Tag: Visuals

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

Money helps the world spin madly on and unfortunately, it also helps people spin madly on. Money can consume who we are and blind us from reality. Today I bring to you 10 things more important and more valuable than money. These are in no particular order…

Don’t count every hour in the day. Make every hour in the day count!” ~ Mark Amend

Time with your family

Money can always be made, but time, it will only ever be lost and consumed. You can never gain time, only spend it wisely. Family is important. If you were to charge yourself for the time you have spent with your family in comparison to the time spent away – how rich do you think you would be. Do the math… Let’s say you spend 3 to 4 hours a night per week. That is 28 hours a week and at a low entry rate of $20, that’s only $560 a week. Is your family this cheap? Or should they be worth more than this?

Writing down your ideas

Ideas will always grow as you grow. Your knowledge and wisdom through trial and error will help you derive new ideas and ways of doing things. Write these down, as this rich source of information is your mind working at its best. If you don’t, then one day you will come back looking for it and will have lost what potentially could be the next world shaking the idea.

Experiences

Your favorite moment – you cannot take it with you but it will always be in your mind. Yes, money can go with you, but money once again is consumed by the monster of society.  Plus you can never buy happiness, it is found in the moments by you.

Giving

Like a boomerang, as you give you will be blessed. As you throw it out it will go around and touch everyone. As it comes back to you and as you catch it, it will feel fun. The fun will always be better than money!

Laughing 

Laughing will always make you happier and even healthier. You will live longer. You cannot buy laughter, but you can find it the places you would least expect and it will never let you down.

Persistence

We all dream of doing something important, but it will take persistence to achieve it. This lets you share ideas and persistence also get people excited about ideas, and will surely get you paid for them too.

Ideas for other people

Aspire further in your own life to help aspire others further in their own lives. Here is an idea. Come up with “10 Ideas to make (Insert Name) Better”. This could be a person or a business. Send this list out and do it for 50 people/businesses. Maybe only 1 will respond, but that is all it takes for something great to start,

Your DNA / Legacy

What type of legacy are you leaving? The money will disappear over time, it may also increase. But who you are, your essence and passion, your ideas. These shared moments can live on forever.

Physical health

Health should always be more important than money. As if you are not able to operate, then it will make it hard to make money, let alone spend it. Be healthy every day, so you can live a long and healthy life. You will be happy.

You

You are an amazing contribution to society, to the world and to those directly around you. You don’t need money to be an impact. If you take away the money from the person, is the person still left? Well, he/she should be, as money shouldn’t define a person. You can be and are simply amazing without it. Don’t ever doubt it.

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

When you see the opportunity you want to chase, don’t wait around for it to happen. Take action now. Find a way to make it happen.

I have a question for you:

What would you do, if I said that there was $100,000 on the rooftop of a building right now and you have 15 minutes to get to it – Would you get it? Of course, you would. Would you know exactly how you’re going to get it? No, you wouldn’t. You would rush off with the goal in sight and work out the how and the what, while you are doing it. 

Seem’s legit, right? 

“To be successful, you have to be out there. You have to hit the ground running and if you have a good team around you, and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.” – Richard Branson

Let me ask you another question: (you may want to write this down)

What do you have as your goal in life. Where are you trying to go? What are you trying to do? Take away everything. Stop what you are doing and think for a single moment. Define your very end game. 

Is it a business? A life full of passion? Financial Freedom? What is it? You don’t have to define all the specifics or the details, just jot down quickly what it is.

OK – now that you have it let’s move on.

What if I told you that right now, there is a door to your success, a door to your dreams and goals, just in hands reach and it is only up to you to open it. No catch. All you have to do is open the door and hit the ground running. You will have the goal in sight. You don’t need to know how you are going to get there, but you can work it out on the way. 

See my point?

• Like that $100,000 you too can have the future you want, as long as you go get it. You can take a leap now, a head start and figure out the details on the way. 

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

In the middle of it all, we must learn to soldier on and chase our moon. What I mean is find your mission and shoot for it! Shoot for the moon! Through sickness, challenge, struggle and day-to-day life. We must remain focused on that one thing we have identified to be worth fighting for. It was never intended to be easy, but it was intended to grow you.

How can we remain focused, continue earnestly and achieve greatness?

See below:

STREAMLINE YOUR LIFE

• The first thing you want to do is incorporate the things you love across the entirety of your life. Anything you can make simpler by preparing in advance or minimizing decision-making will further enable streamline to your life.
• Start decluttering your life. Get rid of the unimportant, time-sucking activities that waste your day. Decrease your time spent on meaningless tasks by being more efficient. Get rid of the things in your environment that don’t add value to your life.

WORK ON YOUR MINDSET

• Do you even believe it is possible to achieve what you are chasing?
• Your mindset is a crucial part of finding and doing what you love.
• Being able to think big, and view your life as full of potential and possibilities, can change your life in drastic ways.

REFUSE TO SETTLE

• Don’t settle for the second best, you deserve the best for you. Each day and every day of your life.
• Refuse to settle. Refuse to shrug your shoulders, saying, “I guess this is as good as it gets.”
• You need to soldier on, no matter what, until you reach your destination.
• Through thick and thin.

CONSIDER YOUR ENDGAME

• What is your dream life? Do you want to work with many people, a few people, or alone?
• Do you want to work for a large company, a small company, or a company you own?
• Do you want to be able to work from anywhere, or would you like to go to a specific location for work?
• Do you want a flexible schedule or predictable hours?
• Overall, what do you want your life to be like?
• Describe it and define it.
• Start writing down what you do know about your dream life.
• You will get more and more specific as you continue to learn more about yourself.

IDENTIFY AND FOCUS ON PASSION & STRENGTHS

• What are your innate strengths? 
• What are your passions?
• When you are absolutely on fire for something, it can give you excited to jump out of bed on Monday mornings, ready to start the work week.

TAKE MASSIVE ACTION

• Regardless, if you want anything of the above, you need to TAKE ACTION. 
• Even when you have bumps in the road. Do you want to be the person who fights for their dreams or the person who gives up easily?
• How badly do you want to do work you love? If you really want to create the life of your dreams, you’ll need to take action, over and over, even when you don’t feel like it.

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

Everyone can and will have a bad day. But how you handle it, react and make of it, is entirely up to you. You should take valuable action. 

What do you do, when things start to go horribly wrong?

Murphy’s Law states – Whatever can happen, will happen.

It is up to you to control how and what happens after something goes wrong. Sometimes, we can become so tied up in the worry and doubt, we forget that all we need to do is, step back think and react appropriately. How do you react?

• Do you become so negative you infect anybody who comes into contact with you? Only to regret it or apologize later?
• Do you over think the situation, say horrible things to yourself, beat yourself up and over exaggerate everything?
• Do you fall into self-pity, self-hate, turn off your phone and shut everybody out?

When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It’s all a matter of perspective. – Harvey Mackay

There are better ways to handle horrible days and the below eight valuable points will give you an idea of what they are. I won’t elaborate on these, but I suggest you take some paper, jot these down and flesh out what these mean to you. You will most likely surprise yourself:

First, change your perspective.

Secondly, get out of the thinking zone.

Thirdly, look at what has gone well.

Fourthly, slap on some groovy tunes.

Fifth, avoid the negative people.

Sixth, be and get productive.

Seventh, do what always makes you happy.

Eighth, get out of the past!

Forget yesterday – it has already forgotten you. Don’t sweat tomorrow – you haven’t even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift – today. – Steve Maraboli

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne, Australia

Time is ticking away. It is nearing closer to the end of the year but you still have time to make a choice for change. We only have 24 Monday’s left of the year and they will be over in a jiffy!

These 24 days will and should be some of your most days important days, as these 24 days will highly influence the REMAINING overall 171 days of 2017.

Today is a chance to get ahead. In lead-up to next week’s Monday, you have a chance to set a new routine, as a chance to still get yourself on track, in progress for the greater you by the end of the year.

I am not going to say it will be easy, as it won’t be. But what I can say, is that it will be worth it a million in the end.

All you need to do is focus on owning your Mondays or “the start of the week”, own your Monday, set an attitude to the tone of ‘you can do this’ and go into the day willing, ready and all set to do your best. Be optimistic and to be willing to stretch yourself.

Now things won’t always go as planned but adapt and accept then apply accordingly.

If you have a goal in mind of maybe you have a few? Well, ask yourself ‘how much do you want this?’ Set your standard each week, of smaller checkpoints for the remaining Monday’s and go into each week to smash these small checkpoints before finally checking off your final goal.

So get out there, get prepping and get working on the goal. It is your dream, so take action. If you are that interested in it – you will find a way.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Smiths Gully, Australia

Success is usually placed on a pedestal high in our minds like we would only dream of being there. What if I told you that your success is only seconds away?

That isn’t success, that is your perception of what you think success is, Let me tell you something, which I hope doesn’t surprise you too much; Success happens every day. Every day you are a success. When you get out of bed, when you do what you do and achieve it to the desire you had planned it to be or greater. That is a success.

But I get it, you want to be ‘all that’. Unfortunately, by nature, we always want to be on the other side of the fence where the grass is greener. Well, what if I told you that you can be. What if I told you that you too can do amazing things and see, feel and experience all that you think success is.

Aside from me already telling you that you are a SUCCESS…I think what you are looking for is, like the image shown above. Your own stash of diamonds, or whatever your equivalent may be.

Recently I have been inspired by a simple yet almost genius mentality, known as the 10-second rule. The idea is that you can withstand 10 seconds of anything — just count to 10, and then restart again. It’s like a calming deep breath. To put it into perspective, running is a perfect example where this can be used, or at the gym. When you are wanting to push to that extra 1 km, start counting to 10, having now accomplished that, do another 10 seconds.

But this can be applied to anything, but also if we take a step back and use this same mentality with everything in life, (maybe not using 10 seconds), but giving everything we are doing an extra shot of juice. Pushing through and challenging ourselves to go a little further. As one day, you may only need that extra 10 seconds to find that stash of diamonds, or finally, achieve the result you have been working on for so long.

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne, Australia

It all starts with a feeling, with passions, ideas, dreams, goals, inspiration and a story or an experience. If you haven’t already, one day you will wake up and “CLICK” into a reality, which will further indicate to yourself, that you have made it. You have done it. You now know what it is you want to do every day for the rest of your life.

The problem is, we are not all there yet. Most of us will follow the sheep to their slaughter, line by line, step by step – we take orders, we follow guides and we expect to one day be a something more than whatever it is we are now. We do it all for the pursuit of happiness, all for the pursuit for something to own, for something to be yours and something to create and release. We do it for the idea of something bigger and better.

The key to remember is that you’re on a journey. The only way forward, is forward. One step at a time.

Goals are the best motivation as they will push you to pursue. However, sometimes moving forward will be slower than usual, but in order to be better, one must enable the process of growth to settle in… which in the long run will further progress. Do what you can. If you cannot do one thing, find something else which is going to further your position closer to your end game. Building strength in other areas of your journey and doing things which will enable your progress are all adequate and perfect examples of progressing towards a goal.

The big question you need to be asking yourself today is:

What are your GOALS? What are your PASSIONS? What are your DREAMS?

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Dandenong Ranges, Australia

You are the controller, the dictator and the ultimatum of your own future. Your brand is personal. Your brand is you. Aside from the variables, obstacles, and parameters, which will always be random, but still of Murphy’s law. You only have yourself to either thank or blame. 

I was recently reading an article relevant to the idea of; if only our own human brands existed and that there was nothing more than that to the business world. I mean look at it this way…

What if you could build a brand by living your purpose, setting goals, working hard and proving it. Then measure its success. Based on this, it would generate your income, your legacy, your social status and I guess who and what you are.

The article originally posted by John Buysee goes on to explain his story and why and how he even came up with this whole idea. He further explains that to him, this is what a personal brand should look and feel like:

1. Rooted in purpose
2. Fueled by goals
3. Supported through (habitual) action
4. Proven with evidence

I won’t go into the details, (read here for full article) but the whole point I am trying to get across is; you are you and you should always be you. 

If your personal persona/brand is to live a lifestyle of no work and all play, well then, good for you that you are able to do that and support your living. Or if you are someone who is solving problems day by day and running a small batch of subsidiaries hustles through the night, via your MacBook Pro, then this also is great.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. – Nelson Mandela

Being you, and selling who you are and what you a do will always be better than trying to be something you’re not and trying to sell something you cannot even do. There will always be a need for your hobby/passion as someone else will have the very same interest, but they won’t have spent their 10,000 professional hours focused on that very thing. Hence why you will be successful, following your passion.

So here is a challenge for you. What is your passion? Firstly find it. Secondly, advocate it. Thirdly, see if you can make something more out of it that just an escape or a way to relax.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne

If you enjoy hitting the snooze button for more shuteye, you might want to reconsider and learn the 11 reasons why the early bird catches the worm in the business world.

1. Limited Distractions

In the early hours of the morning, it’s a whole new world. Fewer people around, cooler environments and even faster travel times. Most of all there are fewer distractions. You can own the morning by planning it your way which will lead to some of your most productive work. Works for me.

2. Strategic Planning

With limited distractions, you have the perfect time to catch up on all your daily do’s, your tasks and plan your day ahead. The quietness of the early morning will give you time to even plan for the long-term future. Monday can be used to set the week, even setting aside a few extra 30 minutes a morning, can enable you to work on things for the future. A new business, some self-education, personal admin tasks and so on…

3. Offensive over Defensive

Waking early and starting early will naturally enable you for the day for the better. Having an early start to the day will make you feel less overwhelmed to start the day. You’ll feel fantastic about the work you got out-of-the-way by 9 am, which will lead to a more productive day. You will enter into the day owning it like you have just conquered the first battle of the day!

4. Creativity

Use the morning time and a productive mindset to enable you to focus and work on those creative projects you have. Whether this is a side gig you are running or maybe you like to do some early painting of the sunrise. Whatever it is, dedicating 30 minutes of time each morning to imaginative ideas can lead to some of your best project suggestions. The morning is where your imagination will prosper.

5. A Competitive Edge

Getting to the office before your peers will show the dedication and commitment you have to your line of work. As you know the early bird gets the worm. You may have never enjoyed the early mornings, but you will soon start to enjoy the vibe it brings. Own the passion!

6. Don’t Miss Out

With an early start, you should be able to head home earlier too, leaving more time for the things you enjoy. You will even have more time with friends and family. You won’t feel like you are missing a beat by getting to the office before sunrise, not leaving before sunset.

7. Avoid Traffic

Commuting to work will be quicker and sometimes even cheaper. Giving you more time and more dollars… Brings a whole new meaning to time is money.

8. Better Response

By getting your message out and having it on the top of the inbox pile in the morning instead of the bottom in the afternoon will lead to more people getting back to you.

9. Work It Out

Hitting up the gym before work will make you feel more upbeat during business hours and lead to a healthier overall lifestyle. This all depends on your work as well as your costs. But working out will get the blood pumping for the day ahead. You may not even need to do this to have you jumping out of bed, but it won’t do you any harm.

10. Quiet Time

You’ll come to appreciate the one to two hours in your office when it is peaceful and quiet before the rest of the workforce arrives. Oh, the productivity!

11. Set Schedule

Waking up early requires discipline, especially when it comes to the time you go to bed the night before. By getting at least eight hours of sleep per night and going to sleep earlier, you’ll feel more refreshed in the morning while maintaining a consistent sleep routine.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne