“Be fearless. Have the courage to take risks. Go where there are no guarantees. Get out of your comfort zone even if it means being uncomfortable. The road less traveled is sometimes fraught with barricades bumps and uncharted terrain. But it is on that road where your character is truly tested And have the courage to accept that you’re not perfect nothing is and no one is — and that’s OK.”
― Katie Couric
Are you ready to break the chains of complacency? Are you ready to start a new year in a new way to get new results that will lift your life higher than it has been in the past? Are you ready to make this new year a better year for you?
Get ready to think about ways to change your life. Take a look at this video.
Make this the day you start your life over with a focus on what you want.
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
― Apple Inc.
It starts when …
Maybe you need to look at yourself in a new way this coming year. Change is about seeing yourself as you want to be not as you are.
Perhaps you are getting tired of the way things are and have been and you’re ready to look at yourself in a new way and the only problem is taking that first step. For some taking that first necessary step is scary, take it anyway. Step across the boundary of fear and start seeing yourself in a new way.
You’ll smile on the inside when you make that step. When you commit to losing those extra pounds. When you commit to taking responsibility for your life. When you commit to doing work you love to do. When you commit to being authentic. When you make a choice to live fully. When you make a commitment and honor it change will come.
Start today. Look at the mirror and look deeply into the eyes looking back at you. What do you want those eyes to say? What do you want your life to mean? Honor the truth you have within.
“Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling”
― Deborah Day
It’s that time again isn’t it. It is that time of year when we say, “I’m going to do something different this coming year.” Really! Are you going to do something vastly different than this past year? You may have been putting off until tomorrow or the next month some action that would result in a real positive change. It is that same thing you’ve been thinking about changing all year and it’s still waiting for you.
It takes courage to do things differently. It takes very little energy to keep doing what you’ve done in the past. Your friend is telling you right now “No, it’s not time to do things differently.”, isn’t it?
It takes getting started and then doing that over and over until it becomes a habit, a repetitive positive practice that enables greater results in your life. It is a new pattern for you.
If you are stuck in the rut of complacency then renew your goals and take action, not next year TODAY. There is no point in waiting, none. Waiting is the excuse that got you here where you are today, with fewer results than you had hoped for.
Own it now. Change it today. Renew your zest for life NOW.
“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.”
― Susan Polis Schutz
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “fake it until you make it”, the idea that if you really want something you can fake it until you figure out how to do it. That might be the case that attitude trumps aptitude, believing that you can do it results in the ability to do it.
That might be the belief that many winners take, an attitude of doing what it takes to make it. That is the attitude of success. The book “The Secret” wraps a story around the attitude of believing first then achieving second. While there is no real “Secret” to success other than having a profound desire to achieve “The Secret” would have you believe that the universe conspires on your behalf to generate the results you think about. The reality is that as you think about your success and start working on goals to realize that success you generate success. It is about your attitude of success that delivers results.
Creating a positive vision for your future and taking action upon that future will lead to more positive results than thinking about a future you can’t have or achieve.
There may be times that you feel unqualified to do something or achieve something big in your life and this is where you “fake it until you become it”. Believing that you can do something and working at doing it will be far more productive than believing you can’t do something and not doing it.
The idea is explained in this video and the key idea is about 15 minutes in. So if you are short of time skip over the first 15 minutes and then listen in.
What have you believed you can’t do that you’d love to do? Start doing to start becoming.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Frank Herbert
Then end of the year is approaching quickly, what changes have you made this past year that you planned on making at the beginning of the year. Did you live your year the same way you started it? Perhaps you started with big goals and those slowly melted away and the year suddenly disappeared.
Often times what I hear is, “I’ll start tomorrow”, “I’ll start losing weight”, “I’ll start looking for a better job”, “I’ll start going to school”, “I’ll start _________ tomorrow”. Tomorrow never gets here, it is always a day away. The delay becomes a story, a story about what might happen when. There is another story that is playing at the same time. The story of fear, the story of delaying until the threshold of fear can be breached.
You’ve heard that story, most everyone has at some point in their lives. It is a disabling story that results in living the way that is the same as it was yesterday. You will live your next year the same way you are living today unless you take the steps to transform your life.
The question to ask, “is the dream worth it to me?” Is that dream of yours important. Is losing weight really important to you? Is finding a career worthy of you worth it to you? Is starting a new business really that important for you? Is taking that special vacation really that important to you?
What would make you feel more alive? What would feeling alive look like to you?
As Mandela put it: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
“The world says: “You have needs — satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don’t hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.” This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Money and materialism seem to go hand-in-hand and sometimes people who seek a materialistic lifestyle miss out on what life has to offer. In a recent article a man who won $27 million dollars in the lottery died broke and destitute.
There is no doubt that money is necessary to meet our needs and beyond that money doesn’t buy happiness as evident in the article about the lottery winner. Chasing material things seemed to only bring more misery and more strife for this individual.
Evaluate deeply what really matters to you. Are you seeking what brings genuine happiness or are you seeking the myth of happiness (material wealth)? It turns out that the lottery winner didn’t have to worry about leaving his wealth behind, he lost it long before he died, along with his friends and family.
Some people are able to manage large sums of money well and they don’t let money become their sole focus and yet many others don’t.
“Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury – to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.”
― Albert Einstein
Coach with Heart 