Do I have what it takes?

[Jimmy H. Yield]

Hey,

I've felt for a long time that I want to live on my own terms, but I've always been too "comfortable" with the slowlane lifestyle.

I'm 30 and have worked as a software engineer for ~10 years in different industries. I love building software, but not really the 9-to-5-selling-my-time part. While "comfortable", this lifestyle is really soul-sucking – especially when I'm at work, wasting my life away.

Obviously I'm deeply unsatisfied with this lifestyle – the biq question I ask myself is: do I have what it takes to get out of the comfort zone and transform my life into a one I truly want to live?

I stumbled upon and listened to UNSCRIPTED in the summer. Wow! I was so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this scripted lifestyle is a total waste of a life. I was inspired and pumped – yet I took not action...

So here I am, thinking that I cannot wait any longer and got to get a move on. My soul crumbles when I continue sitting on my a$$ and distracting myself with whatever numbs the pain.

It's great that I found my way back to this forum. I've already read some discussions from like-minded people and I feel at home. This is an empowering feeling, but this is not enough. I really need to use this feeling as a fuel for actions. Knowing myself, this is the hardest part.

I'm doing my best to not get sucked back into the dizzying comfort and to not lose momentum. I cannot disappoint my 40-year-old me the same way I'm currently disappointing my 20-year-old me.

Thank you MJ and everybody else for building this wonderful oasis!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

do I have what it takes to get out of the comfort zone and transform my life into a one I truly want to live?

You have what it takes, question is, will you use it?

It's like someone who knows how to sing beautifully, but is afraid of going on stage and possibly failing.

One day, you will be dead.

Don't regret the things you didn't do, much less, try.

Get started, act, assess, adjust, repeat X 100.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Andreas Thiel]

Hey!

I suppose I am that 40 year old self that is disappointing his 20 year old self.

My biggest advice:

• regularly remind yourself that that feeling of a "comfortable" lifestyle can be a huge problem if it numbs the sense of urgency - you need to uphold a profound sense of urgency and take action through resistance - maybe even artificially by taking things away that create comfort now and only reintroducing them back into your life as a reward for keeping an execution process going
• regularly remind yourself that being "enlightened" by the Fastlane mentality is not where its value lies - "making sure you become more and more comfortable executing", that has to be your priority

I have been wondering about FTEs for a few years now. A part of me feels that the ambient feeling of the crumbling soul does not have the effect that a real FTE has. At least for me that feeling has been present and strong over those 20 years, but it never unhinged anything or pushed me towards fundamental change, so don't count on that feeling to guide you to a better place.
Interestingly I feel like being more comfortable in my day job has been a great change. Worrying about something you can't control for several years is not fun either and does not help with executing.

My takeaway from this observation is: "get comfortable executing" is the better way to think about it, "the soul crushing nature of my day job is my FTE and an asset" is not as great.

Hope you'll start a progress thread and tell us a little more about yourself, soon.

 

[ClarkeLDN]

What's stopping you?

Is it being too comfortable where you're at? There's an idea that the attractiveness of the future state needs to be greater than the pain of change required to get there for anything to actually happen.

A) So potentially the change feels too uncomfortable (in which case, just do something, start small)

B) OR maybe you've not created a future that's attractive enough in your mind (in which case focus on the why)

"If you change nothing - nothing changes"

 

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[Vasili27]

This is something that I think about sometimes.

Its been a while since I've written in the forum and Im happy I saw this thread. Ive had 2 ideas that I know I should I have acted on but didn't and I can say that regret definitely hurts more than not trying anyways. What happens in the past stays in the past and we look towards the future. Im currently trying to teach myself python because I ran into a problem while trying to resell certain items. Figured since I like it and Im teaching myself a useful skill It can be applied to many different things. Now for some reason not that I dont have the motivation, ideas and etc. I can't see where to apply this all too. In easier terms where exactly to get started is something I'm struggling in. I keep trying to find something because my biggest regret will always be never trying.

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

Hey,

I've felt for a long time that I want to live on my own terms, but I've always been too "comfortable" with the slowlane lifestyle.

I'm 30 and have worked as a software engineer for ~10 years in different industries. I love building software, but not really the 9-to-5-selling-my-time part. While "comfortable", this lifestyle is really soul-sucking – especially when I'm at work, wasting my life away.

Obviously I'm deeply unsatisfied with this lifestyle – the biq question I ask myself is: do I have what it takes to get out of the comfort zone and transform my life into a one I truly want to live?

I stumbled upon and listened to UNSCRIPTED in the summer. Wow! I was so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this scripted lifestyle is a total waste of a life. I was inspired and pumped – yet I took not action...

So here I am, thinking that I cannot wait any longer and got to get a move on. My soul crumbles when I continue sitting on my a$$ and distracting myself with whatever numbs the pain.

It's great that I found my way back to this forum. I've already read some discussions from like-minded people and I feel at home. This is an empowering feeling, but this is not enough. I really need to use this feeling as a fuel for actions. Knowing myself, this is the hardest part.

I'm doing my best to not get sucked back into the dizzying comfort and to not lose momentum. I cannot disappoint my 40-year-old me the same way I'm currently disappointing my 20-year-old me.

Thank you MJ and everybody else for building this wonderful oasis!

This is a question I ask myself sometimes because I'm still not successful, but I guess it's technically "possible". But having what it takes is different to whether it's possible or not. "What it takes" refers to the qualities that are needed to become successful, such as discipline, focus, good work ethic, persistence, consistency, and a lot of other stuff.

I don't have most of these qualities, it's something I struggle with. I think what matters is not whether or not you have these qualities right now, but whether you are willing to work on those individual problems. Which I guess sort of brings us back to square one lol, whether or not we have what it takes to fix our discipline, focus, etc. The answer for myself personally is yes, because I don't want to be a lazy slob my entire life.

And I've dedicated too many years of my life to trying to improve myself to just let it go to waste. Hope that helps.