Motivation I had wanted to move for many years, but I knew that simply wanting it wasn’t enough - plenty of people plan to move, yet few actually do. For years, I kept doubting whether I could really do it. Moving to another country felt overwhelming and too difficult. 2022 gave me a huge boost of motivation. Honestly, though, I’m not sure I would have had the willpower to move without a few key lifestyle changes and achievements that came before. Here, I want to share how I gradually stopped doubting myself and started to take action. I genuinely believe these things were the turning point that shifted my life. 1️⃣ Routine. After my son was born, I decided to become a fit and strong dad to set a good example for him. I was going to the gym, but like most of us, I trained inconsistently, so the results were average. Luckily, at that time I had a colleague who was very fit and looked exactly how I wanted to look. I decided to ask him what he did to achieve it. He turned out to be very open and explained the basic principles of his diet and training. It was, essentially, the first step that started major changes in my life - I decided to follow his advice, be consistent, commit fully, and get the body I wanted no matter what. His advice worked perfectly. In addition, I absorbed a huge amount of information on diet and fitness, and in ~8 months I transformed my body (all my knowledge on that is in this video). I sorted out my sleep, diet, and training routines, but more importantly, I felt the power of consistency. I kept taking small, invisible steps, and slowly but surely they eventually led to major results. 2️⃣ Planning. While consuming tons of information about sport and diet, I also absorbed quite a bit about planning and motivation - these topics often go hand in hand. And it makes complete sense - it’s very hard to stay sporty without a systematic approach. Motivated by my first success, I decided to implement a task planning system. It was an adapted version of Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. There are plenty of videos about it on YouTube - it’s a very simple system. I tweaked it to be more digital and fit into my routine. The core idea is the same - you perform small, regular steps (organising, planning, sorting, and executing) for your life tasks. Over time, this leads to big results - you get more done, procrastinate less, and feel better because your mind stays calm and focused. That was the second step. 3️⃣ Support. The sporty colleague became a friend. At first, he gave advice on training and nutrition, and later he supported me with planning my move abroad. He was one of the few who said, “Others have done it, you can too, give it a go,” instead of the usual “It’s too hard, nobody needs you there.” Even simple words like that, spoken at the right time by the right person, can make a huge difference. Importantly, he’s someone whose opinion matters: he competes in several extreme sports, is athletic, organised, doesn’t procrastinate, optimistic, and always takes action immediately. A living embodiment of the “just do it” motto. Of course, I also had immense support from my family, though it almost feels taken for granted, simply because they are family and support me unconditionally. As a result, these three factors transformed my life over a few years. I felt, and still feel, like a machine - always active, well-rested, and fully organised. I’m like a task grinder. That was the state I entered 2022 with. So, immigration then became just another task, albeit the biggest one, that I slowly and surely grinded. (Russian)