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Reading the responses to my last thread and another source and then thinking about it, I've realized that my success depends on my mindset.
Just yesterday I was able to execute 100 push-ups, squats, and crunches - in that order - by splitting them up by 5 sets of 20, supersetting them, and resting for 30 seconds a set. During the workout I had many negative thoughts but by experience ignored them. My **mind** was **set** on the end.
But basically, that's how I operate. I do everything as a means to an end.
Then you ask, well if everything for you is a means to an end, so is that workout. What end is that workout a means for? It's part of this 30-day program I'm on. So once the 30 days are up, I probably won't continue doing it, even if it was very beneficial to me. I may do other related workouts. Or, maybe not.
This similar mode of thinking got me enrolled in college under a set of scholarships that paid my tuition, and more. Even as a meaningless, speck-of-sand-in-an-ocean 9th grader, I had the vision that I was in school for one reason: to go to college. And that was my ladder to climb.
The majority around me were falling off this ladder either to work as OJT students (leave school early to work a job) or slack off and sleep. I don't know the fate of those in the middle, those that slacked 50% and worked 50%.
I kept doing my homework whenever I found the time. I found the time a lot, mostly during class. Everyone else just paid attention to the teacher. I actually tried doing that for my English and history classes, which left me with less time to read the books. I obtained lower grades in these classes.
I surrounded myself with other successful high school students. Students that got the girls they wanted, other students on the basketball team, and definitely other students in my honors/AP classes. I wasn't always an AP/Honors student.
I got kicked out of a good school after 6th grade, provisionally passing. I got moved to an inner city school, where they placed me in 6th grade the following year. Of course I said something, but I almost listened to a part of me that said, "It's okay, stick with it, you belong here. Just be quiet."
I don't clearly remember, but my hypothesis was that I persuaded them enough to move me to where I really belonged. The day after, I had to work a step above the very bottom: remedial reading in 7th grade. Deep down I still knew I didn't really belong there. But I did accept the situation and took action to get out of Dodge.
Now, I have an exercise I must complete. I am out of school, and therefore, cannot surround myself with a group of people, for which I can discern those that are and aren't successful, and hang out with the ones that are.
I have gone to meetups (meetup.com) and I'm able to surround myself with some people for a couple of hours, and it really helps me get out of the house. However, this is in sharp contrast to the 8 hours I was in school for, and I find myself going off-track after a few days because there is no accountability.
As a consequence, my goals have spilled and there's not much I'm aiming for besides this 30-day program. It wakes me up at 5am, but then I go back to sleep 15 minutes later because I don't have a vision to aim for, like going to college, getting the girl on the dance team, or (any other big goal here). I'm also stuck in the mindset that because I am now an adult, I have to make money, like everyone else is.
I sure do want to make money, but I'm not sure if that's the big goal. Getting into college didn't land me any money, but it landed me a huge scholarship. Getting girls didn't make me richer, but it brought me along gifts that were worth monetary value and that I was grateful for. So I'm not persuaded to have a vision to make money, because there's something bigger. I want to aim for that, because it will bring the money. It has to, right? It provides value.
What's that thing that will propel me to wake up at 5AM?
Just yesterday I was able to execute 100 push-ups, squats, and crunches - in that order - by splitting them up by 5 sets of 20, supersetting them, and resting for 30 seconds a set. During the workout I had many negative thoughts but by experience ignored them. My **mind** was **set** on the end.
But basically, that's how I operate. I do everything as a means to an end.
Then you ask, well if everything for you is a means to an end, so is that workout. What end is that workout a means for? It's part of this 30-day program I'm on. So once the 30 days are up, I probably won't continue doing it, even if it was very beneficial to me. I may do other related workouts. Or, maybe not.
This similar mode of thinking got me enrolled in college under a set of scholarships that paid my tuition, and more. Even as a meaningless, speck-of-sand-in-an-ocean 9th grader, I had the vision that I was in school for one reason: to go to college. And that was my ladder to climb.
The majority around me were falling off this ladder either to work as OJT students (leave school early to work a job) or slack off and sleep. I don't know the fate of those in the middle, those that slacked 50% and worked 50%.
I kept doing my homework whenever I found the time. I found the time a lot, mostly during class. Everyone else just paid attention to the teacher. I actually tried doing that for my English and history classes, which left me with less time to read the books. I obtained lower grades in these classes.
I surrounded myself with other successful high school students. Students that got the girls they wanted, other students on the basketball team, and definitely other students in my honors/AP classes. I wasn't always an AP/Honors student.
I got kicked out of a good school after 6th grade, provisionally passing. I got moved to an inner city school, where they placed me in 6th grade the following year. Of course I said something, but I almost listened to a part of me that said, "It's okay, stick with it, you belong here. Just be quiet."
I don't clearly remember, but my hypothesis was that I persuaded them enough to move me to where I really belonged. The day after, I had to work a step above the very bottom: remedial reading in 7th grade. Deep down I still knew I didn't really belong there. But I did accept the situation and took action to get out of Dodge.
Now, I have an exercise I must complete. I am out of school, and therefore, cannot surround myself with a group of people, for which I can discern those that are and aren't successful, and hang out with the ones that are.
I have gone to meetups (meetup.com) and I'm able to surround myself with some people for a couple of hours, and it really helps me get out of the house. However, this is in sharp contrast to the 8 hours I was in school for, and I find myself going off-track after a few days because there is no accountability.
As a consequence, my goals have spilled and there's not much I'm aiming for besides this 30-day program. It wakes me up at 5am, but then I go back to sleep 15 minutes later because I don't have a vision to aim for, like going to college, getting the girl on the dance team, or (any other big goal here). I'm also stuck in the mindset that because I am now an adult, I have to make money, like everyone else is.
I sure do want to make money, but I'm not sure if that's the big goal. Getting into college didn't land me any money, but it landed me a huge scholarship. Getting girls didn't make me richer, but it brought me along gifts that were worth monetary value and that I was grateful for. So I'm not persuaded to have a vision to make money, because there's something bigger. I want to aim for that, because it will bring the money. It has to, right? It provides value.
What's that thing that will propel me to wake up at 5AM?
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