Author: CLFurlong

When it comes to the end of the day, you should have no worries and the only thing you should remember is: Don’t stress. Do your best. Forget the rest. – Unknown

If you can feel comfortable, knowing you have done your best all in a day’s work, then you have nothing to stress about. If you have done your best you could not possibly do any better. So if you are confident in yourself and what you have done – you shouldn’t be stressing about it. You can move on and rest.

There is also a common saying of:

You can always do more. 

Well yes, you can always do more, but is more going to be your best? Is more going to be productive? Is more going to bring value to whatever it is you are doing?

These are questions you should ask yourself when you are applying your skills. Even if your intention is to always do your best, remember we can not do or be our best if we are limited or hindered. However, you can always do your best with these constraints… But it would never be your real best, only a subset of what it should be.

So I challenge you today to reflect on how you do what you do and identify if you are doing your best work, or are you simply doing it for other reasons. There is no point stressing over something you have no control over.

Do what you can and do it at your best. Then if you have done what you are supposed to do, then you will have nothing to worry about. Let alone stress about.

If it is one thing I have learned over the years, is how we must thrive in the moments of stress, drama and when things get sticky. We must be willing to take on some lessons and learn.

However, each and every one of us is to encounter moments each day, weeks, months or years, which will turn our lives upside down, or send us running around trying to pull together the pieces. This gives us a sense of sanity let alone the ability to control and believe in what we are doing.

There are often great lessons to be learned at the roots of stress, drama, and heartache. Don’t let the magnitude of the circumstance blind you to the value of the lesson. – Steve Maraboli

In most cases, this would be work.  Where and how we work, we all have a choice and I choose to do what I do for the challenge, the opportunity and of course to learn.

With this is mind, every day I am put to the test, to really flesh out and identify just how good my skills are. Lessons are learned and many lessons are also taught to others.

But the whole point is to ensure we are growing. Growth is about taking your current state and making it more than what it was before.

Challenge time:

Find what makes you need to grow and take it on. Use it as a bouncing board to something more. Be a little scared, but don’t be consumed by fear. Conquer the mind and you will conquer the task at hand.

How determined are you to still make something of this year? Maybe you have already, maybe you haven’t. But it is not too late. As of recently hitting the 40% completion mark of the year, we are heading full steam ahead towards meeting the midway point of the year.

Some of us have come so far, some have come further than before and some have just been along for the ride… But with still time left, you can still start something new before hitting the midway point.

Why do you want to be starting something before the middle of the year?

This will give you a perfect 6 months to really flesh out and put to test your skills, attitude and ability to grow and learn. Hey, you may even start that dream you have always had… However, you need to actually identify what it is you want to change or do for the next 6 months. While at the same time – invest in your willpower and self-control to really see it through.

Maybe you want to kick-start your childhood hobby, or maybe it is a promotion, maybe you just want to learn how to play an instrument or simply pick up a consistent exercise routine. Regardless, these things will all take time, commitment and determination. But it is only you who can make the decision and make it happen.

How determined are you?

It is never too late to make the decision to change your life! DON’T WASTE ANOTHER DAY!

Whatever you think about grows in your life. – Brian Tracy

Don’t make excuses saying you do not have time, as you do, you just need to prioritize your time.

Once you have really identified what it is you want to do and once you have a taste of it – I think there should be no effort required to keep you going but rather a passion for fueling your determination.

Every day you have the chance to start fresh, to reapply your skills, your attitude and to give it all you’ve got! Take a moment to identify what you can do better today! Take a deep breath and soldier on by starting the day better than the day before! You are the one calling the shots in your life. Make them count!

With this in mind, like any day we can become tied up with the “important” things such as work or other duties and sometimes we forget to stop and smell the flowers. Meaning, we don’t stop to identify the details. 

Along those lines, we also forget to celebrate the victories our efforts have created. Be proud of where you have come from and what you’ve achieved. If not earlier, then every 90 days you should review the last three months, and soak up your achievements no matter how small they are.

Living essentially comes down to your path, your purpose, your goals and the end game you are playing for. How you make your way to your destination comes down to the decisions you are making daily. 

“Life is hard at times. But when I overcome more challenges, I become much stronger then. So I’m going to embrace them.” – Lifehack

From a generic standpoint, below are five ways in which you can make your life easier:

1. A fine-tuned routine. 
2. Your lifestyle choice of food and beverages
3. Exercise and consistently
4. Well tuned sleeping pattern
5. Minimal decision-making

I won’t go into the finer details today, however, have a think regarding the above. Take a guess, take a moment to think about how these areas in your life are reflected. Without reading detailed information, can we see anywhere you can make your life easier?

Well there you go, we have now made it 40% into the year. Yep, you have now officially used up 40% of your year. That’s almost half way! I don’t want to oversell it, but this suggests you have very little time before your halfway checkpoint for another year done and dusted is close. 

That’s:

• 3,504 hours
• 21,0240 minutes
• 12,614,400 seconds

Let’s put this into a bit more perspective. You have nearly made it half way through the year and my biggest challenge to you is; to ask your yourself whether you’re satisfied with what you have achieved so far this year. Is there room for improvement, are there things you need to change? Should you have spent more time on something better, or less on something else?

Below are a list of questions to ask yourself to really see how you are progressing so far this year. Be honest with yourself, and see what you need to spend more attention on for the rest of the year.

• Have you given your best effort?
• What could have you done better, or not done at all?
• Have you enjoyed what you have been doing?
• What was your motivation for doing what you have done?
• Did you set your goals right, did you achieve them?
• What were your expectations by this time in the year?
• Is it time to change it up?
• Are you still happy?
• Do you see yourself doing what you do now in the next 5 years?
• What have you learned?
• Have you built your character?
• Have you made better and healthier choices?
• Have you expressed love for family and friends?
• Have you got any grudges?
• Are you content?

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” – Billy Graham

Courage is what keeps us going even in the middle of fear. Courage is what sets us apart from actually starting to succeeding. When was the last time you went on an adventure? This can be in any shape or form, but when was the last time you did something which you knew would be good for you but scared the jeepers out of you? We should encourage courage, we should embrace courage and we should share the experience with others. 

We all face a challenge. Life is a challenge. We just need to learn to live with it. The trick is to is to ask yourself about how serious you are and if you are willing to take control.

If you want something, if you want to be somewhere, if you have a dream, a goal or a mission – what is stopping you from getting there?

You are the only one that can drive, control and totally motivate yourself! You need to be willing to make time for the things you are aiming for!

What makes you itch? What do you desire?

Whether we need to take small steps, big steps, a few steps or lots of steps. They are required if you want to succeed. When you have a goal in sight it isn’t about putting in the effort so that people can see, but it is about being consistent and making the right choices that will add up in the end to the result you were looking for. You may have told someone what you are doing, or maybe you didn’t. Regardless, the daily grind and the daily struggle is to then continue on with a daily practice of ensuring you are making the small choices that will add up in the end. People may not even notice the hard work and efforts,

You may have told someone what you are doing, or maybe you didn’t. Regardless, the daily grind and the daily struggle is to then continue on with a daily practice of ensuring you are making the small choices that will add up in the end. People may not even notice the hard work and efforts, however, the time will come and when it does – you will want to be ready for it. 

It’s all about accepting the short-term pain, in order to progress on for long-term gain.

If don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect to have the sheer willpower to push yourself to the limits required to break your stubborn mindsets.

So how will you reach your next goal? Will you apply integrity and surprise people over time? Or will you take a plunge and hit the ground running maintaining a consistent routine?

The option is yours.

We all have a risk to take. Actually, we will have many risks to consider and some we will tolerate, others we will avoid. For way too long I hear people complaining that they want this and want that. They consume themselves with worry and doubt and because of this they will never get it or see it. However, I think more than half the time we are too scared to do the something we have never done before in order to have the something we have never had. 

Life is full of taking risks. Everything you do will have a margin of risk and margin of consequence. No outcome is ever to be 100% certain, therefore, any attempt at anything has a chance of failing.

Murphy’s Law – If it can happen it will.

Every day you risk your life without even knowing it. Even as simple of walking outside is a risk, as you never know what is going to happen.

How you live your life will depend on the choices you make, the risks you take…

Risk; is the absence of security. Taking risk leaves future events to chance. Chance is when one can not accurately, or with assurance, predict a future outcome with confidence. Most people find comfort in security, which is fine but there is comfort in security, but not a lot of reward.

Risks can often result in failure. Rewards become elusive in the sense of “Better to be safe than sorry” being a common reason why risks are left aside.

If there were more risk takers there might be more ideas implemented and discoveries made. Until such time, people will take the safer path, a road more traveled.

The point is, we can be making risks and choices in our lives each day to get us to the places we want to go. To name a few:

• Starting that business
• Pursuing a passion
• Telling someone how you feel
• The use of finances and investments

I’m sure you will have some of your own examples – but at the end of the day, you will not see the reward unless you are willing to front the risk for reward.