When was the last time you REALLY tried at anything?

This article was inspired by the writing of Benjamin P. Hardy on Medium called "2 Quotes That Will Reshape Your Approach To Life". If you want to read something amazing, I recommend you check out his work!

After finishing high school two years ago I had a 3 months period when I was feeling unstoppable. I was happy that I finished school after 12 years of being forced to learn things I didn't care about and I was excited to work as a freelancer and make money using the tool I love - my computer.

For around 90 days everything was completely different for me. I wasn't forced to do anything, I had all the time I needed and all I wanted was to have a better life. So that's what I started working towards. I used to wake up early in the morning, at around 7 AM, eat something healthy life fruits or vegetables, exercise for 30 to 60 minutes, work for a few good hours, then eat and exercise again, then work until around 8 PM and then finally eat and exercise one last time.

I did that for 3 months and I can say I felt amazing. I never really made any progress in such a short amount of time before and I was really proud of myself. I was happy because I was doing what I wanted, I felt free and I felt amazing because of all the exercise and good food I was consuming.

Then everything changed for the worst when I agreed to go to college after my entire family insisted. I went for around two months and I abandoned everything I achieved before that - including my life style. I stopped waking up early in the morning, I used all my savings to pay for everything I needed in college and I even stopped working that much.

After two months of being in college I decided I was too miserable and I just stopped going. My entire family was upset, my mother didn't speak to me for around two weeks and for a while I felt like a total loser. But nothing really compared to how much I wanted to feel like I did before going to college.

However, nothing was the same as before. I tried to get my life style back, all that energy and motivation, but nothing was really the same. I was, once again, the guy who was tired and bored all the time, and all I wanted was to be free again and to learn what I felt was interesting.

But I kept thinking about that 3 months period when I did everything with a high level of excitement and how everything turned out well for me. I was lucky, I felt awesome, I was learning a lot of new things and I was being productive. Something changed in those two months of going to college, something that ruined the way I was doing things.

I realized what happened after a few more weeks - I stopped trying. I mean, I kept working, developing and making a lot of progress, but I stopped trying REALLY hard. I was still motivated to give up on anything in order to achieve my dream. I was doing it, but what I felt before was gone. I wasn't REALLY trying any more.

That's when I decided to change the way I was doing things once again. It was December 2016, my YouTube channel stopped producing any money and I needed to do something. I needed at least one source of income. I lost everything and it was time for me to rise again and focus on what really mattered - my work and my life.

So, that month I started working on Graphic River, uploading design packages containing backgrounds, photomanipulation elements, and later Actions. Then I kept working on graphic design until I discovered Creative Market and started uploading the same kind of packages there as well.

After a few months I started making money once again and in June I discovered Steemit where I started publishing my articles and trying to create my third source of income using my barely existent writing skills and my desire to learn how to use and trade Steem.

I was trying once again, but not at the same level. I made huge progress this year, but the feeling wasn't there any more. I wasn't REALLY trying. I wasn't doing my best. I'm still not. I know I waste a huge part of my time playing video games and watching videos or movies when I should work, and I am aware that I could make a lot more progress if I would really try.

The article I mentioned above reminded me of that. It reminded me of what I'm capable of if I really focus. It reminded me of those 90 days when I was spending all my time working and exercising, hoping to change my life.

And I started wondering what you could achieve as well if you would really try. How many of you are working and doing what you're supposed to do every day while not being completely focused? How would your life look life if you would REALLY try?

It's interesting how every day we do all kind of stuff, making progress and getting rewarded for that and once in a while we get to realize we're not actually doing our best. We're on autopilot most of the time doing pretty amazing things without even realizing. We often forget we can do a lot more. All it takes is the will to work more, and to give all you have in order to change your life.

I look around me and I see people creating all kind of amazing types of content, especially here on Steemit, people writing a lot of things, coming up with ideas that could change the future of this platform, trying to make a living writing and helping others, and I constantly wonder - what could you achieve if you would REALLY try? How far could you get?

I think this is something we should all ask ourselves because no matter how much we try to convince everyone, including us, that we're working and doing our best, after a closer look we may all realize we're not actually trying and we're wasting huge parts of our time doing things that don't really help us move forward.

Ask yourself what you could achieve by REALLY trying, by focusing and by doing your best, and maybe find a way to focus more than you're accustomed to. Who knows, maybe that's exactly what you need to make your dreams reality and to accomplish your goals.