Tag: mindset

What to do when you’re feeling sad

When you feel sad, go do something. Do something that usually makes you happy. Take your mind off of whatever is bothering you, not to completely distract you from pain, but to let you come back to it later with a different perspective. Go work out, hang out with friends, watch a movie, read, be productive… Movement is key. Don’t sit and wallow in your sorrow. You’re likely not going to come up with a solution to your problem if you only focus on the bad and feel sorry for yourself.

Smile. Laugh. Move. It’s hard to be sad and laugh at the same time. When your body feels good (like during/after a workout), it can trick your mind into feeling good. Get going and you will begin to feel better. And realize, all things pass with time. The sadness you’re currently feeling will eventually go away on its own, but it will go away even quicker if you help the process.

Do you have a warrior’s mindset?

Do you have a Warrior’s mindset? When things get tough, will you fight or will you lay down? Can you adapt and overcome? Will you persist through failure, getting up after you’ve been knocked down?

Make no excuses. Do not complain. Embrace the “suck.”

Things will get better if you consistently take the right actions – making logical “bets” with asymmetric risk/rewards (that is, finding actions that do not carry much risk, but have outsized rewards). The more you string together good days the more success you set yourself up for. It’s like a flywheel…at first it can be hard to get started, but once you get momentum going, it’s hard to stop. Work hard to build momentum and then it’s much easier to keep it going.

The dichotomy of comfort

We are creatures of comfort. We like comfort. When we’re comfortable, we feel content. These are the positive aspects of comfort.

But if we’re not careful, striving just to be comfortable will more than likely mean striving to be mediocre.

We get the most out of ourselves when we push ourselves past our comfort zone. The only way to get better is by mastering the old while still experiencing the new. We have to fall down to get back up. We need to face our fears and overcome adversity. The more we learn to handle, the more unbreakable we make ourselves.

So while we aim for comfort for a little while, just make sure you’re not staying there too long. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Go with the flow. Be flexible.

You have to be flexible in life. If you’re too rigid, you’re more likely to break. If you’re pliable, you can bend without breaking. The wind can push you over, but it won’t break you. If you’re too stiff and can’t go with the flow, you’ll snap in half during the storm.

Practice going with the flow. This can be tough if you’re a planner and want things to go a certain way. But you have to realize that there are many things outside of our control. And if we don’t leave right on time, if we’re not eating the “perfect meal,” or getting exactly the right amount of sleep, it’s ok. Everything will be ok. We will survive. Our children will survive. One bad day or bad week isn’t going to ruin our health.

Go with the flow before you stress yourself out (and those around you) too much. Because if you’re too rigid, life will feel much harder than it needs to.