3 Tips for Going Off Autopilot & Taking Back Control of Your Life

Today I want to share some ideas for going off of autopilot and instead living your life on purpose. There are definitely times when doing things automatically is beneficial, but if you live in this 'auto-space' all the time, you allow life to happen to you rather than living your life the way you want.

Here are three ideas that you can use to live your life on purpose and by doing so, raise your vibrational energy, attract more positive things to you, get more done and feel much more vibrant, powerful and fulfilled.

Tip #1: Move out of the shadow and into the light. What makes you tick, what are you passionate about, where are you holding back? Tune in to who you really are and let her shine!

This is a huge topic that many books have been written on so let's just focus in on one little point... what are you doing to hold yourself back?

Most of us have been trained to hide a little bit (or a lot) of who we are. Maybe you've been told you laugh too loud or you're too quick to trust other people. Maybe it's been suggested you daydream too much and need to spend more time focusing on getting things done. Labels like; you're lazy, scattered, impulsive, lack self-control... all influence who you are and what you believe about yourself (even positive labels can hold you back!).

You also could be in a job you don't really like, but are there because someone else felt that's the career you should have. It's possible you feel afraid to course correct at this point in your life because you took schooling to get where you are or you've worked so hard to climb the ladder and to change now would seem like such a waste. Or maybe you're afraid if you stop you'll be seen as a quitter or people will think you're not smart enough, strong enough or committed enough to see things through.

Becoming aware of the areas of your life that are within your control and then using this awareness to help you make positive changes in your life is called conscious living. Noticing where you feel stagnant, uninspired or held back and then thinking about what you might do to make things just a little better can be a really great starting place for living this kind of life.

Doing things to please other people, pushing aside your real dreams and desires because you think (or have been told) they are too fanciful, is stopping you from reaching your full potential.

So when you consciously detect something is amiss, don't disregard it or push it aside because it's inconvenient. Instead, notice it, journal about it, explore it fully and see what comes to light.

Commit to finding and revealing the real you - I guarantee you she is wonderful and worth exploring.

Tip #2: Open yourself up to receive - gifts, compliments, love, healing, a helping hand...

This sounds like such a simple thing to do, yet it is not. Most of us have been taught that to need something from someone else makes you weak, immodest or sets you up to owe them and we do not like to be indebted to others. This stops us from being a true team member and collaborating effectively with others, plus it robs us of the pleasure receiving can bring.

If you struggle with receiving you can end up blocking everything you've ever desired from coming your way. Receiving and the pleasure it brings are two key pieces to filling up your tank so it's very important you learn how open up to it.

A simple way to increase your awareness around how well you receive things is to tune in to what you do or say when someone tries to give you something - like a compliment or praise. Really notice your response (even if it's just in your head!).

For example, if you just ran a meeting and I came up to you after to say "I just want to say you did a really awesome job chairing that meeting." How might you respond?

Most people will have patterns or habits that deflect, correct, deny, reciprocate, minimize, reject or question the compliment without even realizing they are doing it.

If you're honest with yourself, you'll likely find receiving a compliment can be quite a challenge. If so, here's what you might want to practice instead.

Feel the compliment, take it in, smile and respond with something like,

"Thank you, it feels great to hear you say that."

"Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"It did go well, didn't it? Thanks for confirming that for me."

Tip #3: Practice forgiving - every situation you encounter in life is meant to help you evolve as a soul. This can be a hard pill to swallow if you've been abused, abandoned, traumatized, tortured or experienced other things in life that feel very personal and hurtful. So I say this with much compassion and love... forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.

Forgiveness allows you to take back the energy you are investing in being mad, hurt, ashamed, disgusted or revengeful and to instead surround yourself with the positive energy of compassion and understanding. You see, as long as you refuse to forgive someone - even yourself, you make it impossible for that relationship to evolve.

Refusing to forgive someone else gives them space, rent free, in your head. Refusing to forgive yourself stops you from healing and ever truly loving yourself.

When you feel like you've been wronged or done something wrong... you carry that energy with you in your heart. As a result, you push yourself harder, are less trustful of your own guidance, you create impossible and inflexible standards for yourself AND you lower your vibrational energy.

When you are able to forgive and learn to appreciate how that situation helped you become who you are today, everything changes.

The ability to forgive will help you plug a drain that is stopping you from fully owning your power. I know it feels like you are flexing your power muscles by refusing to forgive, but - as counter-intuitive as it seems - the exact opposite is actually true.

By tuning into where you are disconnected from yourself and holding yourself back, you open the door to all kinds of beautiful discoveries. By opening yourself up to receive those good things, you increase your vibrancy, recharge your battery and become more abundant. By remembering to forgive both yourself and others when things don't go as you might have liked, you are benefitting from the lessons and plugging a drain that could otherwise put you back in your shadow.

The more you practice these three things the easier they will become and before you know it you're living your life in a vibrant and powerful way.

Plus-You Can Now Join Our FREE Mastering Success Facebook Community at www.masteringsuccess.group

Source 

ABCs of Stress Management

The ABCs of Stress Management Is Awareness, Balance and Control.

Stress is created when external or internal demands made on an individual are in excess of his coping strategies and capabilities. Let us illustrate how physical stress is formed. If you are asked to pick up a glass of water and place it on the table it is not stressful. If you are asked to pick up the glass of water and fill it to the brim without dropping any water outside, it is mildly stressful. If you are asked to hold that full glass of water for two hours without dropping any water, you will get totally stressed out.

Awareness

How stressed are you? Do you feel that you have absolutely no worries and stress in the world? Then you are lucky indeed to be part of the minority of the population today. For most of us stress plays an important part of our daily lives. It disrupts our energy levels, affects our performance and can be a huge drain on our resources. Becoming aware that one is experiencing stress is also difficult as people have got used to being under fire from all sides. It is not a natural state and will affect the health of a person in the longterm.

Balance

Once you are aware of the fact that you get stressed in certain situations, what do you do next? It is now time to manage stress levels better. Keep yourself primed for action without the accompanying tension. This can be accomplished by ensuring that you balance out the stress you are feeling in a certain situation in an optimum manner. You can avoid or modify certain stressors right away on your own. Other stressors may need some contribution from outside influences. The idea is to get hold of the problematic stressors and neutralize them.

Control

Here the idea is not to control the stress. Instead it is to control your own reaction to them. By directing one's own actions and thoughts it is possible to stay in a positive frame of mind. This defeats the stress and allows you a measure of self responsibility and control. A good night's rest is often one of the best ways to control stress. It is easier to deal with issues when you are well fed, well rested and healthy. So make sure that you actively look after your physical body and stress will begin to disappear.

Plus-You Can Now Join Our FREE Mastering Success Facebook Community at www.masteringsuccess.group

Source

How to Stop Overthinking Everything: 9 Simple Habits

What is holding people back from the life that they truly want to live?

I’d say that one very common and destructive thing is that they think too much.

They overthink every little problem until it becomes bigger and scarier and it actually is. Overthink positive things until they don’t look so positive anymore.

Or overanalyze and deconstruct things and so the happiness that comes from just enjoying something in the moment disappears.

Now, thinking things through can be a great thing of course. But being an overthinker can result in becoming someone who stands still in life. In becoming someone who self-sabotages the good things that happen in life.


I know. I used to overthink things a lot and it held me back in ways that weren’t fun at all.

But in the past 8 years or so I have learned how to make this issue so small that it very rarely pops up anymore. And if it does then I know what to do then to overcome it.

In this article I would like to share 9 habits that have helped me in a big, big way to become a simpler and smarter thinker and to live a happier and less fearful life.

1. Put things into a wider perspective.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of overthinking minor things in life.

So when you are thinking and thinking about something ask yourself:

Will this matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks?

I have found that widening the perspective by using this simple question can snap me quickly out of overthinking and help me to let that situation go and focus my time and energy on something that actually does matter to me.

2. Set short time-limits for decisions.

If you do not have a time-limit for when you must make a decision and take action then you can just keep turning your thoughts around and around and view them from all angles in your mind for a very long time.

So learn to become better at making decisions and to spring into action by setting deadlines in your daily life. No matter if it is a small or bigger decision.

Here’s what have worked for me.
For small decisions like if should go and do the dishes, respond to an email or work out I usually give myself 30 seconds or less to make a decision.
For somewhat larger decisions that would have taken me days or weeks to think through in the past I use a deadline for 30 minutes or for the end of the workday.

3. Become a person of action.

When you know how to get started with taking action consistently each day then you’ll procrastinate less by overthinking.

Setting deadlines is one thing that have helped me to become much more of person of action.

Taking small steps forward and only focusing on getting one small step done at a time is another habit that have worked really well.

It works so well because you do not feel overwhelmed and so you do not want flee into procrastination. And even though you may be afraid, taking just a step is such a small thing that you do not get paralyzed in fear.

4. Realize that you cannot control everything.

Trying to think things through 50 times can be a way to try to control everything. To cover every eventuality so you do not risk making a mistake, fail or looking like a fool.

But those things are a part of living a life where you truly stretch your comfort zone. Everyone who you may admire and have lived a life that inspires you has failed. They have made mistakes.

But in most cases they have also seen these things as valuable feedback to learn from. Those things that may look negative have taught them a lot and have been invaluable to help them to grow.

So stop trying to control everything. Trying to do so simply doesn’t work because no one can see all possible scenarios in advance.

This is of course easier said than done. So do it in small steps if you like.

5. Say stop in situation where you know you cannot think straight.

Sometimes when I am hungry or when I am lying in bed and are about to go to sleep negative thoughts start buzzing around in my mind.

In the past they could do quite a bit of damage. Nowadays I have become good at catching them quickly and to say to myself:

No, no, we are not going to think about this now.

I know that when I am hungry or sleepy then my mind sometimes tend to be vulnerable to not thinking clearly and to negativity.

So I follow up my “no, no…” phrase and I say to myself that I will think this situation or issue through when I know that my mind will work much better.

For example, after I have eaten something or in the morning after I have gotten my hours of sleep.

It took a bit of practice to get this to work but I have gotten pretty good at postponing thinking in this way. And I know from experience that when I revisit a situation with some level-headed thinking then in 80% of the cases the issue is very small to nonexistent.

And if there is a real issue then my mind is prepared to deal with it in much better and more constructive way.

6. Do not get lost in vague fears.

Another trap that I have fallen into many times that have spurred on overthinking is that I have gotten lost in vague fears about a situation in my life. And so my mind running wild has created disaster scenarios about what could happen if I do something.

So I have learned to ask myself: honestly, what is the worst that could happen?

And when I have figured out what the worst that could happen actually is then I can also spend a little time to think about what I can do if that often pretty unlikely thing happens.

I have found that the worst that could realistically happen is usually something that is not as scary as what my mind running wild with vague fear could produce.

Finding clarity in this way usually only takes a few minutes of time and bit of energy and it can save you a lot of time and suffering.

7. Work out.

This might sound a bit odd.

But in my experience working out – especially with lifting weights – can help me to let go of inner tensions and worries.

It most often makes me feel more decisive and when I was more of an overthinker then it was often my go-to method of changing the headspace I was in to a more constructive one.

8. Spend more of your time in the present moment.

By being in the present moment in your everyday life rather than in the past or a possible future in your mind you can replace more and more of the time you usually spend on overthinking things with just being here right now instead.

Three ways that I often use to reconnect with the present moment are:
Slow down. Slow down how you do whatever you are doing right now. Move slower, talk slower or ride your bicycle more slowly for example. By doing so you become more aware of how you use your body and what is happening all around you right now.
Tell yourself: Now I am… I often tell myself this: Now I am X. And X could be brushing my teeth. Taking a walk in the woods. Or doing the dishes. This simple reminder helps my mind to stop wandering and brings my focus back to what is happening in this moment.
Disrupt and reconnect. If you feel you are getting lost in overthinking then disrupt that thought by – in your mind – shouting this to yourself : STOP! Then reconnect with the present moment by taking just 1-2 minutes to focus fully on what is going on around you. Take it all in with all your senses. Feel it, hear it, smell it, see it and sense it on your skin.

9. Spend more of your time with people who do not overthink things.

Your social environment plays a big part. And not just the people and groups close to you in real life. But also what you read, listen to and watch. The blogs, books, forums, movies, podcasts and music in your life.

So think about if there are any sources in your life – close by or further away – that encourages and tends create more overthinking in your mind. And think about what people or sources that has the opposite effect on you.

Find ways to spend more of your time and attention with the people and sources that have a positive effect on your thinking and less on the influences that tends to strengthen your overthinking habit.

Plus-You Can Now Join Our FREE Mastering Success Facebook Community at www.masteringsuccess.group

Source

How Confident Are You in Yourself?

This is the million dollar question people ask themselves on a daily basis. The truth is, you can start to improve your life much more quickly than you might think.

So many people get caught up in the idea that they don't have any self confidence that it becomes almost impossible for them to realize that they can attain it. All it really takes is a little time and patience, not to mention a lot of effort. It is definitely worth it and it has the power to completely transform your life if you will just let it.

You may not know it, but confidence actually means "with faith." You can have faith in a Higher Power, faith in yourself or just simple faith that everything is going to be okay. If you really want to have more self confidence, it is important that you start having faith in yourself and your abilities. You can think of this as exercising the most important muscle in your body. Instead of running a marathon or playing sports, you can use this particular muscle to start feeling better about yourself.

How do you actually accomplish this and put this advice into action? The first thing you can do is think positive. If you have to, force yourself to list positive things about yourself, about your day and about those around you. Listen to positive music in order to create more balance in your life. Most importantly, do not beat yourself up every time you make a mistake or you fall short of a goal. Everyone has room to grow and improve and you can take every failed opportunity as a teaching moment in order to learn something for the future.

You can also focus on the things that you're good at. In short, figure out what you are passionate about and then pursue it with everything you have. If you are interested in and passionate about several things, pursue all of these things in order to find out which one interests you the most. Perhaps you'll actually have more than one path in your life as you accomplish many things. No one ever said you had to decide on only one thing.

You can also develop more self confidence if you find someone to confide in. Like everyone else, you will have days where you are so frustrated that you don't know what to do with yourself and you are tired of trying to figure it out. Fortunately, that won't happen to you every day but when it does, it sure is comforting to have a trusted friend that you can talk to. If you don't feel like you have the one you can talk to, find a support group online. The bottom line is to realize that no one is perfect and that you need to have a support system that makes you feel comfortable.

Once you have started developing more self confidence and you see your life improving, one of the best things that you can do is mentor others. There are plenty of people who are in the same boat as you once were and they need help, too.

Remember, you are in control of your life- no one else is. That puts you in the driver's seat and it also gives you the unique opportunity to look back on how you felt when you had your worst days and help someone else get through theirs.

We'd love to meet you. Why not join our FREE private Facebook Community at www.masteringsuccess.group

Source 

How to Find Inspiration After Experiencing Big Failure

I am sure that you have heard the saying that if you have never failed at anything, then you never tried anything.

This saying is quite true. Ask the big captains of industry and the inventors of things that changed the face of humanity and they will tell you how they kept moving from failure to failure.

I certainly agree with those who say that the real challenge is not in falling, it is rather in your ability to rise up after every failure.

How to Deal With Failure Properly

Learning to deal with failure is not something you start learning when you are an adult.

It is actually something you have to learn while you are still going to college. This is the reason why I am starting this article by looking at the common instances of failure while you are still in school and college.

I have also looked at rejection when you apply for a place in college or a job. You will certainly be glad to hear that when you fail, you are not the fist and you will certainly not be the last.

These are common failures many people experience:


Failure In College

I still remember when I arrived in college for the first time.

It had not yet dawned on me that college was a lot different from high school. No one had told me that essay writing in college is something which requires research and diligence.

I just thought that I would use my natural intelligence and everything will be fine.

I was in for a rude awakening. For the first time in my life, I got a mark below 50%. However, this never happened again, one of my professors told me that I could order an essay and just give the instruction “write my essay”.

Essay writing services helped me a lot to understand how a college assignment should be written. As you can see it was through failure that I discovered a very important lesson.


Expulsion
Another big failure for many students in college is being expelled.

While I was in college, two of my friends were expelled; one for failing to hand over the minimum number of assignments for a given semester and another one for presenting work of another student as his own.

My friend actually thought that since the assignments were going to be marked by different professors, they would not see that the work was the same.

He was wrong, the college was now using a new system where all assignments were checked for plagiarism.

In the event that another assignment had already been submitted to this system, if you attempted to submit another one which is the same, the system would flag it.

His biggest problem was that even when he had been caught, he refused to accept that he had done something wrong. So he was put before a disciplinary committee which found him guilty.


Rejected College Application

Another big source of disappointment for many college students is when they fail to get space in a college that they want to go to.

There is usually more competition when it comes to getting into your good colleges. Many more people are rejected at such colleges than are accepted. I do not think that this should be viewed as a failure at all.


It is not about the college you go to but rather your character and what you can do with your degree.

I would rather work with someone who went to a less known college but has a great work ethic than someone who has been to the Ivy League with a wrong attitude.


A Job Taken By Someone Else

Only after leaving college do you see that it is a jungle out there.

Sooner than later, those expectations of a corner office with air conditioning start to fade away with each regret letter you get from the employers of your choice.

It is easy to start thinking that maybe something is wrong with you. Well, nothing is wrong with you, there are millions of other graduates competing for the same job you are vying for and the very same corner office you have in your imagination.

Sometimes you know that the job was going to be yours if it had not been stolen by someone who already knows someone else in the company. You feel hurt because you know you could do a great job if you had been given the chance.


How to Find Inspiration After Experiencing Big Failure

The good thing about failure is that it is actually not the end. You can use the following tips to find inspiration after failure:


1. Accept Your Weaknesses

Every human being has weaknesses.

The first thing you need to do after failing is to accept that it has happened to you because failure happens to human beings.

Accepting this helps you to accept that this is not a reflection of your life as a whole. It is just a temporary setback.


2. Accept That Everyone Fails

Show me anyone who has never failed in their lives and I will show you someone who has never lifted a finger. Everybody has had experience of failure before. This should comfort you.


3. Accept That You Are In Control.

When you are expelled from college, your application is rejected or someone else takes a job you thought was yours; it is easy to blame others for it. When you stop the blame game and take responsibility, you are growing.

It helps you to address any deficiencies you may have.


4. See the Lesson

The biggest thing you can take from failure is the lesson it has taught you.

This gives you a chance to examine your life. It gives you a chance to introspect.

If there are any weaknesses you need to address, you will only be able to see them after doing this soul searching. There are many lessons I would never have learned if I had not failed.


5. Pain Helps You Grow

You will find inspiration if you accept that the pain you get from failure helps you to grow. There are certain things you will not understand until you have had a chance to live then.

For example, you would not know what it feels like to lose a job unless you had lost one before. We only learn the feeling of losing a loved one after we have lost a loved one. That is the essence of life.
6. It Gives Material For Stories

If you have ever listened to a story about how someone succeeded against the odds, you are essentially listening to a story about failure. The reason why the story is moving you is because someone has learned from the failures of their lives.


Summary

Failure should never be considered as something permanent.

It only becomes permanent if you allow it to defeat you. It’s something that happens to all human beings who have ambitions.

If we look at the lessons we can learn from our failure, we will soon realize that in order to succeed we have to be prepared to fail. It should never be seen as the end, but rather the beginning of a new way of looking at life.
Has this helped you find inspiration after experiencing failure? Leave a 

comment below.

We'd love to meet you. Why not join our FREE private Facebook Community at www.masteringsuccess.group

Source

Dream Big: Live Your Life Without Limits

The basic rule for success is for you to continue to remind yourself that you are where you are, and what you are because of yourself. You are in your current situation because you have decided to be there. You have made the individual choices and decisions that have gotten you to your current place in life. If you want to go somewhere else or be someone else, it is totally up to you to make the choices and decisions today that will eventually get you there. And there are no limits.
Positive Thinking Will Change Your Life

Here is another rule: “If you want your life to get better, you have to get better.” This simply means that your outer world will be a reflection of your inner world. If you want your outer world to improve, you must go to work on improving your inner world.


If you want to have better customers and more sales, you must become a better and more personable salesperson. If you want to have better employees, you must become a better manager. If you want to have better children, you must become a better parent. And if you want to have better relationships, you must become a better person. The great tragedy is that the world is full of people who are trying to change the outside world without going to work on the one thing that they can control, their own thinking!
Change Your Thinking

Here is another rule: “If you change the quality of your thinking, you change the quality of your life.” And since you can change the quality of your thinking almost infinitely, there are no limits on how you can change and improve every part of your life, in any direction you want to go.

There is a lot of talk today about “positive thinking,” and I think that positive thinking is very important. It is much better for you to think positively about yourself and your possibilities than for you to think negatively. But the danger is that positive thinking can quickly turn into positive wishing and hoping. Positive wishing and hoping can turn a person into a very optimistic and happy failure. Abraham Mallow said that the story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short, and settling for far less than that for which they are capable. Don’t let this happen to you.
The Power Of Positive Knowing

What is better than positive thinking is “positive knowing.” This is where you take the steps and do the things that bring you to the point where you absolutely know, with complete certainty, that you can achieve your goals and be the kind of success that it is possible for you to be. When you reach the point of positive knowing, no matter what happens in the outside world, even if you lose everything you have acquired, you will make it all back again, and more, because you know how to do it in the first place.

I want to share some ideas with you that have been very helpful to me and to many thousands of other highly successful men and women. These are all ways of thinking and looking at your world that will enable you to become a far more optimistic, confident, and creative individual in everything you do. These are simple, powerful, proven techniques that you can use to throw off your self-imposed limits and begin moving toward the realization of your full potential.
Dream Big, You Have No Limits

The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to, “dream big dreams.” There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than for you to cast off your own limitations and begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become and have and do.

A wise man once said, ” You must dream big dreams for only big dreams have the power to move the minds of men.” When you begin to dream big dreams, your level of self-esteem and self-confidence will increase immediately. Your self-image improves. You feel more positivel about yourself and your ability to deal with whatever happens to you. The reason so many people accomplish so little is because they never allow themselves to let go and just imagine the kind of life that is possible for them.

Thank you for reading this article about positive thinking and how to dream big and create success in your life. Please share and comment below!
Topics included in this article include


Dream Big
No Limits
Your Life
Positive Thinking

Source

How To Turn A Negative Situation Into A Positive One

Negative emotions are the single biggest enemy that any of us have.

If we had no negative emotions, our lives would be wonderful — as would our relationships, our health and everything else.

I’ve spent more than 4,000 hours studying this, and today I will be providing you with some strategies for turning negative situations into positive ones.


Where Do Negative Emotions Come From?

The great business of life is to eliminate negative emotions. To solve this, we have to answer the question:

Where do negative emotions come from?

Almost all negative emotions depend on blaming someone or something else for negative situations that happen in their life. The problem here then, is that people hold on to those negative emotions, even if they cannot change the outcome and are angry about it.
The Key To Eliminating Negative Emotions

The key to eliminating negative emotions is this:

Take responsibility for yourself, your reactions and your situation.

You cannot take responsibility for your life, your situation, and your reactions and be negative at the same time. Your mind can only focus on one thought at a time, positive or negative.

So anytime you feel negative say to yourself over and over again:

“I am responsible.”

You might be thinking right now: “But Brian, in a situation involving other people, how can I be responsible for what they did?”

Here’s how: In every situation, whether it involves you directly or not, you are always at least partially responsible for what happened.

You got yourself into the situation, you stayed in the situation, you did or said certain things in the situation, so you’re not completely innocent. You at least had something to do with it.

Here’s another possibility: Let’s say you had nothing to do with the negative situation, maybe you weren’t involved at all. You’re still responsible for how you respond to it.

This is what is called your ‘response-ability’ — your ability to respond in a positive way. And again, to respond in a positive way, you simply repeat to yourself “I am responsible.”
You Have Complete Control

The truth is nobody can make you feel negative, other than you. If you think about things that make you feel unhappy or angry, you are going to feel negative. If you think about things that make you happy and excited about your life, you will feel positive.

The most important thing to remember about negative feelings is this: you have complete control over the way you feel, the way you respond to any situation and the things you think about at any minute of the day.

Exercise your ability to respond positively, take responsibility for your role in negative situations, and allow yourself to let go of negative feelings that might be trapped inside of you.

Before we wrap up, I’d like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends and followers:

“Accept complete responsibility for every part of your life. Refuse to blame others or make excuses.” @BrianTracy

Now I’d love to hear from you. So my question today is:

“Which recent negative situation in your life can you turn into a positive?”

Leave a comment below, and I’ll be sure to follow up with you.

Source

10 Powerful Ways To Boost Your Self-Confidence

Confidence gives you the power to conquer the world. It separates the fearful from the successful. Confident people face their fears and tend to be risk-takers. They live life in a positive light and are satisfied with the world around them.

Wouldn't it be amazing to live life this way? Guess what? You can. Try some of the tips listed below. Practice them daily. Over time, your self-confidence will become higher than you ever thought it could be. You will be able to overcome your fears, pursue your dreams, and sing at the next karaoke night.

Here is a list of 10 powerful ways to boost your self-confidence:

1. Think positive. The human brain has a tendency to think more negatively, it takes a conscious effort to be more positive. Either you can rule your mind or you can let it rule you -become aware of your negative self-talk. The thoughts you have about yourself are very powerful. Think about all of the amazing qualities you have instead.

2. Take care of yourself. Confidence not only comes from how you feel on the inside, but how you feel on the outside as well. Shower, spend some extra time curling your hair and wear a great outfit. And if you're a guy, then well, shave. Doing these little things will make you feel more successful and ready to tackle the world.

3. Get prepared. Whether your day is filled with meetings or exams, get prepared for them. Do the research needed for that important meeting and study hard for the exam. It's hard to be confident if you don't think you'll do well

4. Exercise. Truth is, "exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins make you happy", said by the truly confident, Elle Woods. Not only will you feel better, but you will look better. All you have to do is walk a few times a week. Create a habit and get active.

5. Set a small goal and achieve it. People often set a big goal then get discouraged when they fail. Shoot for something more achievable. You'll get a boost of confidence and be more likely to tackle the next small goal. Like a domino effect, you'll eventually reach your big goal with ease.

6. Be grateful. Being grateful is a very positive and rewarding activity. It puts your mind in a positive light and can be extremely humbling. Make a gratitude list and add to it daily. You will begin to realize all of the great opportunities you have in life and awesome qualities you possess.

7. Be kind and generous. Being kind and generous with your time is a great way to improve your self-image. Hold the door for a stranger or buy someone a coffee. It will not only improve your relationships but make you feel better, trust us.

8. Volunteer. Make the lives of others better by volunteering; in return your life will better. Could you find the time to feed the homeless, pitch in at church, or start a nonprofit?

9. Get out of your comfort zone. When you do things that make you feel a little uncomfortable, your comfort zone gets bigger and your confidence rises. You will grow as a person and learn to experience new things.

10. Keep a list of your awesomeness handy. Sit down and create a list of all of your awesome qualities. Are you smart, organized, creative, or modest? Write down your achievements. Revisit the list daily or whenever you're feeling discouraged.

Applying some of these daily can help you overcome limitations and push you to achieve your biggest goals. Feeling more confident is a necessary part of living a happier, more fulfilling life.

If you think you're lacking self-confidence and want some guidance and someone to hold you accountable to the list above, connect with one of our confidence coaches.

Source: 

Taking Charge Of Your Life Right Now

What does it take to take charge of your life? When does it make sense to make the kind of changes that taking charge of your life implies? When you want to take charge of your life, you have questions you need to answer.

Courage and Confidence

It takes courage and confidence to take charge of your life. You might not feel an abundance in these areas right now if you're looking at taking charge of your life. Yet you have been courageous and confident during previous times in your life. Life requires courage! Life demands confidence!

Courage enables you to consider what might be a better set of choices. Courage gives you the get up and go to pick yourself up and take action. Courage does not replace fear. Instead, courage allows you to go forward despite fear that might be suggesting that it's too risky to move in the direction of your dreams.

Confidence allows you to use your talents and abilities in new ways. Confidence puts your skills to work in different circumstances. Confidence does not remove doubt. Rather, confidence allows you to do what you know how to do. Regardless of the doubt you may be feeling. In spite of reminders that today's circumstances are not precisely identical to how you've used your skills in the past.

Change.

Change is inevitable. Life is filled with changes. Over the course of your lifetime, you'll live in an environment that presents many things to you, sometimes overwhelming you with the sense that your entire life is filled with change. As you face challenges and deal with change, it makes sense to adapt to the new situations that arise.

Taking charge of your life has to do with adjusting to the change as it occurs. Dramatic sudden change can leave your mind spinning. That's one time when taking charge of your life demands that you reach for all the courage and confidence you can muster.

Skills.

You'll need to learn new skills. Times of change instill new skills. You can decide that you're willing to use your courage and confidence to gain the skills you need.

In fact, deciding is taking charge of your life. Because that makes it happen. I've found that when I reach deep for courage and confidence, I can decide to take action. I take charge of my life! I find that leads to happiness.

Source

3 Things You Need to Stop Doing to Get Started with What You Truly Want to Do

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot

Getting started with doing what you truly want to do in life can be hard.

No matter if what you want is to start exercising, create your own business on the side, write a book, improve your relationship with yourself, see other parts of the world or something entirely else.

But often we make getting started a lot harder than it needs to be by standing in our own way.

So in today’s article I’d like to share 3 things you need to stop doing to step out of your own way and make it so much easier to actually get started instead of just keep dreaming about it.

1. Stop making it a huge and vague thing in your mind.

The more you think about whatever you want to get started with the bigger it tends to become in your head. And as you keep thinking about the various ways this could go it tends to become scarier and scarier.

So do this instead:
Get knowledge from the others who have been where you want to go. To defuse vague fears about what could happen if you got started and about the unclear unknown, get information from people who have already gone where you want to go.
It is easier than ever to find them today. Look them up online and read what they have written and said or send them an email. Or go ask someone you know in real life that has done what you want to do.
Ask yourself: Honestly, what is realistically the worst that could happen? Take a couple of deep breaths to calm down your mind a bit. Then ask yourself this question.
You’ll realize that in most cases the worst thing that could realistically happen is not that bad. It may sting for a bit. But it is something you can handle. And it is a situation you can find something to do about if this worst case scenario were to happen. The clarity you get from this question can – in my experience – reduce fears quite a bit.

2. Stop trying to control everything.

Being prepared and knowing some things certainly helps.

But it can become a trap when you try to control it all or think things through 50 times to be on the safe side and to not risk making mistakes, fail or look like a fool.

What to do instead:
Realize: you will stumble and that is OK. It happens to anyone who steps outside of his or her comfort zone. It has happened to everyone you may admire and who have lived a life that is inspiring.
It is simply a part of a life well lived. And if you reflect on what you can learn from a mistake then that will be invaluable to help you grow and improve.
Learn to set time-limits for small decisions at first. If you have trouble with overthinking then set a time-limit for when you have to make a decision. This might seem a bit scary though.
So start small and set a 30-60 second time-limit when trying to decide if you are going to work out or reply to an email. Do that for a while and then move on to slightly bigger decisions. And then even bigger ones after that.

3. Stop thinking that you have to get started in a big and spectacular way.

If you have a big goal or dream or even a medium sized one then it is easy to think that you have to take an action of the same size to get started or to get where you want to go.

That is most often not true though.

What to do instead:
Go small. Just ask yourself: what is one small step I can take today to get the ball rolling with my goal/dream? Then take just that small action. And tomorrow or later on today you can do the same thing again. If that question still lands you in procrastination then ask yourself: What is one tiny step I can take to get the ball rolling?
Single-task each little step. Focus on just the one step you are taking. Nothing else. Otherwise it is easy to get lost in thought, to go off track or to feel uncomfortable or fearful. So keep your attention on just this one action and step forward.
And after that, the next one. Let these actions build day after day into something bigger. And before you know it you’ll have gone quite a distance on your journey.

Source

How to Stop Overthinking Everything: 9 Simple Habits

What is holding people back from the life that they truly want to live?

I’d say that one very common and destructive thing is that they think too much.

They overthink every little problem until it becomes bigger and scarier and it actually is. Overthink positive things until they don’t look so positive anymore.

Or over analyse and deconstruct things and so the happiness that comes from just enjoying something in the moment disappears.

Now, thinking things through can be a great thing of course. But being an over thinker can result in becoming someone who stands still in life. In becoming someone who self-sabotages the good things that happen in life.


I know. I used to overthink things a lot and it held me back in ways that weren’t fun at all.

But in the past 8 years or so I have learned how to make this issue so small that it very rarely pops up anymore. And if it does then I know what to do then to overcome it.

In this article I would like to share 9 habits that have helped me in a big, big way to become a simpler and smarter thinker and to live a happier and less fearful life.

1. Put things into a wider perspective.
It is very easy to fall into the trap of overthinking minor things in life.

So when you are thinking and thinking about something ask yourself:

Will this matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks?

I have found that widening the perspective by using this simple question can snap me quickly out of overthinking and help me to let that situation go and focus my time and energy on something that actually does matter to me.

2. Set short time-limits for decisions.

If you do not have a time-limit for when you must make a decision and take action then you can just keep turning your thoughts around and around and view them from all angles in your mind for a very long time.

So learn to become better at making decisions and to spring into action by setting deadlines in your daily life. No matter if it is a small or bigger decision.

Here’s what have worked for me.
For small decisions like if should go and do the dishes, respond to an email or work out I usually give myself 30 seconds or less to make a decision.
For somewhat larger decisions that would have taken me days or weeks to think through in the past I use a deadline for 30 minutes or for the end of the workday.

3. Become a person of action.

When you know how to get started with taking action consistently each day then you’ll procrastinate less by overthinking.

Setting deadlines is one thing that have helped me to become much more of person of action.

Taking small steps forward and only focusing on getting one small step done at a time is another habit that have worked really well.

It works so well because you do not feel overwhelmed and so you do not want flee into procrastination. And even though you may be afraid, taking just a step is such a small thing that you do not get paralysed in fear.

4. Realise that you cannot control everything.

Trying to think things through 50 times can be a way to try to control everything. To cover every eventuality so you do not risk making a mistake, fail or looking like a fool.

But those things are a part of living a life where you truly stretch your comfort zone. Everyone who you may admire and have lived a life that inspires you has failed. They have made mistakes.

But in most cases they have also seen these things as valuable feedback to learn from. Those things that may look negative have taught them a lot and have been invaluable to help them to grow.

So stop trying to control everything. Trying to do so simply doesn’t work because no one can see all possible scenarios in advance.

This is of course easier said than done. So do it in small steps if you like.

5. Say stop in situation where you know you cannot think straight.

Sometimes when I am hungry or when I am lying in bed and are about to go to sleep negative thoughts start buzzing around in my mind.

In the past they could do quite a bit of damage. Nowadays I have become good at catching them quickly and to say to myself:

No, no, we are not going to think about this now.

I know that when I am hungry or sleepy then my mind sometimes tend to be vulnerable to not thinking clearly and to negativity.

So I follow up my “no, no…” phrase and I say to myself that I will think this situation or issue through when I know that my mind will work much better.

For example, after I have eaten something or in the morning after I have gotten my hours of sleep.

It took a bit of practice to get this to work but I have gotten pretty good at postponing thinking in this way. And I know from experience that when I revisit a situation with some level-headed thinking then in 80% of the cases the issue is very small to nonexistent.

And if there is a real issue then my mind is prepared to deal with it in much better and more constructive way.

6. Do not get lost in vague fears.

Another trap that I have fallen into many times that have spurred on overthinking is that I have gotten lost in vague fears about a situation in my life. And so my mind running wild has created disaster scenarios about what could happen if I do something.

So I have learned to ask myself: honestly, what is the worst that could happen?

And when I have figured out what the worst that could happen actually is then I can also spend a little time to think about what I can do if that often pretty unlikely thing happens.

I have found that the worst that could realistically happen is usually something that is not as scary as what my mind running wild with vague fear could produce.

Finding clarity in this way usually only takes a few minutes of time and bit of energy and it can save you a lot of time and suffering.

7. Work out.

This might sound a bit odd.

But in my experience working out – especially with lifting weights – can help me to let go of inner tensions and worries.

It most often makes me feel more decisive and when I was more of an over thinker then it was often my go-to method of changing the head space I was in to a more constructive one.

8. Spend more of your time in the present moment.

By being in the present moment in your everyday life rather than in the past or a possible future in your mind you can replace more and more of the time you usually spend on overthinking things with just being here right now instead.

Three ways that I often use to reconnect with the present moment are:
Slow down. Slow down how you do whatever you are doing right now. Move slower, talk slower or ride your bicycle more slowly for example. By doing so you become more aware of how you use your body and what is happening all around you right now.
Tell yourself: Now I am… I often tell myself this: Now I am X. And X could be brushing my teeth. Taking a walk in the woods. Or doing the dishes. This simple reminder helps my mind to stop wandering and brings my focus back to what is happening in this moment.
Disrupt and reconnect. If you feel you are getting lost in overthinking then disrupt that thought by – in your mind – shouting this to yourself : STOP! Then reconnect with the present moment by taking just 1-2 minutes to focus fully on what is going on around you. Take it all in with all your senses. Feel it, hear it, smell it, see it and sense it on your skin.

9. Spend more of your time with people who do not overthink things.

Your social environment plays a big part. And not just the people and groups close to you in real life. But also what you read, listen to and watch. The blogs, books, forums, movies, podcasts and music in your life.

So think about if there are any sources in your life – close by or further away – that encourages and tends create more overthinking in your mind. And think about what people or sources that has the opposite effect on you.

Find ways to spend more of your time and attention with the people and sources that have a positive effect on your thinking and less on the influences that tends to strengthen your overthinking habit.

Source

7 Key Stages to Becoming Mentally Strong

You have to get to work. You haven’t had a full night’s sleep in months. Life can sometimes be overwhelming. And it seems you can do nothing about it.

A solution does exist, though… It’s called mental strength.

7 Key Stages to Becoming Mentally Strong

Mental strength can’t be seen physically. Rather, it’s a concept. An idea that you can get through anything. You can persevere. But how do you build it? How do you turn your scared mind into a place of confidence and peace?

Here are 7 key stages to becoming mentally strong:


1. Be Consistent

To begin with, consistency is one of the keys to victory in almost any aspect of life.

You go to the gym to tone up. That’s fine and Dandy, but most people quit after two weeks. The consistency isn’t there. You won’t see the progress if you only work out when you feel like it. You have to be vigilant.

Are you working on a novel? Maybe you’re trying to learn a new language. Or, maybe you’re just trying to get through the day. If you’re consistent with growing as a person and continuously working toward your goal, you’ll eventually reach it.


2. Positivity over Anxiety

Have you ever felt guilty for feeling like you’re not getting anything done while everyone else seem to be powering through their goals? This type of guilt is what leads to self-loathing and anxious tendencies.

This is where positive thinking comes in. Positive thinking may seem like a joke, but science backs it up.

Research has shown that positive thinking is a real skill, with real consequences. Positive emotions and thoughts affect both your physical and your mental perception of the world.

It’s more than just being happy all the time – it’s about being confident and having a healthy self-esteem.

With busy schedules and our high drive to succeed, some of us experience anxiety on a daily basis. Anxiety brings emotional and physical symptoms like restlessness or irritability, insomnia, headaches, and fatigue – symptoms a lot of us accept as normal.


TO DEAL WITH THIS ANXIETY, POSITIVE THINKING CAN HELP. BUT POSITIVE THINKING ISN’T “BEING HAPPY ALL THE TIME.” RATHER, IT’S A WAY OF THINKING AND BELIEVING WHEN THINGS GO WRONG.


Psychologists say that the most effective way to eliminate your anxiety is by learning how to change your thoughts and think with more positive energy.

Challenging these negative thoughts by focusing on what is rational, the positive, the beautiful and the pleasant helps you move forward in the right direction.

Life is going to hit you with unexpected events and circumstances. If you’re going to be mentally strong, it’s important to always keep a positive spin on things.


3. Experience New Things

You have something called a “comfort zone.”

It’s the place where you feel the safest. It may be a physical space (such as your room) or a more metaphorical place (such as the state of your life). While living in the comfort zone is nice, it doesn’t do a whole lot to help you grow.

In order to grow and learn, you need to experience different things in life. Start out small.

Take a different route to work. Order something from your favorite restaurant that you’ve never ordered before. Or ask that person out that you’ve always wanted to ask. You’ll be surprised at how much this can impact you in a positive way.

More importantly, these new experiences will show you that new experiences aren’t so scary, and that you can do it.

4. Evaluate Your Core Beliefs

In order to build your mental toughness, it’s important to know why you do what you do. Thinking about your core beliefs not only serves as motivation, but it also helps you establish yourself.

Who are you? What drives you? Knowing who you truly are assists you in establishing your mental toughness. It’s a lot easier to fight for your values when you actually believe in them.


5. Focus on What You Can Control

So many times, you lose focus on life. You get distracted and stressed. While getting rid of stress and distractions is impossible, there’s a strategy that can help you. When life gets to be a bit too much for you, shift your focus onto what you can control.

Many times, you get frustrated because your boss made you stay late for work. Or maybe traffic is backed up for the third time this week and you’re late for an appointment. These experiences don’t have to be frustrating.

Rather, simply admit to yourself that these situations are out of your control.

Relinquishing control to situations in which you have no control is one of the best things you can do. This step alone can vastly improve your mental toughness. Why? Because you don’t let things that you can’t control get to you.

When you focus on what you can control, you’ll find your mental strength will grow.


6. Measure Your Daily Wins

Small victories are much bigger than they may seem. In fact, daily victories can even be applied to your workplace. It’s been proven that small victories in business are some of the best ways to inspire creativity and confidence.

The power of the daily win results from the sense of progression humans rely on.

Known as the “progress principle,” the principle states that workers most value progression in their place of employment. They are more motivated to complete their tasks when they feel they’re working towards something. The same can be found in everyday life.

If you’re having a bad day, just getting out of bed may be a small win for you. If so, then treat it like one. Celebrate! Is your goal to socialize more? Just getting outside and saying “hi” to your neighbor may be your small victory.

Either way, you need small wins to feel a sense of progression. And this progression helps you build confidence, too. Naturally, more confidence will lead to better mental strength. You believe in yourself — thus, you don’t let many things bother you.


7. Reflect on Your Daily Progress

At the end of the day, look back on what you’ve done, how you did it and whether or not you reached your goal. This process of self-reflection helps you recognize both areas for improvement and your strengths.

Not only will this self-reflection show you your strengths, but you’ll also be able to see how you’ve grown. Reflecting is similar, in many ways, to measuring your daily wins.

Building your mental strength takes focus and dedication, but it’s worth it. And the best time to start building this mental strength is right now. Go out and take back your life!


Summary

Here’s a quick breakdown of this article on becoming mentally strong:
Be consistent
Positivity over anxiety
Experience new things
Evaluate your core beliefs
Focus on what you can control
Measure your daily wins
Reflect on your daily progress
Are you interested in becoming mentally strong? Leave a comment below.

Source

10 Priorities You Should Re-Evaluate to Live a Happier Life

One of my biggest struggles in my day-to-day life is managing my priorities. And by that, I mean I take stuff wayyyy too seriously.

Car bill due? I’m thinking about it all day. Carpet to vacuum? Also on my mental to-do list.

Some people think that keeping these kinds of daily priorities in your mind is an act of mature responsibility. I know I used to.

But, more recently, I’ve been made aware of just how limiting that kind of prioritization can be. Not just to your mental health and your happiness, but it can limit the happiness of important people in your life.

If you spend all your time prioritising your responsibilities, you’re likely ignoring some things that are very important to your life. Like your family, your friends, your “you” time, etc.

The best way to determine if you’ve got your priorities straight is to take some time now and again to re-evaluate them. Below are a few ways that you can start.

#1: Spend as much time as you can doing something you love to do.

Often, we push away our own needs in favour of the needs of our loved ones, such as ageing parents, our spouse or children. While this is a noble practice, we cannot neglect our own bliss in the process. Make it a practice to do something that fuels you as much as you can.

A single mom who works all day and then takes care of her children at night might start to feel depleted. However, if she loves to crochet, this is something she could do for 15 minutes after the kids are in bed. By spending just a little time on herself, she’ll feel a little “fuller” in terms of her own happiness.


#2: Surround yourself with people who want to be happy.

This might sound like a strange request, but it’s important: if you want to be happy, the fastest way is to hang around with people who are happy. In other words, it’s time to distance yourself from emotional vampires. Certainly, you can’t do that 100% of the time, especially if the toxic individuals are your coworkers or relatives, but you can minimise the impact they have on you by minimising your contact with them. Replace them with people who genuinely care about you and want you to lead a fulfilled life.

For example, a man may have an office colleague who enjoys bringing everyone down with his negativity. The man cannot completely cut himself off from this colleague, but he can help bolster himself by starting to form relationships with colleagues who are more positive. Maybe he can even try to use the positive energy he develops to make his negative coworker more positive.


#3: Set some personal goals that will get you closer to where you want to be.

Do you feel as if time is your enemy rather than your friend? Take control of the time you have by setting and accomplishing personal goals. They can be very challenging, such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, or quite simple, like saving $100 a month to spend on a beach trip to North Carolina next year. Remember to divide your personal goals into doable “baby steps” and mark off each one you accomplish. If you have setbacks, don’t let them kill your dreams. They’re just tiny bumps in the long road.

Say that a woman age 37 wants to run a marathon before she turns 40. However, she hasn’t run farther than about one mile. Therefore, she starts researching running plans and systematically working her way up to two miles, then three, etc. By the time she’s 39, she’s ready to run a marathon thanks to her methodical planning and small accomplishments!

#4: Stay in the moment whenever you can.

As Ferris Bueller once famously quipped in the 1980s classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

While the Bueller character was fictional, his words ring true in the real world. Live each day by being fully in the moment. Resist the urge to be on “auto pilot” throughout your life, and you’ll find yourself feeling happier.

A college student might feel as if he’s always doing something and can’t slow down; he’s always busy. But then he starts to be more purposeful and deliberate. Just for fun, he tries different paths around his campus to get to his classes and winds up having a blast discovering new ways to do the same things. His life becomes about little discoveries, not about boredom.


#5: Start to forgive yourself and others.

It’s hard to be in a happy place when you’re angry or holding on to guilt, frustration and other negative emotions. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being in touch with your feelings, there’s a time and a place to set them free and let them go. If you’re holding grudges, you’re actually hurting yourself more than anyone else.

For example, a woman in her 50s may have been angry with her sister for more than 20 years. The rift has created tension throughout the family. Not a day goes by when the woman doesn’t get furious when thinking about her sister. Through therapy and determination, she starts to let go of the grudge and realises that, while she still doesn’t want to be around her sister, she can stop wasting her time being mad. This enables her to have the freedom to fill her life with positivity.


#6: Get in charge of your health.

Have you allowed your weight or nutritional wellness to get out of control? Happy people are in charge of their health as much as they can be. While this doesn’t mean you have to become a gym rat, you probably can start eating better and enjoying a few exercises. Over time, you’ll feel powerful because you’ll know that you can govern your health.

Say a man in his 40s hears from his doctor that he’s at high risk of having a heart attack due to increased blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Instead of deciding he has no choice in the matter, he immediately begins to evaluate his health. Over a six-month period, he improves his health and lowers his risk factors. He feels strong, fit and happy.


#7: Learn how to delegate.

Your happiness could be as close as asking someone else to help you. Too often, people take on tasks and simply add them to their responsibilities. Eventually, they become slaves to those responsibilities and may start to feel disgruntled. This gets in the way of being satisfied. By delegating some of the tasks to others, the load is lightened and room is made for cheerfulness.

Maybe a mother of three works outside the home but still has the primary responsibility for all the cooking, cleaning and laundry. She feels as if she’s being treated as a maid, and not as a member of the family. Therefore, she begins to delegate some of the tasks she usually does to her spouse and kids. To her surprise, they do a better job in some areas – who knew a teenager could fold laundry so well? – and the household runs more smoothly. Best of all, she feels less “used.”


#8: Look at setbacks as opportunities to grow.

Setbacks in life happen. It’s how we deal with them that sets us apart. If you have something happen that sets you back, use it as a chance to slow down and objectively evaluate what’s going on in your life. Often, it can be a useful sign that something’s amiss and can be altered for the better.

For example, a man in grad school might get a terrible grade on a mid-term paper. He’s discouraged and begins to question his decision to stick with a higher education degree. Before he throws in the towel, though, he starts to look at the reasons he got the bad grade and realises that he didn’t really do the assignment the way it was outlined by the professor. He sees that he wasn’t flawed in the way he wrote the paper, but rather the way he approached the topic. He uses this knowledge to ace future papers in this class, as well as others.


#9: Focus on what’s important to you.

Are you living someone else’s life? You may be if most of your decisions aren’t geared toward what’s really important to you. Take a few days and consider what you hold most dear in life. Are your actions helping you get closer to what’s important? Or are they moving you away? By aligning your actions with what you really want, you’ll find a truer sense of happiness and purpose.

Say a woman has been working at the same company for five years. She realises that there is nowhere for her to go from a promotional standpoint; in fact, she doesn’t feel any passion for the industry. With this realisation, she begins to take steps to get a job in a different field. It takes time, but as she pushes forward, she feels much more in charge of her life. When she lands the right position with the right company, she knows she made a great decision to focus on what was honestly important.


#10: Schedule down time.

There’s a large movement afoot that causes some people to believe that the busier they are, the more important they are. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only does being on the go 24/7 wear you down, but it also cuts into your happiness. While it’s impossible to be in a laid-back state all the time, you can start to schedule some “down time” or “me time” to just breathe and do whatever you want.

Perhaps a man who works in a high-stress field is putting in 70-80 hour work weeks. It’s beginning to eat away at him and he doesn’t like how his daily schedule is overtaking his social and personal life. He begins to add hours in his schedule where client work is not allowed, and he can do anything he wants – even nap! Suddenly, he realises he’s more refreshed when he is on the job, and his life feels more in balance.

To be honest, I still think about my bills and responsibilities, but I try every day to prioritise the things that are truly important and put them ahead of paying the electric bill on time. And guess what – I’m still just as responsible as I was before.

The only difference now is that I’m happier, and the people around me are happier too.

Source