Not Another Rat

Firstly I have been absent from this blog for far too long. Do I have an excuse? No I don't. Sure I have reasons to justify why I haven't taken the time to sit down and get out my thoughts and feelings but they're all bullshit, I know that. Four flat tyres type shit. It's time to pick it back up and with the first half of 2013 coming to a close get the wheels back in motion. Band-Aids and headspace? What's that all about? Now, what I'm trying to reference to is the tension and build up we as humans find when putting off pain, such as the brief but intense pain of ripping off a band-aid on a hairy leg (Hopefully for just the males). Being in my 20's and lived through my fair share of grazes and cuts thanks to Bmx riding, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what to expect when ripping off this band-aid but yet every time I still hesitate and wish I didn't have to do it. It's through these thoughts that my headspace is stolen, that valuable real estate that can't be seen by anyone else, that you can't live in yet the value of this certain real estate will easily surpass that of a New York City penthouse and yet most of humans show it little to no value. Unfortunately I can't say with any certainty why most people seem to under estimate the importance of having a clear headspace and I think for the 99% of the world it might even be a slightly foreign topic to them, but it's something that needs to be taken seriously and understood that there is nothing more powerful than having a clear and positive headspace. I'd like you to think of the heaviest issue in your life that has been weighing you down for sometime and think of how much stress and weight it adds to your life and day to day thinking. Now first and foremost be aware there is ALWAYS something you can do to change your circumstances, the levels in how easy these actions are to take will differ for each and every person especially if there is emotional attachment but yet, there is ALWAYS a solution. Now every day that passes the tension within your mind or heart continues to grow wondering what it would be like to have this situation resolved or the solution to make it disappear and while right now you may know the answer, implementing it is something that will prove extremely difficult due to the pain that will follow, but once it's done, it's done. Like the band-aid, once you rip it off, it's gone, the potential pain is no longer present, your fears are over, you'll feel initial pain but now it's over and no longer present in your head, and that's the biggest reward we can have, the gift of having our headspace given back to us so we can continue to think clearly and progress with whatever we felt that situation was holding us back from achieving. It might be a relationship that while you find comfort within it on the daily you know there could be so much more on the other side, a business that is on the decline and you know if you cut it now while there may be financial loss the emotional relief will be massive, or simply just the band-aid on our hairy legs. As soon as we rip it's gone, the initial pain hits, it passes and we can now think clearly again, we have been given back our headspace. Never under estimate the value of your headspace and ability to think clearly, your fear of the pain will always be so much greater than your reality. Now go rip off that band-aid and get thinking!

SUCCESS! That's exactly what I'm feeling after finally accomplishing my first 30 day experiment! For those who don't know on April 1st, I set out to wake up at 5am for 30 days straight and to exercise for 50 minutes upon waking up, see my progress updates Update #1 and Update #2 from throughout the challenge, now I had a few reasons as to why I would be undertaking this challenge. Firstly, I wanted to act upon inspired thought, so once the initial idea came into my head I made the decision that this is something I would embark on and with April 1st just around the corner it seemed perfect, secondly I've read a lot about the creation of habits and it got me thinking if I can do something which is generally perceived as painful and undesirable to what we really want would it become any easier by day 30? and lastly I wanted to complete a goal of hardship, to prove to myself perseverance and putting a foot forwards each day no matter how hard will end in the accomplishment of our goals, and at the end of the day isn't that what we're all trying to achieve with our lives? So the main question is, what have I actually taken away from this experience? A lot of positive feelings and definitely a new outlook on what we can do if we just put ourselves forward on that first day and don't stop persevering. Now were my questions answered? Well, acting on inspired thought felt great! Everyday the alarm would go off at 5.00am, it would be freezing cold and I had to fight with myself each day to get out of bed in the freezing cold, layer myself up, put in my head phones, press play on my Purity Ring soundtrack and begin my walk into the cold and hilly dirt roads of Eltham South but upon returning to the house and getting ready for my sit up/push up routine I felt satisfied with what I had already achieved by 5.45am and I had a very clear head for the rest of the day! That's definitely one thing I'd like to focus on, being able to have that first hour of the day to just get moving and be alone with my head was definitely something I enjoyed and gave me clarity of what I was doing for the day or week and my future in general! I believe that says a lot for the world we live and our general routines, there is never enough alone time to be with our thoughts! Maybe that's why a lot of life changing decisions are made in the shower? Another thing I didn't mention that I wanted to find out was, how would my body cope? Would I feel extra fatigued or struggle more on less sleep? I have mixed emotions on this answer because Mon-Fri by 9.00pm all I wanted was sleep, I was definitely more exhausted, but I also think during the working week at that time of night I'm always in a position to get comfortable, where as on the Saturday or Sunday where I could be out and about I didn't feel the fatigue so much, so maybe more than the 5am wake up being the main issue its the lack of stimulation in the evenings and throughout the working week I find in my job? but that's a whole other topic and one this blog is highly focussed on! Next thing, did it become any easier by day 30? The answer is a solid, No. Not at all. I strongly believe it was easier within the first 10 days because of the enthusiasm held for a new project, and the last week wasn't too bad because of the reversal and the excitement being pushed towards finishing but mid challenge it was awful. While this is a habit I COULD continue, it's not one I enjoyed overly, especially on weekends it was a big push and I personally wasn't finding enough benefits from the early wake up to keep it going. On the other hand I do think though that if I was self employed, this is something I would like to do, especially in Summer because during the challenge I did notice how much more I could accomplish before 9am and those extra 4 hours do make a difference but between a 9-5 and the cold, I'll pass, I proved I can do it and that's enough for the time being. Finally, the satisfaction of achieving the goal. It feels great, nearly everyone I told about my goal for the month of April I faced laughter and disbelief. Basically I was told I couldn't do it, that it was stupid, what was the point etc and it was these comments I used to fuel the fire to achieve my success on those mornings I just wanted to turn back over and sleep, but that would've been too easy. I personally believe it's the people who can't see any point in a challenge like this that are far too content with the pedestrian lifestyle and the status quo of what is expected by us as a society and that just confirmed my thoughts that I was doing the right thing. I know I want so much more out of life, and getting up at 7am every morning to slave away for someone else is not part of the plan, so by proving I could achieve this by just continuously putting one foot in front of the other when it got tough definitely means I can achieve anything and so can anyone else! As you can see I've taken a lot out of this challenge and will be using it to help strengthen my mindset for the future challenges I will face in finding my way out of the 9-5 and into a self sufficient lifestyle! I will definitely be doing more 30 day challenges along the line, but for the month of May I have other focusses! Stay tuned for June for a possible new challenge to finish the first half of the year strong and all future posts!

I think this chart really sums up quite well what is wrong with the world and how easy it is to change your life if the right action is taken. I'll have a real post coming later on in the week as I complete my first 30 day experiment! As it stands I am 27/29 due to 2 days of illness so I will end up 30/32 in just a few days! Can't wait!

I've been really struggling this week to be able to get myself a clear mind and thought pattern on what I'd actually like to write about, I guess you could say it's been a very noisy week between work, the finalisation of the construction of my house and finances before it all finally begins, and having to move mass amounts of concrete by hand (It's not fun at all). So throughout my week I constantly observed my workplace like I normally do but when looking at the 30+ year old people I couldn't help but wonder because for most of them, "this is it, this is life", when did they accept that and let all their personal hopes and dreams fall to the waste side and die? I mean I find it so hard to believe that 99% of these people decided a 5 figure salary was enough, that clocking in and clocking out was enough, and that this was they key to happiness for the rest of their lives? But I suppose lets be real here, these sort of people always complain about 5 figures not being enough, that they want to work less hours and they're unhappy, so really maybe my next question is when did they become so comfortable with being unhappy that they decided to give up? I guess for a 22 year old it's a hard concept to grasp, My dreams are to see the world, join the million dollar club and no not the club at my workplace for booking 1 million worth of revenue, I'm talking one that actually matters, create businesses, ride my bike everywhere and film it, solve my families finance issues, take my girlfriend on spontaneous holidays because money isn't an issue ever and we can work we want, when we want and actually, wait for it this is something 99% of people don't do, "live". I'll be following my dreams to the end, success or failure. I think the biggest fear I have in life is that I would become so comfortable and content building someone else's that I forget about my life and dreams and forget to live at the same time. As it currently stands I couldn't imagine this happening in any shape or form but you look at the 99% and think they couldn't have always been like this? They must have wanted more? But maybe they didn't, maybe society conditioned them all so well to think High School and University/College were the be all and end all and that the goal is to work for someone else for a chunk of change while raising a family, work for 40 years, live off a retirement fund that will expire before you do and basically "live that promised life" of relaxation before death but your too poor to relax and do the travelling they had all once hoped anyway. Really, it's a fucked system. One I'm glad I don't get, and my friend reminds me that you need these people to keep the economy going because really you do need a work force to support our ideals, but get fucked if it thinks I'll be apart of it forever, I'll be self sufficient and my own boss. I leave with the final question, "When does the dream die?" If you have experienced this or are batteling with it now let me know here, for those who are only just starting out on their journey and following their dreams, my advice is don't lose sight and when things get tough remember you're already in that 9-5 life and working around it, things can't get any worse by keeping at it. Stagnation is death.

I am writing this just shy of a fortnight of success, I am 13/15 days through my 5am start! Firstly, the quick reasoning behind the 2 days short is unfortunately last week I fell ill to "gastro" which left me throwing up and with the body strength of an 80 year old. so it was decided that rather than pushing myself to ensure 100% success and postpone the healing process I took 2 days off, but to compensate I will now be doing the first 2 days in May so it will be 30/32 so either way I will reach the goal of 30, 5am wake ups. So how am I feeling? Well I am still not finding the 5am wake up any easier surprisingly enough, on the two days I had off I found it no struggle to sleep past 7am and hearing the alarm at 5am is still a painful noise, maybe this will never change? The exercise itself is definitely feeling good, I'm not noticing a fitness improvement or anything like that but I can tell it is definitely more productive and a better start to the day with being active rather than slugging around and feeling over tired, the exercise changes that and helps set the head right for the day. So as it stands, I will be using the last 17 days to be as productive as I can even just with my thoughts as like this experiment I will turn my inspired thought into 'action' and get results. I can't wait for the final day to be able to say I've completed my first ever habitual experiment and conduct my next one, as it will be all these habits and disciplines that will lead to greater success in my overall life, and it's those people with the habit of success who go onto achieve great things rather than slaving away for a pay cheque! We ain't all rats here.

Keen!

So this next post comes pretty quickly after my previous one, Touching Base #1 and I must be honest I had typed that earlier on in the week and hadn't had time to post it, so now I'll try work on a minimum 2 posts a week rather than one! Anyways! For other people like me who find great pleasure in reading other blogs that are heavily focussed on self improvement, creating habits, learning, mindsets and most importantly success in a ever changing world, I recommend a great blog called Raptitude! Now I was put onto this blog from a couple of the boys in my tight group who I've mentioned before and it's blogs like Raptitude that help keep me going when stuck in at my 9-5 and finding it hard to stay inspired. Now there is a section in his blog which is called "Experiments" and one day at work I found myself reading that section quite constantly in between my client calls and it got me thinking "hmm one day I should try something out of my comfort zone for 30 days and see how I go". Now here we are 6.40am on April 1st and I have set out to wake up at 5am for the next 30 days (All of April) to put in 45-60 mins of exercise before I'd usually be getting up for work and slowly getting ready for the next 8 hours. The idea of the 5am wake up is, that it's early for someone who doesn't need to be at his office til at least 8.30am, it's pretty unpleasant hearing an alarm at that time of day, it's not really something that makes me want to jump out of bed and most of all in Melbourne we're now in our second month of Autumn and the mornings are pitch black and pretty cold until at least 8am so I don't even have sunlight to look forward to. What I'm curious to find out from this experiment is how much easier this will feel by day 30? How much stronger can I make my mind and mindset due to going through self inflicted "suffering" for a whole month? Will I find myself less reliant on caffeine or feeling "sluggish" throughout the day from starting myself with being active rather than dragging myself into the shower half asleep? and what other positive effects will something like this have on my life moving forward because it's not just about the task itself of waking up earlier, it's also about learning to just take action when these sort of thoughts arise rather than questioning them and finding 1000 excuses of why not to do it, and also being able to use my 24 hours a day better and more efficiently! So as I post this day 1 has been accomplished and I feel pretty great so far, the only downside is today is a public holiday and I don't start work til 11am so it throws off the regular schedule but it also means I've got at least 3 hours before work I can use really well! I'll be sure to have updates and have a wrap up post in early May! Can't wait!

I write this post on my lunch break at my 9-5 at a local park, the sun is shining, the wind shaking the trees around me, a cold can of coke and The Amity Affliction playing. This beautiful picture is how life should be lived everyday, not 8 hours of working for someone else and adding no real value to my life while my dreams fall to the side. But on the positive, today I am stoked to announce that the next step in pursuing my life outside of the 9-5 is finally in real motion and will basically will be the beginning of everything. I won't be disclosing what this is for definitely some time but I have been studying and learning this field for the past 12 months, but the last 3 months in particular have been what really has been crucial. These 3 months have proven I can succeed at this sort of life style and it's now time to turn it into a reality. The discipline required is going to be next level, something us young bucks from Generation-Y rarely understand. With all the blogs I've read, successful people I've studied and interviews read on www.secretentourage.com it is no secret that discipline and perseverance will always be the winner, and it's now time to become a contender of that game and climb my way to the top. I also will be sitting myself down, refocussing my vision, ideas, and have an even further improved plan and structure to where I'm heading and why. Without vision there cannot be creation. Lets go get that reality! That's all for now, will be writing another post this week, as well as some relevant and suggested goods for you all! Peace!

Image from EliteDaily

I want to be at the level of a Cirque Du Soleil performer, but in my own craft, the 10,000 hours have begun and I'm going right to the very end.