Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

– Bruce Lee

Water never overreacts or under reacts. Water  acts according to the situation. Nothing more, nothing less. Be like water. I have spent a lot of time training my brain to be more like water. Instead of reacting to things that happen (I will be honest I definitely have my moments) I have been just soaking in the situation and taking it for what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. I really think that has been a theme throughout the past few weeks. Just pay attention to the moment you are in because there are no dull moments. I really enjoy writing. I enjoy it because I get a chance to put on paper that inner voice that I have been hearing throughout the day. Today and yesterday I have been pumping up someone who was really struggling with something important in their life. The biggest different between me now and me from the past is that I am not trying to fix people’s problems these days. There is no better feeling than seeing someone smile after they have been truly dragged down by a situation. The best piece of advice I had ever been given is to be present to this moment, right here, right now. So, it is so easy to get caught up in the future or in the past, and let it control your life right now. Instead, no matter what you are dealing with, look at this current moment as the perfect opportunity to do absolutely anything you want to with your life.

I am in action. I am reading books. I am listing out my goals. I am creating new and interesting ways to be productive and to make my life simpler and easier. I think there should be no reason, even if you are overloaded, to have a great productive day and to get everything accomplished you need to get done as free and easy as possible. I like making lists right before I go to sleep of things I have to do the next day, and first thing in the morning still laying in bed write down what I need to be doing that day. It is just a great way of getting things done and prepping yourself for a successful day.

The beard is going amazing. It reminds me all day (because it itches) of what I am committed to and what I am setting out to be in this world. It doesn’t come easy and it definitely doesn’t come fast. But isn’t it interesting how much we make up stories about success and what it takes. Blood, sweat, and tears right? Well, I really only encourage you to think of attaining your success, because I know it will happen, as a process that you go through. Once again, nothing more, nothing less. Whatever happens along the way happens. You have control over you, that is it. Things will happen to you and you will be put into situations that you don’t want to be in, but that is awesome! I’ll give you an example of something that happened to me the other day, and I think I already mentioned this before. I was presented with a situation that in traditional terms would make me very uncomfortable, but I saw it as an awesome opportunity to test out what I had been working on for a long time. Because I recognized the moment I was in I was able to act like…well just me. It is when you “try” to do the right thing or “try” to say the right thing when you go wrong. You will always wonder why things keep happening to you over and over again. Well, I had to find this out the hard way and most everyone will, but these things keep happening because you aren’t being really that authentic with people.

In the past I wrote a lot about being that 5-year-old boy inside you and living through those eyes. I never really made a connection with this until now but the reason why I was saying that was because I realized that the little kid inside you, was 100% real. Think about it. When you were small you were who you were. Nothing else in the world could have changed that. But as you grow up, you try to be this way or that way and it’s really just a load of BS. Just be you. Everything you are is perfect. If you have something in your life that you would like to work on, then work on it. But don’t do it for other people or because you saw it in a movie, just do it because you realize you want it.

I want to end tonight with a little lesson I learned today running on the treadmill. I was dragged on that running machine by my girlfriend and set out to run a mile. I just got a new knee brace that makes me look like I have a bionic leg, but nonetheless I ran and got to about .5 of a mile and was just dying. But inside me, and it may sound cheesy, I heard keep going you got this. I absolutely struggled for the next .5 of a mile but made it through. I am unbelievably sore after not being able to run for 4 months, but I am unbelievably happy that I didn’t quit. Never quit on anything you want in your life. I am proud to say that I accomplished every single one of my goals today and the slate is wiped clean as soon as I shut my eyes tonight. Keep your nose to the grindstone. Great things will happen.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project