It is a question that gets asked all the time but never gets thought about. In your life what you are doing leads in several directions.
It can lead you towards the life you desire
It can help you keep the life you have
It can lead you away from the life you desire
The last one is the most important.
-If I desire being healthy and am eating poorly, smoke and get drunk, my actions are leading me away from my desire.
-If I want to be successful and I waste time, avoid effort and make excuses, My actions are leading me away from my desire.
-I want the girl or guy of my dreams but will sit home tonight and play on the computer.
Your actions create your life. So today when you are doing things maybe you should ask… what am I doing and where is it going to lead me. Awareness is the first step to getting the life you want.
I find that most people never even bother asking the question because they already know the answer and it is not a good one.
I recently suggested to someone that they needed a brutally honest self evaluation of their life and where they are now. The response I got was “I don’t want anything brutal in my live”.
It is as if we have turned into such fragile creatures that we need everything to be sugar coated and nice before we will look at it. The truth is… if you are an ass and you want friends the first step is realizing you are an ass. If you want success but are a coward the first step is to realize you are a coward. If you can’t handle knowing that then you will never make any progress.
I have been working out now for 2 years to get back into a shape that is not round. The first step was to stop avoiding looking in the mirror and seeing that I was a fat lump. I had been avoiding that. I didn’t want that answer. I wanted to believe the lies I had been telling myself.
Asking yourself questions can be very simple. Does eating this ice cream move me towards what I want to away from it? Does playing this video game move me towards getting things done or away from it? Is drinking this next drink going to make my day tomorrow better or worse? Is making this next million dollars going to make my life better or is it going to cost me other things that are important in my life?
The key is to keep it simple. The answers are easy.
The next step is more challenging. That is noticing where you are an changing the direction of your life. If you won’t do step 1 then step 2 doesn’t matter.