Category: INSPIRE

“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” – Andrew Murphy

Firstly, grab some paper, a journal would be better. Grab a pen, your favorite of course and see below 24 questions that will potentially take you forward and jolt you outside your current reality:

1. What would happen if you just went for it?
   Deep down, you want to go for it. But you’re scared. The good news: even if you’re scared, you still have a choice. Fear doesn’t run your life; you do.
2. Who are you?
   Write down a list of what’s important to you about life.
3. Who are you really?
   What was important to you before other people told you what was important to you?
4. What’s your deepest, most secret desire?
   You know it’s there. Just be honest and admit it. You’ll feel amazing… and free.
5. If you knew you couldn’t fail, what’s the benefit of not beginning?
   Bet you can’t think of a good answer for this.
6. If not now, when?
   The past is gone forever and the future is anything but guaranteed. What are you waiting for?
7. Who’s permission do you need?
   You know you only need your own permission, but do you seek someone else to tell you it’s ok?
8. What’s stopping you?
   If you haven’t started working towards what you truly want, something is.
9. Who or what is holding you back?
   The only answer to this: you.
10. If you don’t know what you want, why on earth aren’t you trying to find out?
    Unless you’re content to just drift through life, never knowing where you’re going, and never being truly fulfilled.
11. When you know what you truly want, will you actually do anything about it?
    Most people ignore it or talk themselves out of doing it.
12. What’s important to you?
    Make a list. Be honest with yourself.
13. What’s really important to you?
    Seriously. Be honest. Otherwise this is pointless.
14. If you wrote a list of everything that’s important to you, would you even be on it?
    If you’re not, is there a good reason for that?
15. If you don’t prioritize yourself, how will you ever be happy?
    It’s not going to happen by accident.
16. What’s the excuse you use the most?
    Would to tell your best friend to use that excuse?
17. When will you stop using your excuses?
    Excuses stop you from getting what you truly want. If you’re happy with that, then keep using them.
18. Do you feel good when you know you’re using excuses?
    I’m guessing you don’t. Just a hunch. And I bet you feel great when you make progress. Just saying.
19. Will you ever get what you want if you keep making excuses?
    Make all the excuses you want. Just make sure you don’t wake up one day and finally admit that’s what you’ve been doing.
20. Why won’t you just be honest with yourself?
    Lying to yourself is easy most of the time because we’re so practiced at it. But it’s not the right thing, and you know it. It might be painful to be honest right now in this moment, but it’s much more painful to lie to yourself forever.
21. How long can you go on doing what you’re doing?
    6 months? 1 year? 5 years? If you don’t take action and do something different, nothing will change.
22. When you’re totally honest with yourself, what will happen?
    Great things, right?
23. Do you choose comfort over happiness?
    There’s a big difference. Find out what that difference means for you, and what you’re currently choosing.
24. If any of these have resonated, are you gonna make an excuse or actually do something about it?
    If any of these have resonated, are you gonna make an excuse or actually do something about it?

Just like we wait a year for summer or we put things off because of the weather and we end up waiting around for happiness to jump into our laps.

Well this is what you need to do! Treat each day like it is better than every other day. This comes through attitude. You also need to stop making excuses and start creating solutions!

If you haven’t realized already, you are actually stronger than you think. Your drive to succeed, to achieve and to push forward is derived from your ability to overcome your mindset, especially when it tries to trick you into thinking you can’t go on.

You can do it! Just be willing to push yourself!

It takes time… sometimes years to master a skill, craft, or habit. And while it’s good to keep perspective on your dreams, I think it’s better to remember the other side of this story: Rome wasn’t built-in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.

The only limits in life are the ones you make – Unknown

You don’t owe anyone an explanation for your life priorities. You have your own ideas about the things that would make you and your loved ones truly comfortable and happy, which is your main priority. Since we are all unique individuals with different values, dreams and aspirations, your core priorities will be different from the next person’s. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for what you determine is your core priority in life. That is your personal business not other people’s business.

It’s a new day, a new beginning. Today be the day you step it up! Fight back and be the person you’re supposed to be.

With new strength and new thought, go into the day ready to grow and conquer. The journey to greatness continues.

You were born to conquer the world. Born to change the world. Born for greatness and born to make a difference. You can’t always change the “what” you have to do, but you can always change the “why” or “how.” If you change your “why” or change your “how”, you can find your motivation, even for tasks you don’t normally want to do. The fastest thing you can change in any situation is you. You can’t change somebody else, but you can change yourself in an instant. Even if you want to change somebody else, or to change the situation, your fastest path to change is to change yourself, whether that means how you see things or how you show up or how you choose to do things.

Setback’s are what keep us honest. They bring us back to reality and remind us we are simply human. However you should never view a setback as a bad experience. It should be just another life lesson. Progress is progress, any little bit counts.

Just because you are not seeing results, this doesn’t mean you have a set back. Set backs are usually the result or consequence of doing something, which wasn’t catered for or planned for.

All of us have goals. Goals like losing weight, earning more money, finding a life partner, setting up our business, achieving performance targets, being fitter, building better relationships, and so on. Some people seem to have no problem achieving their goals. Some, on the other hand, don’t seem to be able to make any progress. – Celestine Chua

If you find yourself stuck with progressing with your goals and you know it isn’t a setback, it will most likely boil down to one or more of these reasons.

As you read through the list, ask yourself if you do any of these. See if you can take note and take action in working to change these…

1. You Procrastinate
2. You Underestimate Your Goal
3. You Defend Your Problems Rather Than Taking Action
4. You Are Stuck In A Box (Your Own World)
5. You Are Not Working Smart
6. Fear
7. You Are Distracted
8. You Over Complicate Situations
9. You Give Up or Give In
10. You Lose Sight of The Goals
11. You Are Stuck In your Own Ways

Your goals are in your hands – you can achieve them as long as you strive for them. Address the 11 things blocking you from your success, and it’s a matter of time before you achieve results you seek.

The main point to take from this, is that even if you have had a setback or maybe you have been lacking with your progress. Regardless, you need to get back out there, you need to be taking action and making your mark. Progress is progress, any little bit counts.

How many times, must we put ourselves through misery, shame and embarrassment, because we were too sacred to speak up or to scared to take action. 

What will it take? Does it take others to tell us? Or does it just take a moment to say I want this. I want change. I want to be better.

Confidence is something everyone struggles with, as there is always bigger fish out there, bigger and better than you. Trust me, even those who seem to be the most confident of them all, they will always have aspects and areas in their lives they don’t love about themselves, which will impact their confidence.

After reading a few articles this week, I have found 5 of the most common ways to boost your confidence. You can take these and apply them or you can ignore them, it is up to you.

1. Fake it ’til you make it
   Funny enough the trick to emitting a confident vibe is simple really. Fake it. Pretending and believing your self-confidence is up there; soon enough it will be, and usually without you realizing. One tip for this is, before you walk in the room just remind yourself to put on your confidence.
2. Check yourself before your wreck yourself  (body language)
   You should always be aware of how you position yourself. Your body works as an image, it can express a thousand words. How you stand can subconsciously emit your confidence and will impact how others perceive you. Examples:

   A scientific study showed that if a person stands in ‘Superman Pose,’ where they place their hands on their hips and put their shoulders back, they are more likely to be confident and perform better during interviews and other tasks.

   Stand upright in this position for five minutes before any situation that demands confidence and you’ll notice a difference. -Lifehack.org

3. Focus your thoughts
   If your mind is in the rough, if your mind is on the negative, if your mind is anywhere but positive, this will lead to doubt and inadequacy. Brush down any thoughts which will limit your confidence. Focus on the things that make you feel great when doing whatever it is you are doing.
4. Stop comparing
   The moment you stop comparing yourself to the people around you let alone the highlights of their lives as seen on their Facebook, Instagram and other social medias, you will be and see yourself as more confident than ever. Once you find happiness from within, this will radiate around you. 
5. Connect & engage
   People who have a low self-confidence are usually stuck in their own mind, battling negative thoughts or thoughts about people around them thinking negatively. Instead of approaching a situation with these thoughts, focus on people and things around you that emit a positive vibe. Build your confidence through growth. Whether it be through conversations, reading or sharing. 

In this case let’s pretend it was a was a lucid dream. Everything you experienced, saw and felt in the dream was as if it was real.

Upon waking, you debate with yourself of how real reality was… and you convince yourself that no, you had not won 13 million dollars and you shouldn’t try to convince yourself that you had.

By now you are probably thinking…what does this have to do with anything?

Your living life doing whatever it is you do and in some moments; you question the what if’s, you question when will your dreams come true, you question when will things be better and you question when will you have all these things?

So let me ask you this: What Would You Do If Money Were No Object?

You want all these things, but most of the time (not always) we limit these things based on the object of money.

Money will make life easier and will work as an enabler – but remember behind the money is a person who can also enable. YOU

So let’s work backwards. Define your ultimate lifestyle, your dream living. Take away the dollars and define what your perfect everyday life would and should look like for the rest of your days.

What does it look like?

Well what is stopping you from working towards this? Don’t say money… 

There is always something you can do to work towards this goal and this dream. You just need to define it right and see it in the right perspective.

This is your chance to take a chance of being yourself and what you can do. Yes you may have some set backs, some tough times and some failures.
But once you have counteracted these, grown through these and conquered these. You will be better than ever and I will guarantee that you will be happier too.

That’s everybody is – somebody is interested in everything, anything you can be interested in, you will find others will. But it’s absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don’t like, in order to go on spending things you don’t like, doing things you don’t like and to teach our children to follow in the same track. – Alan Watts

Here’s your chance to take action…

I would love to hear and have you share what it is you do, or wish to do.
Even if you don’t believe it yet, I dare you to take a chance to share with me what it is you like to do.

Maybe you need to some encouragement?

• If you doubt your skills.
• If you doubt your hobbies.
• If you doubt your work.
• If you doubt what you are good at.
• If you doubt what you are going to do for the rest of your life.

A few times I have noted that your worst critic is yourself. Your worst enemy is yourself. Do you take an effort to put down or encourage yourself?

I mean let’s be honest, if you wouldn’t say it to someone else, then you shouldn’t be saying it to yourself.

Yes it is great to be tough and hard on ourselves, as this pushes us to do more and outside our comfort zones. However being too hard or tough on ourselves to the point in which we destroy any self-worth let alone motivation to progress further is not advocated!

Most people start off with little or low self-confidence, but as a result of their own efforts, they become bold and brave and outgoing. – Brian Tracy

Most of us will start off with little or very low-self confidence, however as noted above it is due to the result of OUR OWN EFFORTS that we become bold and brave and outgoing.

Yes our own efforts.

You need to get out there and push yourself. You need to believe in yourself.

If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others too. You need to set the bar.

A recent video inspired by Dove has been making it’s self known across the internet. In the case you have missed it, I have posted a link below for your reference.
No matter how confident we are, we’re always our own harshest critics.‪#‎OneBeautifulThought‬ This campaign is focused towards women – but it is an eye opener for all!

Attract what you expect, reflect what you desire, become what you respect, mirror what you admire. – Unknown

1. Attract What You Expect
   This is all based on attitude. What you put in is what you will get out, especially in the sense of how you perceive the day. If you have a negative outlook towards the day, or to the things you have planned for the day, how do you expect these to play out? Try focusing on the positive things and situations, this way you wont be naturally drawn to negativity, or you wont have a focus towards it. But if you work your mind to be tuned to being positive this is what you will get. Even in the tough and hard moments you will see the positive in the situation.
2. Reflect What You Desire
   Be the person you want attracted into your life. Most people are wanting to attract certain people into their lives. However, due to their lifestyle, their habits, their personality and the everyday things they do, this does not attract that. Be and live what you desire for. Do it with integrity and do it confidently. 
3. Become What You Respect
   Look up to the people above you, to the people who have found success and you wish to aspire to be like. Study them, their books, how they think, how they live and work. Take your similar traits and work on blending and developing them with theirs. This will make you a better person in the sense of you will be stretching yourself to aspire further and it will give you a clear goal. However, remember to be YOU and not someone else.
4. Mirror What You Admire
   Take your habits, your daily do’s, your manners and your care for others and mirror that after the people who are doing the best of this and who are doing it well. Mirror the people who are doing great things, positive things and who you admire to be like. Let these traits reflect and of course let these things be known to others. If it is worth advocating and worth admiring, share it with others.

Regardless of the above 4 points – remember it is fine to find all these great qualities in people or things that you wish to have in your life, but do this and make it your own and ALWAYS BE YOU!