Get Off The Hamster Wheel: How to Live Life On Your Terms
Are you stuck in a rut? Have you entered into a never-ending cycle of monotony, where you go to work, then home, only to get up in the morning, and do it all over again? It’s like being on a hamster wheel. Living an uninspired life can feel, well, hopeless. It’s even worse when you sit and reminisce about all of the dreams you once had. By now, you may be wallowing in self-pity. But don’t worry; it happens to the best of us. Just remember, each day is a new day, and there’s always an opportunity to start fresh again. This begs the question, what the hell are you going to do about it? It’s time to get off of your ass, get inspired, and live life on your terms. Here are five tips on how you can do exactly that. 1) Take Inventory You’ve probably read the intro and now you’re super juiced about really grabbing life by the ballz! Not so fast cowboy. Now is the time when you’ve got to ask yourself some really hard questions. You need to take inventory over your life and start to figure what needs to go and what needs to stay. This could be anything from a relationship that you’re not happy with, to a job that makes you absolutely miserable. Whatever it is, you need to be honest with yourself about how much joy it’s bringing to your life. If you’re not sure where to start, make a list of the things you love about your life. Then create a separate list for the things that really suck. It will become glaringly obvious which areas in your life need changing. After you get rid of the junk, you can begin to make room for the things that really matter. 2) Embrace Your Inner Child Do you remember when you were a young kid? You had so many dreams, so many things you wanted to accomplish, and you truly believed it was all possible. You need this exact mindset as an adult. If you truly want to feel free, then you must begin to use your imagination and embrace your inner child again. What is it you’ve always wanted to do? What is your biggest, wildest dream? What hobbies have you forgotten? Get out a sheet of paper, and write down all of the things you’ve always wanted to do. Really get creative and think big! Some things to get you started might include, places you’ve wanted to visit, a job you’ve always wanted to do, a creative project or hobby that you’re interested in. Just know, whatever it is, you can do it and it is possible! 3) Set Specific Goals Setting goals is an important element towards long-term success. Goals help you spend your resources and time effectively. You’ve spent time thinking about what is it that you’d like you to do, but now you need to get specific and measurable about those goals. For instance, let’s say you’ve decided it’s time for you to switch careers. You need to know what that career is, list action steps towards working towards
that career, and then give yourself a date to which each of those steps will occur. Here is an example of a bad goal: I will travel out of the country. Here is an example of a specific and measurable goal: I am backpacking across Europe by December 30, 2015. See the difference? 4) Take Action! So now that you’ve got your goals created, it’s time to put some of these things into action. Don’t let your dreams die in your head. If you’ve listed action steps for you goal, then you best honor them. Do you seriously want to be reading yet another article about self-development a year from now, and feeling like a loser because you chose not to take action? Please don’t be that person. If you’re feeling nervous about embarking on your new life, just make sure you pick goals you believe you can achieve. Yes, it would be awesome to be a billionaire and that can happen, in due time. But perhaps, you should start with doubling your salary in a year. This is specific and completely achievable. 5) Don’t Self-Sabotage You’ve created your lists, vision boards, and watched a ton Tony Robbins’ videos. You’re feeling like you can really do this thing, and then BOOM…reality sets it. You become bombarded with bills and other life responsibilities. All of a sudden, that nasty S.O.B, doubt, starts creeping in. Your inner monologue might go something like this “I don’t have enough experience, I’m too old, it’ll never happen, I can’t do this.” When this happens, you need to grab self-doubt by the ballz, and tell it to kick rocks. You don’t have time for that. You’re busy being a rock star. Sure rock stars might doubt themselves, but it generally doesn’t last very long. They know why they’re here. They have purpose and so do you. So ignore the statistics and forge ahead, because you’ve got some living to do! Listen, it’s not easy to abandon old ways of thinking. But it’s important you continue to push through the fear. You’re here to live a life of purpose. You’ve only got one life to live, so why not live it on your terms? Be bold, be inspired, but most of all, be ballzy!