Becoming The Best You — Part 2

Author

Jack Salmon
August 05, 2026

Welcome to this weeks newsletter - Becoming The Best You — Part 2

Becoming The Best You — Part 2

To begin, everything was an uphill battle.

The reading became easy but the application was my enemy.

As soon as the alarm sounded for a 6am wake up, I did what I did best. I snoozed.

Only to wake up in disappointment, pushing any hope of change to the next day.

Some days I won, others I lost.

Looking back now I can see it was progress made but at the time, I had no time to praise.

I hated who I had become.
I hated my life.
And I was filled with anger and rage.

I wasn't in a place to let myself off the hook, so being harsh was my only approach.

I'd call myself fucking useless, lazy, a slacker for every snoozed alarm, habit skipped or promise broken.

I knew to truly change, keeping my promises would be key.

So the 6am alarm, the first promise of the day, was the one defeating me.

A new approach was needed if I was going to succeed.

I bought myself an old alarm clock and placed it across the room.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep, only to be woken in what felt like a military drill. 

But it forced me to get up and turn it off. Which worked for me.

Finally I was keeping my word and my morning routine started.

I wasn't perfect but progress was being made.

I was still being harsh though. My language hasn't improved.

Because when you're at the beginning of the game, there is so much work to do.

Each day feels like you're making up for lost time. For the years lost.

And although things are slowly improving, you're still not happy with where you're at in life.

You hate what you do for work.
You're ashamed of the things you've done in the past.
And you're yet to figure out who you want to be in life or what the purpose of this life is.

So instead of focusing on progress, you focus on what's missing.
Instead of focusing on the present, you focus on the past.
And instead of focusing on what you can control, you focus on what you can't.

Knowing what I know now,  if I could speak to this version of me, I would tell him he's doing better than he knows. Acknowledge your wins. Forgive your past. Stop being so hard on yourself. Keep focusing on the future. It will all work out.

But at this time, I knew no better.

So the inner critic wins the daily battle.

You're not good enough. You're not doing good enough. And you must suffer in order to succeed.

As harsh as this voice is, it becomes a friend, a coach and a mentor to me.

He held me accountable.
He didn't let me off the hook.
He put me in check whenever I needed it.

Sometimes he stepped out of line. You feel beat down and these days are hard.

But these days feel like paradise compared to the ones out of control, alone in the kitchen, self-sabotaging until you fall apart.

With that being said, it wasn't all bad.

Because there was another voice that arose. 

The one that told me there are better things to come and that now, I must prepare.

So for the first time in my life, I asked myself a few questions that would shape the rest of my life.

Who do I want to be?
What do I want to achieve?
What kind of life do I want to live?
And why is this important to me?

Then I got to work on question number one, who do I want to be?

To be continued.

Well done

Well done for showing up, reading this, and being ready to take action.

Most people say they want change, few actually do something about it.
You’re one of the few.

I’d love to hear about your progress!
Reach out to me on and follow me on socials

If you need support, just message me.

Thanks,
Jack