No matter how difficult it may seem right now, here are some things you can control in life!
This list here on things you can control in life, should be your ultimate wake up call. Sit down, get comfortable, because we’re about to break some delusions about life you’ve been using to justify your lack of happiness or success.
Life itself is a series of events which you encounter one after the other and then you die. Between the time you are born and the time you hit the casket you’ll have to juggle between the things you can control in life and those which you can’t.
This article will help you realize how much of your life is actually under your own control.
If something is not working out for you in any of these regards, the only person to blame is yourself.
Of course situations vary from individual to individual, but when we put together this list we underlined the universal truths that live within all of us.
As long as you’re not being held captive or for some reason you’ve been stripped of your ability to act based on your own decisions, you have no excuse about how shitty your life is, because you actively made it that way, or didn’t do anything to make it better, which is kinda the same thing.
As always, here’s the video version for this article:
With that said, it’s time to burst some bubbles. Here are 15 Things You Can Actually Control in Life!
Number 1: Your Time & Focus
Your clock is ticking! Every day, after you wake up, you have 16 to 20 hours in order to make your life better.
Success in life is the result of how well one manages the same 24h in the day we all get!
Believe it or not, you are in complete control of what you choose to focus your time and efforts on. The most incredible thing is how many people chose poorly. You see them putting so much time and focus towards things that yield no positive results for them, they just do it to fill time at the expense of their own wellbeing, just because it’s easier to do that.
To be real with you, there is no such thing as a predetermined destiny and the belief that there is, only leaves you at the mercy of the millions of other variables going on around you. Life is made up of the choices you make, with every single one shifting your path along the way.
The people you look up to, or those who made a difference, didn’t wait for things to happen to them, instead they chose to narrow down their focus and managed their time for a very specific goal. Add one day after another and you’re already making progress.
You have time on your hands, now focus it on what’s important to you!
Number 2: The expectations for your life
This is a tricky one, because you didn’t choose where you were born or the tools you begin with. That said, there are enough examples from all the corners of the earth who managed to achieve success despite that initial hand they’ve been dealt. How many success stories do you know of people who you would trade places with in an instant that started similar to you?
How did they do it? By not accepting that initial hand as their final reality. They shifted their expectations of what their life should be like. The moment you accept your life “as is” and settle in it you lock yourself from alternatives.
Instead these people looked at it as their first stepping stone towards something better. It’s up to you to realize that REALITY IS NEGOTIABLE and then make the most out of it.
Number 3: How many hours you put in every day
Every day you wake up, ask yourself: What’s one thing I can do today, that would get me closer to the life I envision? And then proceed to do that.
You’ve got the same hours in a day as Beyonce or Jack Ma, but unlike you, they’ve been putting in all their hours for the past 20 years towards their goals.
Success doesn’t just happen to you, you build it every single day!
It’s the small actions, every hour counts, no matter if you’re building a business, creating your perfect body or writing your first book. No matter the project, you need to put in the time if you want to see results. Stop looking for shortcuts! The sooner you realize it will take you at least 10,000 hours to get really good at something the sooner you can start to take action. It might sound like a lot, but it’s going to take at least 5 years of constant work until you get yourself in a position where you have access to new opportunities for growth.
What you need to remember is that time will pass anyway, so might as well position yourself correctly.
Number 4: When or If you decide to quit
Whether you’re gonna quit or not is once again one of the things that’s under your control. Along the way you’ll encounter obstacles, difficult times, but so does everyone who’s going in the same direction. The difference between those who make it and those who don’t is that the winners never quit when times got hard. Instead they got better and more resilient. No matter what life is throwing at them, they find a way to keep pushing forward.
Life is not politically correct, you don’t get a participation trophy. The real rewards are waiting only for those who make it to their own finish line.
Number 5: Your Education
Education no longer means going to a fancy university! If you’re reading this right now, you have access to the largest library of knowledge that’s ever existed. You can master any skill or any craft just with the device you have in front of you, do you know how ridiculous this is?!
How big of an advantage this is to someone who’s willing to educate himself?!
The world has evolved to the point where you’re no longer allowed to make excuses because there no longer is information reserved only for the few.
On YouTube alone there are channels like ours that break down almost any concept you will encounter in life and you can learn from them.
Books are still massively overlooked! You can spend 10 to 20 dollars on a book and learn from all the mistakes some of the most successful people made in their lives. Those mistakes cost them millions of dollars and you get to learn how to get it right for a couple of bucks!
You can learn anything online if you just put in the time.
“But Alux, I don’t have 20 dollars to spend on a self-help book!”
Stop making excuses and find a way! Stop reading, go to alux.com/freebook and sign up, so you can get 1 audiobook for Free, that’s free knowledge that can change your life forever. God knows we made so many videos with book recommendations depending on where you are in life. Check those out if you don’t know where to start and then get the free audiobook.
We’re so used to thinking about education as what you learn in school but as you came to find out, life is more about managing yourself than memorizing calculus formulas or that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
Number 6: Who your friends are
You might meet people based on your circumstances, but never forget that you are free to choose your friends.
It’s better to have none, than be surrounded by people who only want to bring you down.
Instead, be selective, you don’t need to have a hundred fake friends, 2 people who you can rely on to have your back when you need it is more than enough.
We’ve said this before, but you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with!
If you hang around with 5 losers, guess who’s the 5th?!
So maybe it’s time you reconsider who you keep close.
Your circle should decrease in size, but increase in value!
Number 7: Who you are as a human being
What do you stand for? What are your values?
These are under your control as well. We see so many people complain about how screwed up society is, that they forget they themselves make up “the society”. The same way that you are not stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic.
If you don’t like the way people are acting, fix yourself then help fix 2 or 3 people around you. That’s the only way to properly do it.
Who you are as a human being is built up based on your decisions and actions so don’t act like you don’t know how you got the way you are. The good news is, you can change for the better if you take this change seriously, if you’re able to stand for something. At the end of your life, you should be proud of who you were throughout your existence.
Number 8: How kind you are to others
We’re blessed with this incredible power, that most people neglect: We can make others miserable, we can ignore them or we can make their lives better.
Your relationship with other people is something you’re in direct control of. You have the power to directly impact how other people experience life, even for a moment. How amazing is to know that?
The most fascinating thing is that there are these loopholes where sometimes small actions on your behalf can have really big results for someone else.
We call this arbitraging life! This happens where the cost is a lot smaller than the end result. How kind you are to others and the impact you can have on their lives is something you can easily improve on and you’ll see that things have a funny way of working out in your favor in the long run.
Number 9: Your health
With the exception of specific cases of disease, most people struggle with their health due to a lack of attention.
To put it in the most simple terms possible, there are 2 aspects to health:
- The fuel you put in your body
- How strong is the body
If you figured out these 2 and act accordingly, you’re going to be in great shape and stand a much better chance at living a healthy and happy life.
Fortunately for you, both of them are under your control.
Stop putting junk in your body. You’re not a kid anymore! You should not be eating for pleasure, instead eat for your health.
The only other thing you need to do, is not sit around doing nothing all day. You don’t need to become a gym freak to be healthy. All you need to do is make sure your muscles are doing what they were created to do and your vitals are in Ok shape.
Your heart is pushing oxygen-carrying blood through your body, so make sure it’s healthy enough to keep doing its job and your organs are not failing because you’re actively poisoning yourself.
Number 10: How much your earn
Ohh.. some people will have a problem with this one, but we’re sorry to break it to you: if you’re not earning enough, it’s because you don’t understand how money works.
So pay attention, because what we’re about to tell you is probably the most valuable piece of money related information you’ll ever get in your life:
The amount of money you are earning is calculated based on the following 4 criteria:
1. How good you are at what you do
2. How high is the demand for what you can deliver
3. How valuable your work is to the marketplace
4. How easy it is to replace you
You can officially pat yourself on the back, because you’re probably the only one in a 10 mile radius that knows this.
Take a moment and go through this list again until you really understand it.
In order to earn more money you need to do at least one of the following 4 things:
1. Be better at what you do
2. Be in an industry that is growing
3. Increase the value you are able to deliver
4. Be hard to replace
You can attack each of those points from multiple perspectives. You can better educate yourself about your craft, you can learn a skill that is difficult for others to learn, you can move to a different geography where your skill is in high demand. These are all things you are in control of.
In order to be rich or successful you need to start developing the right set of abilities which you can leverage to your advantage. If money is the main thing you’re struggling with right now watch our video on 15 skills you need to be rich. The moment you’ll start acquiring those skills you’ll see your earnings go up.
Number 11: Where you live
Most people justify their mediocrity by saying: “there aren’t many opportunities where I’m from”.
Then move to a better place!
“But Alux, it’s not so easy to leave everything behind and just move to a new city!”
Well, it’s not supposed to be easy, but it’s definitely something you can do, something you have control over in your life.
Surely it’s going to be really difficult, especially in the beginning, but once you settle in, you’ll realize you made the move for your wellbeing.
If you want to live better than the rest, you need to stop justifying your mediocre existence the same way they do. Instead, take the risk. If it goes well, you just leveled up. If it doesn’t, it’s not the location that was holding you back, maybe it’s you, maybe you’re not ready to compete in the marketplace.
Number 12: How you present yourself to the world
The world judges the book by the cover. You do it, we do it, that’s how society works and to be honest it’s not the world’s duty to get to know you on a deeper level of acceptance. Wake up kiddo, nobody cares! We have things to do!
That said, this is great news, because the way you present yourself is completely under your control.
If you present yourself as an overweight, ungroomed and sensible individual, the world will treat you accordingly.
PEOPLE TREAT YOU THE WAY YOU TREAT YOURSELF!
If you don’t take yourself seriously, nobody else should either.
Number 13: How much sleep you get
You need sleep so that your body has time to adjust and regulate itself, nobody denies that.
What you don’t need is to oversleep, because when you’re sleeping you are being alive, but you’re not really living!
Rest is important only to facilitate growth while you’re awake and increase your performance. Considering the number 3 on this list, that one of the main differentiators in life is how many hours per day you are able to put towards your objective, you should definitely start cutting down on your sleep.
In our own experience, unless you’re recovering from intense physical activities, there’s no need for more than 6 hours of sleep.
This roughly gives you an extra 2 hours per day to read, go out and exercise, practice even work if that’s what you want to do.
Most people justify their lack of commitment to their goals by saying they don’t have enough time, yet they never bother to optimize their sleep.
Something we really want to get across to you gentlemen and ladies is that:
Cutting down sleep is encouraged for those who really know what they have to do during the day. It gives you a lot more time to work with and you can get more things done.
There’s no point in sleeping less, if you’re gonna be wasting your day binge watching netflix series either way, unless that is your specific goal, in which case I’m not sure we can be friends.
Number 14: Your close environment
Look around you, everything you see and can touch is under your control. The room you’re watching this in right now is under your control. What does it look like? Is it great for you? Is it enough for you? Does it facilitate your growth?
Our close environment is our center base for life, that’s why you need to design it so that it encourages you to make progress.
Believe it or not, if you’re unable to maintain your work environment or home in order, which are fairly easy things to do, how will you be able to manage the complexities of life goals?!
You have the power to throw away unnecessary distractions and bring in only items that help you be better. Start putting things in order and rid yourself of what you know is just clutter.
Number 15: If you’re happy or not
True happiness is a state of being, it has nothing to do with what you own or what you have. This is one of those lessons we wished we had learned earlier:
Happiness is a choice!
In truth, you can be happy with little or you can be happy with a lot. It’s not dependant on your possessions.
Happiness is the result when your reality is matching your expectations. The fact that you are not happy is the result of either too high of an expectation of what life should be like, or the lack of your personal effort in order to match the reality to your expectation.
Both of which are, once again, under your control.
We’ve been struggling with happiness ourselves, as everyone does and after many tweeks to our life we found a solution that gradually got us closer to it. If this is the thing you’re struggling the most with right now, watch our 15 Reasons Why you are not happy video! In it we break down the mistakes people make, we explain the impact they have and what you should do in turn to get yourself on the right path. It’s an incredible video and we can’t recommend it enough!
We’re curious to know Aluxers, did this article on the 15 things you can control in life have an impact on how you perceive your reality? Will this list make you act differently from now on? We always read the comments and we will do our best to give feedback!
