Early on in life Sean struggled with panic attacks, anxiety and depression all stemming from an unhealthy lifestyle and a weed brownie gone wrong. For months, Sean couldn’t even bring himself to get out of bed, and common activities like grocery shopping lead to severe anxiety attacks. Sean decided to defeat take back control of his life and delved heavily into personal growth.
Now, 3 years later, Sean is a totally different person free from anxiety, depression and panic. Sean is the founder and CEO of the manprovement blog and podcast, a platform that allows him to help thousands of men become their best selves
“Man cannot remake himself without struggle for he is both the marble and the sculptor” – Alexis Carol
1. Always keep hope
For years, Sean suffered through severe bouts of anxiety and depression, making life a living hell. Through it all, he never lost hope, he never gave up or stopped believing life could change. No matter what situation you face in your own life, you must keep hope.
It may look like your relationships will never improve, it may look like you will always be broke and unemployed, and it may look like you will always be depressed and unhappy with your life. But if you put in the work and strive to make changes, your life can and will improve.
2. Learn self reliance
To be a complete man, you must be self reliant. This means that you take responsibility for everything in your life, and are operating out of a mindset that says “I am enough.” You have a higher purpose and are working to achieve it, you do not need anything other than yourself.
You could have everything you’ve worked to build stripped away and you will still be just as content as you are now. Any man who wants to achieve greatly learn to rely on himself and not other, he must learn to be content with who and what he is, but always be striving to improve.
1. Decide to take the wheel
One of the biggest turning points in every man’s life is when he decides to take responsibility for everything in his life. Whatever you have or do not have is your fault. This does not mean you blame yourself for failures, you simply accept where you are and accept that it is within your power to change it.
2. Get a clear vision of who you want to be
“If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there”~Lewis Carol
If you want to achieve anything big in life be it in your health, finances, relationships or personal growth, you must have a road map to get there, a clearly defined end goal. You must decide what you want before you can take the appropriate steps to achieve it.
3. Make yourself accountable
Having clearly defined, written goals with a deadline is one of the most powerful accelerators to your success, add some social pressure by posting your goals on Facebook or Twitter and you are golden.
4. Reverse engineer goals
After you have your ideal future, and clearly defined goals to get you there. You must reverse engineer. Look at the end result you want and figure out each step it will take to get there.
5. Create automation and habits
To make the achievement of your goals easier, create powerful habits in your life that will get you closer to your goal each day. Are you trying to write a book? Wake up an hour before you have to every morning and write 1,000 words. Trying to build a better body? Start implementing small healthy habits like drinking more water or walking in the morning. The more you can make your habits work for you, the quicker you will achieve your goals.
6. Self educate
Never allow disabling ignorance to prevent you from achieving a goal you have set. With public libraries and the internet there is no excuse for lack of knowledge.
7. Visualize daily
Once you have a clearly defined end goal or “ideal self” take ten minutes each morning and visualize yourself having already achieved the goal. This is a powerful way to train your brain to achieve success before you take the first step
8. Put in the work
None of the above steps will work without this, you cannot achieve anything without action, and not just any action, massive action. If you want success, you can no longer be content to simply visualize what you want. Turn off the xbox, get off your ass and start making it happen.
9 & 10. Bonuses:
Adding cold showers, meditation and daily exercise to your morning or evening routines will supercharge your mind and body for success. Also maintaining a long term mindset (3-5 years for big goals) will help keep you grounded and on track when times get hard.