Stop scrolling and do something with your life (part 1)

Just stop scrolling aimlessly

You open LinkedIn every day,

you are browsing the feed,

You know you want change,

but you take no action,

you are not active in anything except liking the 2 people who post good jokes every day,

You secretly wonder whether you should look for a new job or if your current one has a future...

if this is you - read below

By the end of the article we will understand how

• to choose the direction in which to transform your career
• to get rid of the insecurity of taking the step
• (in part 2) to make a plan for personal transformation and the next level in your career

If you've come this far, most likely a voice inside you is telling you that you can do more - trust it, change is not far away!

The first question we need to answer is - where will you seek your career development - your current role or a more promising one; your current company or a new one?

When you have no direction, you become unstable. You can quickly find yourself in a place of helplessness and depression, and even more dangerously, reach a state of prolonged uselessness.

This article is for you whether or not you want to choose a direction and goal!

“…but, Mitak, I don't want to do anything, I'm just scrolling here because I'm bored…”

Yeah. If that's the case, forget LinkedIn for a week, go on a social media diet, and focus on doing something beyond the expectations of your current job. Don't just be a silent feed centrifuge.

The moment will come when you will have to choose one way or another.

Better to put your energy into pursuing a promising goal now than to invest it in unscrupulous means of getting back into the game when your continued lack of contribution to your work is revealed!

Focus and start working so that when mass layoffs occur, an earthquake or a meteorite hits the earth, you will be the only survivor.

Volunteer on a project outside of your department.

Ask for more responsibilities and manage them with a spirit of excellence.

Conduct business analysis, find solutions, and present it to the team.

Choose a topic that excites you and will add value to the organization, prepare a presentation and invite everyone to a webinar.

Engage with people outside your department, offer them assistance, go to them with a ready-made proposal.

Work so that they can't part with you!

The law of entropy says that if you don't grow, you degrade. You won't stay in the same "safe" place - you will imperceptibly become lazier, you will lose inner self-confidence, you will become unattractive to others, and subsequent elevation to another level will be much more difficult for you.

A bad system of action leads to an avalanche of problems in all areas of your life.

If your scrolling is an expression of your inner hesitation about what exactly you should do, the fastest way to get clarity on direction is:

Take a sheet of paper and divide it in 2.

• On one side, write down all the reasons to stay at your current job.
• on the other side write what will happen if you find a new job

Save the sheet, you'll need it later!

If the positive difference between the 2 is at least 1 to 3, your direction is eloquent.

Act!

If you still hesitate, repeat the exercise a few times.

Sometimes we put off important decisions for too long, and our thoughts need systematic crystallization!

Now let's delve into how to get rid of insecurity and inaction.

Again - stop hoping that the power of your scrolling on LinkedIn will equal the power of a magical increase in your standard of living.?

If you are in deep conflict with yourself, even the smallest force will stop you from taking any useful action.

It's better to be purposeful and goal-oriented. I know it's not easy.

When you don't have a direction to strive for, everything torments you and you don't feel like doing anything.

The danger in hesitating to trade comfort for uncertainty is that the only place you'll end up when you don't take risks is the island of "quits."

It's normal to have all sorts of demotivating thoughts running through your head.

It's scary to think "what if"...

“What if I can’t make it?”

“How can I pay back[…]fill in the blank”

"Children need to be looked after.."

The real danger is that life becomes too safe.

In nature, animals that avoid risk are called mollusks. Slow, nasty, and encased in shells. They usually end up being eaten by someone.

And those who face challenges and dangers are graceful, strong, stand majestically and are even scary. (If you haven't seen one, go to the zoo in Sofia and try not to take your eyes off a bear, tiger or lion for at least 3 minutes without interruption without getting the shivers)

Take your child to a playground that is not dangerous enough and see how he will either not want to play on it or will use it for other purposes.

We are programmed with the instinct to take risks and gain experience. You need something dangerous enough.

I know this all sounds a bit superficial. But at the same time it's very profound.

Look at how things stand from a neurobiological point of view.

You often encounter things that you don't like at all.

Get up 1 hour earlier every morning

Don't drink coffee after 2 pm.

Eating a nasty egg salad instead of chocolate chip cookies

To repair the broken door to the room, which you have been putting off for years

Going out and working out to exhaustion in front of the block, even though it's raining

Make 5 more sales calls

To repair the broken door of the room

Going to the boss and asking for a raise

Dare to apply for a position you are 'not qualified for'

Usually, the things we don't do are the ones that are either useful or, even better, lead to growth and success.

The latest research shows that a specific part of your brain called the 'Anterior mid-cingulate cortex' (I won't translate it into Bulgarian) increases in size every time you do something you don't feel like doing. So you can train it.

This structure in the brain is smaller in overweight people, for example, because they rarely give in to temptation. But it starts to grow when they go on a diet.

It is more developed in professional athletes, who often have to exhaust themselves physically and mentally on a daily basis - something that is by default not pleasant. (As a former professional athlete, at least 5-6 out of 10 times I didn't feel like training at all...for 10 years...)

It is exceptionally large and developed in people who have faced an extraordinary challenge and overcome it.

And the most unique thing is that in all studied living people of unusually old age (90-100 years old), this structure is very well developed.

In other words, scientists do not associate it with willpower (which other centers in the brain are also responsible for), but with the will to live.

The shallow conclusion from deep science is that when you do the things you don't want to do but have to do, there will be good benefits.

I'm showing you this other perspective to help you elegantly overcome the various excuses that go through all of our heads when we decide to grow up and do something more.

For a long time I thought that with 2 small children "on my mind" there was no chance of being careful about what I ate. So after a few years my body said that I no longer had a choice and had to switch to a healthy diet, even though I still didn't want to deprive myself of quickly prepared delicious junk... - after all, they save you time, money, and they taste good...

I also thought that there was no way I could get up 2 hours before the kids in the morning and do something useful (which is useful - useless, you don't feel like doing it at 5-6 in the morning...). For example, exercise, cook, read a good book, or take some new training that I need for work, post the certificate on my profile and move up the level.

Where's the good part in doing what you don't want to do. Or what scares you.

In myths, legends and ancient stories there is always a dragon or a drakes. The hero must face it, defeat it, and win a prize - most often a princess or gold, or both, or a castle. And most often the youngest brother is pacified - because he is more childishly naive and ready to jump into danger.

Even in "Beauty and the Beast" there is a monster who becomes a prince only after Belle does the things that hardly any princess would dare to do... to face her fear, to endure cold, hunger and deprivation while the man transforms... to suppress her curiosity and not delve into the other's innermost sadness... to give true understanding and support to a monster who apparently does not arouse compassion... she even had to put up with his relatives, who, although pretty and kind, were freaks (but at least they liked her..)

What is amazing about the ingenious tale is that Belle is not impressed by Gaston, who has already been 'won', but something inside her constantly draws her to the beast and the dark black castle in the ominous forest.

Since ancient times, people have transmitted through tales their personal experiences and wisdom gathered in existence.

Today, these dragons are your insecurity, your ego, the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the reluctance to do something that is right but you don't feel like doing.

But both the reward and the experience are somehow always well guarded by one of these dragons. In all the stories, the heroes don't know exactly what the reward is, it's revealed to them along the way and at the end, and it always exceeds expectations. They didn't even know exactly where they were going or what they were looking for, the risk was there.

The third brother went to hell because he didn't receive an inheritance equal to what the older brothers received - he was hurt and neglected and just walked away...

Belle loved her father and wanted to save him from the predators in the forest, she pursued this noble goal at all costs, but she stubbornly did not want Gaston to be the savior.

Pinocchio had squandered his father's money, but he loved him very much and wanted to save him. He dived into the depths, entered the mouth of the monstrous fish, saved his father, and as a reward he gained the identity of a real grown-up boy.

In the Bible, the book of Genesis, the three fathers of faith - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, never stopped moving towards the goal, and facing the dangerous unknown. Their goal was simple - to find a better life for their families, to escape hunger and deprivation...

Abraham had his wife stolen twice, a war broke out in his new land, and he had to invade and reclaim the loot. On top of that, Sarah told him to sleep with the maid so they could have a son, then drove her out with Abraham's son.

Isaac fought the haters who clogged his wells, and his own wife taught one of her sons to deceive the other.

Jacob travels to the other side of the familiar world, works for 7 years to make a deal with his uncle, only to be cheated by him and have to work for another 7 years. And finally, he has to fight God himself, which has a thousand interpretations, but at the very least, it seems pretty scary.

All along the way, they had a goal, and they kept moving towards it.

Their goal of making a better life for their families - significant enough, noble enough. It confronted them with a series of scary dragons (their own insecurity, insecurity, fear of rejection, betrayal...).

The most beautiful thing is that along the way they discovered Almighty God himself, gained more faith, and confirmation that they were on the right path. Abraham inherited promises, Isaac became very rich, and Jacob's entire identity was changed - from a deceiver, to a Prince of God.

All three got what they dreamed of - sons were born to them, they amassed wealth, they established their influence, they received forgiveness from the people they had betrayed. In the end, they got much more - all three became the "Fathers of the Faith."

They pursued something noble and significant - they achieved it and received something even greater!

If we compare their role, position or business with the equivalent today - all three were cattle breeders, they had large herds of animals. All three were afraid to change one land for another, one comfort of their work and business for another - these were the pastures and wells for their animals. But all three took the step towards change...for one reason or another...they went through fire and water...and they were not wrong.

If you've already come to your conclusion, in the second part of this article I will share my personal experience and practical steps on how to begin your personal transformation.

If you don't feel like waiting and want to act, I'm here for you > write to me

To be continued...