The Simple Machine

No gimmicks here, let’s get straight to the point. You are the only one sabotaging your life, and that good news! Why? Well…if you are sabotaging your life, then by definition it is in your control to fix it. After all if someone else was sabotaging your life, there is not much in your control to improve.

I could give you 10 reasons why you are sabotaging your life, but I am going to go it George Carlin style and simplify.

So here is why I think you are sabotaging your life by…

…being ignorant

Being ignorant is fine! We were born a clean slate and we learnt to eat in order to satisfy our hunger, to walk to reach objects to satisfy our curiosities, learnt to read, write etc…

So for everything we have learnt in our lives, there was a time when we were ignorant. We became aware of something we needed to learn, without knowing how to learn it, and we found a way to learn and master it. So ignorance is good, while we are in the process of learning it gives us the excuse to say “we don’t know”, until we have learnt it.

We sabotage our lives when the “I don’t know” excuse becomes permanent and we stop learning.

…being stupid and lazy

So from ignorance you reach a stage where you realize that you have a problem to solve, and you have an idea of how to go about solving the problem.

What do you call a person who knows how to fix their situation, but does nothing about it?

Stupid, right?

Over the last 6 months I have stopped going to the gym and am somewhat out of shape. I want to get fit and I know that it will happen if I start spending time at the gym. I even have a workout plan which changes its focus every few weeks and requires me to workout every other day.

Basically, I have the solution in my hand, but I am stupid because I have not been able to implement it.

I can justify my behavior with tons of excuses, but the only real answer is that I have been lazy! I get home from work and I fool myself by saying that I will go to workout in the morning before work. Alarm rings, I wake up, then rationalize again, get lazy and decide that I need the extra hour of sleep to function properly at work! I have been to the gym in the morning and I know I have a better workday when I do go in the morning.

So two things I am planning on doing based on my own advice over the next month are the following:

1. Stop being ignorant about my personal finances and bring my spending under control
2. Stop being stupid and lazy and get myself to the gym and workout on a consistent basis