I don't know why, but I don't ever seem to be grateful when good things come my way.

[anir]

This is a pretty f*cked up problem, but a year ago I was hooked on a bunch of bad habits, getting no sleep, eating bad foods, always distracting myself, and consuming lots of content on social media. I decided to switch my life to a total 180, and it doesn't seem to have lasted. I have been hitting the gym for a while, working my job for a while, and overall doing good for a while. Whenever anything that I want happens, I never stop and say "Hey, I am genuinely happy with the result.", but instead, "Good, let's keep it going." Now this is where everything starts to fall apart, I am a sophomore in highschool, and towards the end of this year, things have gotten so stressful to the point where NEARLY 80% of my post-school time has been taken up by schoolwork itself, and it's been hard to hold a grip on everything. As I was slowly slipping, my mind would tell me that I am not living up to my expectations, and I just quit everything all together. It's been a month since this happened, and I thought the day I would leave for summer vacation, everything wouldfix itself.... but it didn't. Now I am realizing that school wasn't actually to blame for my failures and it is just me. Looking back, I am still more successful than when I first started. (even in the midst of thinking that I'm a piece of shit.) The catalyst to all of this, again, is just my tendency to always want more, more, more, more, and to never be content with what I have WHILE ALSO pursuing greater. Has anyone else dealt with something similar? If so, please help me out. This is my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for quite a while.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[heavy_industry]

As I was slowly slipping, my mind would tell me that I am not living up to my expectations, and I just quit everything all together.

This is how the beginning of a downwards spiral looks like.

This way of thinking is analogous to planting a seed, then waiting for a few weeks or months. When the young tree finally starts to sprout, you look at it in disbelief, getting angry that it's not a massive tree yet, and proceeding to crush it.

Life is going to be a very long battle.

Progress towards a life-changing goal (financial or otherwise) is going to be exponential. Exponential means extremely slow growth at first, followed by a massive and "sudden" spike later down the road, when everything seems to turn into gold overnight.

Get used to executing the process without expecting any immediate results.

As long as you follow a viable strategy and you keep nourishing the tree, the fruit will eventually come.

Patience. Humility. Discipline. Iterative improvement.

The fruit will come.


And this is true with business, fitness, relationships, and any other worthwhile human endeavor.

 

[smarty]

This is a pretty f*cked up problem, but a year ago I was hooked on a bunch of bad habits, getting no sleep, eating bad foods, always distracting myself, and consuming lots of content on social media. I decided to switch my life to a total 180, and it doesn't seem to have lasted. I have been hitting the gym for a while, working my job for a while, and overall doing good for a while. Whenever anything that I want happens, I never stop and say "Hey, I am genuinely happy with the result.", but instead, "Good, let's keep it going." Now this is where everything starts to fall apart, I am a sophomore in highschool, and towards the end of this year, things have gotten so stressful to the point where NEARLY 80% of my post-school time has been taken up by schoolwork itself, and it's been hard to hold a grip on everything. As I was slowly slipping, my mind would tell me that I am not living up to my expectations, and I just quit everything all together. It's been a month since this happened, and I thought the day I would leave for summer vacation, everything wouldfix itself.... but it didn't. Now I am realizing that school wasn't actually to blame for my failures and it is just me. Looking back, I am still more successful than when I first started. (even in the midst of thinking that I'm a piece of shit.) The catalyst to all of this, again, is just my tendency to always want more, more, more, more, and to never be content with what I have WHILE ALSO pursuing greater. Has anyone else dealt with something similar? If so, please help me out. This is my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for quite a while.

Always wanting more is not a bad thing in and on itself. But it sounds like you might be using "wanting more" to avoid something else or run from some issue you don't wanna face. Anyways I'd say I've been in a similar situation let's say 10 years ago and when I think of it now I find it pretty amusing and kinda sad at the same time because so much time was wasted worying about things that aren't really important, trying to feel important. Take your time, explore different ideas but give up that sense of guilt because it doesn't help at all. You're not obliged to "be grateful" at good things but you can certainly appreciate that you can walk, write and are not lying in a hospital bed like many others are.

 

[anir]

Patience. Humility. Discipline. Iterative improvement.

Thank you for this, I think it's just what I needed. I'll keep that in mind, especially the discipline and patience part. I will focus on also being content with what I have now.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[anir]

Always wanting more is not a bad thing in and on itself. But it sounds like you might be using "wanting more" to avoid something else or run from some issue you don't wanna face. Anyways I'd say I've been in a similar situation let's say 10 years ago and when I think of it now I find it pretty amusing and kinda sad at the same time because so much time was wasted worying about things that aren't really important, trying to feel important. Take your time, explore different ideas but give up that sense of guilt because it doesn't help at all. You're not obliged to "be grateful" at good things but you can certainly appreciate that you can walk, write and are not lying in a hospital bed like many others are.

Well, the issue I'm running away from is lack of freedom in my life generally. And money buys that freedom.

 

[smarty]

Well, the issue I'm running away from is lack of freedom in my life generally. And money buys that freedom.

At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 I had zero money. After working as a freelancer for many years, always trying to avoid a 9-5 job slavery I had ran out of money (and out of nerves) and could not see any proper solution. I started to borrow from my mom's account to pay my rent and that was really painful because I never wanted, but I had to.
So I decided I'd be open to whatever opportunity that would came. A month later I got an offer from a friend, for a job. They were starting a new tech company. So I joined. The pay wasn't great but was enough to move me from 0 to 1.
8 months later the company shut down and I was again "free" but no money coming in.
5 months after that I got another job but this time I decided to ask for 2X pay, because I saw so much opportunity at the first job. I got the job and I'm currently at 3X pay compared to my first job and I'm at a position to start experimenting with a few side-projects.
The moral of the story is: one step at a time, and once you're at a better position you can jump more.
It's always about improving your current position.
And at every new job you get, ask for 1.5X-2X of your previous pay.

 

[Financial_Femme]

I'm not sure what your childhood was like, but I find, because of my upbringing that when something seems to good to be true I don't feel worthy, or it's hard to be grateful for it because in my mind something will come along and jeopardize it all. It also drives a need to have and do more, with the idea that maybe the next thing in line will be better, or provide that overwhelming hit of satisfaction that comes with achieving something profound. It's only when I started to address my issues with a psychologist that I'm now at a level of peace in my life, but it takes hard work to be like that on the daily!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Subsonic]

This is a pretty f*cked up problem, but a year ago I was hooked on a bunch of bad habits, getting no sleep, eating bad foods, always distracting myself, and consuming lots of content on social media. I decided to switch my life to a total 180, and it doesn't seem to have lasted. I have been hitting the gym for a while, working my job for a while, and overall doing good for a while. Whenever anything that I want happens, I never stop and say "Hey, I am genuinely happy with the result.", but instead, "Good, let's keep it going." Now this is where everything starts to fall apart, I am a sophomore in highschool, and towards the end of this year, things have gotten so stressful to the point where NEARLY 80% of my post-school time has been taken up by schoolwork itself, and it's been hard to hold a grip on everything. As I was slowly slipping, my mind would tell me that I am not living up to my expectations, and I just quit everything all together. It's been a month since this happened, and I thought the day I would leave for summer vacation, everything wouldfix itself.... but it didn't. Now I am realizing that school wasn't actually to blame for my failures and it is just me. Looking back, I am still more successful than when I first started. (even in the midst of thinking that I'm a piece of shit.) The catalyst to all of this, again, is just my tendency to always want more, more, more, more, and to never be content with what I have WHILE ALSO pursuing greater. Has anyone else dealt with something similar? If so, please help me out. This is my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for quite a while.

Don't compare your chapter 3 to someone's chapter 10 is a saying that helped me stay motivated.

This is the struggle and as long as you don't quit you will archive your goals. It may take you longer than others but that is ok. Success is not a zero sum game.

 

[Mind:Life]

Congratulations on realizing that the problem is you! Most people continue to blame other people, places, and circumstances for their problems. So you are off to a good start.

I suggest the need for “more, more, more” is the symptom not the problem. Ask yourself why you need more more and more. Once you find the true cause, you can come up with a better strategy than more more and more to get the thing that you truly want. Take your time and be honest with yourself even if it hurts. It probably will hurt and you will want to avoid it. the benefit will be a lifetime of true motivation.

 

[WJK]

This is a pretty f*cked up problem, but a year ago I was hooked on a bunch of bad habits, getting no sleep, eating bad foods, always distracting myself, and consuming lots of content on social media. I decided to switch my life to a total 180, and it doesn't seem to have lasted. I have been hitting the gym for a while, working my job for a while, and overall doing good for a while. Whenever anything that I want happens, I never stop and say "Hey, I am genuinely happy with the result.", but instead, "Good, let's keep it going." Now this is where everything starts to fall apart, I am a sophomore in highschool, and towards the end of this year, things have gotten so stressful to the point where NEARLY 80% of my post-school time has been taken up by schoolwork itself, and it's been hard to hold a grip on everything. As I was slowly slipping, my mind would tell me that I am not living up to my expectations, and I just quit everything all together. It's been a month since this happened, and I thought the day I would leave for summer vacation, everything wouldfix itself.... but it didn't. Now I am realizing that school wasn't actually to blame for my failures and it is just me. Looking back, I am still more successful than when I first started. (even in the midst of thinking that I'm a piece of shit.) The catalyst to all of this, again, is just my tendency to always want more, more, more, more, and to never be content with what I have WHILE ALSO pursuing greater. Has anyone else dealt with something similar? If so, please help me out. This is my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for quite a while.

It takes time to change your habits and attitudes. You can't do a 180-degree turn and be successful. The human mind and spirit don't work that way. Take baby steps and keep trying. Read some books on how to change habits. It's a process. You'll have days where you can make the changes and others where you'll fall flat on your face.

You say you want more, more, more? Of what and for what purpose? What does that "more" mean to you? Until you determine "why" you will fail. You'll fall off of the apple cart really fast.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.