Forget The Future; Focus on The Present

How to make progress every day without overwhelming yourself with monumental goals

I started writing on Medium at the start of November.

Since then, it has all been about what this will look like in a year.

When I think about the future, so many things I can’t control come to mind. It makes this stressful, not exciting.

F*ck stress. That is not why I started this. I don’t appreciate it.

So I thought, how do I push on being excited, while not being stressed.

Here is what I did,

I changed the statement I stood with

Before, it was, “Can I make it as an online writer?”

Now it is, “Can I publish an article I am satisfied with every day?”

Thinking about the first question makes me think about so many things I can’t control. The second one makes me curious. I want to know.

Curiosity is the essence of excitement. If what you do makes you excited, you are on to a winner!

The excitement dies out when you piledrive yourself with pressure. You pressurise yourself when you compare yourself to others who are doing better.

I am no alien to this.

When you think of someone doing better than you, remind yourself how you don’t know that guy as well as you know yourself.

What I am comparing myself to, is a self-drawn perfect image of that guy. I am comparing that to my own flawed image of myself.

This is not a fair comparison.

I recently saw someone I really look up to, show his humble side.

The thing is, people we look up to, are not very different from us. Their day is also filled with many complications. They also have off-days, they also burn out, take breaks.

There are things they are terrible at or are just figuring out. Some things don’t go the way they expected them to.

This was life-changing for me. None of these guys is perfect. Why should I try to be?

I like to think, they just persisted more, that is why they are where they are.

Persistence for me is trying to write a good article every day. Count me in!

We focus on the future when the present is not exciting enough.

Think about it.

Do you think where you will be in 10 years when you are having the best day of your life? Probably not!

Excitement comes with challenges.

Incremental growth is the real drug.

It is addicting because the progress is obvious.

Start embarrassingly small and work your way up.

Anything at all you want to improve in, just start.

Long tedious tasks make me want to quit 9 times before even starting.

When what you have to do is really small, there is no excuse to not do it. Time can be taken out anytime.

If you are in the mood, you keep doing it, if you aren’t you only have to bear it for 5 minutes.

When you have to make the tallest building in the world, the size can be overwhelming and demotivating. However, if you just focus on the next brick, it can only excite you!

Similarly focusing on the monument you promised to build yourself after 10 years is not optimal. Knowing what your next step is.

Take it!

Jim Rohn had a quote that really made me think,

What is easy to do is also easy not to do

I told myself I would read for an hour every day and finish one book every week. I stopped reading entirely.

Had I thought of reading for just 15 minutes, I would have finished so many more books up till now.

Saying I read 15 minutes a day is unimpressive, to say the least. That is why people don’t do it.

We like to tell others things like, “I didn’t sleep all night,” or “I worked 15 hours yesterday.”

It is in our nature. The people who don’t focus on this and seek constant growth even if they start embarrassingly small, end up making the furthest.

The long game is a patient game but a worthwhile one.

Patience is key, but so is progress. Progress comes with building on something.

We must build a strong foundation so there is room for improvement. That is what I learned from personal experiences.

Coming full circle

Publishing an article every day gets me closer to my goal, constantly thinking about whether or not I’ll make it puts me on different trains of thought.

It makes me vulnerable to self-doubt and stress. I don’t want that. Thinking about what to write makes me excited. That is the feeling I started this with. That is how it should be!