Original image by Julien Haler. Modified under Creative Commons License.

I have an admission to make. Over the past several months, I’ve gotten complacent. Things were going good, I was generally happy, and I stopped trying. I lived my life in the routine, happy to be where I was, wanting to stay where it was comfortable. I stopped going to the gym, stopped working on side projects, stopped meeting new people. I mean, hey, it is easy – working the 9 to 5, going home and filling your brain with mindless TV and video games, rinse and repeat. Complacency is great and all when things are going well.

The problem with being complacent is when things go wrong. Suddenly, your life becomes a raging monster that you are trying to tame. While you were being complacent, your weapons got rusty, you got a little pudgy, and trying to beat down that monster is now going horribly wrong. And so, your complacency is now helping your life eat you for breakfast. Omnomnom.

How do you stop being complacent?

Keep at improving yourself

Whether it is physically, mentally, or strengthening and creating relationships with other people, always be working at it. And working at it means you have to put significant amounts of effort into it, that it needs to challenge you. I kept making excuses for myself – saying, hey, “I walk to and from work” so that is all the exercise I need. Wrong – that was the easy way out. Instead, challenge yourself. My challenge now is to hit the gym four times a week.

Find and work on a project

Find something that engages you, but is also a challenge. Work at it until you kick its butt. And then find something else to destroy. My new project and promise? To learn how to code. And then I want to design and build this site from scratch. After that, I want to build an app for me to use on my phone.

Constantly create new opportunities for yourself

I’m a firm believer that opportunities come to those who seek them out – those who try to put themselves in the right place and the right time. You create your own luck. Keep an eagle eye out for what might be an opportunity. Put yourself out there and you never know what might come along. My personal challenge? To hit up at least two events every week, where I can and will meet new people, have new experiences and gain new knowledge.

So stop being complacent. Always be thinking of what’s next. What’s the something more that you would like to achieve? If you’re completely, 100% happy, what is the one thing that you’re most at risk to lose? Don’t be complacent – be prepared. That way, when the Monster called Life comes trying to knock you down, you can kick it firmly in the head and tame that beast.

How are you going to challenge yourself? Care to join me on my challenges?