We all enter different stages of development during our lives. The turmoil of one year can lead to the next, and prevent us from truly expressing our goals. If this continues for long enough, you might even forget the reason for your intention in the first place. This can be a dangerous place to occupy because as the years pass on, you can become familiar with losing instead of winning. If you’re to be happy and comfortable with yourself, however, you choose to express that, you might need to go back to the drawing board and develop a more wholesome way of experiencing your life.

Life difficulties are nothing new. In fact, they can inform and help your future personality in a big, boosted and positive way. We all must go through trials and tribulations, they help define us. However, the lingering effect of difficulty will only hurt if it leaves us bent out of shape. It’s our job to rectify ourselves because there’s nothing more powerful than a person who is able to overcome their personal challenges and move onto something new.

The new year is arriving and with that the potential for a completely new story to be crafted. A common phrase you often hear from people who have experienced difficulty and come out the other side is that ‘it made me who I am.’ This is the power of restoring your initial pride and achievement desires; it retroactively helps you define the struggle you once experienced, and be grateful for the process.

Figure Out What’s Important To You

You need a plan, or you’ll likely end up falling into someone else’s. You should never feel guilty about developing your aims, your goals and your life in a direction you most cherish. In fact, without a plan, life can become wishy-washy and unfulfilled. For this reason, becoming a better you requires discipline in planning. Note down everything important to you, from your wants, your needs, your loves and who you hope to impact with this motivational effort.

It could be that you have a son or daughter you wish to provide for more completely. It could be that your business idea you know could be a hit is sat in the cobwebs of your mind, when it should be out there making you and your family money. It could be that your body is weak, frail and flabby from lack of exercise, and you’re simply sick of feeling weak all the time. No matter if your motivation is to be successful in your career, social health or physical well being (preferably it’ll be all three,) defining a goal helps you go for it. Plan realistically, on a day by day and week by week basis exactly how you can utilize your free time to achieve that you truly need to achieve.

Another amazing way to facilitate progress, especially if you haven’t had much success with this in the past, is to use the carrot and punishment method. List everything you hope to achieve, and everything you’d do if you treat yourself as someone you loved. Write your perspective on how great life could be if you kept this up for five years. Then, write down all of your vices, and how life could look if you indulged in them for the next five years. This will generate a ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ scenario in your mind, something to run to and run away from. This helps progress more than any other because both positive and negative sides of your motivation are contributing to the same goal you are hoping to achieve.

Get To The Gym

Your gym workouts are important to get right. They help you look good and become healthier yes, but they work on a much deeper level than that too. Working out in the morning a few days a week helps you get over that initial hump of a challenge. This can translate into confidence, sharpness and perspective during your day. The added difficulty of a morning workout can also help your mind focus on something other than your life issues, or achievements you need to perfect.

One of the best things about heading to the gym, particular weightlifting, is that you aren’t able to fool it. While you may be able to convince yourself that your plans are flexible because you feel lethargic today, or you have to head to the bar for a good social life, heading to the gym sheds all illusions. A 200lb bar squat will always be a 200lb bar squat, and no amount of negotiation will change the effort it takes to lift it. This helps put you in that ‘no-BS’ mode which is intrinsically important to keep if you’re to achieve anything in this life.

The gym is much more than a physical remedy. It can be a spiritual training tool if you focus on it right, and optimize all progress around it. If nothing else, setting yourself in a solid routine aside from your job will help you manage your free time to a much better degree. The energy you receive from getting in shape will fuel all of your exploits from now on, to the point where you’ll question how you lived without it.

Equip Yourself

To take care of both of these previous tidbits of advice, you’ll need to equip yourself well. Purchase stationary and a yearly planner. A diary will help you track your progress from all avenues of your goals. Make a ‘tracker wall’ which details your progress, your plans, your appointments and your need to celebrate success.

Purchase more suitable gym attire, ones which help you feel like a powerful beast when working out and placing down the revolutionary effort you are lucky enough to express. If distracting people impede your progress and you no longer need their toxicity, change your phone number, temporarily suspend your Facebook and social media accounts for clarity, and focus on your goals. This ‘cocoon’ mode can help any man with the singular focus it takes to become the person they want to be.

Before long, and in a matter of months, you are likely to experience a resurgence in your motivation, happiness, and pride. The best part of it all? It will all be down to you.

Until next time, it’s The Gentlemen’s Curb a lifestyle blog where fashion and fitness meet in a BIG way.