0:01 Have you ever had a goal, something that
0:03 you think about all the time? You want
0:05 nothing more than to achieve that goal,
0:08 but you just can't
0:09 for whatever reason. It's like
0:11 everything should technically be in
0:13 place. Like you want it bad, and you
0:15 want to work on it, and you want to make
0:17 progress toward your goal, but it's like
0:19 some invisible force is stopping you
0:21 from doing it. It kind of doesn't make
0:23 sense how you can want something so bad,
0:25 but at the same time not do anything
0:27 about it. But I was actually the exact
0:29 same way. And after some time of
0:31 consistently showing yourself that you
0:32 just can't do what you say you're going
0:34 to do. You start labeling yourself as
0:36 someone that's just lazy. You accept
0:38 that this is just your life and you'll
0:41 never be able to change. Honestly, I am
0:43 still that way sometimes. But the game
0:45 Dark Souls made me realize that I'm not
0:48 lazy. I've just been doing things wrong
0:50 the whole time. Let me explain. In Dark
0:51 Souls, there's this guy we meet who
0:53 wears armor that kind of looks like an
0:55 onion. His name is Sigmire of Katarina.
0:58 He comes from Katarina, a land known for
1:01 proud, honorable knights, warriors who
1:03 talk boldly, laugh loudly, and carry
1:06 themselves like heroes. And Sieer sounds
1:08 like one. He talks about adventure,
1:11 about honor, about overcoming the undead
1:13 curse, and dying a glorious death. He
1:15 truly believed that having such strong
1:17 ambition would naturally lead him to
1:19 greatness. Yet, when the time came to
1:22 start taking action, he always found
1:24 excuses to avoid the hard work. He told
1:26 himself that he can't progress until the
1:28 gate is open or there are simply too
1:30 many enemies for him to handle or that
1:32 he needed to plan more carefully before
1:34 beginning. He wants to be great, but
1:36 every time you meet him, he's stuck. He
1:39 always wants us to do something for him.
1:41 Open the gate, lead the way, kill the
1:43 enemies, but never actually does
1:45 anything himself. He's not stupid for
1:47 doing this, but we can see that he's
1:50 obviously hesitant, right? He believes
1:52 that once the conditions are perfect,
1:54 then he'll act. Once the danger is
1:57 reduced, once the path is clear, and
2:00 until then, he waits. Time passed, and
2:02 while his dreams grew larger, his
2:04 abilities remain small. Warriors on a
2:06 similar path to him have caught up to
2:08 his progress. You, the player, start in
2:10 the same situation as he does. You don't
2:12 know where to go. You don't even know
2:14 how to fight properly, and you die
2:17 constantly. But you still move. You try
2:19 doors that don't even open. You fight
2:21 enemies that you're not ready for. You
2:23 wander into places that you probably
2:26 shouldn't be. And slowly, painfully, you
2:28 collect souls. You get stronger and
2:30 stronger. Not because you had a better
2:32 plan, but because you acted without
2:35 certainty. And eventually, inevitably,
2:38 you surpass him. His dreams didn't lift
2:40 him higher. They made him weaker. His
2:42 ambition without action left him
2:44 frustrated, unprepared, and full of
2:46 regret. But Sigmire didn't lack any
2:49 information. What information did we as
2:51 the player have that he didn't? We both
2:53 knew the same amount, but we just acted
2:55 while he sat and thought about it more.
2:57 He lacked the identity of someone who
2:59 acts. He believed his ambition would
3:01 carry him forward. That wanting
3:04 something badly was enough. But ambition
3:06 without action doesn't build strength.
3:08 It's just doing nothing and it turns
3:10 into regret. You can do all the thinking
3:12 and mental preparation in the world. But
3:14 it really won't mean anything if you
3:15 don't start taking some action.
3:17 Otherwise, all of your ideas just stay
3:20 imaginary in your head. And the more
3:22 Sigmire imagined his future, the less
3:24 prepared he became for the present. If
3:26 you're watching this, chances are that
3:29 you probably don't lack the information
3:31 either. You know what to do. And even if
3:33 you don't know specifically what to do,
3:36 like how to get started. There is
3:38 YouTube and Google. You can figure it
3:41 out, right? You have the information of
3:44 the whole world in this device here.
3:47 There's no excuse to say like, "Well, I
3:48 don't know what to do." Because you can
3:50 figure it out. Even if you don't know
3:52 what to do, if you want to do it, then
3:53 it's worth figuring it out, right? If
3:55 you lack the knowledge, then you know
3:57 where to get it. You've planned, you
3:59 visualized, you've told yourself, "I'll
4:02 start when I feel ready." But readiness
4:04 never comes because motivation doesn't
4:06 bridge the gap between wanting and
4:09 doing. Action does. Siem believed that
4:11 strong ambition and clear goals would
4:13 naturally push him to act. But his
4:15 identity as a dreamer created a gap
4:17 between what he desired and what he was
4:19 willing to do. He found comfort in
4:21 imagining his future rather than
4:23 enduring the discomfort of actually
4:25 doing the hard work. Actually, the more
4:27 Sigmar spoke of his plans without
4:29 acting, the more his mind rewarded him
4:32 as if he had already achieved something.
4:34 His dreams became a trap and his
4:36 inaction became his downfall. But in
4:38 Dark Souls, strength isn't something
4:40 that you just feel already. It's
4:42 something that you collect one enemy at
4:45 a time, one mistake at a time, one run
4:48 back to the bonfire again at a time.
4:50 When you think about your goal or your
4:52 vision, you may get amped up and you
4:54 know, you might work at it for a day or
4:56 a week or however long you feel
4:58 motivated to do it, but eventually you
5:00 burn out. You just go back to square one
5:02 and it's just like this repeating
5:05 endless dreadful cycle. Siem wanted one
5:08 great moment. One heroic act that would
5:10 prove his honor forever. One burst of
5:12 courage that would make everything worth
5:14 it. One action that would solidify him
5:17 and his honor in history forever and
5:19 then he could die happy. But both life
5:21 and Dark Souls don't work that way. It
5:24 needs to be small, steady actions that
5:27 eventually appear as big over time. You
5:30 don't clear an area in one perfect run.
5:32 You leave the bonfire, kill one hard
5:34 enemy, grab his item, and then run back
5:37 to the bonfire again. Progress is
5:40 survivable, incremental, unimpressive in
5:43 the moment maybe, but it compounds. It
5:45 stacks. True transformation doesn't come
5:47 from just a single moment of
5:50 inspiration. It comes from small, steady
5:52 actions performed every day. Greatness
5:55 is not built in sudden bursts of energy,
5:57 but through the quiet rhythm of
5:59 repetition. Getting started is always
6:01 the hardest part. Not because the work
6:02 is difficult, but because the stakes
6:05 feel too high when you tell yourself, "I
6:07 have to change my entire life." Your
6:10 brain freezes. That task feels like a
6:12 mountain, like a boss fight you're not
6:14 prepared for at all. And that triggers
6:16 the want to just avoid it. But if you
6:17 tell yourself, "I'll just take one
6:19 step," then your brain doesn't panic as
6:22 much. Now the task is small, safe, and
6:24 actually possible. You don't need
6:25 motivation for that. You don't need
6:27 discipline either. You just need to
6:29 begin. Action brings momentum, and
6:32 momentum gives rise to the energy we
6:34 mistake for inspiration. Those who
6:35 achieve the most are not the ones who
6:38 feel inspired every day, but the ones
6:40 who act even when they don't feel like
6:41 it. In Dark Souls, you don't need to
6:43 clear the whole level. You just need to
6:46 leave the bonfire. Once you're moving,
6:48 momentum takes over. This is why simple
6:50 rules like the 2-minute rule works so
6:52 well. If you don't feel like doing the
6:54 work, just tell yourself that you only
6:55 do it for 2 minutes and then you can
6:57 stop after that if you want. Clean until
6:59 the song ends, right? Until the timer
7:01 hits zero. Most of the time, you won't
7:04 even stop because once something is in
7:06 motion, it wants to stay in motion. The
7:08 first push is uphill. After that, the
7:11 work carries you forward. Progress
7:13 doesn't come from heroic effort. It
7:15 comes from lowering the stakes until
7:17 action becomes unavoidable. You don't
7:19 climb the whole mountain at once. You
7:20 just take the next step. Even if you
7:22 can't see the top, you don't have to see
7:25 the whole staircase. Just take the first
7:27 step. This is the difference between us
7:29 and Sigmire. He waits for the gate to
7:32 open. We look for another path. He waits
7:35 until conditions feel safe or perfect.
7:37 While we move even when things feel
7:40 uncertain, he dreams of action. But you
7:43 actually practice it. You do it. And
7:45 slowly, without realizing it, even just
7:47 through the game Dark Souls, you become
7:49 the kind of person who acts. Instead of
7:52 just staying stuck thinking about it,
7:54 while he sits there and just thinks
7:57 about his next move forever, we get up
7:58 and go try to do things. Even if we
8:00 don't know what the [ __ ] we're doing, we
8:02 just go try to figure out the next
8:05 logical step instead of staying and just
8:07 wishing that the gate would open. Cuz
8:09 how many times have you done that? Ah, I
8:11 just wish that things were this way. I
8:12 wish that it was the way that I wanted
8:15 it to be. Well, it's not. So, figure it
8:17 out. And eventually, even if we had
8:19 trouble, even if we were going the wrong
8:22 way completely at sometimes, we found
8:24 the way to open the gate. It took
8:26 action. We found our way. The chosen
8:28 undead isn't special. He doesn't have
8:30 more motivation than everyone else. He
8:33 doesn't necessarily feel ready. He just
8:35 keeps going. If you're ambitious, but
8:38 you also feel lazy, you're not broken.
8:39 You're just standing at the gate
8:42 waiting. So stop wondering if you feel
8:44 like it yet. Stop waiting for
8:46 confidence. Take the smallest action you
8:49 can survive and just do it today. You
8:51 can't always just wait to do something
8:53 until you feel like doing it. True
8:55 progress that you'll actually see over
8:57 time takes daily practice and
8:59 discipline. Start with small daily
9:02 actions, no matter how insignificant
9:04 they may seem. Don't wait to feel ready
9:06 because being ready is an illusion.
9:09 you'll never really be ready. Instead,
9:10 place your trust in habits and
9:12 commitments. You are not controlled by
9:14 your feelings. You are guided by your
9:16 commitments. Strength doesn't mean
9:18 saying, "I feel like doing this now."
9:20 Strength means saying, "I will do this
9:22 whether I feel like it or not." Leave
9:25 the bonfire. Take the first few steps
9:27 and then let the momentum carry you
9:29 forward more. Don't think about all the
9:31 other stuff you need to do. Just focus
9:33 on what you're going to do at this exact
9:35 second. That's how strength is built.
9:38 That's how ambition is actually used and
9:41 put into action. Not just you are lazy
9:43 so you just don't do it, but you're
9:45 ambitious but you just don't do it. Just
9:48 take the first logical small step that
9:50 you think that you can handle. I really
9:52 hope this helps guys. If you like Dark
9:54 Souls and self-improvement, I have a new
9:56 free community that you can join. It's
9:58 just the link in the description. I also
10:01 have a course that I've made. It's like
10:04 a little under 3 hours of content. Uh,
10:06 you can also find it in my community. No
10:08 pressure for either of them. Just the
10:09 link will be in the description for both
10:12 of them. I really, really hope this
10:16 helps guys. Take care. Okay. Don't you
