If you’re like most people, we tend to make commitments and not follow through with them. There is nothing inherently wrong with you for failing to make commitments so long as you learn from those failures.

Living a successful life is often made to seem more complicated than it really is. This is because you and I love to overcomplicate concepts that are simple because, “How can something be so simple?” You think that those who’ve achieved success in their lives have done this by some divine power rushing through their lives like a metaphorical river, but that isn’t reality.

That’s an ideal that you maintain in your mind to prevent yourself from attaining success. You’ve duped yourself into believing those limiting beliefs which shape the world and how you interpret the events it throws at you.

Life is hard, yes. But that’s how it’s designed: It’s the gatekeeper, the weed killer, the jury and executioner, but it’s also the welcoming embrace of our mothers.

The answer to attaining success is pretty simple: Start from within and push outwards

Principle one: Start with what you can control.

You probably spend a lot of your time worrying about things that are outside of your circle of influence. These are the things that cause you stress because you spend all day thinking about how horrible your situation and its rather than focusing on how to change that situation.

You can’t control or change how you have eaten in the past or how sedentary you’ve been. There is absolutely no value or meaning to worrying focusing energy into the past unless you are learning and applying lessons from past mistakes.

One of the most effective things that you can control is your reaction to the curveballs life throws at you. And your reactions begin with how you think. The mind is man’s most tremendous tool that is allowed us to evolve throughout the ages.

These are the thoughts that you need to start living if you have any hope of living the primal lifestyle and getting in the best shape of your life.

There is no quick fix or magic pill that will give me the result which I desire.

The success that I attain in life is built upon a strong mental foundation and the thoughts that I think shape the world that I live in.

A calorie is not a calorie and the quality of food is what matters the most. The purpose of food is not to derive pleasure but to fuel the body with the energy that it needs to perform at my best.

When my mind and body are simultaneously strong and function in tandem I will achieve the effective results in all areas of my life

Continue to tell these narratives to yourself throughout your daily activities until you find these thoughts are popping up in your head automatically. It’s true what they say that we are some of the narratives of the tell ourselves that I thought shape our outer world.

I actually have a term for the world outside ourselves when you realizes that your thoughts influence your actions in the world around: the collective reality. You should always consider how your thoughts might influence your actions, and how they will inevitably influence the world around you, and consider if you want to be a positive or negative influence.

Principle Two: Deliberately develop your constant process to build momentum.

Once you’ve developed your mind it would tool that you can use to be proactive in the attainment of your goals and aspirations you’re ready to start building momentum. If you were to start jumping right in to a dieting program or exercise regimen immediately that he would most likely fail because you haven’t built necessary momentum.

Momentum is difficult to build but the rewards are innumerable. But like most things in life the concept is simple but execution is tremendously difficult. As you build confidence in yourself by committing to and constantly executing a process that you’ve designed you are going to develop the momentum continue the same action.

A lack of momentum is the significant reason why you won’t achieve victory in completion your goals. Breaking goals down into smaller actions to take on a daily basis is how you’re going to build a process you can commit to building momentum as you crush those smaller goals.

If your goal is to get in better shape than you process might look something like this:

I choose to eat 500 less calories per day.

I choose to eat one healthy meal per week.

I choose walk around the block once every three days.

Remember the only way you’re going to build momentum is by making yourself feel like a winner who can accomplish anything so don’t start off making your process unnecessarily complicated. The idea is that you want to be able to execute the process continuously without failure.

You should be using language for your process that includes proactive words that empower you to complete your goals. In the examples above I use a proactive language of, “I choose.” You shouldn’t feel like you have to or need to do something that takes the focus away from you and your values which is what is truly important.

Speaking of values…

Principle 3: Viewing the world through a value-based paradigm.

Aimlessly strolling through life without a sense of direction is how you become lost in the first place. You can greatly increase the effectiveness of your actions by guiding yourself with a set of values, which you observe religiously. The greatest men throughout history held themselves to the highest standards of personal conduct, and that is one of the things that made them great.

You don’t get your name left behind in the history books because you were mediocre. Your name gets brought throughout the ages because you did something great with the time that you had. If you’re living your life without a strict and believable set of values that are personally empowering, then you’re going to have a horrible time.

The biggest reason why people aren’t happy with their current employment is because, whether they’ve faced their values or not, they are being guided by them. A family man who claims that he loves his family above all else while constantly having to take business trips for his employer, is defying the values he unconsciously holds. So, you are most likely defying those values that silently guide your life, but through intense focus, reflection, and analyzation of your life you’ll discover what they are.

To get you started I’ll mention some of the contradictory scenarios you could find yourself suffering from:

You’re risk averse, and you’re working without job security.

You’re a follower, but working in a managerial position.

You’re a animal rights activist, but working in a slaughterhouse.

You’re adamant on consumerism, while you are employed by a huge corporation

By implementing these 3 fundamental principles into your life you’ll notice the massive benefits. If you live your life according to a set of principles, best practices, and values you’ll have a better time and be able to compare your actions to them, asking yourself “Is what I’m about to do going to advance my goals and does it fit with my values?”

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Shawn is the author of his personal blog where he writes about customer experience, the importance of happy people in modern business, and shares his observations on life. Also the author of, “How To Super-Charge Your Life.”