What you see is what you get
Why building -new year- intentions or resolutions is not enough
We live in an era in which we practically have unlimited access to content, just to get a little glimpse, look at Youtube’s 2019 stats:
Today more than any other time in the history of humanity, we can access ideas, knowledge, and information.
On the other hand, most of the content produced and consumed in social networks is coming from “influencers” that either constantly repeat stuff, that without any kind of depth, reinforces general “feel good” ideas (feel good without doing anything, change is easy, succeed without hard work, feel meaningful in an instant and non-compromising way, etc.) or show a fake life that they don’t have, they don’t pay for it, but still manage to make people crave for it because in both cases, the social media contract tells you: If X has Y followers that means X is successful, legitimate and smart… breaking news, they are not.
So why is fundamental, who do you follow, to take action, as Seth Godin clearly explains it:
So you want to make changes and a new year feels like the right time?
Let’s start by the more practical stuff,….
1.-Start by determining how much work are you willing to put on.
Most of the people think about the end result, lose a few pounds, improve your financial situation, or travel more.
The problem with having abstract goals is you are thinking about being there instead of how to get there. So you connect and believe in wanting the result, but there is no compromise or real plan on how to get there.
But, if you focus on getting there, the result will happen. If your resolutions are focus on specific actions that determine a real and defined amount of work there is a much bigger chance that you will stick to them since the hardest part, is the goal itself: Go to the gym for an hour 3 times a week vs losing a few pounds, make freelance work for 5 hours a week vs improve your financial situation, book 1 trip every 6 months vs travel more.
2.-Find the real drive by connecting to your most raw feelings.
We all would like to be more fit, look a bit better or improve our looks, but we all don’t have the same incentives or the same reasons…
Before going all-in with your list of 2020 intentions, think about the why.
Most people work for things that “make sense” or that “are expected” from them, particularly in fitness, work-related and time allocation; focus on finding your own motivation and incentives, without them, putting hard work is almost always unsustainable.
If you feel like you want to look better, be stronger, have a more healthy lifestyle go ahead and make it happen.
But be really focus also on avoiding intentions connected to “make sense” and “are expected”.
Now the more philosophical stuff…
3.-Choose who to follow… you might become them.
In a world where you can follow anyone, choose individuals that make you think, that challenge your ideas, your conceptions, think of people you would like to evolve to be like.
Avoid following people on social media that constantly repeat empty messages. Most of these influencers are pretty easy to spot:
-They repeat the same messages that people want to hear over and over (feel good without doing anything, change is easy, succeed without hard work, feel meaningful in an instant and non-compromising way, etc.).
-They never show their work because they haven't created anything. Their only work is related to their social media interactions, so regardless of them talking about the environment, food, fashion, etc. they never show their actual sophistication, their actual result of their work or the quality of their art.
4.-Focus on what makes you proud of yourself.
Most of you have never thought about it…
What makes you proud of you?
Hopefully would be something related to your self, and not your likes or followers. I hope it is the way you play tennis, care for your children, create your art, or how you sing.
We are taught from very early in life that embracing privately and publicly what makes us feel proud of us is called ego… breaking news is not.
The ego is the psychological component of the personality that is represented by our conscious decision-making process and how we manage reality; so think about that thing that makes you proud and once you find it talk about, work about it and enjoy it without guilt, show that what you see is what you get to the world!
