Just because something is true, doesn’t mean it’s convenient.
Doesn’t mean it’s nice.
But you would get nowhere fast if you refuse to face reality for what it is, and begin to build your life from there.
It’s hard to build a happy life for the long-run, if it’s built upon a false sense of security, identity, and truth.
These inconvenient truths – face them, acknowledge them, and work with them.
That’s another inconvenient truth you need to face, if you want to be happy, and succeed in this world.
What are these inconvenient truths?
Getting things won’t make you happy.
What you see on TV, the internet, isn’t what happiness is about.
Happiness isn’t about getting the newest gadget, or having a big expensive house.
It may not even be about having a house, or having some-thing.
Because then, you’ll scramble to get the newest phone model. It has fantastic features, looks cool, really fast, you can do a lot of the stuff that’s important for you, and it makes you look cool.
Then, what happens when a newer, faster, cooler model comes out? Then does that mean you’re not as cool anymore?
Then you scramble to get the newest stuff.
Or it doesn’t even have to be the newest thing. For the longest time, I kept telling myself that when I get to move out of my parent’s house, I’d be happy.
I’d already moved out of my parent’s house, and for a time, I was indeed happy. But now, I realize that I feel just the same, as before I moved out.
We have this amazing ability to adapt. Along with that comes a price – that new things, experiences, even relationships, become the norm, and don’t give us more and more satisfaction.
It’s not getting new things that keep us happy, it’s the sense of achievement and progress.
So when we feel we’re not making any progress in our lives, we look for it in other places, such as material things, experiences, and even relationships.
Face the fact that happiness comes from progress, from growing in the areas that matter most to us.
Change is automatic, but progress is not.
When people talk about change, they’re actually talking about progress.
The moment I had decided I would wake up earlier, and that I would exercise to be stronger, I had changed.
I had changed that moment because a shift happened inside of me, and that changed my outlook on how I do things, and what I decide I would do.
Was I able to follow what I wanted to do, and my plan, perfectly after that change in me?
No. Nowhere near perfect.
I had to work hard at progress, by making sure to keep my steps small, building momentum.
In an instant, you can become a changed man, in the way you think, feel, and act. But the results, the progress, takes time, discipline, dedication, to be able to make real.
And this can be daunting for people, because when they talk about changing their life, they are imagining the difficulty it takes to get from step one to step one thousand.
Rather than taking it one step at a time. That’s progress.
Change is automatic. It happens when it happens, if you want it to happen, or in some cases, even when you don’t want it to happen.
Progress is not. It happens when you put focus, energy, and your dedication behind it, towards a direction you want to achieve.
Without you behind it, no progress will happen, intentionally.
Belief comes first, then the results follows.
We always want things proven to us. We’ve now become skeptics, doubters.
Before we try anything new, any change, we want others to prove it to us first.
We want our own selves to prove it to us first, without having even taken a single step.
Worse is when we execute, begin exercise, talk to people, yet still hold the belief that those things won’t work.
Beliefs are powerful because they influence how we see the world and what we deem possible. If we begin with a defeated, “it’s not going to work” mindset, then that belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We want to GET the results first, which we feel gives us the license to BE, then to DO.
That’s not how the world works. No one will give you license to be whatever you want. You have to do it for yourself first.
Results come as a result of your actions, and your faith in the process, and progress.
The reality is, you have to BE first, then DO, then you GET the results.
And the first step to BE whoever, whatever you want, is to align your beliefs, upgrade them, change them, redefine them.
And to redefine yourself, in the process.
Your concept of fairness is flawed.
I had two businesses, and I worked my ass off for them.
I felt I was a good, hardworking, smart, and able person. I worked hard to help other people as well.
Surely, if I put in a lot of effort, and continue to be a good person, my business would succeed.
I had that belief for the longest time, so when my businesses failed, I was angry.
I was angry because I felt that I had worked so hard, and did my best to be a good person. Surely that counted for something? I couldn’t come to terms that I failed.
I felt it wasn’t fair.
And I was so wrong.
That’s not how fairness works. It’s not equivalent exchange. Not a one for one.
We learned that concept of fairness in school, where a good deed gets us praise from a teacher, or a high grade.
It misleads us into thinking that if I do something, surely I would get something.
That’s not realistic. Fairness is the fact that everyone has a capability, the potential, to do whatever they want. It’s not restricted to just a select few, like the “hardworking” people.
“I’m an honest, hardworking, upstanding individual, then why is that rotten person a millionaire, and why not me? That’s not fair.”
It perfectly is fair. Both of you can be millionaires.
You just haven’t figured out how.
Accept the reality of what is now, and figure out to get to where you want to go.
That sounds fair.
Freedom is not earned, given, bought, or a default.
Bit by bit, step by step, experience by experience, thought by thought.
Yes, we are all born free, with our own faculties, and with unlimited possibilities and potential.
But we don’t know that.
The world, our environment, beats those beliefs out of us, replacing them with limits, doubts, and fear.
We often tell ourselves, that we can’t do it, that it’s impossible, and that my dreams are out of reach for me.
All of those, freedom-robbing thoughts and beliefs.
We have to build our freedom.
We take the little steps to tell ourselves, and have faith in ourselves, and to have the confidence to make decisions, actions, and thoughts for ourselves.
Develop your self-awareness to notice your choices and limits. Take action that comes from the freedom of that clarity. Build habits to sustain progress, and to keep taking action, and building more and more freedom in your life.
Decisions, actions, and thoughts that move us forward. That are made of free, faithful choice, and not because “that’s the best we can do”, or “I have no choice.”
You always have a choice.
You might not have built up your ability to confidently make it, yet.
Face the inconvenient truths.
Face reality. You’ll get nowhere fast if you anchor yourself on what’s not real.
Begin with where you really are, how you really are. What’s real and clear.
And keep on getting clearer and clearer.
The sooner you face your inconvenient truths, the quicker you get them out of the way of your success and progress.
Face them.
And keep on facing them.
What’s an inconvenient truth you believe in? Please share in the comments below!
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