Walk the Talk...Taking things slowly.

Do you insist that your health is a priority but avoid the gym for six weeks? Do you think it's vital to be productive, but just work the night before a deadline? Do you believe connections are vital, but let your social life stagnate? How can you bridge the gap between your values and actions?

By requiring me to do what I preach, blogging has forced me to close that gap. I'm not at all perfect. Like everyone else, I make errors and frequently fall short of the standards I set for myself. But writing has made it simpler to uphold those ideals rather than giving in to justifications.

Progress, Not Perfection

Life is filled with flaws. It saddens me that some individuals believe there is no purpose in attempting to fix the contradictions because being totally consistent with your ideals is unattainable. Some self-improvement cynicism results from expecting perfection rather than progress and setting unrealistic goals.

My objective has been to identify contradictions between my acts and my life philosophy. Although I'm far from flawless, I've come a long way in just a few years of consciously using this approach. Here are some of the contradictions I have resolved over the previous few years:

Slacker to productive. Although I valued organisation and productivity, I was a disorganised procrastinator. This gap has almost entirely been closed by concentrating on creating the correct habits and training myself.

Unfit for Fit. I valued my health and energy levels, but up until a few years ago, I didn't exercise frequently and didn't eat well. In the present, I maintain a vegetarian diet in addition to my regular exercise.

From Literary Glutton to Non-Reader. In 2002 or 2003, I would have read fewer than twelve books. I've been reading 50 to 70 novels annually on average during the past few years.

Late Night to Early Bird. I switched back to waking up at 5:30 after reading about the potential advantages of rising early for productivity.

Budget maker to unintentional spender. I established a more detailed method for keeping track of my costs and creating a budget after realising how poorly my funds were being managed.

Downloader to Abstainer on sometimes. I oppose music downloads (illegally). However, out of laziness, I often let music from questionable sources end up on my hard drive. A few months back, I stopped adding new songs that weren't fully paid to my library. I recently finished purging all residual music from my hard disc and MP3 player.

Shy to outgoing. My social life was practically nonexistent a few years ago. I wasn't as social as I'd like to be and only had a small group of close pals. I now have a lot of friends and like to meet new individuals on the spur of the moment.

I draw attention to these developments since none occurred right away. Even after I made up my mind about anything, it took effort for me to alter my conduct. I was still a slob when I made productivity a priority in my life. To get where I am now, it required some years of work.

But no one observes that endeavour from the outside. Readers continue to mention that they believe I was born healthy, productive, and an early riser. They are unaware of my failed attempts to implement GTD, the times I ignored my alarm, or the four unsuccessful thirty-day attempts I made before starting an exercise regimen.

This is partially my fault because I usually write about my efforts at self-improvement after they have already been completed. I typically don't find it beneficial to write about anything until I've made significant progress in it myself because self-improvement entails so many mistakes and dead ends. You simply need to consider the present highs and lows of my dating life to understand why I haven't given much guidance in that area just yet.

How to Gradually Debug Your Inconsistencies

Your software will never be error-free, unlike a computer programme. Consider improving yourself as striving to become 98% bug-free instead. Inevitably, you will occasionally fall short of your values, but these mistakes won't have a significant impact in the long run.

You need the appropriate tools in order to troubleshoot your discrepancies properly. Although there are many various debugging techniques, I'd like to share a few tools that gave me "Aha!" moments. For my own debugging, these tools made the difference between using a scalpel and a blunt club:

Thirty-day trials. Make a 30-day commitment to a single concept, every day. On Day 29, if you make a mistake, you must start over. I have changed several various habits thanks to this programme. Since I originally learned about them from Steve Pavlina, I've probably completed more than two dozen of these.

Goal-setting in writing. Without being put on paper, a goal is meaningless. This holds true for modest objectives like "Exercise tomorrow" just as much as it does for major objectives like "Become a millionaire." It was only my emotional compass that would determine whether something would be done that day before I started setting out my goals.

Taking Fears Apart. If something frightens you, break it up into bite-sized bits. I approached public speaking one speech at a time, tackling bigger crowds and more challenging presentations. For me, developing your courage like a muscle worked better than relying solely on willpower.

Although I'm always discovering new tools, the fact that this list is so short demonstrates that self-improvement doesn't have to be a difficult process. If used properly, one good tool can solve a variety of issues.

No one is perfect. Debugging those inconsistencies can still be quite beneficial. reducing the distance between your walk and your discourse a little.