Lying on the beach, music and a good book. I take an afternoon like this any day. January comes and it is a time when many people decide that they are going to change their lives. We have all heard it and we have all done it. You know the kind of resolutions I’m talking about. From next year I’m going to train or starting next month I won’t eat junk food anymore. Or how about from next week I will start saving money. Starting tomorrow, I will drink more water. Blah, blah, blah. Well guess what?
There Is No Tomorrow
Rocky III. Some people think the Rocky movies are corny, but you just need to see the powerful message of this video.
Tomorrow does not exist. All you have is the now. The next day? It won’t be much different than today. One more day of delay on what you want in life is one less day not living your life the way you are supposed to.
Ultra Ambitious Plans Fail
We have this unique ability to deceive ourselves. Have you ever been extremely motivated to do something? Let’s say you watch a movie and there is an actor in it, who is in top shape. I don’t know about you, but I get very motivated when I see someone in top shape. Thoughts start running through my head. I am going to train like a madman. I am going to eat ultra clean and run an hour every day, etc. Guess what happens with this kind of ultra ambitious I’m-gonna-be-the-next ninja-Rambo plans? Most of them fail and there is a reason for this.
Procrastination Is Self Deception
We have this tendency to justify things in our heads. You see, there is this internal dialogue going on inside our mind. More often than not, the side that emerges victorious in this debate is the one that justifies procrastination and laziness. It is easy to tell yourself that starting tomorrow you are going to do all the things you want to do. But when tomorrow comes, the internal dialogue starts all over again. And there goes the self deception again.
You Snooze, You Lose
The big secret is that nothing really different will happen if you sleep a few hours more, watch TV instead of train, eat that piece of cake, instead of some fruit, etc. That’s right, nothing happens.
You will not feel much more rested if you sleep one more hour. On the contrary, you may mess up your ultradian rhythms if you wake up in the middle of an REM cycle and thus sabotage your energy levels. As far as that cake goes, the sugar rush lasts for only a couple of minutes. Is it really worth it, considering how it will affect your energy levels for the next couple of hours? But I digress…
Finally, skipping workouts is clearly the easiest way to make sure that you don’t progress at an optimal rate. Or much at all.
Carpe Diem
Dead Poets’ Society. The ironic thing about the video is that the boys from the movie are no longer here. It’s now 20 years later and I hope they’ve seized the opportunities that life has thrown their way.
Most seniors get this message when they are graduating from high school. It used to be that I didn’t exactly get it. How do you mean seize the day, I was wondering. Here is the deal – once you leave school, you are now in charge of how your life will develop. There is no schedule, no curriculum.
You are responsible for putting to action a plan of long term success. At the same time, you need to try and live each day to the fullest.
Groundhog Day. Bill Murray’s character is trapped in the same day and is cursed to relieve it over and over until he decides to make the best of it and execute every tiny detail of his day perfectly.
The days pass, no matter how you live them. You might as well give it your best. What would your perfect day look like?
Babe by Bengt
Yavor,
Awesome post mate. Some really powerful videos and a strong point of topic.
THERE IS NO TOMORROW!!!
I will probably watch that video quite a few times. The messages in Rocky are certainly powerful.
Thanks for the great post mate and I look forward to alot more
Adam Toohey
Adam,
Thanks buddy! Btw, I love the video that you’ve got featured on your blog. Buff, Beautiful and Bitchin’ LOL. Jim Carey is awesome.
Yavor
Hell Yeah!!!
What lies within you to make today the best it can be? Right now, damnit!
If your are reading this you need to know that you are far too good to keep letting tomorrow be the day that never comes!
You are far too good to be a life long dreamer that never accomplishes your dreams!
Sit down and think about it…What are you waiting for? When is your defining moment going to happen? How about now?
My challenge to you…Quit THINKING yourself out of action and start doing.
I leave you with the following quote:
“What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Great, great post Yavor!!!
Donovan “DFitnessguy” Owens
http://twitter.com/dfitnessguy
Spot on, Yavor!
Any suggestions as to how I can get everyone who asks me for help to realise this? I have my methods, but I’d be interested in hearing if you’ve any tips. 🙂
Donovan
that’s a great quote buddy. I like the energy of your reply, I can almost feel your blood pumping lol.
Melanie,
Do you mean they ask you for help to end their procrastination? The powerful reason why is the most potent tool I know to end this. Here is a post I wrote on this subject: Your Reason Why for Getting a Hot Body… Or Any Other Goal. The more detailed, vivid and real you can imagine your desired outcome, the more motivated you will be to take action. You know, this is why ads work. They motivate us, get us salivating and we fork over our hard earned cash. Think of ways in which you can motivate yourself the way a good ad would make you want to buy something.
Btw, feel free to share some of your tips with us here at Relative Strength Advantage 🙂
Good stuff guys! Carpe Diem!
Yavor
In total agreement with this Yavor. This is the type of thing I stress at my blog, NOW is all there is! If you aren’t going to make something right now, what makes you think you’ll do it tomorrow?
Nice work.
Mark McManus
Mark
You are so right! Here is a similar post from your blog that I really like 10 Ways To Be Absolutely F*@king Miserable!
Yavor
Thanks for a great post! I hope to read your posts regularly now on!
For fat loss or muscle building or anything else, I feel 90% of the work is mental. The body is strong enough to just follow the commands of the mind. The question is if your mind is strong enough to command your body for that extra bit…..
Rambodoc,
You are welcome, my friend. And yes, the mind is vastly more powerful than the body.
Yavor
LOVE that scene from Rocky — if Rocky doesn’t get you motivated you should check your pulse because you’re probably not even alive.
Later
Caleb
Caleb,
Rocky is the MAN, buddy, that’s right!
By the way, I really like your latest post – Top 25 Ways To Achieve Almost Any Goal… WITHOUT… An Ounce of Motivation!
I am all about inner strength, man. Keep those coming!
Yavor
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”
http://www.bartleby.com/101/248.html
Thanks for the video(s) Yavor.
Alex,
awesome poem, thanks for sharing it!
Yavor
p.s. I will share it here!
Robert Herrick
1591–1674
248. To the Virgins, to make much of Time
GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 5
The higher he ‘s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he ‘s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer; 10
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime, 15
You may for ever tarry.