What if you enjoyed the things you knew were good for you? Took pleasure in the pain of a tough workout. Decided to do the hardest thing on your agenda and rocked it. Found the real internal joy in completing the things others won’t, so you can accomplish what others can’t. What if being disciplined in your execution of the mundane, ultimately led to more freedom and a sense of well-being and pride that no one could take from you?? You can have this. We all can.
Habit 1: “That’s just like me”
Seems silly but it’s not. I challenge you to try it. Every time you do something you wouldn’t normally do and you step out of your comfort zone, try saying: “That’s just like me”. That’s just like me choosing a healthy meal over junk food. That’s just like me taking a breath instead of yelling at the kids for fighting with each other. That’s just like me to send that tough email, have that hard conversation. That’s just like me standing up for what I believe in, enforcing my boundaries. BOOM. Believe in yourself because I know you are tougher, stronger, and have more willpower than you could ever believe. When you do something that makes you feel that shine ( “Shine” is the term BJ Fogg of Tiny Habits uses for the immediate feeling of success upon completing a positive behavior) make sure you reinforce it by saying to yourself with an inner smile – “That’s just like me”.
Habit 2: Obstacles Make Me Stronger
You don’t want to be resilient. You want to be antifragile. The harder your day, the tougher the situation, the more you thrive.
Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure , risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I am not the person that tries to find the silver lining in everything. I am the person that chooses to believe that I can complete the hard things in life, can thrive from conquering obstacles. I know I can become stressed without becoming distressed. I know that I can bend, not break, and get up the next day tougher than I was before. “Fall 7, Rise 8” is an ancient proverb that has become a mantra for me. Evoke that inner fighter when life knocks you down. Choose to believe that obstacles make you stronger.
Habit 3: Moment to Moment
What is the purpose of this life, if not to enjoy the moment to moment. To express your best self. To work toward a worthwhile goal that helps others and allows you to use your unique talents in service to a greater good? Know that all you need to worry about is this moment. The past is gone and the future is not in our control so why spend so much of your life mind traveling to those moments. You are missing out on the here and now. Bliss is expressing your unique, idiosyncratic characteristics and honoring them in your day-to-day life. It is asking yourself “What’s Important Now ( WIN) ” and executing on it. Spoiler Alert – you will never be able to accomplish everything you want to on a given day, but you will enjoy your life much more if you can accomplish the things that are most important to you. If you develop the fortitude to apply all of your mental and emotional energy to one thing, you will accomplish it faster, better, and find much more joy in the process.
Blissipline is taking joy in doing the hard things. It is honoring yourself when you execute on the fundamentals every day. It is when you dream of a better you and take a step in that direction. It is when your soul is on fire and you let it burn bright. It is the joy you find in the passionate execution of doing the right thing or making the right choice – moment to moment.