Visualize the journey, not the reward

Cover Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Sometimes you really want something in life. You see yourself having it and it brings you joy:

Losing weight, gaining mass, stopping smoking, buying a new house or car, speaking a new language, etc.

The problem is, you never end up getting it and it ends up being another wasted dream. It happens to the best of us.

But I have good news for you!

You can turn that around. You can get the reward, provided you apply the necessary mind shift. The answer is in one of Steve Jobs famous quote:

“The journey is the reward” — Steve Jobs

It’s simple, instead of visualizing the reward, visualize the journey. Visualize the steps necessary to get to the reward.

For example, for this month, I have a crazy goal of gaining 5 kg of mass while losing about 3% body fat. That is the reward. I can visualize what my body would look like and the satisfaction that would bring, but that would never help me get to the goal. As an ectomorph, gaining such mass in such little time is an extremely hard task.

But I will make it!

I will make it happen because I spent time researching the best workouts for my body type. I researched the nutrition I need and prepared meal plans for the month. Down to the little details.

I will make it because I can now visualize my journey clearly: I see myself eating my protein bars in the morning, running to the gym, feeling the pain of lifting weights, filling my workout sheets to track results, measuring the gains, taking my protein shake after, etc.

The reward is already pleasing. You need to visualize yourself succeeding at the pain points, like lifting the weights. That way, you have a clear view of how to get to the reward and be motivated to do the painful work to get there.

If you’ve been good at visualizing the journey, feel free to visualize the reward as well, but it’s not what will make you achieve your goal.

And now it’s your turn!

Next time there’s something you really want, try this method out. Apply it to all your hard goals. Apply it to your New Year resolutions. It’s a simple but powerful mind shift that you can start applying now!

Thanks for reading! :)

2018 is the year I will fail the most

Cover Photo Credit: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-abeyta/three-things-you-should-know-about-failure_b_5405061.html

…and so should you!

In 2017, I set out to do lots of things. It was a year of doing, whatever the result was: “success”, “failure”, it didn’t matter. I wanted to stretch what my brain considered limits.

I’m afraid of heights, so I started rock-climbing. I may have failed to become as good as I had hoped, but just the fact that I had the guts to even combat this fear is a win.

I’m afraid of downing, so I started “surfing”. Nothing as glorious as what you see in videos online, but I body surfed in Thailand. I failed to do “proper” surfing, but I had the guts to go on a board and “risk” drowning.

I did many little things like that to mess my brain up. To tell it: “You know what, you can do this.”. Try, “fail”, try harder, “win”.

So now I know. Failure is just an experiment. You learn from it. It’s not a negative experience.

It’s all about the growth. Any progress is progress. The higher you aim, the higher the growth and the more epic the failure will seem. Yet in reality, higher growth is the underlying goal.

As Nicolas Cole puts it:

“However, “failing” to meet the expectations you set for yourself when aiming outside your comfort zone actually moves you much closer towards your goals than if you were to “achieve” something easily within reach.” — Nicolas Cole

And this is my mentality going into 2018. Here are my goals for January 2018 alone (unedited from my notes):

Gaining 4.5kg of muscle while losing about 3% body fat for an ectomorph in one month is INSANE!

Yet I set myself up for “success”. I researched workouts catered to my body type. I researched supplements. I researched nutrition. I know exactly what I’ll be eating for the month. And I mean that to the nutrition facts level. How many grams of proteins, carbs and fat for each ingredient of a dish. I know the proportions I need for growth.

In the end, I’ll be eating 4500 (good) calories every day. To put that into perspective: Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson eats 5000 calories a day! How insane is it to think I’ll eat almost the same and weigh 61kg only!

Photo Credit: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/man-who-ate-trained-like-7614915

I will likely fail.

In that same list, I’m mentioning multiple business ventures: Become a writer, Sell a video game, become an investor, revive an eCom site I turned off and revive a web app I had stopped doing.

Pretty likely that I will fail.

Writing one article on Medium a day? While going to the gym and working 9.5 hours a day? And while doing other side-businesses?

What are the chances of me succeeding?

Now that’s one month in the year. I plan for all my months to be that insane. Maybe I’ll need one or two months of rest though haha!

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” — Robert F.Kennedy

“What defines us is how we rise after falling.” — Conor McGregor

I will fail all year, yet all the growth I’ll accumulate will be unparalleled. I will learn more in that year then I’ve ever learned in my entire life.

Now that’s what I call success!

Who’s ready to you fail alongside me?

Thanks for reading! :)