Winning a battle against yourself
Tags: career, motivation, stoicism, productivity
Published: 2020-07-09 18:55:07


If you are interested in reading this article in Spanish 🇪🇸, check out my blog:
[The Developer's Dungeon](https://www.patferraggi.dev/blog/2020/jul/batalla-contra-mismo/)

Hey guys, how you been? it has been almost a month since my last article and I have to say I have been struggling to focus. I am a big believer in self-analysis and continuous improvement but I have not been at the top of my game lately. 

This next post will be kind of weird, it is not what I usually post. Instead of directing the content in a certain direction, this will be a conversation with myself, trying to make me remember what my values are and why I do the things I do. Still, I hope you see some things in yourselves and get something positive out of it, even if is only realizing that everyone goes through problems and lack of motivation.

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Every day we woke up and we say, today is the day, today we will be better, we will exercise, we will eat healthily, we will learn, and every day passes and one more day is consumed. 
We stay in bed because we fell comfortable there, under the sheets the world is nicer. No responsibilities, no obstacles in our way, no mean people, but also no joy, no fulfillment.

Were you brought to this world to feel comfortable? to stay in bed and just let time pass by? Remember that time is precious, you always believed that even before you knew it has a proper name. `Memento Mori`, remember you are mortal. There is no clear evidence that shows there is something else after this, probably this is the only opportunity you will get at life.

And I know, life has not been easy but has not been so bad either. You are not the type of fighter who gives up after a few punches. Broken nose, broken jaw, broken hand, and we are still here throwing punches, if that doesn't work we can always clinch 😉. Be honest with yourself, is really life bringing you down, or are you just giving up? there is nothing preventing you from reaching your goals, to be the person you want to be. Except maybe yourself.

What is the point of complaining?

Remember, there are two kinds of things in life, the things you can control, and the things you cannot. If you can't control it then there is no point in worrying about it, because there is nothing you can do about it.
If on the other hand, the problem is under your control who are you complaining to? you have the solution on your hands stop complaining and get back to work.

Why are you wasting mental effort into thinking about what will happen in the future? 

Review your goals. Could it be that you are putting too much expectation on results? are results really that important? it is better to measure success by the actions you take, by how you behave based on your own set of values. You know what is the right thing to do, stop worrying about what people might think, and start focusing on not to disgrace yourself and live to your highest potential.

This is not a reproach, you have done good stuff, you have been very focused before and you have the necessary self-esteem to perform to the best of your abilities. The past is past, there is no point in blaming yourself for the errors committed before. At this very moment, you can improve, be better than you were yesterday. 
The wise man lives without regrets because every action he makes is done by the use of reason, he expects nothing and he is not surprised by anything. At this very moment, the virtues are accessible to you as they are for all human beings.

Don't try to be perfect, just try to be better each day and let the future take care of itself. You will fail in the future, it will happen again, I promise. There is no point in restarting from scratch every time this happens. As we do in software, let's iterate about our life, our decisions, and our virtues. 
Test, Refactor, Improve.

Is it worth to be angry?
Throughout life, you will meet people who are rude, selfish, and disloyal but remember that people are not intriguingly bad, they just don't know any better. Everyone is trying to do the best they can with the information they have at hand. Is it fair to get angry at `bad` people when you are one of them?

Basic human life is dealing with conflict, a lot of things will happen until your last breath, instead of wasting those precious seconds on being angry, smile, be kind, you could leave life right now, so focus on making life better for you and those around you. 

Tomorrow you will wake up as a better man, washing away the pain, and focusing on what is in front of you. It is time to get back in the ring.

![get up](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/xdsv892jvr1g8869afdh.jpg)

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If you stayed till the end of this blog post, thank you very much :smile:. This was a weird one and I know it, but I needed to put my thoughts into words and over the years I have found writing is the best way to do it. I hope you see some common struggles between my life and yours, I invite you to do this and share it. 

As always, if you liked the post please share it. See you next week.