Mentorist Essentials - Personal Growth

95% of people don’t have the life that they want. Do you?

If you don’t do anything to change your life, you will simply stay where you currently are. For progress to be made, you must first change your mindset.

There are seven common reasons for a mediocre life:

1. Rearview mirror syndrome - when you look at your past and believe that the future will not be any different.

2. Lack of purpose - you would be surprised at how many people don’t have a purpose in life!

3. Isolating incidents - It’s a common belief that our small actions throughout the day have no effect on the rest of our life. We give ourselves permission to skip the gym, eat unhealthily, and so on.

4. Lack of accountability - We, as humans, need an accountability partner to help us do the things that we planned, even when we don’t feel like it. Without any accountability, it’s easy to lose focus on what’s really important to us.

5. Mediocre circle of influence - You are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with. In other words, if you hang out with mediocre people, you will stay mediocre.

6. Lack of personal development - Success is something that we attract by who we are. And only personal development will change who you are.

7. Lack of urgency - People’s nature is to live with a “someday” mindset. The time will come to change this and that, but it doesn’t have to happen yet.

If you want to break free from mediocrity and be in the top 5% of people, you must do what they do.

You can’t manage time, time is something that flows and you cannot change it. Each of us only have 24 hours each day. The real secret to managing your stress and getting more stuff done is managing your energy.

The most productive people usually take more breaks. Working constantly without a break significantly reduces our energy. One of the most popular methods is the Pomodoro technique. In this technique, you work 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break, or you work 50 minutes followed by a 10-minute break.

There are many different strategies to gain more energy.

Successful and unsuccessful people set the same goals. The difference is in the system that they use to achieve these goals.

The system is about the process that finally leads to achieving your goals. If you have a good system, success is inevitable. Instead of focusing on your goals, examine the processes you plan to follow and the actions you will take. Design a path to success.

Can you be successful without setting goals? Yes, you can, if you design a system that only leads to success

Real freedom comes from taking 100% responsibility for your life. After all, you are the only person who can change your life for the better.

If you are truly free, you will respond to situations instead of reacting to them. Reacting to problems and other situations don’t actually help change anything. Even if you feel better momentarily, your problems are still there.

When you respond to problems instead, you actively work towards solutions. Gain the freedom to respond by accepting responsibility for your life.

When we’re focused on accomplishing our goals and achieving success, we often forget to prioritize our mental health. 

Stress is an internal condition that threatens your state of mental, emotional and physical balance. Whenever we encounter a threat, either real or perceived, the brain’s fear center, i.e., the amygdala, lights up. Once activated, this area of the brain then sends messages to the rest of our body to mobilize the responses to help us survive.

When you are in a perpetual state of stress, your adrenal glands release stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. This will lead to continuous and overactive fight or flight responses, which present physically as a racing heart, dilated pupils, balled fists, etc. These overactive responses use a high level of glucose in the brain, which ultimately knocks our body off balance.

Once you’ve got the right approach towards personal growth, you’ll be able to accomplish anything you set for yourself. As you work towards improving your skills, learning new ones, and becoming the best version of yourself, you’ll realize the potential you have is limitless. 

So, what are the next steps?

Here’s a statistic for you. Most CEOs and other successful individuals read 4-5 books a month - that adds up to roughly 60 books a year! These are the people who are changing the world, so there is certainly immense value in the knowledge you can gain from books. In fact, reading is a critical part of self-development.