Are you too hard on yourself?

What does it mean to be hard on yourself, and does this even help us achieve our goals? After speaking with some friends this weekend, I realized how little credit I give myself. I often focused on the issues I am facing while neglecting any positive strides I have made in solving those problems. This used to work for me but being too hard on yourself is a short term game. Eventually, that self-deprecating voice in your head will catch up with you. It hard for me to explain but all I know is that being your biggest critique has to take the form of standards and values, not insults that belittle your self-worth.

The alternative is often what I see my friends doing every day. They stay active, no matter what it is they have some form of movement in their days. A healthy body helps your mind stay healthy there is no denying that. My friends also give there best effort wherever they can and if they can't they tackle it again the next day. It's not good to be all or nothing or too extreme in your life because it is not sustainable. Take fitness or business for example. Going from no activity to 16 hour days will break you fast and if you are hard on yourself like I have been you might tell yourself you're a worthless piece of shit for not being able to handle that workload. Very few people can handle that right off the bat and if we think of that in terms of fitness it's safe to say not many people can run a marathon without ever training. What I'm learning from the successful people I have around me is that things aren't as hard as we make them out to be. A healthy body is a few smart meal decisions and a 30-minute workout 5 days a week. A good worker wakes up every day and gets to it.

Health and wealth shouldn't be looked at as hard they are a privilege and they are things to be excited about. If you are having a tough time being hard on yourself and it doesn't seem to be motivating you, try encouraging yourself instead. Give your best every day and eventually, the bar will be higher than you ever expected it to be or be hard on yourself and you'll quit and stop over and over again.