“When you can’t change the direction of the wind – adjust your sails,” is a quote from inspirational writer, H. Jackson Brown, Jr, is one that has depth and meaning if there are things going on in your life that you can’t control.
The only things you can change are those which you have control over. Therefore, you need to find a way to get on with your life (adjust your sails) and look to the future rather than spending more time on what’s not working.
If a sailor knows a storm is coming from a certain direction, he or she will adjust the sails and let the wind blow them in the opposite direction. Remaining on the same course might mean being caught up in a disaster that could sink the boat.
It’s the same with your life. Continuing on a course where disaster is looming and just waiting to take you down might make it impossible for you to ever get out of the “storm,” and head on to safe passage.
It may be difficult to change a course that you’ve been on for a long time. That route is familiar and even though filled with turmoil, it can be strangely comfortable.
Taking an unknown course of action may be scary, but necessary if you’re to get on with your life and take action to make changes that will bring you success and happiness.
The first thing you must do to rid yourself of fear for the uncharted course is to stop worrying. Practice replacing negative thoughts with positive ones and soon it will become automatic.
Mentally prepare yourself by gathering knowledge about your new course of action, visualizing yourself in your new role in the future. You may still run into situations you’re unprepared for – and you may make some wrong decisions on the path – but, perseverance will get you through the dark and stormy times and guide you to safety.
Next, remove the negative elements from your life. It may be difficult, because some of the negative elements might be friends, family and others, but it’s a necessary action that must happen before you can get through the present storm in your life.
Set goals, take action on them and stay the course. You’ll soon realize your dreams and desires for the future.
You read much about why you should let go of the past. However, it’s more important to know how to do it. Most people will eventually come to grips with why they should do it. They get stuck on actually taking steps to make it happen.
Give yourself permission to let go of the past. That is an important step. Your brain can latch onto something and is waiting for you to release the responsibility. By committing to this release, your brain can focus on other productive areas. That release comes in the form of telling yourself to let go.
Learn from your past experiences. There are learning nuggets contained within your past. Anything you have done or tried before is up for grabs in the University of your past. It’s up to you to recognize what those lessons are and how to use them effectively. The way to use them is to determine why they happened and how to avoid them in the future.
Consider learning meditation. When you are relaxed, you will have an easier time of purging your past. One of the best forms of relaxation is meditation. It takes several sessions to get your body and mind in tune with the techniques. Don’t expect fast solutions with this. The key is to keep doing it until you feel the effects.
Don’t hide from your past. People try to pretend certain aspects of their past did not happen, especially the more embarrassing moments. However, this may cause them to come back to you with a vengeance since they are bottling up within you. Acknowledge everything about your past but commit to pushing forward.
Keep a journal of your experiences. Be as detailed as possible so you can refer to the journal when faced with similar circumstances in the future. Don’t treat your journal as a bible, however. Just use the journal as a guideline.
Don’t expect all changes to occur immediately. Your past habits may be difficult to break. Therefore, don’t try to change everything in one shot. Give it time. It took a long time to develop those bad habits.
If you are too hard on yourself about your past, stop. It’s okay to acknowledge that you made some mistakes but don’t get overly critical of them.
Concentrate on the good aspects of your past. Sometimes, you may focus on your mistakes and mask the fact that you had some wonderful experiences in the past as well. These are equally important.
It’s difficult to set goals when you are not even sure what you want out of life. There are plenty of people who flounder around and wing it. For some of those people, that could work. They love the spontaneity and are usually categorized as free-spirited. For the others, however, they would like a bigger purpose in their lives but aren’t quite sure what it may be.
To determine what you want, dig deep within yourself. What is it that you dream about all the time? What kinds of successful people do you read about? Do you want similar success to those people or would you like to model different characteristics of multiple people? You can also ask your friends and family how they see you, i.e., what type of person they think you are. Then you can determine whether you like that person or if you would like to try and change.
After you find some kind of defining purpose, you are not locked in. You are free to change anytime you believe it wasn’t what you thought it would be. There is nothing to stop you from having multiple purposes either. If you are a doctor, perhaps you want to become a professional golfer as well.
It’s not just about what kind of career you have. You may define a purpose that includes helping others out in a way that is not at all related to your job. You could find organizations that need volunteers and sign up to help. This often leads people to branch out into areas of their lives they never imagined they would experience. It also sets you up to meet people you otherwise would not. You will see different experiences and viewpoints that can help you with your purpose.
It’s not easy for people to determine their purpose and it’s not something that will happen after an afternoon of soul-searching. It can take a lot of time and it often requires going outside of your comfort zone to have a better realization of purpose. Sometimes it can be within our reach but we don’t come to realization until a life-changing event occurs. It is something that evolves which is what makes it scary and exciting at the same time. Once we have a good feeling for what we want our purpose to be we can then proceed to map out goals as to how to achieve it.
Life’s too short to do something that you’re not passionate about. Here are three great reasons why you should find your passion, your purpose, and build your life around it.
You Get More Done
When you love what you do, work doesn’t quite seem like work, does it? When you’re passionate about what you do for a living and there’s a strong purpose behind it, you’re motivated to get things done instead of sitting around checking Facebook or twiddling your thumbs. As a result you get a lot more done in a given day.
And it doesn’t stop with work. If you’re passionate about your garden, creating a new garden bed or growing those tomatoes comes quick and easy. If you’re excited about redoing your living room, painting the walls won’t seem like a chore and you’ll get it done in a day.
Find your passion, and use it to get more done each day, week, month, and year. You’ll be amazed at how your productivity rockets up when you enjoy what you’re doing and feel that you’re making a difference.
You Do A Better Job
When there’s a true purpose behind the work we do, and we’re passionate about that “why”. We tend to deliver much higher quality work. In other words, we do a better job when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we do matters.
That in itself is a great reason to do what you’re passionate about. The end result will be a job well done. But the benefits don’t stop there. We tend to feel good about ourselves when we do a job well.
Use this to motivate yourself to do your best. Even if you end up working on your least favorite part of the job or the chores around the house that you dread, remind yourself that it will be worth it at the end of the day. You know you’ll feel good about a job well done.
You Love What You Do
Last but not least, anything we do is a lot more fun and enjoyable when they are things we’re passionate about. Sometimes we have to dig deep to find that passion. Cleaning the bathroom may not be on your list of favorite things to do, but having a well-put together house may be. Dig deep, find the reason why for anything you do and you’ll find yourself going through your day with joy.
People want to succeed in life. Success is often a result of planning. But what if the items you have on the plan are wrong? This could lead you to a place in your life you didn’t expect and not for the better. Besides, it means that you have wasted your time. That’s why you need to focus on your priorities in life. These will be a better guide in helping you map out your journey.
Start by writing out everything that you feel is important in your life. The items can have degrees of importance and you can put a number scale on each one to indicate which are more important than the others. After you have listed out your important items, use the number scale to rate the items. You can choose how you want the scale to be measured, but suppose it is 1 being the lowest priority to 5 being the highest. You can do this in a spreadsheet so that you can resort after you have done this for all the items.
Sort from highest to lowest. These are going to be the focal points of your goal setting. You can choose to try and include all the items on your list or you can decide to eliminate any that are below a certain number like all the items that have a priority of 1 or 2. That is up to you. But you do want to make the list as manageable and as meaningful as possible.
For each of the highest priority items, the next step is to figure out what it will take to achieve them. List out high-level mini goals for each item. You can choose to prioritize these in much the same way, but at this stage of the process, it is not completely necessary.
The next step is to come up with more detailed tasks for the mini goals. You can go as far down as you want or you can stop at just one level. It all depends on the type of tasks you come up with. If it’s enough to be defined as a work unit, i.e., a task that you can easily perform, then you probably have gone far enough down. If the item can be broken down into further sub-tasks, then that is the next step.
By using this list-prioritization process, you have a much better chance of containing tasks that are the right ones to meet the objectives of your goals.
It’s very common for people to get to a point in their lives when they ask why they are doing what they are doing. It could be the career choice they made and wanted a change, or it could be something personal that is simply not working out as they had hoped. This is referred to by many as being stuck in a rut. Without any changes, it can be difficult to get out of this rut. One way out of this rut is to set some goals. This may help you find a sense of purpose.
When you lay out a plan, you can take a bird’s eye view of your possible paths. This creates an energy within that helps you carry out your plan. It gives you something to look forward to which can give you a sense of purpose. Having that helps you motivate and keep on track.
During the period of reaching for your goals, you will have good days and bad days. The bad days may even make you feel like throwing in the towel and forgetting the whole thing. This is natural and you need to refer to your goals to help you keep going. Family and friends can help to encourage you as well. Reach out to them when you feel like you want to quit.
The good days will get you pumped and will show that you are getting close to your target. Meeting milestones for your goals will solidify this experience as it gives you something to check off when completing the task. The more you pursue your goals, the more you will have these feelings of accomplishment which help show you a sense of purpose.
The next time you feel like you’re in a rut, try setting and pursuing some goals. They don’t have to be outlandish, and you want them to be obtainable. Keep working on them until you complete them. Create a journal to track your progress and get whatever help you can to motivate you. Once you see what is possible by setting goals, you will find you can accomplish just about anything.
You can’t stop the situation of getting into a rut, but you now have a way of getting out of it. You just have to figure out what you want to pursue and set up a plan to make it happen. Then, it’s simply a matter of following that plan.
Are you feeling a bit confused by strategic thinking? You know it’s essential for your career and your business, but how do you actually do it?
Here are five questions to should ask yourself to really sharpen your strategic thinking.
The most important thing to work out is where you want to be. Everything—goals, strategies, steps, should all be pointing to your desired destination. Do you want to be CEO, or be running your own company?
What do you want to achieve this year, in five years, ten? What are your actual goals? What’s your vision? Get it all down on paper and think big!
Do a survey of exactly where you are right now. What skills, resources, and assets do you have? What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks in your current job or business?
Are you satisfied with life the way it is, or do you want something more? What connections do you have? Map out your network and what value you provide to them, and what they offer you. Write up your self-inventory.
Think about what is in your control at the present moment. What can you streamline or eliminate? What do you need to add, enhance, or modify to reach your goals? This can include anything from training, networking opportunities, to investment advice or strategic career planning.
Take another look at your self-inventory. What skills, resources, knowledge, and connections do you need to get closer to success? If this is difficult or overwhelming, consider finding a mentor or life coach who can help you find your way.
Really going for success shouldn’t make for a joyless life, totally focused on getting ahead. Make sure you take time to have fun and do the things that give you pleasure. Think of what Future Successful You enjoys doing. What makes your future worth striving for?
Write down all the fun things you will do, whether it’s staying in 5-star hotels or being able to work for only half the year. Imagine driving your dream car. See yourself in your future executive suite.
See what elements of your future life you can start to incorporate in the present and build on those. Before you know it, you will be toasting your success!