Colin R. Stuckert's Blog, page 28

Do You Deserve To Be Rich?

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

-T. S. Eliot

A weird thing about life is it often molds to fit our ideas of it.

The easiest way to get more out of life is to expect more from it. Expect more from yourself and the universe and you will start getting more from each.

We all grew up viewing the world and money and people based on what was around us and the values our parents instilled in us.

If you grow up middle class, it’s statistically likely you’ll end up middle class. This is because your view of the world was fashioned by your middle-class parents and upbringing. You were not designed to be poor nor rich and it’s unlikely you’ll become either.

If you grow up poor, you’ll most likely end up poor. If you grow up rich,  you’ll likely end up rich. It’s all based on the way you view the world and money.

If Donald Trump had to start over with zero money or connections, he would find a way to become wealthy again. There is no doubt about it. No matter how many times the “reset” button is set on someone like Donald Trump, the eventual outcome will always be the same.

Why is this?

Well, besides having experience and knowledge, which are obviously valuable, the main reason is his mind is set for billions. He views thousands and millions the way we view dollars and hundreds. His mindset is billions. He views the world like a rich person.

Poor people view the world like a poor person and so if you give them $1000, they will be ecstatic. If you give a middle-class person the same $1000, they will be grateful because they can pay off some CC debt, but it won’t change their life by any means. If you (try to) give a rich person $1000, they will probably look at you with a confused look.

Each and every one of us has a mindset that dictates our financial “barometer.” But it’s not just money that we see through this certain lens, it’s everything. We view relationships, money, career, business and time through a specific set of mindset-controlled lenses.

Believe you deserve abundance… or you can’t have it

Henry Ford was once asked what he would do if he lost his fortune. He casually replied, “I’d have it back in 7 years.”

In this quote, I think Ford was referring to his knowledge—he knew business and he would get his fortune back because he would use this knowledge. But Ford also had a frame of mind in which he viewed money in a way a rich person does and so he would “expect” to earn the same amount of money again.

It’s often said that to become rich one must be good at receiving. I totally believe this. To expand on this, I think that to become rich one must also expect to receive. You have to believe that you deserve to receive money and abundance in your life. If you don’t believe it, because of the strange way the universe works, you won’t receive it. (Pretty much the entire premise of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.)

Here’s a simple test to determine if you are “good” at receiving: What do you say when someone gives you a compliment?

Do you say “Thank you,” or do you try to brush it off, play coy and disagree?

Start saying “Thank you” when you are given a compliment. You have to be able to receive a simple compliment, and expect to, if you want to have abundance at anything else in your life.

You have to believe you deserve it.

You deserve it. Now start believing it.

The post Do You Deserve To Be Rich? appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Read The Best Books Ever Written

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”

― Mark Twain

My obsession with books and reading has grown over the years. I’ve always loved reading, but it wasn’t until recently that I started to think about reading externally, as something more than mere entertainment.

Lately, as I have worked more on my writing, I have thought more about reading, writing and publishing. I’ve also read a lot about each. This has led me to develop an even stronger desire to read the best books ever written. It has also taught me the importance of being “selective” in what I read because I have realized that there are far too many words I want to read and so little time.

What I do now, instead of buying whatever book strikes my fancy and letting it sit unread, I commit to reading each and every book I purchase from start to end. (Of course, I skim the books that should be skimmed and give up on ones that aren’t don’t captivate me.)

With a renewed passion for reading, I have also committed to reading every book I own that is left unread (this is in hundreds). As I’ve started on my new reading journey, I realized that if I want to start knocking books off that list I have to set aside blocks of time for focused reading. I used to just read here and there, mostly before bed. It was always segmented.

My new rule is to set no less than an hour at a time—one during the day and one hour before bed. As simple as this sounds, it’s amazing how hard it is to create a habit like this. You tell yourself, It’s only an hour, and since I get 16 of those in a day, this should be easy.

Nope, not in the least.

I won’t get into habits right now, but just know that this habit (all habits, really) will be hard to make stick—and totally worth it.

So, why the desire to read so many books? Because I want to be better.

It’s as simple as that.

If you don’t want to become a better, more enlightened person, then you might not care much about reading. But if you do want to be smarter, a better conversationalist, more attractive to the opposite sex, and better at everything you do, then you should set aside at least an hour a day to read the best books ever written.

I found 5 of the best books ever written—completely free—to get you started:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Yours in Reading The Best Books Ever Written,

-Colin Stuckert

The post Read The Best Books Ever Written appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Comfort Is Killing You

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” 

-Aristotle

Sure, comfort is nice—it’s warm and cozy. And there’s nothing wrong with living a warm and cozy life, right?

I guess… if you say so…

A cozy life doesn’t have big ups and downs. It’s even-keel, mellow, average. It’s a safe place, and for some people, it’s exactly what they want (like a Baggins).

Hell, sometimes I wish I was like that—life would be easier, anyway.

The problem with a cozy life—besides being boring as hell—is you aren’t ever going to experience anything extraordinary. Also, and this is my opinion, I don’t think you are prepared at all if shit goes haywire.

Think about it: If you are used to maintaining a comfortable little bubble, you’ll never have to “test” yourself or put yourself outside of your comfort zone. You will be conditioned to break when you find yourself staring down as one of life’s tornadoes heads your way. And make no mistake about it: Life throws us all smack dab in the middle of life-threatening tornadoes from time to time.

So really, when you live a “comfortable” life, you are actually setting yourself up for failure. You are weakening your body and mind. You are becoming what Nassim Taleb, author of Antifragile, calls “fragile” (that’s not a good thing to be).

And still, most people convince themselves that they are avoiding problems by “playing it safe.”

But that never actually works.

To experience the “highs” of life, you have to also experience the “lows.” This is life; it comes with the territory. That said, you can have some say in it. You can become better prepared by living a certain way. That’s what I recommend.

Life is a series of highs and lows

So, how do you prepare for life’s storms? This is how:

By getting your hands dirty!

As a kid, you learned by falling down and scraping your knee. Did you stop being a kid because of this temporary pain? No, you got back to it, and fast. Your knee healed and you kept going—and maybe you got a scar that would serve as a future reminder.

After your first broken heart, you eventually see other people. After a car crash, you still drive. And so on.

This is life. It’s a series of ups and down, and it is chock-full of lessons that will make you a better, more resilient human being. Embrace it. Seek it out.

The more you experience pain, the better you get at experiencing pain, and the better you get at appreciating the times when you aren’t in pain. Both are integral for living an effective life.

Start saying yes and get doing. Start that business. Ask her out. Share your feelings. Stand up to your bully. Speak your mind. Write that letter. Ask for that raise. Be vulnerable.

You might think the “safe” route is the “best” route, but you’re wrong. The best route is the one that winds you through the treacherous forest. Because without a difficult path, there is no reward at the end. This is the law of the universe. Things that are worth having must be difficult in their getting otherwise they wouldn’t be worth having.

Plus, the easy path sets you up for failure; for atrophy; for real danger that you might not survive.

Easy is nothing more than temporary avoidance. What’s hard always come for us, like the grim reaper. It’s just a matter of time.

The hard path is where results are, and even, in a roundabout way, where comfort is. The hard path makes you grow, builds resilience, and allows you to weather the storms of life instead of being swept away the current of comfort.

Remember, “easy” and “best” never align.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  

-Robert Frost

Take the path less traveled… always

Do it!

In life, you need to take risks and learn from the experience. Risks are the toll you must pay to cross the bridge into the garden of greatness. It’s also how you best protect yourself from life’s unfortunate, and inevitable, circumstances. The more you endure, the more you can endure.

Taking the path of more resistance requires bold action. You risk embarrassment, pain, and in some cases, death. In the words of Hellen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”

If you want to live an exceptional life that is full of abundance and unique experiences, you have to assume risk. You will fail often and hard. Then you’ll have to pick yourself up and go again.

Those who reach success are the ones who have the grit to stay the course when it winds them down the unknown path of life.

Don’t atrophy. Don’t waste away. Don’t set yourself up for failure by seeking comfort. Constantly challenge yourself mentally and physically and you’ll develop the power to have a say in your destiny instead of letting life decide for you.

When you are experiencing pain, torment, and anguish, know that you are preparing for your destiny. You will survive the trial and come out stronger because of it. It is necessary. Then, you’ll use what you learned as a means of appreciating the present and being better prepared for the future.

This is the ebb and flow of life. As you conquer trials and tribulations, you build strength and wisdom. And this makes you a better person that is better at living.

Take action. Embrace difficulty and when something stands in your way, use it as the guidepost to greatness.

Yours in Life and Fitness,



-Colin Stuckert

The post Comfort Is Killing You appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Why “Frame” Is The Most Important Thing You Don’t Know

“Your body hears everything your mind says.”

-Naomi Judd

Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat?” 

Of course you have.

Well, what about, “You are what you think.”

Maybe not.

Let me tell you something about the human condition… you become what you think.

No, this isn’t hooky, hippy stuff. It’s fact.

As you sit there secretly judging the beautiful woman with the Chanel bag waiting in line for her latte—she is totally a shallow bitch, you think—you have now become a shallow, judgmental bitch yourself. 

See how that works? You become the very thing you judged and condemned.

When you flick the guy off in traffic because he cuts you off, you are now become someone who ‘flicks’ people off—and really, who does that? You become as much of the problem as the guy who doesn’t know how to drive.

When you respond to a hostile world with hostility, you become hostile. You contribute to the problem instead of reducing it, like you could.

There is a concept known as “frame.” Frame is the backstory to a person or situation.

Let’s look at the same two examples through different frames.

The beautiful women with the Chanel bag is stuck in an abusive relationship with a husband that beats her and threatens to kill her if she leaves him. She tries to mask her insecurities (and pain) with external appearances like clothing, jewelry, and expensive purses. She is miserable and lives a life of fear.
The guy who cut you off is rushing to the hospital because his wife and unborn child were in a car accident and are in critical condition.

Now, had you known the “frame” for each person, would you have thought or respond the same way?

Of course not!

You never know what goes on behind closed doors. Judging makes you a jerk. Period.

Unless you are a psycho/sociopath, you would have responded with understanding and compassion. You would have reduced hostility and hate and promoted compassion and love. You wouldn’t have judged or condemned.

This is why frame is so powerful. 

Frame applies countless situations in life. Let’s look at a few more examples:

The child steals food because he hasn’t eaten in days.
A girl gets an abortion after being raped. 
The barista is rude because her mother died the day before.
And so on.

Do you see how frame can completely change your thoughts about someone or something? Not knowing frame gets us into trouble. It makes us look like a jerk. In some cases, a mega-jerk.

Here’s the thing about frame: You never know the full story! 

I remember hearing a quote from someone about people. I’m going to paraphrase it. It goes something like this:

If you lived the same life as someone else, and dealt with all the same things that person did, you would probably end up doing the same exact thing as that person.

The quote I heard was more eloquent, but that was the gist. This always stuck with me and I now try to understand people before moving to judgement (and I aim to eliminate judgment completely). Think about it: If you lived someone else’s life, you would probably be doing, saying, and thinking the same things. You would probably be the same exact person.

And if you think “No, I would never be like that,” you are wrong because you are forming your opinion based on your life and how you grew up. You would be a completely different person if you grew up differently. It’s as simple as that.

You never know the full story of another person. You don’t know what they are struggling with or how hard they’ve had it.

This is why we all need to respond to the world with understanding and compassion. Not only will this make us happier and less stressed people, it will also rub off on other people and end up making the world a better place.

Each person is the person they are as a result of the life they have lived.

This reminds me of the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect is a theory that states that the smallest changes, like that of a butterfly flapping it’s wings, can influence large changes farther away, such as a hurricane weeks later.

The concept is more commonly known as it relates to time travel and has been popularized in movies like Back To The Future and The Butterfly Effect. The theory goes: If you travel back in time and affect the smallest change, the future will end up completely different from what it was.

I believe in this concept as it applies to time travel and as it applies to everyday life and the choices we each make on a daily basis.

Every action we take as human beings, even the tiniest, have a ripple effect that causes changes and events most of us will never see. We don’t realize it, but the smallest act of good will can save lives, while the smallest act of hate can kill.

Let’s look at some examples…

Let’s say the barista at Starbucks is having a bad day and you are able to cheer them up with a simple smile and compliment. Well, you will never know what effect that may have for her. Maybe she was on the verge of suicide and this minor touch of joy that you brought into her life was enough to change her mind that day. Then maybe, a few days later, she decides to get help and ends up living happily ever after. You would have literally saved her life and you’ll never know it.

And it is my contention that this kind of thing happens countless times on a daily basis all around the world.

Now, let’s look at the flip side. Let’s say, instead of bringing joy into her life, you brought hostility over some trivial like your coffee taking too long, and it ends up being the final straw to push her over the edge. Then, she (or more commonly, he) goes on a killing spree. Lives are lost and families destroyed. Who knows what could have been prevented had you brought compassion instead of hostility.

Here’s something scary to think about: For every school shooting there has ever been, there was always a “last time” that someone brought hate into the shooter’s life. And if this “last time” had been full of compassion instead of hostility, it is very likely the the worst could have been avoided.

This is life.

Life is full of random cause and effect that we will never be able to understand or predict. All life really is, is a series of millions of tiny events that lead you us all down an eventual path. If you understand the power of exponents, you will see the sheer number of possibilities (unfathomable) that can go one way or another by the smallest incidents.

If a butterfly flapping it’s wings can alter the course of a hurricane weeks later, imagine how your actions can affect the world. The possibilities are limitless.

Because the tiniest events can have enormous life-changing implications, you can literally save lives by bringing compassion into the world. Make this your default.

Always bring compassion because 1) It’s healthier for you 2) You might save lives 3) You never know the frame so you might as well respond in the best way possible.

If those 3 reasons aren’t reason enough, then I don’t know what else to say to convince you.

Your Thoughts

I know there’s a lot to think about in this piece. That’s good. Never shy away from using your brain and forming thoughts of your own (most people are too lazy to do just that). 

The fact is, if you change your thoughts, you can change the world around you. You will make the world a better place for everyone, including yourself. Do this long enough and you will literally save lives, although you probably won’t see it so you have to just know it. 

You will never be able to see or know the complete effect you have on the the world, but you can be confident that if you keep bringing positivity and compassion into it, the world will end up a better place because you existed. That’s a pretty cool thing to consider.

Action:

Never pass judgement. Always assume that there is a realistic frame to explain a situation (there usually is). Respond to the world and yourself through compassion and understanding.

Be cognizant of the fact that the smallest energy you bring into the universe will have a ripple effect. This effect will cause a bettering of the world or a taking away from it. It all depends on what you put out.

Action:

Try the no 21-day “no complaining” challenge.  I heard about this from Tim Ferris. You wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it every time you complain as pain-based reminder to stop complaining. If you find your wrist bruised and swollen after a few days, you can take that as a sign that something needs to change because your “frame” of life is skewed to the negative.

Change your thoughts and you change yourself. Then, you change the world.

Remember, a butterfly flapping its wings can affect the world to epic proportions. Now imagine what you are capable of.

Yours in Life and Fitness,

-Colin Stuckert

Get the Free Gym Life Downloads by Joining the Gym Life Club

100% Free!

The post Why “Frame” Is The Most Important Thing You Don’t Know appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

You Are Who You Spend Your Time With… Expanded

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

― Mark Twain

It’s often said that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. I agree, but I have some ideas on how to expand on this because it definitely needs clarifying.

First, I believe you should surround yourself with people that have various qualities you admire and want to develop. This doesn’t have to be just people that have money or are successful. For example, you can have friends that are not financially successful, but who are outgoing and great with people, and you like to be around them to learn how to be better in this department.

That said, you should always try to surround yourself with people more successful than you if possible. And if success is your goal, you can’t spend all your time around people that don’t know how to–or don’t care to–become successful because certain qualities not conducive for success will rub off on you. There is a ton of research backing this phenomenon. (You can also see the power of group psychology by studying in-group bias and mob mentality.)

What happens when you hang out with people, especially when it’s in a regular group setting, is your perception and what you “expect” for yourself become shaped by your peer group. The group sets the bar high, your bar will be high. If the group sets it low, yours will be low.

This is why you have to be so selective in the group, and specific people, you choose to be around. Whether you like it or not, your choice in this part of your life is what sets your bar high, medium or low.

Now, I do have a disclaimer I need to point out here. It’s this: I don’t believe you have to completely “eliminate” people from your life just because they may not fit the “criteria” of what you are after. However, you absolutely have to limit the amount of time you spend with them.

It’s perfectly fine to have a bunch of friends that work average jobs, have average bodies, and do and think average things. For most of us, this is our situation. Not all of us can be born into elite, high-achiever families.

The fact is, most people are average.

This is the society (world, actually) we live in, and with 316 million people in the United States alone, it has to be this way. Not everyone can be the 1%—some people have to makeup the 99%.

This might sound harsh, exclusionary and “elitist,” and you are probably right in a way, but this is reality and reality is often a bitch.

The thing about reality is, as unpleasant as it is, we have to face it if we want any chance of living to our fullest potential. The truth hurts for a reason: it is a powerful tool we can use to make our lives better.

No one became great by having the world spoon-fed to them with a sugar-coated silver spoon.

I’m interested in becoming great. I’m interested in studying greatness. I have no time for political correctness or disclaiming every single sentence so as to not “offend” anyone. Whatever.

I will do everything I can to become the best version of myself as possible. If that means I have to limit my time with certain people, and even exclude a few more, then that is exactly what I’m going to do. This is the price I have to pay.

Sometimes you need to spend time with yourself and your thoughts and your dog…

Now, this isn’t always black and white. For example, I’ve learned that you can be “leader” in small circles and motivate and inspire those around you to become better. This is the role I have often defaulted too in my own social groups. And by doing so I find myself motivated and inspired when I see those around me getting motivated and inspired. When this is the dynamic, others in the group may not be as along as I am, or think the way I think, but I can still be empowered by them.

I think this is extremely powerful.

The problem is, not many people can do this. If you struggle with following the group, or if you are still developing your identity and belief system as a person, you have to be especially careful with those you surround yourself with, leader or not. Those of you that have strong beliefs and opinions and that are seldom swayed when challenged, have more leeway in who you spend time with because you are less susceptible to the effects. Notice I said “less susceptible”–you still have to be careful.

As you can see, this topic isn’t black and white. But that’s life. As humans, we try so hard to distill the world and everything in it into black and white, right or wrong, or positive and negative. But life almost never fits within these definitions (except math).

Now, with all that said, I do believe there is a type of person that you should do everything you can to exclude from your life without exception.

Do everything you can to exclude negative people from your life.

You know the type: complains, makes excuses, immediately sees the worst in everything and is a drain to be around.

Life is too short to be negative. Life is too short to focus on the worst when the best is sitting right there smiling at you. Succumbing to Negative-Bias is a sad reality that I want no part of… nor do I want to be around to see and hear it.

With negative people, you have to eliminate them from your life because they are so toxic. Notice how drained you feel after spending time with a negative person. It’s a real physiological effect. It’s physical and mental poison and you have no choice but to get as far away from it as possible.

If you can’t do that—because they are family, for example—then you have to explain to them that you don’t want to hear or see any of their negativity. Tell them to not complain around you, and to keep their negative opinions to themselves. They won’t like hearing this (in fact, it’ll be the perfect thing to complain about), but the thing is, you have to protect yourself. Plus, you are doing them a favor because you are forcing them to work on their negative-bias when you are around.

Negativity

Earlier today I was driving and listening to Tara Brach’s podcast—highly recommended—and she spoke of a story about a women that was perpetually negative. This woman was challenged, by her son, to add the words “and my life is very blessed” to the end of her every statement. When the women complained, she would always finish the statement with this phrase.

Examples:

“I can’t believe the traffic today, it’s terrible, and my life is very blessed.”

“My salmon is overcooked, and my life is very blessed.”

“I hate doing the dishes, and my life is very blessed.”

After a few months, the practice created a revolutionary change in her. On her 80th birthday, while losing her eye sight and dealing with all the things that come with old age, she sent her son a card.

The card went like this,

“I’m happier than I’ve ever been and truly mean each word. The thoughts that cause the worries now all seem so absurd. Though my eye sight has been dimmed, I see clearer than before. The glass is not half-empty, it’s overflowing to be sure.”

At 80 years old, while going blind on top of having been a perpetually negative person her entire life, the simple act of adding a phrase of gratitude to the end of her sentences completely transformed her life.

Something to think about for those of you that struggle with negative-bias.

My last point

I want to revisit the “5 people you spend the most time with” topic before we close this out. While most people think of their friends when they hear this phrase, I believe it goes beyond just the people you spend time with in person. Let me explain.

See, you can spend time with people in ways other than in physical presence. The most powerful way to do this is through books. Sure, videos, documentaries, music, and art are also viable options. But I believe books are more powerful because they use the written word and have the ability to communicate messages that can change your life in only the intimate way that a book can. And this is as close to “in the flesh” as you can get, in my opinion.

Spending time reading the best books ever written will change you for the better. There is no doubting that.

Spending time with the works of Aristotle or Seneca, or a biography of Gandhi or Mother Teresa, or anything by Anthony Robbins or Stephen Covey or Napoleon Hill—to name a few—is going to have a similar effect as if you were to spend time with these people. It may not be as powerful as if you had spent time in the flesh with them, but it’s about as close as you can get. (And in some cases, I think books are more powerful.)

Spend time with the greats in books

So, when it is said that you are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with, what it really means to say is “you are the sum of how you spend your time.”

If you spend the majority of your time watching the Kardashians and reading gossip magazines, your personality will match what you are taking in. The same goes for reading great books, watching great movies and documentaries, and appreciating great art. Each shapes you.

What you do and what you fill your mind with is what makes you who you are. As Marcus Aurelius said, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

I hope you will be inspired to be more conscious of your time and how you are spending it. After all, your life is the nothing more than a series of singular moments strung together.

Be conscious of how you are spending these moments; they make you who you are as well as who you want to be in the future.

Yours in The Moment,

-Colin Stuckert

Get the Free Gym Life Downloads by Joining the Gym Life Club

100% Free!

The post You Are Who You Spend Your Time With… Expanded appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Your Brain Is Robbing You of Life

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”

-Bruce Lee

I bet you are very busy. 

Hell, we are all busy. Society is busy.

School, work, kids, job, groceries, food, exercise, friends, meetings, and then we fill any leftover time with other things we deem “important” (which usually aren’t).

We pack all these “to dos” into our head to a point of bursting. This “overfull” brain creates a chaotic always distracted mind that has trouble focusing, sleeping, and enjoying the moment. It weighs us down. We develop ADD. 

Make no mistake about it: This is a nation-wide epidemic. It is the by-product of our over-connected and always on-demand society and almost everyone in our Western culture is afflicted some way or another.  

I’m not preaching… I’m as guilty as the next guy. 

Sure, I meditate and would consider myself a “self-aware” person, but I still find myself fighting what the Buddhists call “monkey mind.” 

I lose control. My mind wanders. I worry and stress. Sometimes I’m better, sometimes it’s bad.

It’s a never-ending battle. 

But at least I am conscious of it and trying to get better…

And what about you?

Did you know how damaging it is to let your mind wander? Do you realize how much enjoyment you are robbing yourself of when you are living in the past or future or when you are obsessing over your long “to do” list? 

Did you know that you can find happiness in life, reduce suffering, and get more done by coming to the present and quieting your overactive mind?

You can, and it’s amazing. 

I’m not going to go into a long explanation of meditation and mindfulness here, but I will say this: You have to start somewhere. 

Try the Headspace app or search “how to meditate” in Google. Start meditating or being mindful a few minutes here and there as you go about your day when you running errands, driving, and waiting in line.

Meditation and mindfulness isn’t the only way you can reduce the stress that comes from a hyper-active mind. You can also start eliminating stuff from your life.

Less is more. 

Life is more enjoyable and fulfilling and less stressful when you are doing and thinking about less. The same is true when you give more attention to fewer things—you will be more effective and get more enjoyment out of what you do.

More than ever we are bombarded by distractions in the form of the Internet, TV, movies, books, podcasts, YouTube, social media, apps, games, etc. The more we pile on, the less effective and enjoyable life becomes because the more distracted we become. This distraction creates a constantly stimulated mind that can’t focus or be still. And this puts on loads of strain to the conscious and subconscious mind. 

It weakens your mind.

A distracted mind causes you to worry about things that don’t matter. It makes you short-tempered. You make a big deal about things that aren’t a big deal. It makes you always feel impatient, rushed or hurried, and like you are never “doing enough” in life. 

In fact, your distracted mind is probably ruining your life! 

Listen: Don’t take this lightly. This is important stuff. If you feel like something is “off” in your life, or if you have a feeling of “discontent” stirring beneath the surface, then you should take that as a sign that you need to start working on your mind.

Simple breathing and focus exercises like meditation and mindfulness can strengthen your control of your mind. They can eliminate stress and calm you down. But before you can start implementing techniques like this, you have to first recognizing that you have a problem. 

Trust me, you do. One way or another, you do. So accept it and make it a goal to get better. If you want some reasons why you should make it a goal, Google these topics:

“Distractions and mental health”
“Meditation benefits” 
“Mindfulness benefits”
“Cell phone and mental health”
“Multitasking and mental health”

Get started

Start eliminating distractions from your life. Spend more time in stillness. Take a walk and be in the moment with friends and family. Take your time. Stop feeling rushed. Breathe.

Instead of adding more, subtract. Do less.

Life is better when it’s simpler, and you’ll be better at it. When you know how to focus, you’ll get more done and feel better doing so.

Action: Look at your “to do” list and start deleting. Then, if something keeps coming up, you know it’s worth doing. But until that happens, hit “delete” and forget about it. 

Start enjoying the moment. Look around and see everything—notice the smallest details. Quiet your racing mind. Listen to people. Engage with them. Be fully in the moment. Put your freaking cell phone away.

Focus on doing fewer things better instead or a lot of things average. 

Less is more. The less floating around your head, the better. 

This stuff can change your life.

Yours in Life and Fitness,

-Colin Stuckert

Get the Free Gym Life Downloads by Joining the Gym Life Club

100% Free!

The post Your Brain Is Robbing You of Life appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

What Is The Purpose Of Life

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” 

― Ernest Hemingway

I totally get what Hemingway is saying here. I’ve seen this very thing is myself and others.

In my life, I often I think how much easier life would be if I was a less-aware, less-thinking, and more simple-minded person. Sad but true.

I consider myself an intelligent person, but my version of intelligence may be different from yours. 

You see, I equate intelligence to awareness, truth-seeking, and an ability to be constantly learning. Being able to admit when one is wrong is also a huge sign of intelligence and self-awareness in my book.

I think the majority of intelligent people possess these, or closely related, qualities. It’s these qualities that are often the bane of intelligent people. I think this is what Hemingway was referring to.

In my experience, the more you know about life, people and the world, the more difficult it can be to find happiness. The more you understand about it all, the harder it is to convince yourself that all the things you want in life will someday, somehow, make you happy. 

You start seeing life as the hard, cold, cruel place that it is. You realize that external possessions and achievement are hallow, and ultimately, won’t provide you the fulfillment you are looking for. You don’t fool yourself into thinking that once you make X dollars or achieve X things that you’ll just wake up happy. But what’s weird about it is you keep going after it in lieu of this understanding. 

When you start realizing these things (it’s a process), life starts looking much different. And this is why I think ignorance really is bliss.

When I think about this, I feel like people who live “unaware” of these concepts probably have it easier. I don’t know. Maybe they are searching for answers in their own ways in the form of consumerism, drugs, etc. Whatever

I believe the seeking of truth is a noble, yet harsh, pursuit. When the monk, who spent 20 years on a mountain somewhere, reaches “emptiness” or “nirvana” like Buddha did, he realizes that he has no control over anything and that everything is nothing. It’s a very fatalistic realization, which of course, he has no “feeling” towards.

Monk or not, that’s gotta be rough.

The same is true of life: We seek the end-goal only to realize that there isn’t actually an end-goal at all and that nothing really matters.

But we still keep seeking. 

This is just what humans do. We are always seeking because seeking is programmed into our DNA. It’s the drive that compels us to love, procreate, and raise offspring to further the human species.

In my experience, the more I understand about people, life, philosophy, psychology, etc., the harder it becomes to find happiness in life.

When you realize that we all are just animals that do stuff because our biology— which we have no control over—makes us, you start wanting answers to questions like, “What’s the freaking point?” 

This can be rough, but as Maslow tells us, it’s necessary.

What I’ve come to realize, through thinking and writing and struggling with these topics in my own life, is you have to make the choice to enjoy the journey and express gratitude along the way. And, you have to spend as much freaking time as possible with those you love.

You can be happy with little or miserable with everything. It comes down to the choice you make.

You choose to look at life this way or that. You make the choice to attribute purpose to your life, like raising a family, creating art, helping others, etc.

Or…

You choose to focus on the fact that nothing really matters in the grand scheme of the universe (it doesn’t) and be miserable. You choose to focus on what’s wrong instead of what’s right.

It’s all choice.

We all have a purpose in life, we just have to find it. Of course, this can be really hard.

Let’s rap a bit more…

A few days ago, when I was working on my first novel (how cliche, I know), I had a mini-epiphany. The main character—Lance—goes through an existential crisis when he is diagnosed with a rare, degenerative disease after waking up and unable to open his left hand. Two months before, Lance was struggling writer who finally hit it big with his 2nd novel and was sailing high with his new-found literary fame. 

After running tests, the doctor tells him that he has about a year to live—maybe more, maybe less. The doctor says his condition is rare and that there is no cure. In the following chapters, Lance starts searching to find meaning for his life and so he pours through science, history, philosophy, and psychology books in search of answers. 

Of course, this character, and his pursuit of knowledge and answers, closely reflects what I’ve gone through in my life. I wasn’t trying to do this, but I ended up writing out the things I have been struggling with–and from what I’ve read from other writers, this is common.

Back to my mini-epiphany. As I’m writing, I start visualizing myself in Lance’s shoes with less than a year to live. In doing so, I ask myself this question:  “What are the most enjoyable times of my life?”

My answer was easy. It’s this: Spending time with friends and family and loving, laughing, and going on adventures.

I realized that, hands down, nothing else in life comes close. In fact, everything I do, whether it be travel, adventure, playing games, hanging out at the beach, whatever, I tend to only truly enjoy it if I do it with someone I care about. 

For me, other people are a prerequisite for enjoying the many things in life.

Maybe this isn’t the case for you, but for me, everything I have and want to do in life is only as good as my ability to share it with those I care about.

I think I’ve always kinda “known” this, but thinking about it clearly and specifically felt powerful… and new. Sometimes clarity is huge.

Then I thought about kids—which I don’t have but want—and I realized that I will probably feel this way even more so when I have some of my own.

To bring this back around, if you were to ask me: “What is the point of life?” I would easily answer this: It’s love… and to do everything you can to get and give as much of it as possible.

Sure, that sounds corny, but I that’s it nonetheless.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about gushy, I love you, you love me, we are “in love” type of love (although that’s great too). When I say love, I’m referring to the people around me that make me feel good and that I want to spend as much time as possible with. This can be friends, family, mentors, and sometimes, total strangers.

The purpose of life is to love and be loved.

So, back to Hemingway’s quote about happiness in intelligent people.

Knowing a lot about the world, genetics, anthropology, biology, evolution, psychology, and philosophy, does not make it any easier to be happy. But knowing that all and realizing that none of it really matters other than to explain what matters in life… to explain love. 

It all comes back to this simple thing. Just four letters. One word. And so, when I pursue money or accomplishment, I’m really just pursuing love. The thing is, this is what we all do even though most of us don’t realize it.

I guess the point is that happiness is right in front of our face. We just have to have the “intelligence” to see it.

Yours in Life and Fitness,

-Colin Stuckert

The post What Is The Purpose Of Life appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Do Something Remarkable In Your Life Or Do Nothing At All

“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?”

― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

We are a nation of people who “want.”

We make excuses for not doing the work necessary to get what we want so we make something called “plans” that are supposed to mean we will do the work later. Later rarely comes. We lie to ourselves that we will do it tomorrow, next week or next month.

Come tomorrow, next week or next month and what happens?

Nothing…

And again, we push it back to another tomorrow, next week or next month.

What’s truly scary about this is this cycle can repeat itself for years…

And such is the power of the mind to feed itself it’s own BS.

There are about  25 main cognitive biases that keep us believing our own nonsense. I’m not sure which one, or which combination of them, is responsible for the fact that we convince ourselves we are actually doing something when we procrastinate. By putting it off until later, we somehow feel like we are taking action. As if putting it in the calendar gives us the peace of mind that it will get done, so we rest easy.

Well, I hate to be the bearer of not-so-pleasant, yet utterly necessary news, but this is complete nonsense!

Wanting and desiring is not doing. Scheduling is not doing. Later, next week or next month is not taking action.

These are all just figments of your imagination.

This reminds me of the tree question people sometimes ask: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

The tree does make a sound but it also doesn’t. When a tree falls it creates sound waves as dictated by the laws of the universe. But then, at the same time, it doesn’t make a sound if there isn’t an ear drum around to hear and process the sound waves.

So if you think of something you are going to do yet do nothing about it, did you actually do something? Well, you did and you didn’t. To do something you must first have a thought about it, so in that, you did start the process. But for external change to happen you must take your thought and take action to materialize it into something real.

Planning is not action, although it can be a step in the process. The same with thinking, wanting and desiring.

Ok, so what am I getting at? My point is, if you think a thought in your head and you do nothing to materialize that thought in the physical world, it’s as if that thought never existed. It is just a figment of your imagination and will continue to be until you make it tangible through action.

Your thoughts are meaningless if you don’t translate them into some kind of tangible action. Your entire life thus far has been the result of your thoughts. And you’ve had more thoughts than you’ve had action, but that’s ok. That’s the human condition; we’ll never be abel to do everything we think about and want. Humans are built to be dreamers—we are programmed by nature to always want more and better. It’s how we’ve survived and evolved for millions of years.

Dreams and desires are necessary for life. Otherwise we would lay in bed all day and never do anything to make the world a better place for ourselves or others. In fact, when one gives up hope for their future, it’s a sign that they don’t have long to live.

Ok, so what’s the point to this all? I’m glad you asked.

My point is you have to do shit!

Now, I don’t always curse in my writing, but when I do, it’s because I need to make a freaking point!

These simple 8 words seem so benign and not-groundbreaking, but they are. Their implication for your life and the world are grander than you can possibly fathom.

To get anything in life, you have to do shit to get it. This can be something small or something big. It could be writing a few notes, reading a few articles, making a phone call or sending an email. The smallest action will lead you to the greatest achievements. And this is true of health, relationships, success and happiness.

Accomplishment in anything requires millions (even billions) of tiny action steps. In fact, that’s all success: It’s countless small steps over a enough period of time.

As long as you keep taking these tiny steps froward, one way or another, you will get there. That is my 100% iron-clad guarantee.

The second you stop taking action, you stagnant and start regressing.

The second you start taking action, you are instantly one step closer to where you want to be.

It sounds too simple, and it is, but most things in life are simple. We just complicate them with a bunch of noise.

Think about it, most people know that to lose weight and get fit, they have to eat less and better, exercise more, and get enough sleep. That’s no big mystery. Eating that cupcake is one step away from your goals while eating a home-cooked meal is one step forward. Simple to understand. Hard to do.

This is why you must simplify.

Make things simple. Stop making them complicated and stop convincing yourself that things have to be complicated to have merit. They don’t. All this is is you being Resistant to the doing. Your mind, like we’ve covered already, is a tricky ruler that will do anything it can to keep you from doing the work. It would rather sit around and make plans instead of get up and do shit.

But do shit is what you must do, my young Padawan Jedi.

You and I are programmed to be lazy, over-eating, excuse-generating machines. This is a by-product of our modern societies. When we lived in the harsh wild without electricity, advanced weaponry or machinery, modern food preservation or refrigeration, and all the comforts of modern living, we were tested by our environment on a daily basis. Because of this, the weak died and the strong survived and procreated.

Biologically, we are programmed to respond favorably to moderate amounts of stress. Only through difficulty and stress, do we grow and achieve our greatest potential. This applies to not only our human physiology, but also to our mental health and how effective we are at life, business and relationships.

We don’t just grow from stress, we need it. Without stress, we cannot stay functioning. We would wither away and die. The car that never receives maintenance breaks down. It also breaks down if it sits in the garage. It must be driven and maintained. This is exactly the way it is for the human body. If you don’t maintain it by stressing it and moving it regularly, it will break down.

(I also have a theory about aging that people tend to age at the same rate as their peers and by what is accepted as “standard” based on what doctors and media say. As a person gets older, she is led to believe that she is “getting older” and so she seeks out comfort while doing her best to avoid pain. This keeps her constantly avoiding stress, which as we know, is paramount for optimal health. The older she gets, the more likely she is to do less and less as is normal among others her age (or what the doctors tell her). And the cycle repeats until the gradual breakdown occurs and death happens. But what if she had rejected the idea that she was “getting older” and stayed active and regularly maintained her body through proper amounts of stress? Well, I think it would be a totally different outcome. Ok, back to what I was saying.)

The law of entropy states that If you are not growing, you are wasting away—you are going back to disorder. With the living, breathing machine that is your body, you must give it constant input (food, stress, sun, sleep) to maintain homeostasis. When you fail to give yourself the inputs your body needs, you waste away. You start dying.

This law applies to physical health and success in life. To achieve greatness in anything, you must constantly invest inputs—you must constantly grow. For your body, this is a balancing of stress and the many factors that make up your health. For success, this is constant forward action.

And so we have the equation: Wanting + Doing = Getting

This is a mathematical equal equation. You can’t have wanting without doing or doing without wanting or getting without either.

So what does this mean for you? It means that you need to think and then do shit.

You need to decide if you are going to do something great, or if you are content with what you have. Either are viable options for living life. If you decide you don’t want to attempt something great, then you should accept it and stop thinking about it because you are just wasting energy and missing out on what you have. That’s fine if that’s what you want. (But I don’t recommend it.)

On the flip side, if you find yourself constantly yearning for more, then it’s time you put yourself out there and take action. Stop wasting time “desiring” and “wanting” and get doing. The smallest forward step can snowball into amazing possibility.

Success and greatness is built the same for everyone: one step at a time.

We all get 24 hours in a day. It’s what happens during the 16 waking hours that separates the wheat from the chaff. Great achievers spend time making themselves better and doing their work on a daily basis. They don’t sit around watching TV and dreaming about their future or making excuses or procrastinating.

They go out and make it happen!

Successful people understand that success is a process, and so they keep taking action regardless of how long it takes. They are in it for the long haul. (Some don’t understand the process but have so much desire and wanting that they have no choice but to stick with it. Whatever.)

Right now, after you finish reading this, do something tangible to get you one step closer to your goals. Then, make it a habit to take as much action as possible every single day.

How do you make it a habit to constantly take action?

You start with your mind.

Your mind is the root of everything. Everything you have ever done (or will do) started as just a thought in your brain.

Think about that for a second. Do you see how powerful your mind is in all of this? Do you see how integral it is for success and happiness and fulfillment?

Your mind is the most important thing in your universe, and If you don’t have your mindset in check, you have no chance in hell.

I can’t go into all the mindset stuff here—check out some of my other work at AGYMLIFE.com—but I will leave you with some recommendations based on what I’ve learned over the years. Remember, everything starts in your mind, so even if some of these recommendations don’t seem like they translate easily into action, they do. At some point, you will take action based on what you believe.

Enough disclaimers, here it is:

What I’ve Learned Over The Years

A Short Manifesto For Life

Be open-minded. Learn from everyone. Never say “I know.” Question everything. Challenge your beliefs. Understand both sides. Play Devil’s advocate. Read 10x more than you do now. Study people. Study psychology and philosophy. Read biographies. Get your hands dirty. Deliberately practice. Read fiction. Train your mental resilience. Test your mind with your body. Test your body with your mind. Always take the hard way. Forget what’s easy because it has no value. Set mini goals on a daily basis and crush them. Set 6-month, 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year goals and crush them. Play mind games (like sudoku or Boggle, not with people). Play physical games. Always play to win. Argue both sides of every point, then choose the one that makes the most sense to you. Never accept things at face value… there is always something you don’t know. Realize that nothing is permanent. Accept that you are eventually going to die, then live a life that shows you aren’t afraid. Practice voluntary discomfort: regularly restrict things in your life that are making you too comfortable. Practice negative visualization: imagine the worst that can happen to remind yourself that most things don’t really matter. Be vulnerable and open with yourself and others. Don’t succumb to peer pressure—lie if you have to, honesty is better. Be honest and direct. Seek the painful truth. Never accept the comfortable lie. Move on when you know you should. Hang on when you know you should. What is in the way is the way. Do things that scare you over and over until they don’t scare you anymore. Learn how to listen; this will make you a diamond in the rough. Be interested in other people. Reflect on your past. Learn from your mistakes. Laugh as much as freaking possible. Share what you’ve learned with others. Write something that will outlive you. Build something that will outlive you. Raise someone that will outlive you. Be in the moment. Don’t waste time fretting over the past or future. Help a friend move at least once, then accept that they may not return the favor when you move. Lose your expectations of people and life: Nothing ever works out the way you want it to. Spend more time with your friends and family and less with stuff. Cry sometimes because it’s healthy but not because you can’t let go. Keep your phone away when you are interacting with others—the most interesting creation in the universe is sitting in front of you… enjoy it. Be happy by choice, not by circumstance because circumstance can change and choice is… well… choice.

Summary: Never judge or compare. Money doesn’t buy happiness. Successful people still have problems—many end up having more than the average person. Wanting takes doing towards wanting. Wanting itself, means nothing. Doing means everything. Doing even works if you don’t really have wanting because you’ll eventually get something.

Action: Do 1 tangible thing that will bring you a step closer to your results. Then repeat that every single day.

The post Do Something Remarkable In Your Life Or Do Nothing At All appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

Remember That Guy That Gave up?

“Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else.”  

-Unknown

Read this quote a few times. Let it sink in.

Words have the power to stir something deep inside you. Let these words seep into your subconscious. 

Think to yourself: “I’m not going to give up.” Say it: “I’m not going to give up.”

Believe it. Feel it.

Good job. You are now more likely to not give up and do something real. Pretty cool, huh?

Have you ever heard of affirmations?

Whether you have or haven’t, I’m going to share a powerful technique that you can use every day to make yourself better.

An affirmation is a statement you say to yourself to encourage, motivate, inspire, and make yourself believe. They are often said out loud but you can also say them in your head. 

Affirmations typically relate to something positive or goal-orientated. What you do is repeat an affirmation to yourself multiple times, like in front of the mirror or while taking a walk. When you do this, you make your mind “believe” what you are saying.

Here’s an example: “I won’t eat any sugar today.”

This is one I use myself. In the mirror, after waking, I say this—and a few others—to the mirror five to ten times. Some other examples include: “I will make X dollars this year” or “I will have a NYT best-selling book in two years.”

There is a ton of research that indicates the power of affirmations. Studies have shown that techniques like positive self-talk can have real effects on your health and success. Here’s an example:

From Carnegie Mellon University:

“An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in under performing kids at the end of the semester. This new work suggests a mechanism for these studies, showing self-affirmation effects on actual problem-solving performance under pressure,” said J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology in CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.”

You can google “affirmation studies” to find dozens like this. 

What this means is, you and I have the ability to control our minds and results through conditioning methods like affirmations. Just like training your body to make it stronger, we must also use exercises to train our minds.

The power of words

So, how can this help you?

Plenty of ways, but let’s start with your goals…

First, list out your goals. Second, create a few affirmations that reflect those goals. Third, speak these to yourself every morning after you wake up.

Example:

I will lose 20 pounds by the end of next month
I have lost 20 pounds since last month (even if you haven’t)

This is an example of a goal-specific affirmation. My preference is to use affirmations based on the future because my analytical mind has trouble separating fact from fiction when I affirm things to myself as if they had already happened. But you may be different. Use what works for you. 

By repeating affirmations, you start “tricking” your subconscious to believe what you are saying is true. Then, in doing so, your subconscious starts pulling you closer to what you are affirming. This is kind of like the law of attraction, but we won’t go down that rabbit-hole right now.

It’s said that the brain cannot discern the difference between reality and fiction, and that is partly why affirmations can be so powerful. You are literally warping what your brain perceives as reality through the use of words.

Affirmations are easy to use and extremely powerful. I can attest to their effectiveness.

When I feel like I’m getting sick from stress, I use the affirmation: “I feel awesome. I have so much energy.”

When I’m tired, I repeat this to myself at least 20+ times: “I have so much energy… I feel amazing.”

The stuff works. It’s crazy. 

Even scientist say that the brain works in mysterious ways, so before you brush this off as “out there,” you should realize that we are still trying to figure out all the mysteries of the brain.

Don’t discount something you don’t understand just because you don’t understand it. People used to say that man would never fly, and that he would never break the 4-minute mile. Yet man has done both. You just never know.

Who knows what will be said about the brain, and human beings, in 100 years.

Implement Affirmations

Create affirmations around your goals. Turn this into a list and say them to yourself every day and night–the more specific the better. For general health and positive self-talk, create an affirmation of how you want to feel and say it over and over.

The key to affirmations is repetition and believe what you are saying is true. Doing each will lead to you conditioning your mind to believe.

When you can make your brain believe, you create limitless power for yourself.

As Seneca said, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

Use the power of words to trick your brain into thinking the way you want it to think. Doing so gives you the power to choose exactly what you get from life. You gain control over how you feel, how you act, and what you think. The implications of this control are far-reaching.

But to reap these benefits, you must train your mind like a pet, through repetition and reinforcement. Eventually, with enough effort, you will develop the power to own your mind instead of it owning you.

Action: Make a list of affirmations and repeat them every morning to yourself 5-10 times each. When you are feeling sick or weak, come up with affirmations for how you want to feel and speak them to yourself over and over until you feel better.

Words have power. Use them to your advantage instead of letting them drag you down the way most people do.

Yours in Fitness,

-Colin Stuckert

The post Remember That Guy That Gave up? appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.

What I’ve Learned Over The Years: A Short Manifesto For Life

Be open-minded. Learn from everyone. Never say “I know.”

Question everything. Challenge your beliefs. Understand both sides. Play Devil’s advocate.

Read 10x more than you do now. Study people. Study psychology and philosophy. Read biographies.

Get your hands dirty. Deliberately practice.

Read fiction.

Train your mental resilience. Test your mind with your body. Test your body with your mind.

Always take the hard way. Forget what’s easy because it has no value.

Set mini goals on a daily basis and crush them. Set 6-month, 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year goals and crush them.

Play mind games (like sudoku or Boggle, not with people). Play physical games. Always play to win.

Argue both sides of every point, then choose the one that makes the most sense to you.

Never accept things at face value… there is always something you don’t know.

Realize that nothing is permanent. Accept that you are eventually going to die, then live a life that shows you aren’t afraid.

Practice voluntary discomfort: regularly restrict things in your life that are making you too comfortable.

Practice negative visualization: imagine the worst that can happen to remind yourself that most things don’t really matter.

Be vulnerable and open with yourself and others.

Don’t succumb to peer pressure—lie if you have to, honesty is better.

Be honest and direct. Seek the painful truth. Never accept the comfortable lie.

Move on when you know you should. Hang on when you know you should.

What is in the way is the way. Do things that scare you over and over until they don’t scare you anymore.

Learn how to listen; this will make you a diamond in the rough. Be interested in other people.

Reflect on your past. Learn from your mistakes.

Laugh as much as freaking possible.

Share what you’ve learned with others.

Write something that will outlive you. Build something that will outlive you. Raise someone that will outlive you.

Be in the moment. Don’t waste time fretting over the past or future.

Help a friend move at least once, then accept that they may not return the favor when you move. Lose your expectations of people and life: Nothing ever works out the way you want it to.

Spend more time with your friends and family and less with stuff.

Cry sometimes because it’s healthy but not because you can’t let go.

Keep your phone away when you are interacting with others—the most interesting creation in the universe is sitting in front of you… enjoy it.

Be happy by choice, not by circumstance because circumstance can change and choice is… well… choice.

-Colin

P.S. If you enjoyed this piece, you can get more by hopping on my newsletter (plus the bonuses). I send out an exclusive piece (like this) every Sunday. Join the newsletter and take your life-fitness-health game to the next level. Subscribe here:

The post What I’ve Learned Over The Years: A Short Manifesto For Life appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.