Submitted by maxwesener t3_100i9xq in GetMotivated

Looking back at the past 4 years, I honestly still can't believe it.

Every area of my life has changed so much that I'm starting to question whether all this is a dream or not.

A little bit of context.

When I finished high school in 2018, I had no direction, was addicted to video games, Youtube, and porn.

Social anxiety? Check. Skinny af? Check. Lazy? Check.

It's not that I didn't want to improve, but I couldn't figure out how.

Every time I got excited, I would tell everyone about my goals and plans to change.

And then did nothing.

Back to playing video games and jerking off.

Every now and then, a surge of motivation hit me.

But it always went away before I could make any meaningful progress.

Except for one thing. One habit I was able to build over the course of months.

This daily action has led to a cascade of improvements that I still can't fully believe.

See, as I'm writing this, I'm sitting in a café in Bali next to palm trees, temples, and gorgeous women walking by on their way to their yoga sessions.

I've quit all of my addictions and bad habits.

I moved together with 4 other entrepreneurs, got in the best shape of my life, and now live the life I've designed over the past few years.

The amount of gratitude and happiness I feel is almost unbearable.

Now, enough of that. I just want to make the following point land:

Daily problem-solving will transform you and your life within a few years.

You'll be unrecognizable.

But what do I mean by "problem-solving"?

Back in 2018, I began journaling about the things that were going wrong in my life.

Writing about problems or weaknesses I had, mistakes I was making, or things I wanted to change and improve.

This changed everything.

See, writing = thinking on steroids.

When you write, you are developing your thoughts and ideas in a much more sophisticated way.

This makes problem-solving a thousand times more effective.

In your head, all you can do is think of a problem you have. Over and over again, without moving forward.

But when you write, you keep moving forward - with the previous sentences acting as a safety net.

When I started writing every day, I gained more awareness of what was going on and the problems that were lying beneath the surface.

Which allowed me to find and develop solutions.

Deconstructing problems piece by piece, and then solving them step by step.

See, self-development is quite simple:

You identify problems and then search for solutions, which you then put into action.

This is not easy by any means.

But everything that is worthwhile is difficult.

I believe that this form of writing is the most powerful habit that you can build.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know what you think.

Max

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Comments

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justasmalltowndad t1_j2hyx2k wrote

I typically avoid long bullet text stories like this... I find them to be unnecessarily long and cliche. But this one drew me in and the payoff was insanely good, I had goosebumps and that's not just me being a yes-man lol.

You truly impressed me, and I feel like it would almost be disrespectful to not at least try this habit. I used to journal consistently as a teen but stopped with the advent of having a smartphone. I've been having the feeling that I need to start it up again, maybe with a twist so it's not just me documenting my life passively... And this post just confirmed that those promptings are correct.

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wearethepeopleibrox t1_j2ifrzp wrote

I write everything down using a technique called "secoond brain" which you can find lots of online material about.

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sisterlouise t1_j2japkv wrote

You should be very proud of yourself, Max - you improved your life and offered a route for others to improve their own life. Good work! 🤗

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StifflerCP t1_j2l85b5 wrote

Why is this written like a shitty LinkedIn post, when the moral of it is “write shit down”

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RedPandaLovesYou t1_j2lmuo1 wrote

Love this and love that for you! Thanks for sharing my friend <3

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