The core theme is that ambition and desire are insufficient for achieving goals; consistent, small actions, even in the face of uncertainty, are the true drivers of progress and personal growth, contrasting with passive waiting and overthinking.
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Have you ever had a goal, something that
you think about all the time? You want
nothing more than to achieve that goal,
but you just can't
for whatever reason. It's like
everything should technically be in
place. Like you want it bad, and you
want to work on it, and you want to make
progress toward your goal, but it's like
some invisible force is stopping you
from doing it. It kind of doesn't make
sense how you can want something so bad,
but at the same time not do anything
about it. But I was actually the exact
same way. And after some time of
consistently showing yourself that you
just can't do what you say you're going
to do. You start labeling yourself as
someone that's just lazy. You accept
that this is just your life and you'll
never be able to change. Honestly, I am
still that way sometimes. But the game
Dark Souls made me realize that I'm not
lazy. I've just been doing things wrong
the whole time. Let me explain. In Dark
Souls, there's this guy we meet who
wears armor that kind of looks like an
onion. His name is Sigmire of Katarina.
He comes from Katarina, a land known for
proud, honorable knights, warriors who
talk boldly, laugh loudly, and carry
themselves like heroes. And Sieer sounds
like one. He talks about adventure,
about honor, about overcoming the undead
curse, and dying a glorious death. He
truly believed that having such strong
ambition would naturally lead him to
greatness. Yet, when the time came to
start taking action, he always found
excuses to avoid the hard work. He told
himself that he can't progress until the
gate is open or there are simply too
many enemies for him to handle or that
he needed to plan more carefully before
beginning. He wants to be great, but
every time you meet him, he's stuck. He
always wants us to do something for him.
Open the gate, lead the way, kill the
enemies, but never actually does
anything himself. He's not stupid for
doing this, but we can see that he's
obviously hesitant, right? He believes
that once the conditions are perfect,
then he'll act. Once the danger is
reduced, once the path is clear, and
until then, he waits. Time passed, and
while his dreams grew larger, his
abilities remain small. Warriors on a
similar path to him have caught up to
his progress. You, the player, start in
the same situation as he does. You don't
know where to go. You don't even know
how to fight properly, and you die
constantly. But you still move. You try
doors that don't even open. You fight
enemies that you're not ready for. You
wander into places that you probably
shouldn't be. And slowly, painfully, you
collect souls. You get stronger and
stronger. Not because you had a better
plan, but because you acted without
certainty. And eventually, inevitably,
you surpass him. His dreams didn't lift
him higher. They made him weaker. His
ambition without action left him
frustrated, unprepared, and full of
regret. But Sigmire didn't lack any
information. What information did we as
the player have that he didn't? We both
knew the same amount, but we just acted
while he sat and thought about it more.
He lacked the identity of someone who
acts. He believed his ambition would
carry him forward. That wanting
something badly was enough. But ambition
without action doesn't build strength.
It's just doing nothing and it turns
into regret. You can do all the thinking
and mental preparation in the world. But
it really won't mean anything if you
don't start taking some action.
Otherwise, all of your ideas just stay
imaginary in your head. And the more
Sigmire imagined his future, the less
prepared he became for the present. If
you're watching this, chances are that
you probably don't lack the information
either. You know what to do. And even if
you don't know specifically what to do,
like how to get started. There is
YouTube and Google. You can figure it
out, right? You have the information of
the whole world in this device here.
There's no excuse to say like, "Well, I
don't know what to do." Because you can
figure it out. Even if you don't know
what to do, if you want to do it, then
it's worth figuring it out, right? If
you lack the knowledge, then you know
where to get it. You've planned, you
visualized, you've told yourself, "I'll
start when I feel ready." But readiness
never comes because motivation doesn't
bridge the gap between wanting and
doing. Action does. Siem believed that
strong ambition and clear goals would
naturally push him to act. But his
identity as a dreamer created a gap
between what he desired and what he was
willing to do. He found comfort in
imagining his future rather than
enduring the discomfort of actually
doing the hard work. Actually, the more
Sigmar spoke of his plans without
acting, the more his mind rewarded him
as if he had already achieved something.
His dreams became a trap and his
inaction became his downfall. But in
Dark Souls, strength isn't something
that you just feel already. It's
something that you collect one enemy at
a time, one mistake at a time, one run
back to the bonfire again at a time.
When you think about your goal or your
vision, you may get amped up and you
know, you might work at it for a day or
a week or however long you feel
motivated to do it, but eventually you
burn out. You just go back to square one
and it's just like this repeating
endless dreadful cycle. Siem wanted one
great moment. One heroic act that would
prove his honor forever. One burst of
courage that would make everything worth
it. One action that would solidify him
and his honor in history forever and
then he could die happy. But both life
and Dark Souls don't work that way. It
needs to be small, steady actions that
eventually appear as big over time. You
don't clear an area in one perfect run.
You leave the bonfire, kill one hard
enemy, grab his item, and then run back
to the bonfire again. Progress is
survivable, incremental, unimpressive in
the moment maybe, but it compounds. It
stacks. True transformation doesn't come
from just a single moment of
inspiration. It comes from small, steady
actions performed every day. Greatness
is not built in sudden bursts of energy,
but through the quiet rhythm of
repetition. Getting started is always
the hardest part. Not because the work
is difficult, but because the stakes
feel too high when you tell yourself, "I
have to change my entire life." Your
brain freezes. That task feels like a
mountain, like a boss fight you're not
prepared for at all. And that triggers
the want to just avoid it. But if you
tell yourself, "I'll just take one
step," then your brain doesn't panic as
much. Now the task is small, safe, and
actually possible. You don't need
motivation for that. You don't need
discipline either. You just need to
begin. Action brings momentum, and
momentum gives rise to the energy we
mistake for inspiration. Those who
achieve the most are not the ones who
feel inspired every day, but the ones
who act even when they don't feel like
it. In Dark Souls, you don't need to
clear the whole level. You just need to
leave the bonfire. Once you're moving,
momentum takes over. This is why simple
rules like the 2-minute rule works so
well. If you don't feel like doing the
work, just tell yourself that you only
do it for 2 minutes and then you can
stop after that if you want. Clean until
the song ends, right? Until the timer
hits zero. Most of the time, you won't
even stop because once something is in
motion, it wants to stay in motion. The
first push is uphill. After that, the
work carries you forward. Progress
doesn't come from heroic effort. It
comes from lowering the stakes until
action becomes unavoidable. You don't
climb the whole mountain at once. You
just take the next step. Even if you
can't see the top, you don't have to see
the whole staircase. Just take the first
step. This is the difference between us
and Sigmire. He waits for the gate to
open. We look for another path. He waits
until conditions feel safe or perfect.
While we move even when things feel
uncertain, he dreams of action. But you
actually practice it. You do it. And
slowly, without realizing it, even just
through the game Dark Souls, you become
the kind of person who acts. Instead of
just staying stuck thinking about it,
while he sits there and just thinks
about his next move forever, we get up
and go try to do things. Even if we
don't know what the [ __ ] we're doing, we
just go try to figure out the next
logical step instead of staying and just
wishing that the gate would open. Cuz
how many times have you done that? Ah, I
just wish that things were this way. I
wish that it was the way that I wanted
it to be. Well, it's not. So, figure it
out. And eventually, even if we had
trouble, even if we were going the wrong
way completely at sometimes, we found
the way to open the gate. It took
action. We found our way. The chosen
undead isn't special. He doesn't have
more motivation than everyone else. He
doesn't necessarily feel ready. He just
keeps going. If you're ambitious, but
you also feel lazy, you're not broken.
You're just standing at the gate
waiting. So stop wondering if you feel
like it yet. Stop waiting for
confidence. Take the smallest action you
can survive and just do it today. You
can't always just wait to do something
until you feel like doing it. True
progress that you'll actually see over
time takes daily practice and
discipline. Start with small daily
actions, no matter how insignificant
they may seem. Don't wait to feel ready
because being ready is an illusion.
you'll never really be ready. Instead,
place your trust in habits and
commitments. You are not controlled by
your feelings. You are guided by your
commitments. Strength doesn't mean
saying, "I feel like doing this now."
Strength means saying, "I will do this
whether I feel like it or not." Leave
the bonfire. Take the first few steps
and then let the momentum carry you
forward more. Don't think about all the
other stuff you need to do. Just focus
on what you're going to do at this exact
second. That's how strength is built.
That's how ambition is actually used and
put into action. Not just you are lazy
so you just don't do it, but you're
ambitious but you just don't do it. Just
take the first logical small step that
you think that you can handle. I really
hope this helps guys. If you like Dark
Souls and self-improvement, I have a new
free community that you can join. It's
just the link in the description. I also
have a course that I've made. It's like
a little under 3 hours of content. Uh,
you can also find it in my community. No
pressure for either of them. Just the
link will be in the description for both
of them. I really, really hope this
helps guys. Take care. Okay. Don't you
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