Can we stop screwing ourselves over.

Tsaheylu

Mark Twain said it better than anyone else... "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". Why is this important? Simply put, because far too often we attribute what we can do or what our capabilities are, to what we studied or were taught.

Do you think any of the visionaries in the world limited themselves to just one path? Yet this is what so many of us do, we downplay or even ignore our capacity to be more than what we currently are. For me to be typing this and imparting advice to change your life, I would need to first have a psychology degree or have completed some kind of formal life coaching course. That is if I accepted the hypothesis of what society has programmed us to believe, but I don't and I have neither of those qualifications.

We don't have to be psychologists or social workers to help people, the problem we create by surrendering that power to select individuals means we entrench ourselves further into a dependent state, not empowering ourselves to change. We all have the capacity to learn more and be more, its simply a question of purpose and passion. Think of people like Richard Branson, who didn't finish school, started selling a magazines at 14 and in 2018 became so diversified, one of his companies sent a rocket into outer space. David Goggins, who was abused throughout his childhood, had a learning disability and came from a life of poverty. Today he's considered the hardest man alive and inspires millions to overcome their circumstances. These people don't have unique gifts that are unattainable, they had purpose and passion and refused to accept a status quo.

So how do we shift gears to unlock new possibilities or avenues in our lives? It seems to easy to be true but to "Just Starting" is literally the only way to break the cycle. Mel Robbins (who inspired the title of this article) explains the "5 second rule" where we have 5 seconds to make a decision, if we miss that window, we fall into the same habits, procrastination and things just wont change, we will screw ourselves over. When I say "Just Start", I mean whatever you have even a vague interest in, find a book, Google it, YouTube how to do it, there's no excuse of not finding the information in today's time. You can learn to play a guitar, trade on the stock market, teach yoga, even how to cook like Gordon Ramsey, its all at your fingertips. Also, before you tell me you don't have the time, be honest with yourself and admit you just don't want to use your time more effectively, because EVERYONE has time to change the things that matter to them. Instead of scrolling Facebook for 30 minutes every night or watching series that aren't adding value to your life, a simple 30 minutes every night can literally change your entire life if you use it the right way.

Just because we don't understand how something is possible, doesn't mean its impossible. I'll give you a personal example of purpose and passion. In June 2014 I decided I wanted to teach people how to be fitter and healthier without needing to join and expensive gym. I didn't have a fitness qualification and I still don't, I had no prior experience in the field and had no clue how to start something like this, but I knew I wanted to do something to make a difference. Together with a friend Matt we advertised our concept Ripcore Calisthenics, invited people and at our first class not a single person pitched up, ZERO... This happened time and time again when we started. We didn't let it discourage us, we created content, advertised and went out every weekend with the attitude that even if one person comes, we can help that one person. Gradually after a couple of months it began to pick up and in less than a year, we had appeared in fitness magazines, online interviews and national TV shows talking about what we were doing.

My point here being that if you want to change your life, if you believe in something you will find a way to learn about it and you will devote your entirety to seeing it come true. We place too much emphasis on needing a formal qualification in order to do something we want to, or blame our circumstances when all we truly need is a genuine passion to want to grow and the drive to learn the route it takes to get there.

Ask yourself what is it that you want to achieve in your own life? What burning desire do you have that you're just sitting on and what is stopping you from just starting?