How To Get Started Changing Your Life

DIG IN

Its time to face it come on in and join the party
Life has been waiting for you to care

don’t try to fake it jump on in and get it started
there’s so much lovin for you to share

there is nowhere to run, there is noway to hide
don’t let it beat you, say nice to meet you and fight

Once you dig in, you’ll find it coming out the other side
And once you dig in, you’ll find you’ll have yourself a good time

wake up and shake it, you didn’t make your contribution

here ain’t no time for you to spare
If you ain’t part of the game then how can you find a solution

Nobody said that it would be fair
When the mountian is high
Just look up to the sky
Ask god to teach you

then presevere
with a smile
yeah, yeah, yeah
And once you dig in

you’ll find it coming out the other side
and once you dig in
you’l find you’ll have yourself a good time

and once you dig in
you’ll find it comin out the other side
and once you dig in

you’ll find you’ll have yourself a good time

What’s Lenny Saying?

Well, let’s break it down a little bit and apply it to a few things because besides being a rocking song it’s got some great words of wisdom if we are smart enough to open our ears and listen.

 

First and foremost he’s saying wake the f**k up and get into life.  Quit wasting your time complaining and watching life go by.  Life is passing you by.   Life is waiting for you to care.  So shake your sleep walking ass up and get involved in your own life.  Quit being on auto pilot all the time, actually DO something for a change, and get in and embrace life.  There’s lot of life to live and lots of love to be had, you just have to go get some.  And you can’t ignore it, you can’t run and hide from it, life is here and now for however long we have so step up to the plate and go get it.

I really like when he says if you aren’t part of the game then how can you find a solution.  If you aren’t taking an active hand in your life or a cause or whatever you care about you aren’t really doing anything to benefit it.  You’ve got to go get into it in order to find a solution.  To improve something.  To change something.

His insight regarding nobody said that it would be fair is right on point for much of the mental state of our society.  Lots of people are very good at complaining about how stuff isn’t fair.  How their relationships aren’t fair or their life or their jobs or the fact that Netflix isn’t putting out their favorite shows fast enough.  It’s just not fair!!  So whoever told you life was going to be fair?  Exactly.  Nobody did.  So shut up already about it not being fair, doesn’t change anything and certainly doesn’t help anything.  One of my best friends used to be my boss back in my Kinko’s days.  When someone would complain about a new system or how something would change he had a very blunt response:

“Vote With Your Feet”. Translation?  If you don’t like it, there’s the door.

Focus on One Goal

So what can you do to get started on changing your life?  Well there’s really just a few biggies you have to take into consideration.  First of all just focus on one goal.  Way too many people simply give up because they try to do too much and get overwhelmed and just give up.  Well if you decide to make more money and drop your body fat to under 10% and start volunteering 10 hours a week and are going to lay tile in all of your bathrooms all in the same week you are setting yourself up for frustration and stress.  Setting yourself up for frustration and stress will then lead you to saying f**k it, I can’t do this, it’s too much.  Well dumb dumb, try something else for a change.  Pick ONE THING and focus on that.  Just that.  Just pick that one thing and get into it for a month or two.  Once you’ve got that boat going in the direction you like pick the 2nd thing and focus on that.  Or simply achieve goal number one before moving onto goal number two.  Either way, just focus on one at a time.

Don’t Fall Into Analysis Paralysis

A very common happening is when folks over think things to the detriment of actually doing anything.  How many people do you know that talk about the 10 pounds they want to lose but never take any action towards it?  They research this or talk to someone about that diet or buy a book on a new fad that never gets read.  This leads to a never ending circle of low grade stress.  It becomes this “THING” that is kinda sorta always on your mind but you never do anything about.  And since it’s a negative thing it becomes a stressful thing.  And if you never do anything about it becomes an ongoing stressful thing.  Plus they tend to keep talking about it but never actually doing it.  Who needs that?  So stop overthinking it.  Ask some friends how they did it.  Do your own research on how you want to do it.  Most importantly make a plan to do it and go do it.  Quit overthinking it!

Break Out Of Your Rhythm

I harp on this a lot……breaking out of the hamster wheel of life.  And this is really true here.  You’ve heard the term “in order for things to change, you have to change some things”, right?  You have to step out of your comfort zone a bit to make some changes and the best way to kick start that is to simply break out of your daily routine a bit.  Make a dreaded call first thing in the morning.  Stay up an hour later working on a side project you haven’t dedicated the time to lately that you want to.  Have breakfast, or dessert, for dinner tonight.  Go for a walk instead of watching a football game.  Whatever, just break out of your rhythm a bit.  When we do this it kind of wakes us up to possibilities outside of our normal day to day routine.  So break out of the same old same old to give yourself a kickstart into doing something different.

Persevere

Finally I think we all have to keep in mind the power of perseverance.  Everyone wants instant results.  We want the Athenian God sculpted look…….after a month in the gym.  We want the latest and greatest technology……..so we order it on Amazon and get it in 48 hours.  We want to make VP of our company……..within the next year.  As a society we are getting more and more used to instant gratification we are losing the beauty of perseverance.  We love the story of Colonel Sanders and the tough life he had and we all rejoice at how he hit it big but we don’t like thinking we have to wait until our mid 60’s to get rich.  What we all have to keep in mind and remember is that the really good things in life take time to develop.  Great friendships, meaningful love, a rich and fulfilling career, a great body and health, etc.  As they say, enjoy the process.

Dig In

So go get it!  Quit waiting for life to happen and dig in and go get it!  Jump in and get it started, life has been waiting for you to care!

All my best,

Mat A.