Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

by Steve Kamb

As Ben Franklin said, “Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.”

I keep myself physically fit, fill up my afternoons with activities that challenge me, and use my nights to start planning my next adventure. I go to bed proud and wake up excited.

Life is meant to be lived on your own terms. That’s a simple statement, yet it’s one we often lose sight of. We do what we think we’re supposed to, what “the right move” for us is at this point in our lives, or what makes the most sense on paper, instead of doing what will allow us to grow and find true happiness.

HE THAT IS GOOD FOR MAKING EXCUSES IS SELDOM GOOD FOR ANYTHING ELSE. —BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

I rebuilt my life around adventure rather than escape,

F%*k motivation. Instead, cultivate discipline.

ADD STEPS BETWEEN YOU AND BAD HABITS

REMOVE STEPS BETWEEN YOU AND GOOD HABITS

As the late, legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato said: “The hero and the coward both feel the same thing: fear; it’s what they do with that fear that separates them.”

We spend too much time comparing our Level 0 to somebody else’s Level 50; we see their highlight reel and compare it to our actual lives, which is unfair.

GROWTH HAPPENS AT OUR LIMITS

Sometimes, you need to fire your friends, and even fire certain family members if they’re proving to be truly destructive to your interests and are uninterested in joining you on your new journey. It’s painful and difficult, but these people aren’t ready or willing to change or to accept change in you. That’s totally fine. You can’t control what you can’t control, so focus on yourself and your personal development and become an example for them to aspire to. Life will go on, and you will find that there are plenty of forward-thinking people out there who will support and celebrate your new path in life.

We often think the end result will produce happiness, when in fact happiness is not an end goal that we chase, but rather a consequence of the things we are chasing.

My challenge to you today is to take a few minutes performing an activity that helps you be present and stop looking ahead to the future.