Create the best version of yourself. Konstantin Maramygin

so everyone says. The main thing is to believe in yourself and everything will work out.

      Do these words sound familiar? I am sure that everyone is familiar with this expression. It has become fashionable to motivate yourself, to say that the Universe hears you and you just have to ask and everything will come to you.

      But in fact nothing happens. People have become very lazy. They think that, here, they have drawn a map of desires or pasted on the wall pictures with houses and expensive cars, and it is possible to stop here. After all, they did not just think and ask the Universe, they also drew and hung their desires in front of themselves. To look at it every day and think about it.

      Now, after reading this and perhaps seeing yourself from the outside, you realize that this is silly. We think we are changing our lives, yet in real life we have been living as we have been living. We do not change our lifestyle, our habits, and, most importantly, we do not take concrete actions.

      Because someone told us that all you have to do is want, believe in yourself, visualize or ask God, and it will come to you.

      And when time passes and nothing happens, we find excuses, blaming everything on officials, bureaucrats, high taxes, government, wife, brother, friend, competitors, everyone is to blame for your dream not coming true. After all, you did everything right as you were told, thought, believed, asked, visualized, etc.

      Back in high school, I realized that little things play an important role in life. But I underestimated the power of choice. While you are young, you think that you will live forever and have time for everything in your life. And so you can spend time on this and that, and put something off for later. Give in to the general trend, be part of the culture, watch TV shows and movies because everyone watches them. Read books that were recommended to you, go to a sports club because your friend or neighbor goes there. Go out with friends in the evening or hang out in night bars and clubs. Get married, have children and live like all “normal people”.

      And only time shows us whether we made the right choice earlier. And what result we got at the end of our life.

      Unfortunately, we begin to think about time when we are adults, looking back at the years we have lived and making certain conclusions. Now it becomes clear why parents always try to protect their children from their own mistakes of youth. But children often take them at bayonet, fight with them. And as a result, they get their own bumps on the head.

      Therefore, the “choice” should be taken seriously, the earlier a person realizes this, the faster he can put his life in order. After all, in the end a person is not defined by his qualities, but only by his choice.

      But how to understand all this to a modern person who is in a constant information storm? How can he understand his life and start living by his own rules?

      And here I suggest you take a short pause. Imagine that you and I are sitting in a spacious, bright room, the air is filled with the fragrance of summer flowers, you can hear birds singing outside the window. You are not disturbed or distracted by anything. At some point you catch yourself thinking that you really like it here.

      After a couple minutes, I ask you to have a pen and a piece of paper ready so that you can make the necessary notes.

      “Well, let’s get on with it, my friend!”

      Chapter 3. The Right View of the Situation

      So, the first step to your success is to learn to soberly and rationally assess the current state of affairs. But first, I suggest that you prepare a pen or pencil and a piece of paper to make small notes. We will need them in the future, because now we are going to go with you to one very interesting place.

      The Wish Shop

      Now I’m going to ask you to fantasize a little. Imagine that you find yourself on an unfamiliar street, in an unfamiliar city. The store window is lit up with a bright lamplight. The sign, on the other hand, is unremarkable and quite old, and it reads, “Welcome to the Wish Shop.” You open the door curiously and walk to the nearest shelves of merchandise.

      What was your surprise when on the shelves instead of the usual products you saw such as: “Strong and pumped arms”, “Perfect abs”, “Foreign language”, “Twine”, “Lose 44 lb”, “Millionaire”, “Popular actor”, “Rock star”, “Dream car”, “New profession”, “Change of residence” and many other funny wishes.

      When you got closer to take a closer look, you saw an unusual price tag. In addition to the cost in money, there was a cost in time (see Figure 1).

      Figure 1

      Underneath the price tags was a sign explaining: “The price is approximate, because everyone has their own individual needs and abilities. And the final calculation is made individually”.

      Then you noticed that in the very corner of the store there was a counter with some strange goods, they were packed in a box and each of them was marked “Dangerous for life”. Later you examined the sign above this rack, it said that these were desires based on revenge, anger and jealousy. And the price of some of them could cost you your life.

      – Ew! That’s horrible! – you said out loud, unbeknownst to yourself.

      And then a saleswoman comes up to you.

      She even looks like a pretty and young girl, but with a very cold and businesslike look. Before saying hello, she examined you from head to toe and then through her teeth squeezed out a word:

      – Hello!

      – Hello, – you answered.

      – Anything you’ve chosen? Or perhaps you’re looking for something special? – She asked with a smirk.

      – I just… came in to look around. It’s the first time I’ve seen a store like this…

      – What?! First time? Don’t kid yourself, everyone wants something, but they don’t realize the true cost of their desires. If you don’t have money to pay, you should have just said so, don’t waste my time! – snorting unhappily, the saleswoman went to the back room.

      – What boorish behavior! I really came here for the first time, but I promise it was the first and last time! – Shouting at the saleswoman in her wake, you hurried away.

      As you left the store, you found yourself in a narrow street full of people, all of whom were in a hurry to get somewhere and trying to outrun each other. When you heard the thunder, you decided to go to the nearest cafe, where it was warm and cozy.

      Sitting at a small table by the window and drinking a hot cappuccino, you watched the rain falling, the drops dripping down the glass and, gathering into streams, flowing into puddles, into which passers-by carelessly stepped. And then the thought struck you, how good it is to be in the warmth, drink hot coffee and just watch all this fuss from the side. Where are they all running to? Why? Eh. Well, to be honest, it doesn’t matter anymore…

      And now it’s time to get back to reality.

      The first thing we need to pay attention to is that the salesman was right. When she said that everyone wants something, but not everyone realizes the true cost of their desire.

      And that’s really true. We are all human beings, and we all have needs. Of course, we do not go to the store of desires, but we constantly go to ordinary stores, and when we buy goods, we pay for them with money. Which, in turn, we earn at work. And it is precisely at work that we spend our time.

      That is, theoretically, we can tie the price of goods per unit of time we spend to earn the right amount of money.

      But what about our ability to pay? How do we estimate it?

      To do this, we