I am not going to focus on the aches and pains and the disturbing predictions of what I might be facing in the future... No, I am going to focus on the solution. I am going to focus on preventing it from getting worse and I will focus on the healing process.

I have gained some valuable knowledge over the years, and I now know it is better to be patient and rather take your time, listening to your body, while you work your way through to recovery. That is the healthy and sensible way. Not the impatient "work through the pain barrier" way.

We can easily find information and images of people well into their fifties, sixties, even their seventies who are still in great shape and maintain high fitness levels.

Even in the business world, many of the wealthiest people are well into their sixties and even seventies and there are no signs of slowing down. Even if you are approaching your fifties and you don’t have a fortune saved for retirement yet, it is not too late. You can still create the life of your dreams.

We get what we focus on. Yes, you need to change your mindset.

Let’s use a simple example; if you are afraid of spiders, just go for a walk in the garden. You will probably end up encountering dozens of spiders in the garden.

Photo by Ed van duijn on Unsplash

When you have no fear of spiders though, you can probably spend the whole day in the garden and you won’t even see one spider. Does that mean there are no spiders when you aren’t afraid of them? No, but you aren’t paying enough attention to notice them.

The idea of it being natural for us to just get weak and develop health and memory problems because we grow older is a myth. But if that is what you believe; guess what is going to happen?

I’m not saying that you should try to physically compete with a super fit twenty-year-old athlete when you are sixty years old. But there is also no reason why you should become passive and just let go of yourself. A lack of activity and a good, healthy exercise routine is a sure way to allow those aches and pains to grow worse and even turn into serious problems later on.

If you keep on thinking that you lack the willpower to do anything great, or that you can’t enjoy good health (due to whatever reason), that is what you are focusing your mind on and chances are good that those will be the results you end up with.

Some reasons for giving up are:

• Impatience.
• Fear of failure.
• Fear of success (Believe it or not).
• Laziness.
• Feeling unworthy of success.
• Being unrealistic when setting goals.

Many of these problems might have been developed since childhood.

Tell Your Brain What To Do and Start Changing Your Life.

The first step you need to take is to change your thought pattern. It is important to view goal setting as a privilege and not as a punishment.

Move your focus away from any difficulties and how hard it would be to achieve any specific goal, and start focusing on the benefits which you can enjoy by achieving the goal.

Here are some steps to help you in the process:

1. When you are setting goals, break them up into smaller goals.

   • If you need to lose 20 kg, it will be easy to lose hope. But if you set a goal to lose 1 kg per week or even every two weeks (depending on your health and personal circumstances) it becomes easier. When you can lose 2 to 4 kg in one month, it will make you feel successful and you will realize that if you could do it once, you can do it again.

   • If you need to save $10 000.00, set a goal to save $1000.00 every six months.

2. When setting goals, be specific and use deadlines. That will make it easy to see progress on goals and monitor successes. Don’t just say “I need to lose weight”, or “I need to make more money”. Be specific by saying “I need to lose 20 kg’, or ‘I need to make an extra $1000.00 per month’, and set a time when you need to achieve it.
   Note: These dates are not set in brick and mortar. It is your goal. When you see the time you gave yourself was unrealistic, adjust it.

3. Share your decision/goal with someone else. When you share it with people who support you and care about you, it becomes harder to give up when you know they will enquire about your progress.

4. Try to determine in advance areas of difficulty or possible challenges. When you are expecting these challenges, you can prepare in advance.

5. Take responsibility. Create a system where you will be held accountable. You can join a forum or start a mastermind group where you have to report back on your progress to other people. By doing this you are making your brain aware of every little success achieved by you, however small it might be. Consistently achieving small successes, eventually, lead to huge success. Here on the blockchain, you can even share your goals in a community of your choice.

6. Avoid destructive (or negative) thoughts. Be prepared for these thoughts. When you start looking for excuses to quit, replace these thoughts with positive thoughts. Instead of getting intimidated by what you still need to do, pay attention and give yourself credit for all the successes already achieved. Use that to motivate yourself and don’t quit.

7. Reward yourself. Determine various milestones, and even share these with your family. When these milestones are achieved, reward yourself. Determine some milestones where the whole family can share in the reward, like an evening at the movies, or a weekend away for the family. You will be amazed at the support the family will give you when they are included.

Take Responsibility, Take Control.

It’s your life. It’s your health. It’s your goal. It’s your dream. It’s your body. It’s your thoughts.

And most important of all...it’s your brain!

Nobody else has control over it unless you allow them to take control.

Photo by Ibrahim Boran on Unsplash

It is for you to choose what you want in life, what you want to think, and what you are going to believe. That will determine what actions you are going to take.

Do you take control and create the environment you live in, or are you a product of your environment? What do you do to improve the quality of your life? Tell us about it. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for reading my post. I do appreciate it.