‘As long as you live, keep learning how to live’
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The greatest gift you can render the world is your own self-realisation and the greatest gift you can render yourself is the ability to impose genuine challenge on oneself.
If you do not have the capacity to push yourself for furtherance, you will never realise your potential. Never forget this truth – nobody is coming over the hill to help you. Nobody, and you should be very aware that a radical self-reliance is a capacity you should be ravenously working towards.
Nobody is born with self-belief. Nobody is born with self-trust. Nobody is born with self-respect. Environment, particularly the home, plays an impactful role in their foundation and positioning to expand, however to be truly embodied these traits must be forged by the individual by throwing themselves into the fire of life.
How joyous is gold when it enters the fire!
for it is within the flames
where it can show its essence
and radiate its virtues.
Do not run away from the fire’s flames!
What will happen if you step into them
for trial’s sake?
It will not burn you, I swear;
your face will glow, like gold.
~ Rumi
When you think about challenging yourself and throwing yourself into the fire of life, I want you to keep one word very clear in your mind; Love.
A key component in realising one’s potential is to deeply explore and challenge yourself through things you love. It is the meaning, purpose and practice of your love that will drive your past the inevitable resistance you will continually encounter in your exploration.
A powerful structure we use at the Ironmind Institute to effectively journey the path to self realisation year after year is our ‘Deep Practice Framework’. This is a framework we apply around big goals our clients might have to dramatically heighten the chances of achieving it. One of the concepts held within the Deep Practice Framework is a gamification of how we set goals for, and challenge ourselves. Levels of challenge within the journey to the goal basically. This not only keeps us pushing maximally towards our big goal but it keeps us focused, directed and aligned to that goal also. This is the most optimal goal setting structure we believe and it works like this –
Our preparation program structure that houses the details of the work that has to be done to raise one’s capacities to achieve the ‘Big goal’ basically breaks down into a goals timeline. For example, let’s say our program is working off an 8 day “week” – we will have 4 x 8 days for a Cycle Goal, 3 Cycles to achieve a Program Goal and 4 Programs to achieve the Big goal.
So our daily goals, targets we set ourselves to achieve everyday within our practice, lead into our cycle goals. Our Cycle goals, targets we set ourselves to achieve every 4 weeks within our practice lead into our Program goals. Our Program goals, targets we set ourselves to achieve every 12 weeks within our practice lead into our ‘Big Goals.
Give it a go
Quick Win: Use strength as the unit of measurement for your Daily and Cycle Goals and use a cardiovascular metric for your Program Goals (if you’re Big Goal is some sort of endurance feat)
If you are not truly experiencing feelings of discomfort, doubt and destabilisation you are not sincerely challenging yourself.
Remember: Challenge is personal. If you are emulating somebody you know or follow and challenging yourself with what you saw them do, you are on a crash course to disillusionment. Equally if you are following the mob and doing what is trending, you are on a crash course to confusion and unfulfillment. Rather take time to clarify what has meaning for you and challenge yourself there.
‘As long as you live, keep learning how to live’
~ Seneca
