Category: INSPIRE

You are the driver and the navigator of your life. You must take control. You cannot wait around for the world to deliver you to your destination. You must be the one to deliver. The world will provide the vehicles, the vessels and the journey’s but you but you are the skill, you are the power and you are the one that will essentially get you from A to Z. It is never too late to take control of your life, but this doesn’t mean to leave it to the last-minute. Taking control and taking yourself to the right destination, will enable you to unlock your fullest and greatest potential. 

If you’re ready to take control and lead rather than be led, here are seven tips you should follow:

1. Stay optimistic and embrace positivity despite the surrounding negativity.

2. Work on being happy and become known for it. Smile!

3. Remember that there will be those who like you and those who won’t. Don’t waste your time running after the latter. Build yourself to become strong, and they’re bound to come to you.

4. Become more intuitive and tap into opportunities that are all around you. 

5. Operate with tacit knowledge, i.e., do what you do with confidence rather than just doing a task.

6. Repel people who are negative, especially while you’re building your own, or it will drag you down.

7. Remember that you may be lonely, but you’re never alone. The quicker you realize this, the less likely it will be for you to succumb to depression and other negative thoughts.

“Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.” Tony Robbins

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Do you make excuses? Are you still struggle to overcome these? If you’re thinking about starting a new goal, starting a journey and thinking about making a life change – Let me stop you there, as you are already setting yourself up to fail. Why? If you are only thinking about making the change you need in your life, how serious are you about it? You either want it or don’t. So if you’re not willing to fix your mindset on the prize, if you’re not willing to take the sacrifices, the tough journey and the challenge – then maybe it isn’t worth it to you… Let me tell you that it is worth it. Every single second of it will be. 

If you struggle to get moving and taking action, you need to change your mentality and perception, especially when it comes to talking about something you wish to do, but cannot due to time, or how busy you are or this or that. Well, that is your first problem. If you are making excuses, putting up walls and listing all the ways why you can’t do it – well maybe you don’t want to do it. Don’t wait around for the right time or when this or that is in place or when you have something to start you. Start now and do it with what you have and this will enable you to stretch your mind early and start your journey even stronger. 

Waiting around for the perfect time or when things are ‘better’ to get your act together is never really going to get you moving and shaking. Waiting around is pretty much just killing time. If you want to make some ripples, make a difference and succeed further than before. You need to take action. You need to make it happen.

Do these sound familiar?

• The circumstances are not right
• I can’t start because of this person… 
• I don’t have time to do it
• I have been too busy with work
• I am not a morning person / I am not a night person
• It’s a big risk
• What if people don’t like me

But putting off and continuing to make excuses to avoid taking action is a problem. I get it… it is your life and you can live it how you want. That is fine. But my point here is… you have potential, you have what it takes and you can do whatever it wants, as long as you put your hands to it. Your passions, goals, dreams and aspirations, you can make these all happen – as long as you get up and start putting some actions into motion and some decisions set in stone.

“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” – Paulo Coelho

In this world, you benefit from what you create with your own two hands. Unless you make life better by yourself, chances are it won’t get better on its own. Even if a miracle is to occur – most of the time you need to act on asking the big man upstairs!

Everybody wants advice but nobody wants to do the work. If you cut the time you spend deliberating in half and spent that time actively pursuing what you want, how much farther ahead do you think you’d be? Answer honestly but don’t agonize over it.

Your challenge, should you accept it: Less thinking, more doing.

Photo Credit: Photo by Lambert Yuri on Unsplash

What’s stopping you from achieving your dreams? Is it fear? And is it dragging you away from the steps you need to take to achieve your goals?

Let me guess…

• circumstances
• other people
• maybe bad luck
• no time
• been too busy
• too scared
• it’s a big risk
• too tired
• and I am sure the list goes on

It is so much easier to put the responsibilities of your circumstances and situations elsewhere. But you should understand that, in order to achieve greatness, you need to take responsibility for your situation. By taking charge of what is going on in your life, you get to be in control.

So what do you need to do?

Firstly… Stop getting in your own way and secondly…

News flash — your fear is what’s stopping you. You don’t see it, or refuse to see it subconsciously, because it makes you vulnerable. You are afraid of having to deal with the setbacks from your own failures. You think you are afraid of how others might react to your failure, but the truth is that you are afraid of how you will deal with your own failure.

“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.”
–Judy Blume

In short, you can overcome fear: 

1. Acknowledge your fear 
2. Identify your fear 
3. Write down the consequences of giving in to your fear 
4. Write down what you will gain from overcoming your fear 
5. Use your past successful experience as your reference 

Take baby steps

Have you ever observed a baby who was learning to walk? Did the baby ever worry about falling when he or she attempted to walk?

Babies are not afraid to walk, even though they have never done it before. They will fall, but they get back up and try again. They simply continue doing so until they master walking. It just never crosses their minds that falling is something they should be afraid of. That is why you never see a baby who refuses to walk after a few falls.

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We all have the ultimate choice to make. The question is are you? Someone recently asked me, ‘How do I manage to stay happy always’. I said happiness is a choice right. Like… you choose to be happy. If you smile, like literally smile right now, how does it make you feel? He smiled, laughed and he said ‘You’re right’.

You see happiness boils down to a choice.

Define happiness as “to choose to be happy.” This way there is no infinite list of things that we are never going to obtain or accomplish that we are requiring of ourselves to be able to be happy. There is going to be no insatiable desire for money, clothing, houses, cars and good-looking significant others to fulfill our happiness quotient–because we will already have chosen to be the happiness quotient.

Happiness should be a perspective, not a goal. A lens through which we view the world, our family and our jobs. Through this lens, we are not going to want to make money because we think it will make us happy. We are going to make money because we have chosen to be happy at our jobs; the people around us are going to see it and choose to support us in our career progression. We are not going to look at life and set unrealistic expectations for things that even Bill Gates and Warren Buffet cannot afford. We are going to be happy that we are healthy and live in a world where we even have the choice to make the choice to be happy.

Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude. – Dale Carnegie

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It has been a common theme over the last month, but that’s because it is so serious. Yes, I am talking about New Year’s Resolutions again. Simply because it is that time of the year and I want you to master the best you can be in 2017. Just wait for it… The Facebook statuses that say, “New Year, New Me” will begin pouring in. and we will all roll our eyes. You see, it has become somewhat of a tradition to make New Year’s resolutions as we plan for the year ahead. However, most of us abandon these goals before we even take down our Christmas lights. For a lot of people, it doesn’t really matter.

For those of us who want to make positive changes in the new year, here are seven ways to better the chances of following through:

1. Write it down.

And no, I don’t mean on social media. I mean get a notebook and write out your resolutions.

2. Make a plan.

Don’t just write down the resolutions themselves; have a plan of action.

3. Visibility is key.

Once you’ve got a list and you have a game plan, make sure it’s part of your day. Post it somewhere you’ll see it often, so you can be reminded to stay on track. This doesn’t need to be for every eye to see – but for you to see.

4. Be realistic.

This is twofold. Make sure your goals are reasonable.

Don’t say, “I’m going to lose 80 kg’s this year!” because even though it’s not impossible, it’s unlikely. Set attainable goals – you can also add more through the journey, especially if you hit your goal. 

5. Stay accountable.

Involve your family and friends. (but don’t explicitly give them the details, just tell them your goal is to lose weight). There’s no shame in self-improvement, and getting others involved will help you stay on track.

6. Don’t stop there.

It’s very rewarding to meet your goals, so take it a step further and build on your resolutions. i.e. If you resolved to go to the gym more so you can get healthier, you could try signing up for a special fitness class.

7. Don’t wait.

Along with building on your goals and pushing yourself further, remember it doesn’t have to be New Year’s to resolve to improve your life.

If you have an idea on how to become happier, healthier or just a better you, start today.

Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory. – Ghandi

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To make a wish is perfect – but to make a wish and to do nothing about it… This will lead to laziness. If you want it to work for it. Your wish is up to you! To be highly successful in your career or even in your personal life, you can’t take the usual path. Just showing up to work every day (or even putting in long, hard days of work) isn’t going to cut it, or just trying to go with the flow and follow the herd like a sheep in society isn’t going to cut it.

You’d love to have an amazing lifestyle and reap the benefits in terms of reaching your financial goals and being able to have the freedom to ultimately have control over the work you get to do. Here is your path to becoming ultra-successful, based on what others who are highly successful have done differently:

Focus on Goals

Successful people know what they want and where they are going.

Grit

What is grit? It’s a willingness to commit to long-term goals and be persistent, even when things get hard. In other words, you’ll do whatever it takes, and you’ll keep at it no matter what.

Passion

Many successful people will tell you to find something you’re passionate about doing. They may say it for many reasons, including that it makes work fun, pushes you to work harder than you would on something you don’t care about, and is infectious – spreading your message and what you’re trying to accomplish on to other people, compelling them to help you. Once you find the thing you’re passionate about, taking that passion and using it in a way that is helpful to others will be what moves you from someone who is just passionate about their work to someone who is truly successful with their passion.

Be Willing to Take Risks

If you’re willing to take risks, you can have big gains in your life. If you’re looking to achieve something huge, playing it safe isn’t going to get you there.

Think Positively

Many ultra-successful people have been interviewed. They are positive thinkers. You can spend more time thinking about what you want and why you can, rather than why you can’t or shouldn’t.

All you need to do is find a goal you’re passionate about and you’re willing to stick with no matter what. Once you find it, there’s nothing that will stand in your way. You can be among those who have enjoyed massive success.

“The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?” – Tim Ferriss

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Obstacles are there to conquer and to be overcome! As you learn to defeat more and more obstacles, your confidence, your skills and your maturity in wisdom will increase and the glory you will find from this will be like no other! You just need to make sure you don’t doubt your ability to actually do it.

Defeating obstacles does take time and through this time it will build your more and more. Even if you fail, the next time you shall progress, the next time you will learn and eventually you will succeed.

So get out there and conquer!

Struggling with the failure side of things? Here are 3 lessons you can adapt and understand to help you keep on keeping on.

• Lesson One: Failure starts early. When starting out something new, failure is always going to be a more likely outcome as – how can you expect to be so good at something if you have never learned it or even attempted it. This is normal.
• Lesson Two: You will fail regularly. Even more, if you continue to try to grow. The more you are pursuing growth – the more you fail, once again due to the Lesson #1, you need to learn, adapt and become familiar with the new something.
• Lesson Three: We can learn from our failures. Nothing can motivate you more to succeed than failing and nothing can teach you more.

What failure isn’t: Failure is not about making mistakes. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Mistakes are inevitable and part of the journey.

What failure is: Failure is when you walk away from the opportunity that scares you. Failure is giving up on your dreams to do something more ‘practical’. Failure is when you settle for a life that doesn’t fit your dreams.

Take action: Once you know what you want to do, take action, move towards your goals. You will fall, you will fail. That’s ok. Get up, take more steps.

Don’t be as Thoreau said in Walden: ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation’.

Keep taking action until you reach your goal. It is never too late, and nothing in your life is permanent.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Sorrento, Australia

Sometimes we just need to push a little harder and sometimes we get so lost in ourselves or in the world that we think we need to keep going the same way in order to move on. Firstly you should be identifying if what you are doing and the direction you are doing is actually the right path, the right steps and the right journey for you to move forward. Just because the path seems forward, easy and unstoppable, this does not always mean it is good for you.  Have you ever thought that in order to progress you need to be moving forward, but actually climbing?

Regardless of where you are, I want to encourage you to push a little harder, work a little harder (smarter too) and don’t give up on:

1. Getting back on track.
2. Finishing this year strong(er).

Take action now!

Get honest with yourself… If you are feeling like your struggling to keep up, you feel like you are being left behind, or maybe you feel like you have fallen into a deep hole. Is this due to mistakes you have made, or by the choices you have made? Are you running from something, trying to hide or fill a void? What are you hiding from?

Take a think, ask yourself these questions…

It is time to rise up and take control. Only you know the weaknesses you have – so either start focusing on your strengths, or start accepting your weaknesses and begin to move forward regardless.

“Many a false step was made by standing still.” – Tim Ferriss

C’mon! You’ve got this.

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The new year is fast approaching, and the most common New Year Resolutions are usually health and fitness-related, however adequately preparing for them is not. In this blog I will go through some of the simple ways you can kick-start your journey early and get into the mindset ready for day one – however don’t just think this is for health-related goals – you can apply the same logic across the board. 

It may seem like you can wait until January 1 to get healthy, but if you don’t start planning now, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Here are five simple ways to kick-start your New Year’s resolutions.

1. Find a workout you like.

Figure out what kind of exercise you want to do.

This is very important because you have to enjoy what you are doing, or you will not stick with it.

• If you hate cardio, find a program that focuses on lifting weights.
• If you hate the gym, find a program you can do at home.
• If you love yoga and pilates, find a studio that offers at least three to five classes a week.

The key take away here is: Consistency

2. Set realistic, specific goals.

You need to have very specific goals. A goal of, “I want to lose weight” will never work. You need to get very specific.

Want to lose weight? Great!

• How much?
• Want to tone a certain body part? Great!
• How many inches do you want to lose?
• Want to build muscle? Great!
• How many inches do you want to gain?

These are very important questions to answer. And again, if you have no idea what you are doing, find a coach or a trainer to have a consultation with. Be sure to make goals that fit your skill level.

• If you’ve never run before, don’t set a goal of running a race within a couple of months.
• If you’ve never lifted weights, start off with some cardio.

The most important aspect is to be realistic. If you make a goal of losing 20 kg’s in three months, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Find a plan that fits your lifestyle and that is made up of an exercise style you enjoy, and let whoever is helping you set realistic goals.

What worked for me is rather than setting a weight goal, I set a diet/lifestyle goal to not eat sugar while maintaining and developing a fluent workout plan. 

3. Pay for it now.

Don’t wait until January to start shopping.

You need to get it set in stone now, so you’re 100 percent ready to go on January 1.

Find a gym, a yoga studio or a workout program you like and genuinely feel you can stick with, and pay for it within the next two weeks. Once you have that part accomplished, you can get your mindset for following through with it come January. Treat yourself to some fun accessories that you will need for your plan as well.

• Joining a yoga studio? Buy a new yoga mat with a fun design that you love.
• Going to start running? Buy some new running shoes that fit like a glove.
• Going to start a weight program? Buy some new dumbbells to use. Get a heart rate monitor and some workout clothing.

Ask for workout things from your friends and family for Christmas presents.

Get yourself excited to use these things, and it will be much easier to jump into it come January.

4. Ask for help.

If you are a beginner, you will need guidance. You can also join a running club or a social gym like Crossfit. Having support and accountability is extremely important to stick with your plan. There are way too many resources out there for you to waste your time and not accomplish anything.

Figure out what works for you, and go after it.

5. Don’t overdo it this month.

It is very easy to get into the mindset of, “I will get healthy in January, so I’m going to enjoy myself now.”

This is setting you up for failure. The further you have to go to get to your goals, the harder it is going to be. Think about that.

You don’t have to skip the holiday parties and libations, but moderation is key. Making a plan now, and getting your mind ready to execute it, will help you tremendously when trying to set and accomplish health and fitness goals in 2017.

Follow these steps to start preparing now, and remember to ask a professional for help. With a little help and preparation, 2017can be your healthiest year yet.

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” ― Timothy Ferriss

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Happiness comes down to one simple thing. Choice. Happiness can be inspired and influenced, however, ultimately you are the author of how you show, spread and share happiness. Funnily enough, it is common for people to say to be happy you need to be this or that or do this or that. Well, as much as that might be true based on their experiences – it may have worked for them, but what work’s for one won’t always work for another – but what will always remain is how you define and create your own happiness. 

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean

I honestly think happiness comes down to Life Satisfaction. 

You can have the most exciting, fast-paced or loud lifestyle and be both as happy as Larry or dissatisfied than ever before. This also is the same for someone who follows a routine simplified life and appreciates the little things. So how can you be happy? What are some of the key influences?

 “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.” Frank Tyger

Have a read below: 

1. Stop comparing yourself to other people. So many seemingly happy and successful people are burning themselves alive on the fire of their inner turmoil.  Focus on you.
2. Socialize.  Even if you are an introvert, force yourself into social scenarios that give you the opportunity to meet people and form connections.  These connections will put you back in touch with your humanity.
3. Make healthy decisions. It is amazing how much exercise and a good diet can change your outlook on the world around you.  The negative thoughts in your head that seem so very real and pressing will melt away.
4. Do something different. Stop wasting your time trying to find the “perfect hobby.”  Pick anything – whether it’s fiber art or coffee tasting.  Find something that you can put effort into, build competence, and see results.
5. Get in touch with your anchors.  We tend to lose these anchors as we get older.  Try to better position yourself within any communities you once found a home in, whether that’s your family, your neighborhood, your culture, or your religion.
6. Look less ahead. Look less behind. Try to refocus yourself on the current moment more often. Start building memories instead of living in them.  Start creating your future instead of just hoping for a better one.  If you don’t do this, your life will become a fog that can stretch across your entire time on earth.
7. Create.  Write in a journal.  Paint something.  Make up a song even if you will never perform it.  Start to fashion the relics that you will leave behind when you are gone.
8. Let go.  Forgive those who hurt you.  I’m sorry you were hurt.  But if you do not leave that hurt in the past, it will follow you like a wolf – forever casting a dangerous shadow over everything you do.
9. Worry more about the others.  Many times it is our own narcissism that destroys us. It seems counter-intuitive, but take some time each day to think about the needs of the other people in your life.  Helping them meet those needs will make you happier in a way that you might not understand right now.
10. Stop running.  There is no such place as “away.” Travel as far as you want, but you will still find yourself waiting for you when you get there. Pull out your sword. It’s time to turn around and fight the dragons inside you.

“Be happy with what you have. Be excitedabout what you want.” Alan Cohen

So what are you doing to keep yourself happy or how are living your life to enable your happiness. Remember it really comes down to your choice. You cannot be forced to be happy, but you can be influenced.

“Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever.” Peter Hagerty

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