Category: INSPIRE

Today you have a single mission. A single goal. Do more. Wish less. Today is a single chance to make what you have been putting off for so long, become a new stage, a new era, a new phase, a new start, a new beginning in your life. Today you can take a stand and make your dreams become a little closer to being true. 

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

But seriously, every time you keep putting something off, all you are doing is just making your dreams drift further away. The excuses you keep running through your head, the excuses of why you cannot or shouldn’t take action, are all just the fear inside of you fighting for control. Take ownership and knock back the fear and dive in. You will be surprised just how capable you are. 

You look around and you see the people with the success, the excitement and everything you wish you had and/or have dreamed of… and you want to know why they have it and not you. Why? Because they took action, (maybe they were given it) but most of the time it is the people who made a decision to make an effort to keep on keeping on no matter what, and these are the ones who made it. 

You too can fly, you too can be like this. But remember success isn’t having it all – success is living each day with purpose, with passion, and in happiness. 

Seriously! Do one thing today! One thing related to your goals and dreams. Otherwise, I think you should be asking yourself the deeper and real question of – how much do you really want this dream.

Wish less. Do more.

ALL TALK NO ACTION AYE?

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Flinders, VIC, Australia

Being awesome. Is it a myth? Is it possible? Is it reachable? Is it normal? Is it already occurring? So many questions…

Being awesome.  What exactly is it and what does it take to be it?

Real awesomeness is about living the life you are meant to live. It’s all about the confidence, the charisma and the happiness you have, all rolled into a single existence.

So how do you unleash it? Simple. 11 Simple Ways:

Find Passion

What floats your boat? What lights your fire? What makes you happy? What is it that you could be doing, as nothing else matters to you?
But how do you find passion? Easy. Write down and list everything that makes you tick. Try them until your heart and mind clicks. You will know when you have found it as you will feel it.

Live Passion

Now that you have found it. Live it. But it shouldn’t be some pastime or a hobby you just do when you have the time, passion is something to identify you. You need to live and breathe this in your everyday living. Even if it is in the little things you do. If you have a passion for something, don’t be shy to stand up for it, to embrace and to show it. Passion 24/7.

Healthy Eating

How can you be awesome, if you are feeling disgusted by what you are consuming? Eating well will GREATLY improve your mood, but will also take your mind and body places you cannot go on an unhealthy diet.

Exercise

With a low energy level, how can you expect to be awesome? With no energy, you will be lazy, miserable and soon enough a couch potato. By exercising, you are improving your physique (which is awesome), which will cover the area of helping you look good. Which by the way, no makeup or outfit can make you look better than a fit and clean body.

Sleep Enough

If you are constantly falling asleep, due to the lack of sleep – this isn’t very exciting. You should always sleep enough. If you want to start your day on an AWESOME level, you need to be able to get up. Find your sleep routine which you are content with and which enables your body to operate. With a hint of passion, you will be jumping out of bed in no time.

Toxicity No More

Your happiness, your mood, your inspiration and your awesomeness is largely derived from the people you surround yourself with. People who put you down, are not the ones who will inspire you and lift you higher into the zone you thrive off. How can you expect to be awesome, if all the people are doing is bringing you down. People who have the best intentions for you, these are the people who will inspire you and help you become AWESOME. (They too are probably awesome). Hang around these folk.

Positive Thinking

Positive thinking usually helps create a positive life. Optimism is a choice and it is a way to get through the thick and thin of life. What you think is what you get. They are your reality and how you perceive the thing around you. Do you want to be HAPPY? Well, you better start looking on the bright side. Help shape your own reality, be grateful and happy all the time. People will see the excitement and the positive outlook you have and that right there is AWESOME.

Spontaneously Fun

Life is too short to be stuck in a box. Over thinking, can limit our ability to experience, to feel and to live. Yes, there is a risk in everything. Even waking up and going to work. But risk can be overcome, as you should never be bound by it. Stop worrying about the things that can go wrong and get out there and grow, learn and have some fun. That there is an AWESOME life. Do this and you inspire others – as others like to worry too and you will be the change they need.

Work Already

If you do the work you will have the sense of accomplishment sooner. Finishing and accomplishing a task will always be uplifting and will inspire your happiness to arise. Awesome isn’t it? If you discipline yourself to have a growth mindset (to always be growing) and always progressing towards your goals. Each time you achieve them you will be leaving another positive mark on your life.

So if you want to be AWESOME, do the work.

Helping Others

Be kind, show compassion and help those who are in need. Helping others will help you stand out. BUT DO IT WITH INTEGRITY. Make the world a better place, but don’t go out of your way to make it a big deal, do it in everything you do. You’re doing it to help, not to look good.

Choose It – Embrace It

You need to choose to be AWESOME. Choose to EMBRACE it. It is a little mode you can toggle on at anytime you want to. The rest will just influence, fuel and grow your awesomeness. By nature and design, you are AWESOME. You alone are AWESOME by being you. Will you own it?

Positive thinking will let you use the ability which you have, and that is awesome. – Zig Ziglar

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Flinders, VIC, Australia

When we do something “loud” enough, we will make a dint. When we separate ourselves from the lives we are living, you are left with vessel/medium delivering a brand, a message and a voice of something more than just who we are. The question you need to ask yourself is what is that message. To answer this question you may actually need to answer some different questions. If you don’t know yourself, how can you know that with what you are trying to share with the world is making a dint? 

Ask yourself these questions and see what kind of dint you will be making. I encourage you to have the below 3 points noted and detailed somewhere visible in your everyday life:

Do you have a “Something to Pursue”

“Pursue something so important that even if you fail, the world is better off with you having tried.” — Tim O’Reilly

Have you started a “Journey that Matters”

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain

What does your life look like when life get’s ugly and you fail?

“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” — Mary Tyler Moore

Remember, the most attractive thing about you has less to do with your face and body, but more with your heart and habits. – Tiffany Sun

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

We shouldn’t be blaming other people. The only thing stopping you is you. You know how they say that the grass is greener on the other side. The only way you are going to find out is by going over there and having a look. Tasting and seeing if it is. What’s that? Are you scared? Do you fear?

Congratulations, you’re human. Welcome to the little game called life. You are growing up. Now take a chance, take a leap and GO.

For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

This time a few years back I read ‘People Over Profit’ – by Dale Partridge which is all about breaking the system, living with purpose and being more successful. If you haven’t read it then I highly recommend you do. Especially if you have any intention to start a business. If you have no idea about the book, then head on over to the site: http://peopleoverprofit.com/

This book teaches about 7 important lessons of business leadership, but these elements are not just important to a successful business, but these elements will help you shine personally too. My taking from this book has been the inspiration to apply these lessons to an aspiration of my own. Let’s just say this book is perfect to be reading in the process of setting up the blueprint and incubation of a new business.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @canva | Location: Unknown

What if all your barriers stopping you from moving forward were only in your head? Like seriously! Just take a moment right now and just grasp the idea that the reason why you have been holding back, the reasons why you haven’t taken the jump, the reason why you are still here and not there – is simply because of the idea’s, the excuses and barriers you PUT IN YOUR MIND.

We have this idea that the things holding us back are due to external reasons. This ain’t usually the case. Most of the time they’re inside our head and our hearts. I can guarantee you that these are the most common limiting beliefs that keep us from making the progress we have wished for, let alone wished we had even started.

I’m the first to admit that when it comes to expectations, I am one to set the highest on myself. Usually before my bosses or those directing me. Now, this isn’t necessarily the worst thing, but it can be a problem if it starts to hinder your ability to go or move forward. With this in mind, it is also common to take single experiences or circumstances and blow these out of proportion and make the generalization that this is going to be the rest of your life. All this is doing, is harming your confidence and your ability to grow. STOP IT. We also make the assumption that others are seeing how we are not meeting our own HIGH and UNREALISTIC expectations, so we tend to be pulled down… The funny thing is, is they have NO IDEA that you have this expectation, let alone didn’t reach it. So STOP IT.

So what do I say to you?

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. – Martin Luther King, JR

Pick yourself up, take these expectations and leverage these into some good old motivation. Maybe you have missed out on hitting your target, maybe you were rejected, maybe you just don’t feel satisfied with where you ended up. Well, the good thing is, you haven’t given up. But before you fall any deeper down the rabbit hole, you need to get up and keep going. Fly, run, walk or crawl – whatever it takes. Keep moving forward.

Stop making the excuses of:

• “I need to have this before I can start”
• “Once this is in order I will start”
• “I am waiting for this or that so I can start”

Whatever the excuses are – JUST STOP using them and JUST START moving forward. Take action. Today!

Belief is a wonderful thing, but only if it’s rooted in reality. – Michael Hyatt

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Narooma, NSW, Australia

Today society tells you what to follow, what to be and how to do it. Well, I say forget the sea of society and look to your heart! You’re the true hero. If you follow your heart and do what you love, you will always love what you do. Money may bring happiness or enable opportunity, but it will never do the wonders of following your heart! There will always be a void that the money cannot fill. But if you follow your heart and do what you love, that void will be filled.

My question to you is… What is your heart filled with? What are you following? But remember – the world does not dictate who and what you are, nor how and what you should do.

Now get out there, listen to your heart and just see where you go!

You are the everyday hero, you have been looking for. – Chris Furlong

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Narooma, NSW, Australia

As a follow on to yesterday’s today is a sister post. I have 15 productivity hacks which will surely keep you up and at them!

Procrastination is not a disease, but a mindset, which means it can be changed, trained and controlled. It just takes some hard work and dedication.

If you want to change, you need commitment, as with no commitment, there will be little change. So before you attempt changing, evaluate how committed you are at making the change happen.

“You may delay, but time will not.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

With this all in mind here are some tips to improve productivity and keep yourself from procrastinating:

• Give (10+2)*5 a try – The (10+2)*5 simply means 10 minutes work + 2 minutes break multiplied by 5, completing 1 hour. (more here)
• Use red and blue more often – As per Science Daily, the colour red was found out to increase attention to details while blue sparks creativity as noted here.
• Create a great agenda – Don’t sit around and do nothing, plan to do the things and necessary tasks you would not have a chance to do when working or busy.
• Timetable your tasks – Like any other habits, procrastinating is a tough wall to break. Replace this habit with another habit. Timetables! Schedule what and when you will do it.
• Take it outside – Change the environment. Home is comfy, but try a coffee shop, try a park. These have way different vibes.
• Learn to hack productivity – The idea of being lazy is questionable, but if you can learn to fold a t-shirt in 3 seconds… this is more of a saver than being lazy.
• Delegate – If you can outsource, or have someone do the task for you then why not.
• Gadget and gizmo free – In a technological age, putting down the devices for a short period may go a long way.
• Be prepared – take 15 minutes the night before and prepare whatever you can. (pack bags, organize food, task list)
• 10 minute wake me up – Start the day with a jog, or some quick HIIT. Here are some examples: ways you can use a treadmill or 10 minute, no-equipment needed workout
• Mini steps – Big day or project ahead of you? Break it down into smaller tasks, with checklists and even include your coffee break in there.
• Inspirational Board – Use a whiteboard or backboard to have self-motivating quotes and a quick reminder of task lists.
• Redecorate/Arrange room –  This will brighten, lighten or enlighten your productivity. Don’t forget the effect of colours.
• Ready the nibbles – Before settling down to smash out a task, have your nibbles prepared earlier, otherwise, you will be making stops to the pantry… 
• Lock in chores – Have these scheduled and ready to go. But do it as a ‘2 birds 1 stone’ style. i.e. Folding clothes while catching up on Netflix!

At the end of the day – sometimes we just lack the urge to do or go. Well, in this case, it may just be better to jump in and get your hands dirty, otherwise, you never will…

“So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don’t sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we’ve satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” ~ Lee Iacocca

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Lakes Entrance, VIC, Australia

Today is your day. Today you should blast procrastination. It is another chance to take ownership. You know why I love each day so much? Because naturally, it is a start of something new. In essence, today is the start of something new, a new chance to conquer and achieve whatever it is you are doing.  Yesterday I challenged you to take a stand in your life, to rise up and take action of the remaining 165 days. For too long we procrastinate and make excuses.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. – Walt Disney

Below is a list of 30 ways you can blast procrastination out the door. You can use all of these or a range. Regardless, these should help put you back on track.

1. Get up and move – change your scenery
2. Setup reminders – daily, hourly and momentarily
3. Get a motivation buddy
4. Make yourself accountable
5. Create something every day 
6. Wake up early 
7. Go to sleep early
8. Clean and clear as you 
9. Cut the cable – get rid of it
10. Screw it, lets do it – Richard Branson
11. Schedule time blocks – be organized
12. Have a task list – tick off those boxes
13. Have a system – a routine
14. Don’t check your emails (set times to do so)
15. Destroy your social networks (Hibernate from them)
16. Time yourself in segments
17. Track yourself
18. Automate anything in your life
19. Create a playlist – PUMP IT!
20. Identify and face your fears – conquer
21. Realize you will never be perfect – be GREAT though
22. Become mindful – be aware
23. Set daily goals
24. Take a break when required (scheduled)
25. Stick with tools – stick with what you know and works
26. Entertain yourself – reset the mind
27. Work less – play harder, follow your heart and dreams
28. Have some quiet time (daily)
29. Don’t settle – you can do better
30. Focus on your Strengths – (Strength Finder 2.0)

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. – Steve Jobs

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Wallaga Lake, NSW, Australia

We have now hit 200 days. Whatever it was you had set out to do this year, you only have 165 days to complete it. That’s 4,000 hours.

The year is slipping away… and you are either SMASHING and CONQUERING your goals or you are simply FAILING to do anything and continuously POSTPONING whatever it is to the next day or someday. Let me remind you that SOMEDAY is not a day that exists. Someday is your way of saying this is isn’t your priority right now. Even though every day you sit thinking, wishing and dreaming that you had this or that… when all you need to do is TAKE ACTION. Take a leap, take a jump and see what you can do for yourself.

I have found that our biggest hindrance is motivation and confidence. When you are wanting to do something, something which is going to make an impact whether it is an impact to you or someone else – we can become a little overwhelmed or fearful of the idea of “What if I fail?”

Well, what if you do fail. What if you don’t. If you do fail, who will actually know? I mean, if you have told people well, of course, they may know, but if you don’t, then the only person you have to prove yourself to is you. Now I can understand, you may set the standard high, or the expectations even higher, but it is you. We are our own worst critics. We are our worst enemies. Get over yourself… you will fail sooner or later and I would think it is better to fail privately than it is to publicly. That may come too… but if you can handle failure from your worst critic (YOU) then you basically can handle anything. Seems legit right? Well, that’s because it is. What is even funnier is it is really that simple.

All you need to do is start something today, even if it is planning how you will start tomorrow. Any good project will have an exceptional planning period and whatever your goal is, is just another project.

I say screw failure. Let it come. Otherwise, the longer you wait around for something to be right and to be perfect, this is never going to happen. I am sorry to scare you or even surprise you. But this is a reality. People may seem like that have it all, but I can promise you there is something in some area in their life which isn’t as glamorous as the one they are showing. Why? Because we are human.

So I challenge you to get out there and MAKE IT HAPPEN. As it is your dream and your goal so it is all dependent on you. But feel free to ask for help along the way. As I noted before our biggest hindrance is motivation and confidence and this derived from the fear of failure. So how do we increase our motivation and encouragement…

Yep, you guessed it. Look and see what others are doing and find the inspiration to motivate you from what they are doing. Secondly, speak and work with others. Maybe you are trying to do too much as a lone wolf. Maybe you are thinking you can take on the world single-handedly… Well maybe you can one day, but right now you are a growing youngster who has more TALK then ACTION. So find a buddy, find a mentor, find someone who is going to inspire, encourage and motivate you through the thick and thin. You can even have more than one. Just do it.

There you have it. You have literally less than 4,000 hours of this year, in which the longer you wait the harder it is going to get to CONQUER whatever it is you want to accomplish this year. Don’t make the same mistake you have made before, making the year not what you wanted. Make 2017 the year you rose to the pedestal and made an impact. More so making an impact on you.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Narooma, NSW, Australia

Excuses are what hold us back. They are the difference between this and that. The difference of growing or remaining constant. The difference between living in fear or taking a risk. The difference between living and dying. The list goes on. Excuses control us, consume us and dictate what we do. But further to this, we are the ones that make the decision to make an excuse. We think we have our valid reason, but here is a question for you. If we make excuses to avoid doing something, is this conflicting with our integrity? I mean, if someone asks if you can do something, but you come back at them and say you are kind of busy and you are not sure of your timeline of completing your current task… Now, this isn’t lying but it is using a situation, to manipulate yourself out doing a task which you don’t seem all that excited by.

Just think about it –

excuse – an explanation offered as a reason forbeing excused; a plea offered in extenuation of afault or for release from an obligation, promise,etc.

With this all in mind, we tend to continue to make excuse’s, which actually keeps limiting us of who and what we are.

Ever heard, or recall saying “I’ll be so happy when X happens”

At the core, we tend to believe the pursuit of “X” will solve our deepest problems. When really all we are is infected with the deadliest disease of all. 

The “I will be happy when” syndrome. 

This is ridiculous; following a life of chasing an achievement after achievement saying that completing each one of these will make you happy and content. Yes, it is GREAT that you are pursuing these goals and I say continue to do so, but don’t let it consume your ability to live happily. You should not have to be something in the future, or somewhere in the future to be happy. What about now? Why can’t you be happy now?

I have a challenge for you…

BE HAPPY TODAY.

Be content with your life, with what you have. Stop trying to fill your gaps within you, with outward success. A job, a person, a promotion, a house or winning the winning the lottery will make you happy, but they will never heal or cure the disease of being unable to be happy now.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Why am I chasing this? 
• Why do I believe achieving ‘X’ will make me ‘Y’?
• And the harder question, Can I be happy without them, or it, or that?

We can’t control the future; we can’t control the outcome of most events in our lives. But we can control our happiness. And when we’re happy with the real thing, there is rarely a need for “X”.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @shazleef | Location: Narooma, NSW, Australia