An Unconventional Courage: The Fight Club Method
This is a guest post by my lovely BFF, Andrea Speir. Andrea is a pilates instructor in Los Angeles and personally kicks my a** every week. Andrea Speir Pilates focuses on fun, energetic sessions that get results. If you’re in LA, check her out fo sho. If not, no worries; she’s online, too! Click here to go to her site and make sure to like her page on Facebook for inspirational images, tips and fun!*****There are times we all find ourselves a bit unmotivated, if you will.I will go through phases of feeling like the most proactive and ambitious person in the world...There are other times I find myself wanting to just stare at the TV and eat that whole bag of peanut butter filled pretzels. That’s right, the bag.Why stop? Who cares? It’s just time ticking away as well as my motivation to be the better version of myself dwindling away into a weak, peanut butter filled blur...When these moments happen, we have the option to sink deeper or climb out. The example of me and my peanut butter laziness is of course an undramatic example, but we all have felt it.Sometimes it’s more extreme: we want to be something when we grow up. When we feel the inkling of it being out of our reach or too hard, we question ourselves. Are we good enough, smart enough, bold enough? As soon as those questions start firing off in our brains, we can have a tendency to shy away.This fear dictates what our lives will be. What our story will be.Relaxing and turning off our minds is not only good from time to time, but necessary as well. The trick is not getting stuck in that rut. The more ambitious and proactive we are, the more daring and successful we are.Great achievements come from moments of bravery. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to act. We need to be reminded that we are capable of accomplishing things we have previously deemed “too daunting.”This may sound crazy, but the movie Fight Club has been a stabilizing pillar in many of the scariest moments of my life. There is a scene in this movie that has motivated more in me than you would have imagined.
The lead character, Tyler Durton, holds a gun to a convenience store clerk’s head. He asks the man what he studied in college. The man admits that he always wanted to be a veterinarian. Tyler Durton tells the man he has three weeks to begin taking steps to becoming a veterinarian. If he hasn’t done so in this time, he will come back and kill him.
This is unconventional. Shocking. Bizarre and violent.Mulling over the possibilities and experiencing a drastic increase in motivation from asking myself a couple simple questions led me to develop what I like to call, "The Fight Club Method."It’s quite simple. Try it on for size:
If you had three weeks to begin taking action toward the life you always wanted, what would you do? What would you do to change your life?
Giving yourself the time to honestly answer this question is absolutely eye-opening. We let ourselves become so complacent with a life that is easy and comfortable. Was that the life you wanted? I’m not saying go out and make dramatic life changes. I’m not saying quit your job.I am asking you what makes you smile. What did you love doing when you were younger and without the strain and duty of “being an adult?” This question reminds me to go for the life I want and be bold. Without action I will not achieve results.If I want my life to be a certain way, I have to be the one to make it so. It is all about willpower. We must will our lives to be lived a certain way. That might literally be by making the choice to love the life we have.I make a point to check in with myself from time to time. If I feel like I am giving up on a route I was on or a goal I had, I ask myself why. I ask myself what I could do to make my life and my heart stronger and more fulfilled.If I had three weeks, would I be doing anything differently? The goal is to say no. No, you wouldn’t be doing anything differently because you are living life to the fullest and living out your dreams.Live your dreams, people. No one is stopping you.*****If you liked this post, make sure to check out Andrea's last post for Strong Inside Out, How Losing My Dream Made Me Stronger!Till next time, guys...In strength,Amy