Observation

In my most recent post about “How To Care More About Your Life” I talked about how reflecting on yourself can give you some really valuable information to decide which way you want to go in the future. By doing such a self-analysis you’ll clearly be able to see whether or not you’re still on track and doing the things you’re supposed to be doing.

Now what I’ve recently noticed when I was working as a trash collector (for my summer job) is that you can also learn by analyzing the behavior of others. Many people are unaware of their obvious character flaws.

I made a video blog to accompany this post;

Watch On Youtube

By being immersed in a long period of self improvement, I’m able to spot (not only in myself) but also in others the traits and blocks in their mind that are keeping them from having a better life.

Case I

I had a colleague that saw the world pretty much black and white. Life has always been hard for him and always tried to bring him down. He thought that everyone else was getting lucky and that somehow the universe decided it wanted to boycott only him. The so-called “victim of his circumstances”.

He was very aggressive in traffic and yelled at the people that passed by. He smoked a lot of cigarettes everyday, ate junk food, was a distinguished racist and thought it was “noble” to work hard for the gain of somebody else. He worked hard by sacrificing his own health for the profits of his boss and hereby he got a back-injury.

I tried to reason with him about how his traits were causing him the pain he was experiencing (lack of money, lack of passion, lack of health, lack of enjoyment and so-forth. Yet he was always blaming somebody else. The results of his life had been decided by other people and he had no input in it whatsoever. This caused him to become a depressed and bitter man.

He had so much obvious impurities in his character and those were exactly the reasons why he was in the position he was in. He was angry at his boss, angry at traffic, angry at the fact others were dictating his life instead of realizing the truth that; he could only be angry at himself.

Now, what do I mean by that?

Basically what he was doing is that he tried to “control the world” and by doing so he was pushing everyone away. I talked about this phenomenon in my STFU-manifesto.

In short; Life is never going to get out of your way, so learn to deal with it.

You can only create yourself in a person that’s able to deal most effectively with the hand he’s dealt and in this way aspire to great successes. It’s foolish to think that the world is ever going to bow down to you. The only thing you can do (and need to do) is to control yourself.

In my eyes a clear demonstration (reference experience) to back up the fact that we are responsible for our own circumstances

Case 2 

I have some friends at school who are wasting valuable years of their life by overindulging in destructive habits; continuous drinking, partying, playing video games, smoking weed, skipping class and watching endless hours of TV. They’re taking little responsibility and control over their own life and I’m convinced that those habits will eventually catch up to them if they don’t decide to change them.

Anyway, I used these two simple cases as a demonstration that you can also learn character flaws by observing other people. By doing this you’re able to figure out how you can avoid these traps for yourself.

Choices & Responsibility

Now why do we make these decisions that are obviously not good for us and why it is rather difficult to actually take responsibility for our life?

I  believe this comes from the motivation behind our choices. Our decisions are mostly based on what will bring us pleasure in the short-term without having to put to much effort into it.

“You cannot resist me…”

We’re basically looking for two things; Stimulation or Sedation. This is ingrained in us
by default since it’s human tendency to move away from the things that cause us pain and move towards the things that provide pleasure.

That’s why you see so many people indulging in sugar, caffein, facebook, TV, drugs, fried foods, internet, video games, tabloids and so-forth. It’s ok to benefit from these practices once in a while but most people just use them until they push themselves unconscious.

Now why don’t we take the more responsible choice of staying away from habits we know are bad for us? Why don’t we indulge in constructive habits that give a long-term benefit? Habits like reading, waking up early, low information diets, healthy diet, meditation, networking, providing value and so-forth? Things that actually require a short term sacrifice in order to reap the long-term benefits?

This is caused by the fact that our society is simply overworked, stressed, underpaid, toxicated by our food, uneducated on the matter, drugged by pharmaceutic companies and influenced by endless distractions. All these factors make the resistance of getting to the narrow road, that much harder. All these factors add up and make us just want to look for an escape, to get away from a life we don’t really like.

Disengagement reigns supreme

Engage

(on your own risk ;))

I’ve said it again and again and again but need to repeat this concept for anyone who doesn’t believe it yet, since it is that important;

“Our life is the manifestation of our mind”

Create yourself (become the strongest version of yourself, reach enlightenment, engage, focus, walk the narrow road, whatever you want to call it) to such a degree that you run your life instead of having life run you.

If you don’t take control of your self-conditioning, your basic needs for stimulation and sedation will take over your life and therefore you’ll let circumstances dictate to you who you are and what you deserve. In the end, if you don’t take control of this self-conditioning the world will take everything from you.

The rat race will suck out your time, drive and passion.
The government and big companies will take away your money.
Big food conglomerates will take away your health, energy and vitality

Ultimately you’ll be owned by other people and become part of the thousand of sheeple living an aimless existence. Wondering why they don’t have the life they could’ve had and then go blaming others for their circumstances (whilst it was actually caused by their lack of self-control)

Take control of yourself and design yourself into the person you want to be and your whole life will flow out of that! Walk the narrow road and steer clear from sedation and stimulation.

Define who you want to be, right now. You have the opportunity to choose the path that you want in life. No scratch that, it’s your responsibility to choose the path in your life that will make the most out of yourself.

What this new-found knowledge will provide for your life is unimaginable. Therefore, create yourself by

• Mastering your emotions
• Implementing empowering Habits and removing the ones that are destructive
• Change the beliefs that don’t support you and are toxic for your success.
• Change your reality, the filter trough which you see your life

I’m stating that a man is solely responsible for his own circumstances. This means that your life (and all its areas); love life, wealth, success, physical, spiritual and mental are governed by the thoughts you’ve had. And therefore you’ve chosen the situation you’re in.

Off course there are factors that are out of our control and others are more favored in certain aspects like looks, intelligence, wealth, genetics and whatnot, I don’t deny that. But then again we also hear stories of people who have overcome great resistance in their journey to success.

“It’s not about the hand of cards you’re given in life that defines you, but it’s how you play the hand you’re given that will really define your success.”

• Effort will outweigh intelligence
• Persistence will make you overcome your genetics
• Hunger to learn will define your wealth
• Character will always outshine your looks

You can control how you deal with these circumstances by shaping our thoughts. James Allen from the book “As A Man Thinketh” calls this the “seeds” you plant in your mind. They will eventually sprout the circumstances you live in. Whether you consciously choose your thoughts or not.

But if you’re constantly chasing stimulation or sedation then there’s no real progress gained from that and you’ll always remain in the same place. If you plant bad seeds, you cannot expect to harvest anything but weeds. Nothing good comes forth from bad thoughts.

Essence

The only true road to any success worth having

Anyway, I hope this post has made it really clear to you what the consequences are if you don’t take control of your conditioning. For me, the pain of getting stuck in the rat race, the pain of letting others define my worth, the pain of not living a life worth living and the pain I see in the eyes of the ones that gave up is what fuels my desire for something more.

I believe it’s time for you to start taking responsibility for your own life. Start living today! Create yourself & Start defining your narrow road! Consider your influences, consider your behavior and continuously look where you can improve upon!

The more you put into your life, the more you’ll get out of it.

And I really ff-in mean it! There’s no point in reading my articles or watching my videos if you don’t act on the things I’m talking about. Interact with me, share your results/experiences and inspire others to do the same!

Guess that’s all I have to say on this topic for today! If you want there’s another great video on this topic made by Owen Cook, founder of Real Social Dynamics

If you feel like this post can help anyone out that you know, feel free to share it with your friends or send it in a mail to your mom! It helps me out a lot!

What Is The Next Step You Need To Take To Get Back To The Narrow Road?

Take care,

Love

Simon