The man who waits till tomorrow to take the first step spends his entire life on one leg.
I’m a firm believer in making sure you set realistic goals in order to not feel overwhelmed or discouraged if things are not quite going your way. It’s easy to feel like this when you set massive goals for yourself. But every so often it’s not such a bad idea to get f-ing crazy. Sometimes it lights a fire under your ass that is necessary.
Get yourself unrealistic to achieve the realistic
Anyone who has ever done anything extraordinary in this world is first viewed as a little crazy. We may personally like them, think they’re pretty cool, might even be really good friends with them, nod our heads and smile when they tell us about their crazy ambitions, lucrative goals, and how they plan to accomplish them. But deep down you’re thinking… “man, this is one crazy bird, no way they can do that.”
That is of course until they do it. Then they’re just geniuses.
It might be hard to look back into history and think of some of those that have accomplished unbelievable things and see them as crazy now but back in their day they were viewed as nuts.
Emilia Earhart: NUTS!
Martin Luther King Jr.: CRAZY as all hell!
Jesse Owens: LOCO!
Edmund Hillary & Tenzig Norgay (climb Mt. Everest in 1953): INSANE!
Muhammed Ali: CRAY CRAY!
Gertrude Ederle (swims the english channel, 2 hours faster than anyone): NUT JOB!
Eleanor Roosevelt: YUP, HER TOO!
However, lost marbles should be relegated to Tootles from Peter Pan. Anyone can lose their marbles. I highly suggest that you try it.
Get crazy! Right now!
Do you want to lose 30 pounds? You’re nuts!
Want to compete in a triathlon? F-ing crazy!
Trying to go Paleo for 3 months? You’ve lost it!
Want to take a trip around the world? No way nutzo!
Warning: If you embrace your crazy you’re going to be different. An outsider, not in line with the majority, marching to your own drummer, a rebel, a misfit, a trouble-maker. STOP reading now if that scare you.
Why be unrealistic?
Why be unrealistic? Because everyone else is scared to be, therefore there is less competition at the top.
True story here. There was a study conducted a few years back where researchers posted a job for a computer programmer. A job description was given and a salary set at around $40,000 per year. This job had thousands of applicants.
A few weeks later the same job was posted with the same exact job description the only thing that changed was the salary. It had been bumped up to $100,000 per year. Exactly 12 people applied for the job.
Why was that? Because now no one thought they were qualified enough. Everything stayed the same only the price tag changed. People thought they were not worthy of the $100,000 paycheck. Not quite experienced enough, not smart enough, not creative enough, and they thought to many other people would be gunning for the same job.
So while everyone else is busy second guessing themselves why don’t you grow a pair and go for it!
Set your sights high. Be bold. Never give up.
Martin Luther King fought the good fight for civil rights for years.
Dan Jansen persevered and never gave up even after failing in three previous Olympics.
Wether your goal is to lose 50 pounds, dead lift 500, ride a bull, or swim across Lake Michigan. You first have to see yourself worthy of the the accomplishment before achieving it. You are… trust me.
The results are in the payoff
If the potential payoff is mediocre or average, so is your effort. I’ll run through walls to get a catamaran trip through the Greek islands, but I might not change my brand of cereal for a weekend trip through Columbus, Ohio. -Tim Ferris
Setting goals you initially think are unattainable is a great way to keep you motivated. Bigger risk, bigger reward. And if those rewards really mean a lot to us our motivation will remain high. But it’s important to keep patience in mind. Big goals usually are not achieved over night. You’ll have to educate, take action, reflect, and rinse and repeat.
There will surely be a lot of trial and error. Some mishaps and some success. The most important thing to remember is to pay attention and take notice of what is going on. Awareness in anything is a pivotal determinate to success. If you are trying to lose some body fat and have hit a plateau and the only thing you do is complain about how your routine and diet is not working the only thing you are accomplishing is complaining.
Take notice, did you go over board a couple of times the past few weekends? Skipping a couple sprint workouts? Convinced yourself that you’ve done so well that a little ice cream here and there isn’t going to hurt.
What can you do to step up your game? Tighten up the nutrition a bit, make sure you are eating the right kinds of carbs, or maybe add an extra day of training or play to your routine.
Never lose sight. constantly ask yourself is this MY goal? Am I doing this for myself? Am I committing myself 100% and do I see myself conquering my goal?
Don’t let the nay-sayers get you down
Realistic people do not accomplish the extraordinary. They’re to busy following the status quo. So while you’re trying to achieve great things look at who is trying to convenience you that it is “impossible” and all your efforts are for not. Chances are they’ve never taken a risk in their life. If you want to obtain the unimaginable then spend time with those that have done it? Share your thoughts with them. Feed of that energy and experience. If you want to learn how to bake you wouldn’t go to a dentist would you? Of course not. Why do it here?
Realize the stakes are not actually that high
Ever wad up a piece of paper and chuck it half way across the room into a tiny little trash bin? Then someone says, “Hey, I bet you twenty bucks you can’t do that again.”
Or better yet, I’m sure most of us played sports or an instrument growing up. Practicing all the time. Playing in regular season games or performing in front of families members at home. You’re perfect, put on a show, even you admit to yourself that you did an outstanding job.
Then all of a sudden it’s time to perform on the big stage. The championship game, a big recital or showcase. You’re like a deer in headlights, you freeze up, nerves kick in, you feel like you might barf everywhere.
So what’s the issue? Nothing has changed. All you are doing is performing the same song, stepping up to the same plate and playing in the same type of game.
The stakes have changed. That’s what happened. The performance you just nailed in front of your family one week before or the great game you just had totally slips your mind. You’ve lost all confidence in yourself.
Anxiety is a heightened state of performance. All that angst is actually your body telling you to let this BEAST OUT! I’m ready to roll baby! All you have to do is let it.
Simply trust in yourself. Nothing has changed. It’s the same song, the same game, and you’re the same person that just dominated it days before. TRUST in your abilities.
Ever heard of the secret?
I’m sure most of you have heard of the book “The Secret” or are familiar with the Law Of Attraction. I’m all for positive thinking but my good buddy Jacob Sokol put it best. “The only thing sitting in your room all day having positive thoughts will get you is some good B.O and an empty stomach.”
Take that positive thought and put it into positive action.
Martin Luther King JR didn’t just think sit in his room thinking about how nice it would be once his dream was achieved. He got off his ass and made it happen. He told people he had a dream and then played it out in front of everyone to see.
If you want put on 20 pounds of muscle looking at a picture of Ryan Reynolds (man crush) all day isn’t going to do it for you.
If you want to lose 20 pounds but you’re eating a donut right now and drinking chocolate milk while reading about “how to lose those last 20 pounds” instead of munching on some real food, picking up some weights and getting in your interval training on, chances are it’s not going to happen.
What do you want to achieve?
This is everything I have ever thought was unrealistic (fill in the blank)
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And this is how I plan to f@#*ing do it! (fill in the blank)
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Live limitless,
J