Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life (Unfu*k Yourself series)

by Gary John Bishop

Have you ever felt like a hamster on a wheel, furiously churning your way through life but somehow going nowhere?

There are two kinds of talk you engage in every day: talking to others and talking to yourself.

Studies show that we have over fifty thousand thoughts per day. Think of all the things you say to yourself that you’d rather not or that you try to overcome or defeat. While we have little or no say in those automatic and reactionary thoughts, we have a massive say in which of those same thoughts we attach significance to. They don’t come preloaded!!

“The harmony between thought and reality can be found in the grammar of the language.”

our thoughts are bedfellows with our emotions.

The more you tell yourself how hard something is, the harder it will actually seem.

the person who views success as if it were just around the corner will not only work his butt off to achieve it but be energized and alive to it and all the while acting on that fundamental view of success.

“Here is a rule to remember in the future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not ‘This is misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’”

people spend their lives waiting for the cavalry, all the while never realizing they are the cavalry.

One of the reasons why we so often abandon New Year’s resolutions is because they usually use language to describe what we are “going” to do, i.e. later. All too often they begin with what we’re not going to do, which leaves us enthusiastic at the beginning but out of juice when faced with the inevitable moment when reality takes a swing at your face.

Take the time to think, ponder, and experiment for yourself. There is no greater knowledge than the knowledge you have verified for yourself, in your own experience.

“Stop blaming luck. Stop blaming other people. Stop pointing to outside influences or circumstances.”

You have the life you’re willing to put up with.

No buts. You can’t afford them. They’re excess baggage on a trip that requires you to travel light.

Stop blaming luck. Stop blaming other people. Stop pointing to outside influences or circumstances. Stop blaming your childhood or neighborhood.

while there are things that have happened in your life that you had no say in, you are 100 percent responsible for what you do with your life in the aftermath of those events. Always, every time, no excuses.

willingness is a state in which we can engage with life and see a situation from a new perspective. It starts with you and ends with you. No one can make you willing, and you cannot move forward until you really are willing to make the next move.

“Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.” - Seneca

Life won’t stop for your pauses and procrastinations. It won’t stop for your confusion or fear. It will continue right along without you.

We often view ourselves as procrastinators or lazy or unmotivated. When, in reality, we’re simply unwilling.

“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.”

All too often, we focus solely on what we don’t have, even though deep down we don’t really need it or perhaps even want it.

Some of the things we face certainly can be challenging, but at the same time what’s on the other side of those challenges is a life of our dreams.

When you start to view the world through the lens of what you’re willing and unwilling to pursue, rather than what it seems you want and don’t want, things start to become a lot clearer.

Instead of wasting time worrying about the things other people have, you’ll start focusing on what’s really important to you and your life.

When you have set out the goals that you are claiming as yours in life and, more importantly, relentlessly taking the actions to produce, it’s only a matter of when.

We are wired to win. You are wired to win. Define your game, embrace the challenge, and strive to understand yourself in deeper and more meaningful ways.

We only see the highlight reels of others’ lives while being continually reminded of our own behind the scenes.

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” - Aristotle

Face your problems as they come, one by one; give them the attention they need and move on.

“Uncertainty is where new happens.”

Success is never certain. It never comes without risk. Even if you’re the smartest or the hardest working, there’s no guarantee of anything.

Missing the target isn’t the worst thing you can do. Not taking the shot is.

How can we prove that what we believe is true?

What we know today will one day be looked upon as archaic and outdated.

The more we try to stay comfortable today, the more uncomfortable we’ll be tomorrow.

There really is no destination, there is only exploring, exploring, and exploring.

If we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations, maybe we’ll look awkward. People will think we’re “weird.” If we push our limits and try to achieve new things, maybe we’ll fail. People will think we’re a “failure.”

While the unknown can hold plenty of bad things, it also holds everything good as well. It’s overflowing with opportunity and progress.

Dare to dream, dare to risk and startle your life into life.

When you stop searching for certainty, when you quit trying to make sense of everything, a lot of your stress will simply melt away.

There really is nothing to figure out. If you took the time to be with what I’m saying, you’d realize that what causes most of your worry is trying to predict the future and then refusing to accept things when they don’t or aren’t going to go your way.

Focus on the things you can control and release yourself from worrying about what you can’t,

“You are not defined by what’s inside your head. You are what you do. Your actions.”

“You don’t have to feel like today is your day; you just have to act like it is.”

You change your life by doing, not by thinking about doing.

Change your life by changing your actions. That’s the only way.

Think about the greatest people you know of—either personally or by reputation. Do you consider their thoughts? Or do you remember their actions?

It’s all about action. Going out there, doing it, and taking all your negative bullshit along for the ride. It’s never going to get any better, any easier, or any more understandable. This is it, life is now and you’re never going to have a better moment than this.

You could be the smartest person in the world, but that doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t take action.