Stop Settling For The Old You

Become your ideal self with strategic manifesting

I know many of us were, or still are, ashamed of ourselves — I felt that way for a long time. 

I personally didn’t like who I was. 

But I did notice that I had a deep respect for certain kinds of people around me. People who were:

• Quiet

• Poised

• Athletic

• Decisive

• Punctual

• Confident

• Respectful

• Disciplined 

• Soft-spoken

But again, I wasn’t that. I wasn’t where I wanted to be — which was hard to stomach as a kid. 

I wondered if I’d be this way forever… 

But as I reflect, I realise that discontentment was a tipping point in my life. 

If you’re feeling that same discontentment — that’s good. Because you’re aware that you’re not where you want to be, and you’re aware of where you do want to be. 

You’ve realised you’re at the bottom of the mountain, and you know what you need to do to reach the peak. 

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This harsh reality drove me to the point where I refused to ride out my life on the trajectory it was on. I realised: 

If I do nothing, I know where this is going. And I don’t like that place.

This is what self-improvement really is. What drives us all to be better is escaping an undesirable future. 

All the strategies, habits, guides and tricks are all centred around one goal: 

Becoming someone else. 

It’s the beautiful realisation that you don’t have to be what you are right now.

You’re not stuck — you’re free to become whoever you want. 

You Feel Stuck Because You Have a Warped View of ‘YOU’ 

“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”  
—Alan Watts

I remember in high school, my friend Ariel asked me what class I was headed to — I told her I had advanced math.

She said, “I could never do that, I’m so bad at math.”

And I remember telling her “Nobody starts out good.”

And as I spoke, I realised that we all have the power to escape the labels we put on ourselves. We’re not hardstuck with who we are today. 

We give ourselves these limiting labels:

• “I’m depressed”

• “I’m an overweight person”

• “I don’t perform well under pressure”

And there’s nothing wrong with these — they may be true right now. But the issue is, we latch onto them and assume who we were yesterday as who we’ll be tomorrow.

To transform your life, you need to insert a single word into those statements:

The word: ‘Currently’

• “I’m currently depressed”

• “I’m currently an overweight person”

• “I currently don’t perform well under pressure.”

Feel the difference?

Identifying that you’re currently experiencing something implies that you are not that forever. 

It implies that there’s a greater version of you, waiting to be realised.

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 Your true self is not ‘a late person’ or ‘an undisciplined person’. 

There are a few reasons why you are the way you are: 

1. your brain chemistry — nature 

2. the way you were raised — nurture 

3. the practices and routines you fell into — habits

But these are not ‘you’. 

When you close your eyes, and you feel your consciousness, that’s the real you. That’s how you reflected on yourself in the first place, by viewing your outer reputation and deciding that you weren’t happy with it. 

You’re a spirit who decides to perform actions. And it’s these actions that actually paint the picture of your life. 

So, why am I telling you this? 

Because so many people limit themselves to who they were yesterday — thinking their outside self is their inside self. 

To Be Happy, Become Someone Else

“The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts — it gives you what you demand with your actions.” — Steve Maraboli

Become the ‘Saint’ version of yourself. 

The Saint is the culmination of all the traits you wish to embody.

It’s the ‘someone else’ you can become with the right steps. 

If you’re a basketball player aspiring to make the NBA, then the version of yourself who’s in the NBA is your Saint. 

Whether or not you will move closer to your Saint will depend on what you do about your current position. 

If you choose to believe you can’t change, and that pursuing someone else is a bad thing — you’ll be stuck with what you are. 

But if you accept that becoming the highest version of yourself requires change, you’ll become someone who you actually love and respect. 

Loving yourself doesn’t stop at accepting your current ways. 

It comes from accepting your current ways PLUS working toward desirable traits.

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You might say: But Eren, isn’t trying to be someone else an inauthentic approach to life? 

Not at all. This is the most authentic approach there is because everyone has different goals — different Saints. 

• Person A wants to be more outspoken, but Person B wants to be more reserved

• Person A wants to be a crypto trader, but Person B wants to be a painter

I’m not saying everyone should try and aim for some arbitrary target set by society and celebrities. 

I’m saying everyone should try and become their highest self by following their curiosity and working on traits they desire. 

Now let’s talk about the tangible ways to do so. 

Who You’ll Be in 1 Year Depends on What You Do Today (4 Steps to a Better You)

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The answer is manifesting.

And before you come at me, manifesting is not some “woo-woo” concept where you write in your journal what you want and it magically appears. 

Manifesting works because you have a vision of who you want to become, and you live life as if you were already there. 

Like our friend from earlier trying to make the NBA. 

If he were to wait until he was in the NBA to train like a professional, he’d never make it. 

He must believe he is an NBA calibre player, and then live like one. 

He has to eat, sleep, train and study like he’s an NBA player. 

This is how you become something. 

You don’t wait until you magically arrive at a destination — you manufacture the destination with relevant and consistent action. 

Same goes for health and happiness. 

Health

If you want to be healthy, you must live like a healthy person :

• eat right 

• sleep well

• exercise well 

You have to do all this IN SPITE OF being overweight or unhealthy. 

Happiness

If you want to be happy, you have to do things happy people do: 

• smile often

• exude positivity

• go on morning walks 

• say “good morning” to strangers

You have to do all this IN SPITE OF feeling sad. 

“I’m depressed” is no excuse for not being able to become happy. 

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Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy. But that’s the price you must pay to become someone you desire. 

To put it simply into 4 steps — you can become your ideal self by: 

1. consciously reflecting on who you are and what traits you authentically desire in others 

2. consciously mapping out who you’d like to become in the future

3. creating and researching logical steps and routines to bridge the gap between you now, and where you want to be 

4. embody those steps and routines for a long time — live like that person 

Get unhappy with where you are now, and manifest your way into becoming the best version of yourself. 

It’s that simple! 

Sincerely, 

eren

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Follow me on Substack and LinkedIn for short bursts of motivation and peace, and to follow along on my journey of creating the world’s best in-person mindset workshop.