We are pulled in so many different directions that it can be overwhelming. How do we know what direction or pathway to take in life? There are a lot of resources out there with many different answers, but I want to focus on what I feel to be the most important.
My advice today comes from a fantasy novel Unsouled by Will Wight. It is like many fantasy series, where a specific individual (Lindon) learns he is different from the others in his village, and eventually meets a wise sage who gives him advice on how to use his power and magic for his unique (unsouled) situation. He says…
“There are a million paths in this world, Lindon, but any sage will tell you they can all be reduced to one. Improve yourself.”
Although the advice given at first doesn’t seem helpful, over time though, it smolders into deep wisdom. The advice given to Lindon applies to everyone trying to do something great or unsure what path to take in life, the most important thing you can do is improve yourself. If you do not know what direction or path to take in your life, career-wise, spouse-wise, or school-wise, start by improving yourself.
Of course, most of us are trying to improve ourselves every day. We try to improve as a spouse or as a parent; we have goals to improve physically, mentally, and spiritually. Every year we set goals and intentions on how we want to improve ourselves, but most of us usually give up on our New Year resolutions after about 30 days and tend to revert to our old ways.
Why is improving ourselves so difficult? Why are we giving up on such a worthy cause? Simply put, we tend to take the hard way or we focus too much on the shortcuts. I hate to say it, but there are no shortcuts, no easy ways, and no one path fits all. Each path is different and unique, but I believe it is possible to improve ourselves effortlessly. I do not mean it will be easy, but with a bit of practice and discipline, it may feel effortless.
How do we make improving ourselves effortless?
I want to start by sharing an example from myself, which I imagine most people can probably relate to. I wanted to be someone who exercised daily. So, I decided I would start running every day (I started with a 1.5-mile run) and eating healthier. Guess what? It worked…for about 3 days. Often, when we want to improve ourselves, we jump all in with 110% effort. But, once it gets tiring and we realize we don’t have time, we stop doing those things. As Greg McKeown says in his awesome book, Effortless, “Past a certain point, more effort doesn’t produce better performance. It sabotages our performance.”Going in with extreme effort doesn’t usually have the benefit we want.
Sometimes, less effort is better. For example, if I wanted to be someone who runs every day, but I haven’t gone running in several months or years, running 1 mile daily might be too much effort. But, if I could jog for one minute every day - for me, it is to the mailbox and back - I can commit to running to my mailbox every day, even on days when I only have one minute to do so. We are more likely to stick with it when it is simple.
It may seem stupid, but if you can do that consistently (jogging to the mailbox), you might eventually start seeing small improvements in your life. You might feel happier. You might feel like you can do just a little bit more than the mailbox and over time you might start running to the end of the block, and then you might run 1 mile, and next thing you know you might be running a marathon. On days when life is too busy, if all the time we can do is a one-minute jog to the mailbox, we are still crushing it. We are improving ourselves. We are on the right path. However, getting to where we want, might take years of consistent work to get there, but it started as an effortless choice. As a wise wizard once said, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” It is by small and simple things that great things come to pass.
When it comes to improving ourselves, we need to stop focusing on the big dramatic changes, and instead focus on the small things we could do to improve ourselves. Go to bed 1 minute earlier today. Do 1 push-up today. Eat one vegetable. Turn off your phone 1 minute earlier today. Say a short prayer or mantra this morning. Start small and see where it takes you. I promise, eventually you will want to push yourself harder and you will start building upon the small progress you have made.
What is one small thing you can do for yourself today? Can you do it tomorrow as well? what about the next day? and the next? If you cannot do it every day, you are going too big. Go embarrassingly small and improve yourself today.
Like what you read? Do not forget to subscribe to get my writings sent straight to your inbox.
Boy this hit the spot today. Watch for a group text!