Axiomatic Steps to Self-Respect 🏆
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
"Write down three small, achievable goals for the week. Simple ones. Nothing grandiose. As you accomplish each, reflect on the discipline, effort, and growth required to achieve them. What did it take? Notice how showing up for yourself changes the way you see, well, you."
I remember a time when everything felt like a mess. Too much. Too fast. Too loud. Chaos wasn’t lurking—it had kicked the door down and made itself at home.
Then I stumbled onto something.
Nothing flashy. Nothing dramatic.
Just this: Pick one small thing. Fix it. No grand gestures. No “new year, new me” nonsense. Just a quiet, steady shift.
It felt like that scene in The Karate Kid.
The dull, repetitive drills. Wax on. Wax off. Boring—until they weren’t. Until the motions weren’t just practice, but instinct. Until Daniel wasn’t just some kid flailing around but someone with real skill, real control.
That’s how change works. You start small. You repeat. Eventually, it sticks. And when the foundation holds, everything above it has a fighting chance.
Here’s the plan:
Select three tiny goals. Perhaps you’ll do a five-minute morning stretch, spend ten minutes organizing that messy shelf, or whip up a nutritious meal at least once this week.
Write these tasks somewhere visible.
Each time you complete one, pause. Ask yourself: “How did I feel in that moment? Did it shift my sense of responsibility toward my own life?”
This micro-commitment might look unremarkable, but it carries real weight. It underpins a new hierarchical structure of self-trust.
As you check off each item, notice the ripple.
Each accomplishment, no matter how small, introduces a spark of discipline that feeds your self-perception in an honest way.
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
Consider that your everyday actions paint the thoughts you carry with you. Each small victory adds a brighter hue to your inner world.
Ever fix one tiny thing and somehow set off a chain reaction?
You clear out one junk drawer—next thing you know, your whole life feels lighter. You take a deep breath, just one, and suddenly, your mind isn’t a battlefield. Strange how that works.
Got a story like that? Spill it.
The wins, the missteps, the "well, that didn’t go as planned" moments.
We figure things out faster when we compare notes.
Forget waiting for inspiration.
It’s unreliable. Here one second, gone the next.
Effort, though, that sticks.
Do the thing. Show up. Keep a promise to yourself, no matter how small.
That’s how the rewiring starts. You stop being the person who overthinks and stall-outs. You become the one who moves, decides, follows through. And that shift is bigger than it looks.
So pick three goals. Lock them in. Follow through. Watch what happens. Bet on yourself—you’re a safer bet than you realize.
Keep moving. Keep pushing.
Every small step is pulling your future into focus.
— Ryan Puusaari