sapientbreeze

Whether you seek self improvement, happiness, or success in life, you must learn to grind. We humans were made to work, and if you find yourself bothered by this proclamation, chances are some part of you yearns to grind. This is where the rubber meets the road: turn off the motivational videos, stop scrolling, reading… anything that stands between you and your objective falls away. There is only you and the task.

Perhaps you find this level of focus hard or even unobtainable. To bring about any meaningful change on your life, you must first learn how to set aside the excuses and do the thing you deem worthy of doing. I’ve heard this described as entering a flow state, or a groove, or just productive mode. Regardless, developing this skill will enable you to achieve things that may otherwise seem impossible.

The hardest step is always the first: you have to be honest about how “hard” you are actually working in a given day. Are you the type of person who dismisses high achievers as “talented” or “lucky”? Perhaps you already work as hard as you “possibly can”? If you really want to live a better life, you must first let the veil fall and strive to be uncompromisingly honest with yourself. This is hard, so if you think you’re doing this already, then you haven’t even begun. Life is cruel, and people must lie to themselves constantly to operate the way we do. You must dare to do more, to see ourselves and others as they truly are.

This level of honesty takes time, but as always, try to start small. Keep track of how much time you actually spend achieving tasks that you would deem meaningful. Let me be honest with you, there are people who stitch together days of 16 hours continual effort. This is not to say you must as well, but rather you should learn some humility: there is always going to be someone pushing harder than you, and that’s okay. Judge only yourself against your ideal. Learn to let go of judging others who are not on the same path you are. Recall your own journey, and search for compassion over scorn.

Once you can be honest with yourself, and surrender the impulse to be judgmental of others, you are ready to grow. Search yourself for a path of greatest resonance: what path feels harmonious with you? Forget about salaries and the opinions of others: figure out what YOU are meant to be doing. Remember this is a journey, and for starters you need only a direction, not a destination.

Once you have a path, identify the necessary tasks to get you there. Regardless of your path, you should start by learning to properly take care of yourself and those around you. Learn to be brutally honest with yourself: are you really satisfied letting dishes pile up, clothes littering your floor, or other mundane tasks left unfinished? Perhaps you think so, but I challenge you to take care of your environment before anything else. The universal starting point for anyone is to master self care and stewardship of their home.

Now, the grind… for what better place to learn than with caring for yourself and your immediate surroundings! You must identify the necessary tasks, find a state of mental stillness, and get to work. Try different things… a common favorite is upbeat and energetic music. Get headphones, and let yourself go into the task. Ideally, set side your intrusive thoughts for later. If you think of another task that deserves attention, add it to a list and finish what you are doing before proceeding. You must complete a task for it to matter, so learn to complete tasks before moving onto more.

This practice should border onto mindfulness practices if done properly. Immerse yourself in the work: once you find flow, keep it going by letting one task bleed into another. The work will be its own reward, but if you currently lack intrinsic motivation, you can set up rewards for yourself at certain checkpoints, or when all tasks are completed. Keep practicing this, and learn from what works and what doesn’t. Don’t give up on yourself, depending on your starting point, this could be very very hard.

The last thought ties off with self care, as this practice should be as much about taking care of yourself as your environment. This will be much easier if you are eating properly, sleeping properly, exercising regularly, and avoiding numbing out of any sort. Can you take days off? Eventually, you’ll understood that every day off comes at a steeper and steeper cost. If you are unhappy, or want to achieve more, then perhaps it’s time to take some time off from days off. If you want it bad enough, then learn to grind. Otherwise, then at least be honest with yourself that you are choosing to be less than your potential. There will always be excuses to justify less than greatness if you allow it to be so.