When it comes to freedom with our emotions, we need to change our mindset and enforce a lot of self-discipline. For me personally, changing my mindset completely transformed my life and my emotions. Even today, I am absolutely still a work in progress, but I took my life from dreading the thought of waking up each morning and being in this constant dark tunnel just surviving day to day, to actually living. I have developed habits for myself to actually have control over my mindset to shape and create whatever life I want to live. I gained the courage to cut off dead relationships or negative people. I have the confidence to walk away from things that no longer really serve any purpose for me. I used to care more about other people and their thoughts about me than I cared about myself or my well being. Once I took a good look in the mirror at my life and was brutally honest with myself I had to do the work that needed to be done so I could start building a new life that I can say I am truly happy with. Developing the right mindset could very much be the most powerful tool at your disposal. It will get you from where you are right now to where you want (or hope) to be in your life.
"Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone." -Billy Cox
This couldn't be more true. If you want to see real change happening in your life, and in ways you never thought possible, it really all starts with you. You cannot make a serious change in any area of your life without some discomfort or fear. It's work and nobody else is going to do the work for you.
Ask Yourself If Its Time to Change Your Mindset:
Our thoughts can hurt us more than we know. More importantly, they can affect our emotions in such a significant way that we end up reacting in ways that we know we shouldn't. A negative mindset will act as an anchor that weighs you down and will pull you further and further away from those you care about it if you don't do anything about it.
Do You Find It Hard to Let Go Of Things?
Especially the mistakes or failures that you've had. You are going to need to shift this train of thought in order to have any kind of freedom with yourself.
Do You Easily Become Unmotivated?
You find yourself lacking any desire to do anything, even if it is something as small as going out to the store, or meeting your family or friends for dinner. You just feel tired and struggle even to put in an effort. Getting yourself ready for the day or leaving your home feels like the most difficult task. You find yourself losing motivation all together and question what the meaning of your life is? I get it. Ive been there. In this state of mind you feel hopeless, sometimes and that you have no control over it.
This needs to change if you want to be able to have control of your own mind and life.
Are You Always Complaining About the Same Thing?
Your complaints will start to fall on deaf ears. Like a little kid crying wolf, eventually your complaints will start to define you if you don't actually do something about it. If you find yourself doing this, it is absolutely time you start changing your mindset for the better because nothing positive is going to come out of complaining. Instead, usually it will drive people away. Would you want to be around someone who
complains all the time? Definitely not. People in your life are going to want to help you but only if you are truly willing to help them and help yourself. Stop with the self-pity and just do the work to get better no matter how hard it is. Change is never easy, other wise everyone would be doing it and nobody would have any problems. I wasn't ready to change until I hit rock bottom. And even then, It took years of hard work and self development that yes, made me uncomfortable most days to be able to take control of my own life. It is worth it. Stop complaining and do it.
Do You Make Too Many Excuses?
There's always going to be a reason not to do something. Most prefer to make excuses rather than make an actual effort to change. That's easy. The challenge is to find reasons why you should do something.
Is It Difficult For You To Stay Happy?
No matter how many good things you have to be grateful for, you find yourself feeling unhappy and
miserable all the time. Happiness seems like a constant struggle and you often fake it. You may be happy for a while, but it isn't long before you find yourself back at the bottom. Again, time for a change.
Sometimes, especially if you're in that endless loop feeling, if feels impossible to change. Yet, it absolutely is possible, no matter where you are at and its never too late to learn or do the work.
Self-discipline is not a skill that people are born with. Its not why others have succeeded, and you have not. It's not luck. And because it is something that can be learned, it can be possessed by anyone with the desire to do the work and make it a part of who they are. This tool is going to be your driving force towards finally gaining better control over yourself.
There is NO easy way or shortcut towards gaining more self-discipline. It is work. This is why people struggle to do it. You are going to have to put in time, effort, and energy into the entire process of change if you want to make it happen. To make the positive changes in your life, it is going to require some sacrifices on your part that may be uncomfortable for a while. Nobody grows in their comfort zone.
Adjustments need to be made, and there are going to be some difficult things you might have to do, but change is necessary for the greater good. Everyone can learn how to build a healthy self-discipline habit. I can give you the complete blueprint of how to do it. BUT, it is completely up to YOU whether you choose to do it or not. Having the intention to change alone is not enough. If you are not willing to keep the energy going, which is why persistence is an important trait that you need to build as part of your character. Your success on change will depend on your ability to keep going even when the odds are not in your favor. Setbacks will happen, your plan is going to fail at times, and in the face of all that, you have to learn to bounce back and keep pushing forward.
Time management is another one of the most important skills you can master when it comes to goals. While you may not be able to manage or control time itself, you can control what you do with your time. Start making the most out of your time by prioritizing the most important things that need to be done in your day. Sometimes we waste time doing routine things we are comfortable doing that probably aren't going to benefit us in the long term. Or we barely get anything done at all because we procrastinate and find excuses not to get to it thanks to a lack of self-discipline.
Changing Your Habits And Setting Goals
Building small, healthy, productive habits is the first step to changing your life. Everything that you do
is going to affect you both mentally and physically. While self-discipline may be a productive skill to have, if it is weighed down by negative habits, it is eventually going to drag you down with it.
It is important that you first find your purpose for changing. Set a goal for yourself. I recommend having one long term goal. Write it down. Then give yourself three smaller short term goals that will move you towards that long term goal. These should be something that can be attainable and reached within a couple months. And once you reach these, set three more. Build momentum from there. Keep these goals somewhere you can see them everyday. When something is physically there in front of you, it makes it real as opposed to simply having several random thoughts and ideas in your head that you may forget along the way.