Until recently I said you don’t have to work on yourself.

I was quite convinced that was true.

I used to say that we’re already a masterpiece, and life is doing the heavy lifting anyway.

Stuff like that.

People agreed.

I was surrounded by smiling nodders who were obviously from the same school of blissfully fuzzy thought.

‘Yeah man, you’re already perfect, peace.’

Amazing!

Nod, nod.

More peace.

More nods.

And you know what?

I still agree.

You don’t have to work on yourself.

But you CAN.

You don’t need to.

But it’s definitely a very exciting option.

Because even though ‘working on yourself’ or ‘creating a better version of yourself’ might sound stupid (what self are we talking about in the first place?), or like a typical product from our result-oriented-and-obsessed society, it’s still an option.

A huge one.

I was an alcoholic so I worked on myself to end that.

I was a professional cynic and avid complainer, and although that was somewhat satisfying and brought me a fair amount of fans, it was also suffocating my joy.

I was addicted to shitty food, so I looked into that, tried stuff, tried other stuff, ditched stuff, experimented, worked out, started fasting, had some results, and bounced back into the shitty food stuff a couple of times too, but I kept at it and never stopped working on myself.

I was terrified of talking to people I didn’t know (and even the people I did know were a challenge most of the time), so one day I just decided that I wanted to flip the script and change myself into someone who can talk to everybody AND have a good time too.

I was an average writer with a lot of imagination and a shitload of dedication and drive, so I wrote and read and wrote and read and wrote some more and showed my material to people who were way better than I was and gave me their very diverse feedback, until I started to create my own style, my own thing, and I just kept writing.

I was a pretty mediocre piano player with an obsession for writing songs and singing them, so I taught myself how to do that (while still being a fairly bad piano player), and eventually performed my own songs and sold a couple of them to one of my favorite Dutch artists.

Because I worked on myself.

Because I recreated myself.

Because I became the person who does the things that I wanted to do.

And there’s no end to what that can bring you.

You can change, flip, eradicate, grow, kill, and work your way toward new habits, new preferences, new opinions, and a completely new outlook on life.

By working on yourself.

By Being the person who gets the stuff done.

By Being a man who never complains.

By Being the woman who gets to the gym no matter what.

By Being the character in this movie called ‘Life!!’, and playing with it, molding it, making it bigger and bolder and louder.

We can do that.

There are NO LIMITS except the ones we create.

And we can work on them too.

—

(Are you in a place of inactivity? Have you hypnotized yourself into believing that ‘working on yourself’ is bullshit and demeaning? Do you WANT to have it all or at least give it your best shot, but do you also believe you don’t deserve it? Did you buy into the idea that ambition is bad, that having it all is superficial, and that the only goal in life is to literally have nothing… and do you secretly despise that state of mind? Are you ready to go places but do you feel clueless and helpless? Mail me, and let’s get you on track and beyond. The recreation of yourself starts with a conversation!)