The Ultimate War

The ultimate war for each of us is the war within. 

Each of us fights it – a battle between good and evil.

The constant struggle to do the right thing or the wrong thing; the thing that is decent/kind/respectful/useful or the thing that feels good in the short term.

It’s the fight to present our higher selves to any moment or situation, or to surrender to our lower impulses.

If we are to have any shot at winning in the world, of influencing it as leaders, and of living to our potential, we must win the war within.

How is your battle going?

Deleting a bad habit

This idea is from James Clear from the book Atomic Habits (great book).  

To delete a bad habit, remove the prompt.  No prompt/trigger/cue, no behavior.

So for example changing your environment to not tempt you into the behavior.  Don’t bring anything you should not eat or drink into the house.  Delete your ____________ account.  Unsubscribe.  Don’t spend time with people who are doing something you don’t want to do anymore. Don’t go to the old places that trigger ______ behavior. Get rid of anything that reminds you of _________ .

Make the trigger invisible.

Set up your environment so it’s difficult to do the wrong thing and easy to do the right thing.

What habit do you need to break?

Advance!

“Fulfillment happens not when you are retreating from the world, but in ‘advance’ – and profound engagement.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

Are you in retreat, or are you advancing and engaging with life?

What's your plan?

What cool thing…what stretch goal…what place…what new skill or achievement…

What are you trying to do in the next few months or years?

What do you take steps toward every day?

What excites you and gets you out of bed in the morning?

The years are passing by – this is your chance.

What’s your plan?

How are you making this difficult?

Is your ego holding on to old thoughts and ideas and decisions – and doesn’t want to be wrong by you changing your mind now?

Probably.

Comparing yourself to others

Comparing yourself to others to make yourself feel better and to feed your self-esteem is a bad idea.

There will always be someone who is smarter than you, richer than you, prettier than you, or has a bigger/better _________ than you.

In the end, comparing yourself will only drain your self-esteem.  And even in the moments where you are better than others, feeling good as a result is still putting your happiness outside yourself – and that is a dangerous place for it to be.  You will get older, grayer, slower and you won’t be at the top forever. 

Don’t compare yourself to others.  Instead, just focus on being better than you were last week.  Follow your interests and talents and beat yesterday. 

It doesn’t matter if anyone else notices.  You’ll know.

Make you proud of you.

Liked by everyone?

You don’t want to be unpopular, because you have to work with people and get their cooperation to get things done. 

At the same time, if we are liked and accepted by everyone, we probably aren’t making a difference and using our unique abilities.

We know that most people do not like change.  And if you are the one causing it, even if it’s good change, you will ruffle someone’s feathers.  If you are very talented and using that talent, someone will not like that you are showing them up.  If you are stepping up, some will not like you because “who are you to do that – get back down here with us!”.  If you want to make things better, you may have to call someone out, or leave them behind.

Of course, you don’t have to make it worse than it needs to be.  A graceful style, listening, and humility can all soften reactions, while you are going forward.

Being your best and making a positive change can make you unpopular.  Most heroes throughout history have experienced the same thing.  

Self-Control

Can you discipline yourself to do what must be done today to make your future better, and delay gratification?

Unsuccessful people can not.

Prioritize goal achievement over entertainment and leisure.  

Better yet, a real master makes getting better and achievement his entertainment. There is no difference.

If you're juiceful you're useful!

Find excitement in what you do.  Have a zest for it.  Love it.

Find “the juice”.

“If you’re juiceless you’re useless.  If you’re juiceful you’re useful!” – Brian Cain

Are you the best of the worst?

“The world needs you at your best.  You can’t be normal, you must be elite.  When you are average you are the best of the worst or the worst of the best.  It’s a terrible place to live.” – Brian Cain

Be an elite performer at something.