5 months

23 weeks

164 days

3,936 hours

236,160 minutes

14,169,600 seconds

This is what is left of this year.

More than 50% of 2025 is gone and let me tell you the raw truth : You are NOT going to reach your goals.

At the beginning of 2025, you and I were excited, a whole paper empty, a new start, without shadows from the past. You promised yourself to make the most of it, but here’s what happened: you paid for a gym membership to which you went twice, prepared your weekly healthy meals that you ate within 2 days, and started to save money, but this purchase seemed too attractive and you “couldn’t resist”. You also decided to journal or focus on God, but here you are with a bible that serves as a chandelier in your room and a journal at 98% empty. You promised yourself that this year you´ll learn Spanish, Italian, Russian, or French, but you nearly forgot how to say “hello” in the said language. You said that you were going to study five times a week, but hey, here you are, studying a whole year few hours before your exam. Should I keep going?

Today, as you can see in my attitude, I am going to tell you something opposite to what you are used to hearing: you are NOT going to reach your goal this year, and here’s why :

“You would worry less about what people think if you knew how little they did” – Phil McGraw

I was sitting in the middle of my room when I clicked on post on my Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. I felt so embarrassed that I wasn’t using an account separated from my image to deal with my growth, and that’s a bit secure — if my face was never on it, therefore I never made it unless it’s proven otherwise. It took me hours before having the nerve to look at the reactions on my social media at my first post. People know me, my friends, my family, classmates, and then out of nowhere I play the influencer? Fear of change, pressure, or you believe that people’s judgement around you holds you back, but if only you knew how little they did, you’d not care about what they think. It is normal to feel weird, cringe because of this change. Embrace this feeling, do not reject it, as according to the popular Sigmund Freud, known for his contributions in psychology, founding father of psychoanalysis, ” Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways“. Freud believed that events in our past especially our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality.

Deal with it, learn to live with it, and finally overcome it. You are scared of people opinions, their vision of you, the fact that they may make fun of you but hey, that’s your journey, be proud of your 52 views, 52 peoples are interested by your content, that’s two whole classrooms deeply interested in what you are doing, believe me my Economics teacher does her job since years and is struggling to get 5 students involved some days but look at you! Accept and get comfortable with the idea that it must start from somewhere, you’ll never get 1’000 without 100, never 10’000 without 1’000, and never 100’000 without 10’000. Be proud of your Shopify store that made only a single sale last month or maybe a loss, who knows, that is your journey. Be proud, you are everything you have. It’s safer to stay in your comfort zone than face the responsibility that comes with growth, but keep in mind that by trying, you may face failure; by not trying, failure is guaranteed. You self-sabotage through procrastination and shame, but time is running no matter if you are running with it or not.

Research shows that when individuals internalise negative self-beliefs, those beliefs can become self-fulfilling. This phenomenon is rooted in the concept of self-schema, where people interpret their actions through the lens of their self-image. Over time, this can lead to behavioural confirmation: procrastination, avoidance, and ultimately, underachievement.

A 2018 study by Madon et al. found that as the number of people holding a stereotype about an individual increased, the individual was more likely to conform to that stereotype, even when new observers were aware the behaviour had been shaped by others

If you believe “I always quit,” your brain will work to prove that belief true. Your brain’s job is to make you do the least possible for your comfort. Your brain does not like you going to the gym, it doesn’t like you working three hours on your project every day. Your brain isn’t your friend, your brain is your comfort’s friend; Therefore, if you want your brain to do whatever you want it to do, make your work your comfort; there is no other way. Therefore, somehow, you may think: “Oh, it’s not my fault, then it’s my brain’s”. Theoretically, yes; technically, no. Your laziness is caused by your brain but encouraged by your lack of discipline, and this lack of discipline has built a habit, a culture in your deep self.

“I think therefore I am” – Descartes

You think therefore you are. Self-image controls behavior. Until you see yourself as someone who finishes, you won’t. Change starts with how you describe yourself, even privately.

The sculpture that you can discover right now is called “The Weight of Thoughts” by Thomas Lerooy, this highly inspiring and philosophic sculpture represents how much our thoughts may become heavy, heavy enough to hold us in the same place and making us unable to move as we can see this man, that can not carry his head anymore, instead his head is carrying him, coming back with the classic, still not said enough “You are your own enemy”.

Here is another trick with your brain: As soon as you start to get him stressed over a matter, he will try his best to avoid that situation, will make the task too heavy to carry. If your brain knows that every time you start to study for instance you don’t do enough then you stress yourself thinking you’re a failure, instead of looking for a way to make you study better, he’ll simply avoid to get you to study so you do not encounter that emotion. You’ll reinforce this thought of you being unable to do anything, you’ll get into distractions because you don’t want to face the truth and that’s how addictions are born: Your brain is simply trying to save you from yourself and the self destroying environment that you are creating around him by creating a so-called more comfortable environment that is still destroying.

Yes. You know and I know.

You are not attracted by having the best performance possible for yourself, but because you want the validation from your colleagues and the glory that will come with it in the office, you only work for a few hours when your motivation is at its peak, and you feel invincible. You feel satisfied once others “believe” in your potential, then as soon as they do and idolise you, everything stops. Then you wonder why you can’t finish — or even start — the work that you’ve been making noise about or that everybody around you has been making noise about: Your goal was not what you had to do, it was the fame, you wanted to be seen, not to achieve. And this subconscious process is painful for highly ambitious people, but this time your brain is not to blame; it did exactly what you were aspiring for. You are exactly where you wanted to be. This poor guy was never informed that you wanted to get the work done.

“Avoid shame but do not seek glory. Nothing so expensive as glory” – Sydney Smith

If this article hits you, don’t just feel guilty — get moving. The rest of the year can still be life-changing if you start now. We need you. Your future needs you. Five months will pass no matter you put in the necessary effort to change your trajectory or not. You can choose to turn around and blame everything on capitalism, gender wars, or the educational system, or you can break through everything and be the best for yourself. Women and men fought, left their lives on the fields and protestation places, so you can live free of their battles.

Written by Maria Mapeki,

Author and Aspiring Professional in Financial Public Administration