Sometimes, it’s important to set yourself some tough goals. It’s only by doing so that you will change things for the better. Here’s a few to get you started — and perhaps change your life for the better.
1. Question everything
The most uncomfortable thing one can do is to question everything that is taken for granted and seek answers. Try to see the other side of the norm.
2. Be honest
Being the most honest you’ve ever been with someone in your life will be one of the most uncomfortable things you can do, but it could also be the most valuable.
To do this, he suggests writing a list of all the people to whom you have something — good or bad — to say; writing down the honest feelings you need to convey to them in a letter; handing the person the letter; and writing down what happened and how the experience affected you and the other person.
If you’re being really honest, each letter you write should make you quite emotional as you are writing it. That is how you know you have tapped into your actual emotions and feelings — that it actually means something to you.
Don’t forget what you have learned from the experience. Let it be with you forever.
3. Wake up extremely early
Waking up before sunrise provides the perfect study-and-work environment. While everyone else sleeps, waking at 5 a.m. is the perfect, albeit challenging, way to begin the day in silence.
4. Control your expenses
From auto repairs and life insurance to coffee and french fries, keep track of every penny you spend for several months.
And try paying for everything you can with cash. If you have to reach in your wallet and pull out cash, you will often think twice about how much you need something.
You’d be surprised how much debt you can pay off when you literally watch your pennies.
5. Track what you eat
Keeping track of all the food you eat and all the exercise you do in a day can be challenging, but using the MyFitnessPal app can help you see the harm you might be doing to your body.
You don’t realize how little of some nutrients you might be getting and how much sugar and fat you’re eating daily until I started to do this regularly.
6. Eat only nutritious food
After you track your food, start eating only what is truly nutritious — this will change your life forever.
The short answer here is to prepare your own food, eat organic as much as possible — yes, it’s expensive, but it’s cheaper than the medical bills and lost performance — focus on lean meats and veggies, avoid grains (they’re disastrous for most of us), and when you do eat something that isn’t good for you, notice the difference in how you feel. This is key!
This will be uncomfortable for a number of reasons: It’s hard; it’s socially limiting; it can be more expensive if you are used to eating off the dollar menu; it’s not as tasty when you start, and it takes more time.
But the outcome is 100% worth the effort. Being a weird health nut and outperforming everyone else is so much more fun than blending in — and that’s not just athletically. It’s mentally as well.
7. Practice public speaking
It may be scary to think about, but you never know when you may be called upon to speak in public. Practice, while daunting, is the key to improving your communication skills.
It’s recommended that you join a nearby improv group in your city. Its scary as hell until you realize that everyone around you feels the same.
8. Accomplish an almost impossible goal
The most uncomfortable thing you can do, is to set and achieve a goal that’s harder than something you’ve ever done before.
To do that, you should think about a thing you’re comfortable doing every day and amplify it until you get to a point where you become really scared of doing it. If you run a mile every day, the idea of running seven might terrify you. Set this as your one-year goal.
The hardest part is to actually go out there and take the actions steps that will help you achieve this goal.
You will have to use all your mental and physical strength to actually get yourself to achieve this goal. But here’s the thing: Something very cool happens in your mind, your physiology, your internal makeup when you actually do this. You become invincible. You will be able to set any goal for yourself and then achieve it.
