“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

You’ve probably already heard this before, but I wrote it here, just in case. It was Albert Einstein who said that and I couldn’t agree more. Do you want something different in your life? If you read this blog post until the end, you’ll find out what you can start doing today in order to make a crucial mindset shift in your life. for the better.

The Basics

If you’re reading this, chances are that one of your current desires is to change something in your life. Whether it is a fat loss, your career, or a relationship. I’ve spent a good amount of time in the past few years on self-development and personal growth. There is literally tons of information on the internet about this topic. A lot of it is trash, but not everything. Overcomplicated guidelines don’t give you the clarity to better understand the principles and positively change your mindset. That’s why I’ve picked four things for you, that you can start applying from today, and these are the basics.

Don’t be fooled, though. The basics are the best. We often tend to think that in order to make real progress in life, we must jump onto advanced stuff as soon as possible. But in reality, I’ve found out that most of the progress I’ve made in my life was made when I was stuck to the basics, over a longer period of time.

1. Read More Quality Books

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”

Back in my school days, I couldn’t imagine myself sitting calmly and reading a book. I just didn’t love it or didn’t want to take time for it. I didn’t understand the importance of books yet. I would only want to watch where the football pitch is and how to have fun. It was in my mid 20’s, a few years ago, when I had truly understood how books are important to us.

There’s a reason why reading is so important. There are millions and billions of people that have lived before all of us. There’s no new problem that one of us could have with a partner, school, a bully, our career, with anything. There’s no problem you could have that someone hasn’t already solved and written about it in a book.

If you’re not sure of what to read, do a little research. You can simply write on Google “Books about” and then your desired topic, and there you have it.
Take a look at my reading list in GoodReads if you want, as well. I’m collecting the titles mostly about self-development for business, psychology, and fitness, but you’ll also find some fiction titles, too.

2. Get Around The Best Individuals You Can

Have you ever wondered why our kids act differently when they start to go to kindergarten or school, for example? Or, why you have changed your behavior over the years after being with one person in a relationship? There’s a psychological and influential thing called proximity. The kind of people you surround yourself with is the kind of person you’ll eventually become.

“You are who you hang out with.”

That doesn’t have to mean that you have to break up with your partner, family, and friends if they’re not the kind of person you’d like to become. It also doesn’t mean that you must hang out physically with people that you admire. You can listen to podcasts and read the books of people you admire, watch inspirational videos and movies, you can have online accountability partners, or join the tribes and groups of people online that are interested in the same topic as you are. As long as you’re reading from them, listening to them, and interacting with them, you are surrounded by the best individuals you can possibly be.

Remember, what you constantly hear and read, whether from yourself or others, affects your thoughts. These thoughts determine your feelings and beliefs. They determine your actions, and your actions determine your results. So you want to make sure that you are surrounded by people and things that make you feel good, bring you positive thoughts, and build a bulletproof mindset.

3. Set Higher Standards And Goals

This is probably the most important advice in this blog post. Not the most obvious, though.

I remember myself when I was 21 years old. My goal was to move from Croatia to Austria to live and work there as a software developer by the age of 25. I haven’t had any plans, details, or specifics about that goal, except the age number. I only knew that I wanted to work there at that age. I set this goal in my mind as my new standard. Obviously, I was physically in Croatia, but in my mind, I was in Austria. I was preparing my resumes, researching the market, learning the German language, and doing everything I could do toward that goal.

When I was 23, I accomplished it. I’ve received a call from a company that was interested in my profile, got an offer which I accepted, and moved to Austria. I have even surpassed my initial goal and have bought a car, a motorcycle, and most importantly, an apartment by my 25th birthday, my initial magical number.

Now I’m sure that all of that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t raised my standards. I truly believe that we are today the result of a standard that we have defined years ago.

“‘Wants’ don’t get met consistently. Standards do.”

Tony Robbins

Most people’s standard is to pay their bills. Some people’s standard is to take care of their families and maybe even of their friends. And they find the way. Oftentimes, the situation raises your standards. Someone closer to you gets ill and you find a way to earn that extra income to help support them. You haven’t earned that sum of money before, have you? Why? It’s because that wasn’t your standard.

Think about what you want in your life. What lifestyle do you want to live? How much money do you want to earn? Where do you want to live? Anything you would like to have, set it as a standard for yourself and see yourself already having it. That will give you the spark and will eventually attract all the good things you desire.

4. Action

I wish I could tell you that you can accomplish it without action, but I’d be lying. You have to be willing to go into action. Don’t wait around for things to be just right. Don’t wait for the ideal situation. It will never be ideal. Don’t wait for things to be perfect. They’ll never be perfect.

It doesn’t mean that you must jump and start doing things like a maniac. Obviously, you have to know what it is that you want. Ask yourself “What’s the result or goal I want to accomplish?” Once you know that, it’s a good practice that you think about the steps needed to come to that goal. Even better, you write those big and little steps down on the paper and you define them as specific as possible. That’ll give you more clarity on what you need to do in order to accomplish that objective.

But then, don’t wait for anything. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. A lot of people never take a chance in life. They want the situation to be perfect. There is no such thing as perfect. What you want it to be is authentic.

A little trick that helped me to be more actionable is a 2-minute rule. For instance, If you want to exercise today, don’t say to yourself “I’m gonna exercise for one hour today.” Say two minutes instead of one hour. And really mean it. Literally, say to yourself “I’m gonna put on clothes and exercise for two minutes and after that, I’ll see how it goes.” If you’re still not in it, you stop and go do something else. But if it still feels good and right, you have won by tricking your mind and you continue doing it. These two minutes will become fifteen, thirty minutes, and eventually one hour. This trick applies not only to exercising, but also to working, writing your business plan, journaling, or anything you would like to do, but don’t feel like doing it.

If nothing of this gives you clarity about taking action, you can try the following philosophy. Don’t wait until you have the right emotion to jump into action. That’s the mistake we often make. Action precedes emotion. Set your goal and just start doing the thing you know you must do.

Conclusion

No doubt, if you start applying one of these pieces of advice in your life, you’ll start seeing amazing changes and results over time. Think long-term: consistency over intensity.

I would love to hear from you. What’s your opinion about this? Which things among these four are you already doing? Which one do you struggle with the most and why? I’m looking forward to hearing from you!