I Want vs I'm Willing

When I first heard about 75 Hard, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. Two workouts a day seemed daunting. I wasn’t a reader. So having to commit to that each day for 75 straight days just didn’t seem like something I really wanted to do. Then I read what 75 hard is about. It’s about mental toughness. It’s about commitment. It’s about discipline.

That sold me. Because that’s something I was sorely missing.

For years I had been in a bad place mentally. I’ve always been up and down and prone to depression. I had some rough stuff go on in my personal life. The feelings I was carrying around and didn’t process correctly led to some other mistakes and bad decisions. All of that became an albatross around my neck. It became a bag of rocks that just weighed me down each day. I found myself in a place where I felt like that’s just who I was. I wasn’t the guy who got to be happy and experience good things out of life like a lot of my friends did. I was the guy who struggled. I was the guy who just got to exist. The guy that just got to get through each day and wake up and do it all it over again the next.

So, I decided if I was going to take time to read each day, I was going to read for a purpose not just for fun. I wanted to read books on mental health. Books on the mind and retraining my brain to have a more productive mindset. I went to the bookstore and picked up a book that immediately spoke to me. It was called Unf*ck Yourself- Get out of your head and into your life by Gary John Bishop. Bishop’s book details 7 principles that if you can learn will transform your thinking. Immediately the first principle spoke to me and was something I sorely needed.

I am willing.

We all have things in life we want. We want to lose some weight. We want to find a new job. We want a new relationship or a better relationship. Whatever it maybe we all have things we want out of life. The difference is most people aren’t willing to do what it takes to get them. We are content to want. Even though we won’t admit it to ourselves we are content with the life we have.

The people that get things out of life do what it takes to get them. If they want to lose weight, they are willing to commit to going to the gym. They are willing to commit to a diet and subtracting things from their daily life that prohibit them from doing that. If they aren’t happy in their relationship, they aren’t willing to end it for fear of being alone or fear of not being able to find someone better. If they don’t like their current job, they aren’t willing to take a risk and bet on themselves for fear they may not find something as good or make the same money.

The reasons can be endless.

This doesn’t mean you have to throw caution to the wind with everything you want in life. You identify the things that are the most important. You identify the things you need most out of life to be the kind of person you want to be. The things that you need to enjoy your life. You identify those things, and you do whatever it takes to go after them and achieve them.

For some people they need a career that they love and are passionate about. For some they have projects they’ve been dreaming about but never committed the time to do. For me it was two things. It was working on my physical health and my mental health. When I’m in the gym on a regular basis and I’m committed to a lifestyle of fitness and committed to a diet I am a better version of myself. That better version of myself is a person who is willing to self-evaluate. It’s a person who can see that I need to work on the way I approach things. It’s a person who can see that I’ve been my own worst enemy in a lot of ways. It’s a person that has the foresight to see that some of the other things I’ve thought at times that I’ve desperately wanted aren’t as important as I once thought them to be.

For years I’ve chased money. I’ve chased opportunity in jobs. I’ve started to realize there are things that are more important. Finding a company that values you and is willing to do things that show you they value you is more important to me than just making money.  For years after my divorce, I desperately wanted to find someone else and get re-married and make it work again. It’s only been recently that I’ve truly gotten to a place where I’m ok being alone. A place where I know if I’m not the person I need to be and I’m still “desperate” I won’t find the kind of person I genuinely want to be with. I’ll find someone else that may have a lot of things I want but in the end it won’t work again.

What do you want out of life? Are there things in your life you want that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get? If there are identify those things and GO AFTER them. If there are other things you want but don’t want to work for that’s perfectly ok. There is nothing wrong with being content with things. If it’s something you truly need. If it’s something that will help you be a better version of yourself and enjoy your life don’t let doubt get in the way. Don’t let circumstances it get in the way. Tell yourself “I am willing” and do whatever it takes to get them.