Have you ever felt that your life is shallow and unfulfilling, leaving you gasping for meaning in a sea of mediocrity? The world we live in has just as much depth as a puddle in the desert, leaving one thirsty for deep relief from the thirstiness of life? This book is a ray of reality against the darkness of delusions that would try to swallow our hopes and dreams if unabated. The cornerstone of the book is: truth hurts but honesty kills. We need honesty and authenticity for us to stay the course in our own lives, we can't go half-mast on the seas of successes.
Have you ever felt that your life is shallow and unfulfilling, leaving you gasping for meaning in a sea of mediocrity? The world we live in has just as much depth as a puddle in the desert, leaving one thirsty for deep relief from the thirstiness of life? This book is a ray of reality against the darkness of delusions that would try to swallow our hopes and dreams if unabated. The cornerstone of the book is: truth hurts but honesty kills. We need honesty and authenticity for us to stay the course in our own lives, we can't go half-mast on the seas of successes.
The world we live in can rarely be thought of in absolute terms but it does provide the high likelihood that there is room for interpretation of the same things. Despite it being foolish to only have two categories to put a whole world into, it is said that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, for example.It could be that a stockpile of gold is deemed trash when the price crashes and one would be left with a very pretty paperweight. The value might then come from turning that brick of gold into a literal brick for a new home to keep oneself warm for the winter. If I would say something like this to a person they would think that I’m mentally insane but during the time after WW1 the German mark was so devalued and the cost of food was so high that it made more sense to just burn it. In another scenario, leftovers from a meal can be used for compost or be part of a biodegradable process that can lower hunger the world over. The trash is broken and made to be something organic so life can come forth from it through science and ingenuity.The said trash comes to be less waste to a fuel that can help solve problems or spark new innovations that were not thought possible when it was so called “trash”. The point is the circumstance and an object’s true value can be changed on the drop of a hat and it is subject to the perspective of the person using it. The worth of any material goods is difficult to ascertain, and it gets much harder to have a consensus value on more abstract concepts like love which has a highly individualistic sliding scale. I share these examples to introduce a very hard abstract concept that has a myriad of and often lies very much with the eye of the beholder: success.
This is the one thing everybody wants to be to a certain extent but if you ask any two people what success means to them, you will have two very different sides to the same coin. Success can come from many different strata: wealth, possessions, status and/or respect one gains from their peers. For example, it could cover less debt, more food in the fridge, a cleaner house being clean for parties or the stability of a good job. The term means so much for so many but I will try to nail down the specifics of success that go past these. The main drive of this chapter is distilling past the semantics and layers of what success means to more towards what it is and focusing on what it truly entails. I will now go through some of the key markers that I believe from the pattern on the road to success. These are by no means all-inclusive and can vary widely from person to person but I believe that I will start with the most basic ; you can't be comfortable. The one thing keeping most people from success is themselves and that is no truer when people become too comfortable in their lives. An individual will get annoyed or aggravated by something small in their lives but will allow it to keep happening due to the familiar being, well, comfortable. Mountains can be turned to rumble by small drops of water not due to one storm but rather consistent drips occuring over a long period of time. A person just takes that annoyance and it goes on to affect their lives in small ways that add up, the chronic stress hurting their health.We’ve all felt the stress that comes from working. An individual will spend most of their lives working and what they can control to make it less annoying needs to be considered. . Also accepting your coworkers or conditions can be a choice as well, it depends on what you are willing to put up with when it comes to your own situations. When it comes to the environments that we as individuals put ourselves into, it is not good to complain about something and then not do anything about it. A person who desires change needs to make the decision to act on it and not complain about their choice in the meantime. Complaining is very easy and a wanting eye paired with a lazy hand is a combination that will doom you to life-long unfulfillment. The act of change is hard and it needs full commitment and complaining results in the same problems without solutions. Complaining also attracts the wrong people to you, and circumstances that will only hinder progress instead of pushing your goals forward. An individual can always make something up about why they're not where they need to be, and why they don’t have a reason to continue forward, and so complaining can become a never-ending hindrance due to the fact. An individual needs to count the ways they can be proactive, and in their situation better , as well as minimize their energy loss from complaining. To reach our goals, we need to have positivity and lessons, and negativity only begets more negativity. To keep ourselves on the right trajectory, we need to prioritize what we want more of in our lives and to filter out what we. A positive attitude must be shielded against the discouragement and setbacks that can hurt our chances of achieving success. The positive attitude begets resilience as we , like all of the great boxers , go the distance with our goals. The other way to think about this is that the process of living in the positive is selective and only lets the right people into your life. On the other hand, misery loves company so being negative will only make you miserable. Discipline and trade offs are required to bring a goal, of any kind, to fruition. A life spent undisciplined and unfocused, only led by a wild wind will not allow the creation of success to take place if there is no strong foundation in place for doing so. A person must become somewhat obsessed and/or possessed about achieving their success, and must keep up the momentum to manifest it. Weak resolve can correlate with a strong chance of not being successful. Success doesn't have a schedule, there may be many attempts to foil your success but the disciple will reinforce their resolve to keep going on their journey until they can travel it no longer. The way you are perceived, internally or externally, is heavily dependent on your reputation, and what do people know you for. The idea of identity is separate from the reputation, this, as identity deals with ideas and reputation deals with actions.
Your reputation will make your life better or worse, based on the personal action that created it. . The goal is to be balanced internally, to be able to launch into an endeavor in a way that does not make us our own worst enemies. Also it will attract and repel based on the energy that an individual projects.The reputation is built up from actions and the best place is through competition, is the best opportunity to do this. Building a reputation long haul process and loss or victory from a competition will signal others around you, what the outcome is and you will be judged accordingly. The competition doesn’t need to be big or small, just that it will test your mettle. I myself have done strongman competitions that honestly showed me what I was truly made of. The goal should be to efficiently win, a battle that bolsters your reputation and makes others worried to confront you. The steps and achievements for success require a hefty amount of introspection but there is only one question that determines the trajectory of success or failure: How badly do you want it? This is the main pillar of success and the answer given will mean the literal difference between victory or defeat. The question also acts as a contract of sorts, a down payment to your destiny to keep you honest and accountable. Most people who are successful are honest with themselves; they know what went wrong and need to find out how to course correct. The act of asking that question is a deliberate thing that most people don’t want to do, they would rather live in an illustrious illusion instead of rational reality. After this crucial step of introspection, later steps should be made easier. You cannot depend on someone else to help you with our struggle and it all comes down to how valuable your success is to you.The world we live in seems to want to distract us and keep us away from greater heights and focus on the many minor mundanities of mortality. The ones talking about are being distracted by the media and the others around us keeping us from being focused, corruption is corruption no matter how innocent. The truth of the matter is that society is indifferent to your success because not everyone has the definition of success. A human being by default is a selfish being, and wants their needs achieved over others. Being disciplined allows you to put blinders on to stay in your path, your eyes focused on your goals but blind to those of others. The truth of the matter is when one is striving for oneself, it becomes necessary to become a loner. There's only one seat on the throne after all. Most People don't become selfish due to malfeasance on their own journey just requires them to have a laser-focus. The achievement or failure of a goal comes down to many factors but the main one is the person who declares it. It can be trying to be the only one responsible for your success, but I think it has much more, ironically, it is more liberating. The control one gains from these decisions will give them a cornerstone to make a foundation brick by brick for their future. In the end, the individual either goes into the winner’s circle surrounded by success or drinking at blaming somebody else's fault else for their poor performance. A person must ingrain in themselves that the only thing they should be able to count on is in themselves, nobody owes you a red cent and no one else should be needed to keep yourself accountable. That all comes from inside. The final idea of this chapter is that both roads take you down a solo path. Success can attract the right people but it can also cause jealousy or intimidation. There will be people who want to take advantage of yours, enriching themselves at the expense of you and your success . Failure can attract and repel as well, people can suck your motivation and be a contagion for more misery. In the end, to reach our goal, most of us will have to walk the path alone. It is a harsh world and most people will either intentionally or unintentionally try to sabotage either. A person needs to strive and the goal is the only thing that will keep most people going.
Chapter Exercises + Example
An argument usually comes when one can’t agree on a definition, so I’m going to ask what is your definition of success? What is your definition of success? Does it mean being there more for your children and/or being there more for your dog? I would ponder to find out if it's realistic and if it is manageable, nobody won a race just thinking about the finish line. The point I’m trying to make is what is your finish line and how are you going to get there, the trophy usually comes into play after these two questions are asked.
A good way to start working one’s success muscles, they need lighter weights to work up to a PR. The way that I see it is good to start off with small projects and/or missions to have some small amount of confidence. A small step can lead to consistently getting closer to one’s goals, one just me mindful of the momentum of their trajectory. The first thing would be to start off small, do a small step or project that will help instill confidence. The way to think about it is like a war, the smallest of victories can make the largest impacts but they have to keep coming to offset the forces against oneself. An attacking force needs more resources to be capable of outlasting the defending force, it needs to expend a lot of resources to make its claim. The small victories achieved will give them the confidence and motivation to extend their grasp farther, looking until they can’t reach any higher of their own personal heaven.
Examples: I was in high school when I learned this lesson and it has stuck with me, when it comes to the definition and living it. I had a hard time when it comes to dealing with people and I was hitting the Mariana Trench in terms of my depression. Also I was severely overweight and I wanted to be more than a bloated walking potato that occasionally told jokes. I decided to get out of my house to escape the pain and join a ton of clubs along with sports. The time was rough and it was hard to keep up but I was always there no matter what. The people around me could count on me and to be there no matter what, I even went to so many events that I was awarded a citizenship award for my performance. The only reason I got it was that I made it a priority and missed a lot of things by putting it on a pedestal but putting it up higher made me keep reaching higher for my success.
In Looking Inward for a Better Life, Dalton Dean Blankinship, an expert in nutritional science and health and human performance, attempts to help readers navigate the often-difficult journey toward living a fulfilling life by reigniting their inner spark. Readers go through themes that revolve around self-respect, the value of communication, and the importance of a balanced internal state in sixteen detailed chapters. Based on a few fundamental life principles that the world seems to have forgotten in recent times, Dalton also goes further to explore personal growth, unconventional perspectives, and the pursuit of inner satisfaction as comprehensively and concisely as possible.
One aspect of the book that quickly stands out from the start is the author's emphasis on how societal norms have stifled valuable ideas and unconventional perspectives. Dalton does well to question these norms, and he encourages readers to develop critical thinking skills, among other skills, while voicing dissenting opinions. This impressively positions this guide as a catalyst for discussions and ideas that do not conform to the mainstream.
From Dalton’s tone throughout the book, he displays a strong belief in the power of individuality and personal growth. He stresses that success should focus on personal growth rather than “a descent into moral decay,” while he expertly highlights how important commitment and the pursuit of one's passion are. This is a reminder to readers of how important authenticity is in achieving their goals. We do not get enough of these reminders, so this is a welcome development in the book. Readers will particularly find these aspects of the book relatable because many people, including myself at times, struggle to define success in today’s world, spending most of their time comparing themselves with others without finding out what success means to them and their purpose in life. Dalton's ability to provide much-needed clarity through the advice he offers in the book is also noteworthy.
Other highlights of the book are its practicality as well as the visible effort Dalton puts into fostering reader participation and learning. He does this by including relevant exercises that will help readers apply his lessons at the end of each chapter, which range from visualization exercises to numerous questions you will have to answer about your personal life to set you on your journey toward fulfillment.
Readers should keep in mind that the author's personal stories included at the end of each chapter could seem like cliché motivational stories at times. However, this does not take too much away from the overall impact of the book's message. In addition, readers will find some of Dalton’s personal reflections touching and inspiring. Good examples are especially in the stories that detailed his uncle’s impact on his life and his struggles with depression.
Readers who enjoy books on self-development, as well as books that inspire positive thoughts and critical thinking, should read this book.