This is so inspiring! I really enjoyed reading about your application of self-help advice and how it evolved with you as you transformed. That last part about agency is powerful. Thanks for putting this out there!
This resonates with a similar lesson I've picked up, that advice/methods/systems are contingent on the bandwidth you have. With a full-time job, it can be hard to use the leftover time to build momentum (still possible, but scoping is important). Sometimes people say to build momentum before you go full-time doing the thing you want, but the reverse has felt more true for me: I need space to actually follow on what I know needs to happen. It's a risk, but there's a way to make calculated risks; and if you get forced into it, all the more imperative to make it work.
It's a funny thing - sometimes you hear the maxim "play like you have nothing to lose" but basically nobody really does that, it's so antithetical to the way our egos are wired up. And then every once in a while circumstance or some degree of disenchantment convinces you for just a moment that you really do have nothing to lose, and all of a sudden you're performing better than you have in years. Love your story here, what a great illustration of it!
This essay had an unexpected turn. I loved the suspense when I thought things were going south! Well done - I have done Tony Robbins' fire walk across the coals - can completely relate. Good job!
This is so inspiring! I really enjoyed reading about your application of self-help advice and how it evolved with you as you transformed. That last part about agency is powerful. Thanks for putting this out there!
This resonates with a similar lesson I've picked up, that advice/methods/systems are contingent on the bandwidth you have. With a full-time job, it can be hard to use the leftover time to build momentum (still possible, but scoping is important). Sometimes people say to build momentum before you go full-time doing the thing you want, but the reverse has felt more true for me: I need space to actually follow on what I know needs to happen. It's a risk, but there's a way to make calculated risks; and if you get forced into it, all the more imperative to make it work.
It's a funny thing - sometimes you hear the maxim "play like you have nothing to lose" but basically nobody really does that, it's so antithetical to the way our egos are wired up. And then every once in a while circumstance or some degree of disenchantment convinces you for just a moment that you really do have nothing to lose, and all of a sudden you're performing better than you have in years. Love your story here, what a great illustration of it!
This essay had an unexpected turn. I loved the suspense when I thought things were going south! Well done - I have done Tony Robbins' fire walk across the coals - can completely relate. Good job!
Oh my Gosh. I was holding my breath throughout, hoping it wouldn't end in disaster. Thanks for this ending, tonight I needed this kind of good news.
This line really resonates: “Now that I had agency, these rituals actually helped. You can’t think about growth when you’re fighting for survival.”
There had been times that I wake up at 5am, had all the extra time in the world, and not sure what exactly to do.