Take the Pledge: JUST DO Week

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired of inaction. Aren’t you?

Aren’t you tired of being addicted to self-help but not growing?

Aren’t you tired that you can’t will yourself into action from the things you read/listen to/watch because it will be hard or scary or both (or even more reasons)?

I know I am.

On Self-Help and Success

If you’re anything like me, you should know by now that there isn’t a secret sauce to success.

Look, I’ve been absorbing tons of self-help info for a long time, and though there are definitely some gems out there (along with a fair share of bullshit) they all say pretty much the same damn thing different ways!

Some are more general.

Some focus on certain aspects of self-improvement and then make that complicated.

Some come with pictures.

Some with loads of cursing.

But whatever form it is that it comes in, there isn’t much new information out there. That’s not to say it’s bad to keep reading self-help. I will. It is good for you. But ya gotta do something too. Act yourself into motivation, not the other way around. All self-help shares similar advice because

Success isn’t a secret!

Everyone who has had success has done the same things!

You can’t get successful avoiding all of the things that any successful person has done. If you do, that’s just luck, and you won’t be able to keep it up if you don’t get your shit together.

All of your past successes (no matter how big or small, or whatever you define success to be) have come to you through the implementation of a successful trait whether or not you realized it.

We can probably chalk success up to a few gravy things: Have clarity, work hard but smart, be patient, seek feedback from people already successful in what you do, be a learner, and be incredibly resilient/confident. Oh yeah, don’t be an ass either, though. Share what you learn!

Maybe I’m missing something. There are plenty of other things that go into creating success, but it’s basically what I said above. Other things may be tailored to you as a person and may not work for others.

One last point on success, and I’m gonna be honest here: To me, success is about becoming a megastar in what I want to do, being rich, caring for my family, and helping others. It’s about achieving extra-ambitious goals.

I know why some people think this is a problem: “What, so you will only be happy if you have a lot of money?” “You will only be happy if you’re famous?”

The problem is, who said anything about being happy? Success for me isn’t happiness. Sure, I would be extremely happy if I achieve these things, but you can just be happy now, with where you are.

Life is about balancing paradoxical ideas.

You are capable of juggling the fact that you can be happy now, and that you will be happy when you are successful, in one body.

TAKE THE PLEDGE

…okay, so umm why are you telling me all this shit Ephraim?

Because I want you to be successful! I don’t want you to be like me, someone who has absorbed self-help forever now with nothing to show for it.

Don’t you want more for yourself?

Aren’t you tired of the shit excuses you make up?

Maybe one day, someday?

Let’s stop this now! Take the pledge with me. Today, starting today, take a pledge to just do something for fuck’s sake. Make a list of things you have been thinking about doing, things you know you should be doing, and every day for a week (you can start out with a week of fear, yes?), send that email,

reach out to that person and don’t take no for an answer (okay, of course, there’s a nuance to this…like don’t be a creep though),

put in those hours a day (just find the damn time and prioritize, no excuses!),

take that audition,

start writing that book,

start recording that video,

buy that course,

and stop waiting for life to just happen to you! How about you happen to it! (does that even make sense? oh well)

Make two more promises for me, will ya? From now on, anytime a thought crosses your mind about what you think you should be doing, what you could be doing, the someday, the one day, promise me

1. That you won’t ignore it!
2. You will start doing it right at the moment you are thinking of it (if you can’t at the exact moment, at least get a head start somehow), not waiting to have all the fairies in order first, just starting, and
3. WORRY ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES LATER (Okay I lied, this is 3 promises to make, but this is my fav)

For example, this is you while walking home: Hmm, I should write a book about that. I’ve wanted to for a while now.

Then start doing it now! Maybe you can’t write while walking, but you can start brainstorming the ideas and type a few words as soon as you get in the house! Just get a head start to create that forward momentum.

In the words of Marie Forleo:

“Everything is figureoutable.”

(oh yeah, get her book of the same title too, it’s coming out in September!)

So go ahead, do whatever you need to do.

Light a fucking candle, send a letter addressed to your future self in a bottle down the river, pray. Make a list of what you will do this week. Make the week starting from whenever you are reading this article, at whatever time. So many people waste time planning to start something on a Monday, or when this is done, or that, or at blah blah blah o’clock.

If you are reading this two years from now on a Thursday at 11:34 pm then that is when your week starts and do something on that day before it hits 12!

To help you out with a starting point: Brendon Burchard (familiarize yourself with this amazing person, you won’t regret it) in his book “High-Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way” talks about 5 moves you can make.

What are the 5 major moves you need to make to achieve your dreams? Now break those suckers up into tiny tasks and start making bold moves this week on the first major move.

Always dream big, but then almost put the dream away in the back of your mind (don’t forget it though) and work on accomplishing the tiny tasks that will get you there (micro-level), but don’t lose sight of the vision.

Final Note

Let me be an inspiration to you:

Today marks my first Medium article as part of my JUST DO week (I sure hope it doesn’t seem like it). I just decided to start writing. I was so tired of telling myself day in and day out that “I’m gonna start blogging” or “I wanna blog”.

What the hell was I waiting for?

I don’t want to live life with regrets.

And the funny thing is, when I’m old and dying off (God willing) I know I will still regret having not started this journey earlier. So I guess it is about ending your life with not as many regrets. It is gonna take time to build this audience and achieving my major life goals. So please don’t wait to do what you want to do.

When I thought about what my first article could be, it only seemed fitting to tell others to start, like I am. (By the way, if you want to blog but you’re struggling, read this lovely article by Amrita Chowdhury here on Medium: “10 Things to Blog About When You’re a Brand-New Author”.)

And look, this will be a crazy journey.

I know there are tons of editing things I could do to this article and I know it sucks in many ways, but I hope you get the message. And you know what? I’m not going back to edit this shit (well, except for grammar maybe). A perfectionist like me will never let this article come to fruition if I keep looking back at it. It’s important for me to start now and bleed and cry over this keyboard about how not perfect this article is. Embrace the suck and get through it. Content over quality. Output all day every day.

You have no idea how much of an imposter I feel like right now. No one ever has there shit together, and though I have had a few successes in life, at 20 years old, who am I to tell you anything?

But I can’t think like that.

Believe you have a little experience in success or whatever you’re doing to be able to help others. Remember things you have done in the past. At 20 years old, I am married to an amazing person (got married at 19), I have a decent car, I’m getting a great scholarship from school, and I am an Army musician.

I believe there are people out that need to hear this message. At least I am finally writing this and actively combating the millions of others who say they want to blog.

Don’t be like others waiting to do something. Until today, I was one of them.

And it sucks!

I’m proud that I am kicking my ass to do this. I can only grow from here.

Worry about the consequences/outcome later folks.

I had planned to share with you what my major life goals are, but this article is already much longer than I intended for it to be. I don’t have a plan yet on how often I will post, but I promise to continue writing and I would love it if you all accompany me on this lovely journey. I promise to get better. :)

I will leave you with this motivational video from Gary Vaynerchuck, and say what you want about him, but he says shit that you just probably need to here right now.

In the paraphrased words of Gary, “My goal is for you to stop watching my fucking videos, but I keep putting them out there hoping that one of them finally moves you to fucking do something about your life and change your perspective” (okay he says something like that somewhere in one of his videos):

QUICK SHOUTOUT

To these writers that I have been reading on Medium for some time now who have inspired me to be a better person (in no particular order): Nicholas Cole, Ryan Holiday, John Gorman, Ayodeji Awosika (subscribe to his newly found YouTube channel too), Benjamin Hardy, Jessica Wildfire, Kris Gage, and Tim Denning. Familiarize yourself with these wonderful people (be prepared to hurt from the all-too-real advice of John Gorman, Jessica Wildfire, and Kris Gage) and take action!