Thoughts on entitlement and getting unstuck.

What you get out of life is a result of what you put in.

You can’t be frustrated by a lack of results that are caused by a lack of effort.

But people are.

A great place to see this in action is the gym.

What I am about to say is not a judgment but an observation of working in the fitness industry for a decade, training in multiple gyms and knowing people at the top of the fitness game and those who struggle to make progress.

While I’m resting between sets at the gym, I like to look around.

The majority of people are not training anywhere near hard enough to get results, or probably as hard as they think they are training.

Which is fine if they just want to go through the motions.

I don’t think it’s unrealistic to assume that most people aren’t working out and investing the time, money and energy to do so, to not see any results.

So something isn’t working.

Entitlement is a problem.

But entitlement is a mindset and your body doesn’t give a shit about it.

If you don’t train hard enough to give the body a reason to adapt, it won’t.

So you can think you’re trying hard, but if the evidence (getting stronger/fitter/faster) isn’t there, you’re not.

We’ve gotten a little soft.

Victims of the self-esteem movement we concern ourselves with making people feel good over helping people do good…which actually helps people feel good.

Empty platitudes might make us feel better in the moment, but they do very little to improve the future.

We pat people on the back simply for making it to the gym and trying.
And for a select few, namely beginners, this is the right thing to do.

But after a while, we have to raise the bar.

We have to expect more of ourselves.

And so it is in life.

We are entitled to nothing.

The sooner we accept this, the sooner we can take responsibility for where we are in life.

If we are unhappy with how our life looks we have to ask ourselves what our role is in that.

Are we doing anything to change our situation?
Are the results we are seeing a fair reflection of the effort we are putting in?

Most people like to complain without doing anything about it.

This is a lack of responsibility, entitlement, and immediate gratification all rolled into one.

I try and avoid these people, I find them draining.

These are the people who never really change or achieve much.

Again, not a judgement, just not something I can relate to and, as you’re reading thus, probably not you either.

Now there is a caveat to this.

Sometimes we can be putting effort in and still not getting anywhere.

What’s usually happening here is that we are putting effort into the wrong things.

To go back to the gym analogy, this is like training really hard, or a lot, but eating like an asshole the whole week.

The effort would be more effective elsewhere.

So it’s not just effort, it’s effort in the right places.

Happiness needs a goal, and we need to feel like we are making progress towards that goal.

So we need clarity, effort and results.

Without that, we feel stuck and feeling stuck is a horrible feeling.

It’s going through the motions where each day, week, and month feels the same.
Time is passing you by and you’re just a passenger with no control or autonomy.

Horrible.

But the good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way.

You just have to put an end to living passively and start taking 100% responsibility for your life.

It’s fucking scary.
It’s uncomfortable.
It’s not easy.
And it requires work.

But it will change your life.

So you can choose to stay stuck and complain, and this might make you feel better for now.
A lot of people do this.

Or you can ask yourself the following questions.
Questions that can apply to any area of life.

What is my goal?
Am I honestly putting the effort in to get the results I want and expect?
Am I putting the effort into the right things? Things that will make a difference rather than things that are easy, comfortable and familiar?

The answer to these questions will create awareness and that’s the first step to change.
What you do with this awareness is up to you.

You can either change your expectations or change yourself.

One will keep you the same, but make you feel less bad about it.

One will lead to the future you want to create for yourself, a better future.

Thanks for reading this today, I appreciate it.

Karl.

Ps. If this post resonates with you but you feel a little overwhelmed about what to do or where to start, don’t worry that’s normal.

It’s a big mindset shift with some tricky questions.

This is why Step 1 in my One2One Breakthrough Program is a Personal Audit.

To find out who you are, what’s important to you, what’s working and what’s not and how to go from where you are now to where you want to be.

To book a free 30-minute call click on this link and you can book a time that works for you.

I look forward to chatting with you.