We have a strong culture of achievement in our society - we are judged and valued against what we can show for our achievements, and success is measured by what job you do, how much money you have in your bank account, what car you drive, what clothes you wear, what skincare and make up brands you use...
This has placed a tremendous amount of pressure on people to keep appearances and give the show of being great successes and achievers.
Students from any levels are put under the pressure of exams to show how “intelligent or dumb” they are. If they want to fit in and guarantee themselves a bright future, they just HAVE to achieve. Desired universities and colleges will only accept students above a certain grade, putting even more pressure on students.
Achievement is an integral part of our society and, while a very worthwhile goal, it is also a stigma and a source of stress for many. The pressure of achieving is sometimes given a bad name.
However, achievement puts you instantly into the mindset of positivity. We’ve all been there - we passed our exams, got our dream job, jumped off an airplane, climbed that mountain... and while the journey to this achievement might have been trying or even painful, once you’re there: WOW, what a feeling!
It is this feeling that I would like to focus on in this article. This feeling that, despite all the obstacles on the way, you made it. You got what you wanted. You’re a winner.
Admiral McRaven beautifully explains how making your bed first thing in the morning gets you into that winning feeling. It is so important to start your day on a positive note - it keeps you in the mood of achieving. By making your bed (properly) this morning, you succeeded at the very first task of the day. By taking all the tasks you have to do throughout your day one at a time, you can focus more on what you are doing and have a greater chance of completing it successfully, especially if you are on positive vibes.
Indeed, when you are achieving any task, big or small, your brain sends signals to your glands to produce 4 essential hormones to positivity - dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphin (DOSE). These hormones, apart from promoting feelings of happiness, are also key to producing the perfect psychological environment for achieving. They promote optimism, raise your energy levels, encourage the ability to connect with people by being open, create a higher focus which in turn increases your drive and confidence. I mean, with all these attributes at your disposal, you have no other choice but to automatically achieve, even without trying - well maybe you should try anyway, it can’t hurt!
Achieving has therefore very little to do with willpower or being lazy. It has everything to do with conditioning your mind, from the first moment you wake up, and drive this feeling through the rest of your day.
Gratitude, in that respect, is totally an integral part of achieving. By recognising and giving thanks for what you already have in your life, you know that you are already a winner and the DOSE hormones will keep flowing throughout your body.
As Admiral McRaven says in his amazing and inspiring speech “the little things matter - if you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right”. Click HERE to watch an extract of his speech on YouTube.
The little things are a lot easier to deal with than the big things, but we all know that the big things will always turn up in our lives. By training ourselves to pay attention to the day-to-day tasks and completing these successfully, we are creating a habit of achieving and constantly finding moments of happiness in our lives.
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