Take a quick reality check right now. You could simply look around you, or assess what’s going on in the aspects of your life you care about most such as your relationships, finances, or physical health. It shouldn’t take long to realize something needs to change, or—your life needs a 180-degree turn. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been plugging away for too long or your stress levels are off the charts or, perhaps the worst, nothing seems to be changing for the better. You’re not seeing any results, every day, during this time you’re expecting some sort of redemption. Whatever the case, here are five signs you can still turn your life around, even though you think it’s impossible:
1. You’re learning there’s something wrong with your habits, behaviors, or attitudeLike many others, you started thinking, “Why is nothing happening?” But for the most part, you’ve only been looking at the end result. At this point you realize doing so is a recipe for disaster. You understand that to produce better results, you have to fix the system in which you operate. You begin looking at the everyday activities and habits taking over you since who-knows-when. It becomes apparent that you need some sort of self-discipline—of course not necessarily like the Navy SEALs have—but you start sticking to a routine that you know will make you more productive. Perhaps you’ve been focusing on the hardships rather than the small victories. Pause for a moment and acknowledge the latter. An accomplishment—however small—is something, and should be celebrated. Maybe you’ve been looking for shortcuts. You know exactly how to reach a goal, but you’re averse to the inevitable hard work. Maybe you’re bearing the victim mentality. It’s easy to resort to these kinds of thinking especially when you haven’t seen results yet. 2. You’re realizing you’re living or hanging out with the wrong peopleIt’s indisputable that wherever you go, there you are. But it’s also undeniable that you are heavily influenced by the people in your immediate proximity—the people you’re with every single day. As the months or years go on, you realize these people are indirectly stunting your growth. Sometimes it hurts when it’s your family or close friends. Sometimes you won’t even notice it at face value because petty office politics is convenient just like that. You find that most of them complain a lot, talk about other people in hushed voices, or surround their life mainly by work that they abandon other people and things just as important. Because of those people, you start to take advice selectively. You become cautious because you don’t want to live a life based on whims. You start looking for people and experiences that will make your life more meaningful.
3. You’re not doing what you’re meant to be doingIt hits you that after all these years, after you’ve done the supposed “preliminary requirements for life,” you’re still not doing things that bring out your talents, skills, and passion. In other words, things that bring out the best in you. For so long you’ve only been looking at pictures and videos. At best you can only say you’re the perfect enthusiast. Perhaps a decade has already passed but the moment of actually doing it is still yet to come. As a result, an internal conflict has grown very strong. You feel there’s no harmony between yourself and your daily routine. There’s a rebellion. And you’re not doing the best work you can. Another way to look at this is by asking yourself, “What would I rather NOT be doing or experiencing?” It’s a negative kind of motivation but points you in a better direction. 4. You’re recognizing the lie your world has becomeFollowing the three signs above, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise. One of the worst perpetrators of this illusion is the media. When you find something as flashy or glamorous or easy as what the media is bombarding you with, take a moment to step back and think. Collectively, the media —TV, radio, magazines—has always been the same. They sell you stuff that are supposed to make you happy, hoping you’ll be unable to know the difference between real happiness and the shallow, superficial one. Then, social media came to make it even worse. Sure, you idolize those famous people, but are they the ones you genuinely should be listening to or basing your life decisions on? Of course you know that not all media is bad. But you start to notice the “unpopular” things in life like hard work, failures, and self-discipline. You think they’re unpopular for one reason: they’re not easy. And you begin to ask more questions while being enlightened by the fact that you’ve only been enjoying the facade—the lie. You’ve been rejecting the reality of what it takes to reach success.
5. You know you can take a small step—right nowDespite the overwhelming feeling—perhaps of shame—to which you’ve unfortunately grown accustomed to, you realize you can do something about your situation, even with a small step. I’m going out on a limb here—no matter how hard life may seem, deep inside you can’t deny you can do something. “Embarrass” yourself by living with your parents for a while? Wake up earlier and sleep later than you used to? Apply for that temporary job while figuring things out? You realize you really have no excuses not to pursue the life you want. You feel the inferno that’s about to devour that internal conflict once and for all. To know you can pick just one among the many options you’re being presented with—and start doing it—is the most powerful sign. Watch out for these signsTurning your life around is largely about self-knowledge. You align yourself with the reality around you. Most of the time, however, the reality is simply the status quo, and most probably, the reason you’re in a dire situation is that you haven’t challenged it, ever. On the other hand, if these signs have been teasing you for a while now, then you should be on the right track in starting your life anew. Is it going to be easy? Probably not. But sometimes a simple decision is all it takes to stop living without intention, passion, and meaning—and start going after the prize that fulfills your soul. What’s the sign that resonated with you the most? I would love to hear about it in the comments!from https://addicted2success.com/life/5-signs-you-can-turn-your-life-around-even-if-it-seems-impossible/
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I receive thousands of emails and messages every day because of the line of work I’m in. I like to call myself a budding entrepreneur because I still don’t feel like I’ve become one completely. There are a few of my friends who tend to think that being an entrepreneur is like being your own boss, where you’d have no one you need to answer to. While that is true, they don’t understand the fact that I am answerable to myself. It’s not always possible for me to have the same work schedule as everyone else. I work crazy hours and I get little to no time for myself. Just a few weeks ago, I was so absorbed in driving better growth for my company that I started neglecting my health and my social circle as well. The outcome?I became ill and had no one to reach out to. I would say to myself, “It’s okay, it’s part of the process.” But, the reality is that it wasn’t. In order to become a successful entrepreneur, there are a number of things that one needs to keep into consideration. Sometimes, it is important to take a break and rejuvenate your mind if you want to keep going with the journey. As Robert Tew said, “Sometimes you gotta take a break from all the noise to appreciate the beauty of silence.” If the title is leaving you intrigued as to what we are talking about, we are discussing about Digital Detox. Statistics say that we spend around half of our day on electrical and digital devices, be it for work or for personal usage. While you might not realize the severity of it now, the same is not at all favourable for someone who is stepping their foot into the world of entrepreneurship. What is a Digital Detox?If the term itself wasn’t self-explanatory, a digital detox is the phase of time a person spends staying away from any form of digital devices; be it their phones, laptops or even tablets. While the same might not make a lot of sense, it’s actually very beneficial for entrepreneurs who are dreaming of making it big in the world. Nothing comes easy and concentration and focus need a lot of nurturing which comes from self-care. It’s very important to ensure you opt for ways around to get your hands on the basics and know what needs to be done to execute the same religiously. You can’t really make a decision of doing it one day and then back out from the same the next day. That is not how it works. It is necessary you take inspiration from someone who’s already done this and has gained amazing results from it in their niche of work. Entrepreneurship is not easy and demands a lot of patience and dedication which is often deterred because of the constant digital intervention in our lives.
Why do a digital detox?When I first heard of this term, my first reaction was, “I can’t do this.” Given the fact that I’m hooked to my phone hours upon hours because of work or entertainment, I didn’t know how I would accomplish this or what kind of outcomes would come if I accomplish this. Nevertheless, I was ready to give this a try and see the fuss all for myself. It is very crucial in your mind to know why you should do a digital detox. Nobody can force or persuade you to do this because every last bit of it is dependent on you. If you are here wondering about the WHY, it is mainly to detach yourself from the constant urge to reach out for the phone or to document every moment that you spend differently. Being addicted to social media is one of the factors that can bring down your success rates of being an entrepreneur. Doing a digital detox ensures that you get to explore your inner self without having to capture, document or ascertain them with digital means. We often find ourselves binge-watching the number of likes we have gotten from social media and if this attribute is something instilled within you, chances are that the same is going to affect your career prospects. It is important that we don’t become so dependent on digital means, that surviving without it becomes impossible for us. I learned this the hard way, but the outcomes have been nothing but rewarding for me. How to do a digital detox?Now that we have touched bases with the WHATs and WHYs, it’s time we focus on how one can do the same. This is possibly the most important part of the entire prospect altogether. Here are 2 ways you can do a digital detox:1. DisconnectThe very first step is to go away to some place that’s not just unfamiliar for you but also someplace that would bring you peace of mind. Book a resort or a cabin on an island or anyplace that’s away from the mainstream places that the majority of the tourists would binge upon. Going to such places and encompassed with nature around is actually quite effective in getting this process done successfully.
2. Have a routineBeing an entrepreneur means you need to stay in touch with clients, investors, and your employees too. However, this doesn’t mean you need to rely on your devices as if your life depends on it. Instead of clinging onto these devices all throughout, try and find ways to cut them to the minimum. Use them when necessary and ensure that you don’t depend on it with blind eyes. It’s true what Fat Joe said, “I’d rather hustle 24/7 than slave away from 9-to-5.” This is what the majority of entrepreneurs think and if you want to weave the maximum results from the journey, you sometimes need to detach to return back with double the energy than before. What do you think makes a successful entrepreneur? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/the-one-strategy-that-can-help-make-you-a-successful-entrepreneur/ Working on your passion, side-hustle, hobby, etc has its limitations. My passion is blogging and I’m a weekend warrior.
In this article, I’m going to change that meaning slightly and say that a weekend warrior is someone that has a normal job and works on their passion outside work hours. I thought about the advantages of being a weekend warrior. Sometimes the restrictions you have are your greatest advantage. For a lot us, we just want to get home from work to pursue our passion. We tell ourselves the lie that if we could only find a way to do it full-time we’d be set. Trialing a passion full-timeI tried it with my blogging. I did it full-time. I thought it was the answer to all my dreams. You know what happened? I sat at home and didn’t write. I watched movies, read books and told myself“You got all the time in the world pal to blog, so take it easy.” I always had another thing to do before I could write. Some days it was meditation, the gym and then helping my girlfriend with something because I love her very much. All that full-time blogging didn’t look so great. The output was less. Acting out of desperation kills the artThe reason most of us work a 9–5 is obvious: money.
You end up taking shortcuts because you have to make money from your passion. I found that working 4 days a week at a normal job I liked and doing three days of blogging as a weekend warrior was the right balance for me. The balance for you will be different. The equation is made up of making money, passion, art and time.
A day job compounds your after-hours activityThe very fact I have to go to work is what helps my passion for blogging. You might be thinking “How the heck can an office job possibly help me work on my one and only passion?” I thought that way too. What I realized is that on the days I go to my 9–5, I come home with a sense of hunger. I have all this energy built up inside of me that is just waiting to get out of me. It’s this energy that has helped me write many viral blog posts. At work, I experience lots of things which I then blog about when I get home. My day job taught me leadership and I could never write about that topic if it wasn’t for my 9–5.
If you do it full-time and you’re burning out, what’s the pointSpeak to any musician who has played to thousands of people as their day job and they’ll tell you that doing their art full-time burns them out. Even when you do what you love full-time, you will get bored and there’s a chance you will burn out. If all you do is burn out and end up hating your passion, what’s the point?
This career becomes an acceptable excuse for being distracted which then helps reduce the chance of burnout. You can’t see your passion the sameWhen I started blogging, it changed me. I can no longer read something without thinking about writing my own point of view. I find it hard to read because my busy mind starts thinking about what I can write myself.
You end up spending so much time living your passion that you can’t enjoy it or think with a clear head about how to create the work you’re so passionate about. Removing the blocks is the key
By being away from your passion, you can think about the obstacles you encounter with an objective mind. The solutions to the obstacles you’ll encounter in your passion often stem from stuff you see at work. I found this to be the case when I was trying to write better and heard a story at work from a customer about how they approach the creative side of their business. They described their flower shop Instagram page to me and how it’s supposed to make the person viewing their page feel a certain way. I realized that this was the same thing I was trying to do with my blogging. This customer, by the way, was someone that was swearing at me and wanting a refund. I thought this situation would be the last place in the world that I would find the solution to an obstacle I was encountering with my blogging.
It’s scratching an itchThe weekend warrior like me has something that the full-time hobbyist doesn’t have; we’re scratching an itch and choosing to follow our curiosity. The outcome we weekend warriors are looking for is not defined, has no boundaries, can take as long as it needs to and is not a primary source of income. Curiosity is our north star. SummaryYour passion is supposed to be fun. Don’t ruin it by trying to do it full-time unless you’ve tried it and found a way forward that works. I’m yet to find a way to do my passion of blogging full-time and there’s something special about the way I currently do it that I don’t want to mess with. It’s like when people ask Tim Ferriss why he won’t revise his book The 4-Hour Workweek because he doesn’t want to kill the magic it created for millions of people. Messing with your passion when it’s working can be dangerous.
For some, being a weekend warrior is a way of life that makes their passion work in relation to the rest of their life. I’m proud to be a weekend warrior. Try it.
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If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.netfrom https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-case-for-being-a-weekend-warrior/ The deeper I went into personal development and different schools of thoughts, the more I realized that all of them are right. That made me crazy. Because I was trying to find definite answers to the questions that don’t have one, I just went in circles, never finding the answers I was seeking. But then, it all came to me in a single moment. It’s not about what is right, it’s about what’s right in that specific moment. It’s just like mental models— they’re not right or wrong, but the situation where you use them makes it so. One of those answers I looked for was whether you change yourself incrementally, day by day, and by slowly changing your habits, or if you have to make massive leaps forward where that one moment just propels you forward. I had both of these and they’re both true but only when applied in the right situation. Below you’ll understand how you will recognize those situations to make the most of them:
1. The First Way of Growing: FillingImagine the filling as a progress (experience) bar of your character. You are on level one and your experience bar tells you the number 0/745. Your job at this point is to fill the bar all the way up to 745/745. You do this by slowly gaining experience from doing quests in the game. In real life, you do this by stacking habits and slowly changing your day to day operations. Simply going to the gym once won’t make you healthy (it’s just 3 experience’s in your experience bar). But if you go 120 times this year (three times a week), you will become fit (360 experience’s in your experience bar). The same thing applies to running, reading books, and writing. It’s about incrementally changing the way you run your day to day operations and you do that by changing your habits. I did this in my life by reading 20 pages of a book a day (45 books per year), writing 500 words a day (over 400,000 written), going to the gym three times a week and starting my own business. When you fill the experience bar, and you’re at 745/745, that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically hit the next level. You’ll need something different to hit the next level and it’s leaping.
2. The Second Way of Growing: LeapingThis way of growing is less available than the filling one. It only activates itself once the experience bar is full and you need to get to the next level. So what happens here? When the experience bar is full, your body and mind unlock a special mode of insights where a single spark, a glitch, can make you experience what the old Eastern people used to call Satori moments. Satori moments are moments of deep insight where you feel one with everything. Time stops for you and suddenly you have clarity of mind, thought, and action. Everything in your life makes complete sense and if it doesn’t, you look at those things as something foolish which you can easily discard. The best way to give you an earthly example of this is when a person stops smoking because they just witnessed the birth of their first child or saw the lungs of a hardcore smoker. They do it in an instant because the strength of the moment changed them. Their old self died to give place for a new self to grow. This is how you get to the next level. After the moment passes and you take away everything that you can from it, it’s time to get back to the first way of growing: filling. You leaped forward to the next level only to find yourself at 0/890 experience bar. It’s time to fill it back up. To do this, you’ll have to apply different habits. You analyze and see what this experience bar requires from you. Because what got you here won’t get you there. So you take a different set of habits and apply them until you fill the bar again. Once you do, the satori moment kicks in and you are at level 3.
Growth is a CircleThere is no growth without the eagle’s perspective, which is the holistic approach toward life, where you suddenly have an insight because you saw the forest. But also, there is no growth without the worm’s perspective where you see the day to day operations and tend to them. Growth requires both and it comes in circles. What do you need to do to grow to the next level? Is it filling or leaping? Comment below!from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-two-ways-of-growing-filling-and-leaping/ Would a race feel fair if there were no starting gun? Imagine you are crouched at the starting line of a race along with all the other runners, and you are all expected to just begin the race whenever you feel like it. That is the world you are in right at this very moment. Childhood has a way of framing things that makes adulthood rather confusing. When you are a child, there are always beginnings and endings. Each school year begins in September, and ends in May or June. Math class begins at 11:00 am and ends at 12:00 pm, whereupon you go to lunch. The human mind is designed to learn patterns, and learn to expect them. Thus, it comes as something of a shock when, as an adult, one learns that the world is no longer working according to those patterns; there is no starting gun in the race you now run. You mustn’t wait for the starting gun, you mustn’t wait for permission, you mustn’t wait for the tide to come in or the weather to be perfect, because if you do, you will be waiting forever. Stop waiting for your turnOne reason so many jerks get ahead is they don’t wait in line. It’s not that being a jerk is a way to become successful; it’s that not waiting for permission is one of the behaviors jerks happen to share with successful people, and thus, often jerks can wind up becoming successful.
Move out from your comfort zonesMany of the best students at the top universities don’t go anywhere because they adapted perfectly for an environment full of mentorship, structure, and clearly defined goals where everyone wants them to succeed. In the real world, the goalposts are always moving, the field of battle is always covered in fog, and no one will spit on you even if you are on fire. Surround yourself with hustlersAnother fetter that could be holding you back is the sort of people with whom you surround yourself. Here’s an easy test: Bring some aspect of your creative work to your friends for a critique. If their first instinct is to offer help for making it the best version of what it is, then you have some good friends. If their first instinct is to disengage with what you actually created, essentially saying what they would have created were they you, then they aren’t really being helpful to you. They’re using your endeavor for them to be creative by proxy. Telling someone their lemonade stand should be an app startup isn’t helpful. Some of this sort of negativity goes to the pattern recognition circuitry in our brains, designed to memorize what leopards look like in tall grass, and make us paranoid because the paranoid tends to survive. Not your problem. When friends’ negativity becomes your problem, spend less time with them. You need friends who will buoy you, not sink you. If old friends of yours are negative people, fine. Know that there is a trade off in time spent with them and your ability to pull it together to chase your dreams. The best time to start is nowPerhaps, in order to get that dream job, you need a specialized degree that will mean years of additional schooling. Let’s say you’re 25 right now. If you start now, you might finish when you are 28. If that seems like a long time, consider how it will feel if you finally pick up your new degree when you are 28, or 33, or 42. The sooner you embrace your dreams, the sooner they will happen, and you’ll spend less time in regret. Do not fearPerhaps you fear failure, or more specifically, you fear a kind of failure. If you dream of being a skater, know that all ice skaters fall, both in practice and in the Olympics. The greatest baseball players in history miss 7 out of 10 times they swing the bat. Failure is fine. Failure is part of learning. They have a saying in Silicon Valley: fail fast. The faster you fail, the sooner you will know how to succeed. Be mentoredWould it feel better if you had a guide? Of course, it would. Know mentors may not be who you expect, or come when you want them to. Some wrangle a mentor early on, but more often than not, people don’t have mentors in the beginning. You may wonder how your mentor will find you. This is an answer you have to find for yourself, but one thing is clear, they will not find you if you are sitting at home twiddling your thumbs. Baseball scouts find the talented kids who end up in the draft because those kids join teams and play baseball. Hollywood agents find actors because the actors find their way onto the stage or the screen, and keep coming back until one night, the agent is in the audience. If you don’t do it, and no one sees it, then no one wants it. Your mentor will find you when you have shown you are worth throwing one’s weight behind.
You should be able to see by now that there’s really nothing between you and setting off in search of your dreams. Remember these steps: Decide what you need to accomplish your dream, and start with the first thing on the list. If the people around you deride your efforts in any way, stop spending time with them. Get out the door and act on your dream, even on a small scale, even if you aren’t sure it will work. The way you fail will teach you how to succeed. If you succeed enough, a mentor will appear to guide you. From there, you will have much smoother sailing on your way to your life’s dreams. Just don’t ask for permission. from https://addicted2success.com/life/dont-wait-for-permission-to-chase-your-dreams/ In just 8 years, Joel Brown went from snake wrangler to music industry salesman to founder of megabrand Addicted2Success, a motivation blog with 162 million hits and 3.1 million podcast plays. Joel credits his success to committing to a 10-year vision. He says that it’s a game changer because it holds you accountable to your higher dreams and purpose. He shares these 5 tips to seize your 10-year vision now on the Success Resources Podcast. 1. In mapping your vision, start off with the skeleton – Identify what you want in the six areas of your life: finance, career, fun and leisure, romance, self-development, and health and fitness. After working on this, add in the skin and meat. The more detailed and crystal clear it is, the more straightforward it is for you to go and grab it and turn it into reality, right? 2. Joel says it takes blood, sweat and tears to achieve your vision. His advice is to throw yourself into your vision and commit. Draw a line in the cement, not just sand. 3. In pursuing your vision, it’s all about testing without getting attached to the outcome. It’s not about being perfect but working towards excellence. 4. Negotiate with your mind. Our mind will always try to bring us back to our comfort zone. If you’re faced with something challenging, think that there’s something for you to learn and that there is a reward after you’ve passed it. 5. A lot of people talk about the law of attraction but Joel is more about the law of intention which he describes as “set it and get it.” He believes in living every day with direction and intention, and clarity and focus. Living with intention disciplines you and holds you accountable for your actions so you’re not basing your decisions on feelings. These tips are pulled from Joel Brown’s interview on the Success Resources Podcast. Click here to listen to the interview. from https://addicted2success.com/life/how-to-breathe-life-into-your-10-year-vision-with-joel-brown/ In the modern world, we have two forms of people: successful people and unsuccessful people. The latter are desperate to become the former, while the former do everything they can to avoid becoming the latter. However, there are often a few major differences in the kind of lifestyle led by each kind of person. If you want to be a successful person, then here are some of the most important tips to consider as this is what the most successful people do to try and stay healthy:1. They get up earlier in the morningThe early bird catches the worm, as they say, and it’s no different in human society. If you are going to get things done in a good amount of time, then you need to get up earlier and attack the day with a greater sense of urgency. That’s become very common in the life of all successful people, and is a major driving force in their ability to succeed in this world. You will find that you will be able to get more done if you get up earlier. Getting up earlier allows you to conquer that inner laziness that stops you from being better disciplined. It also helps you to make sure that you are always ready to attack the day. When you get up late, you are much more likely to have to defend yourself from issues. If you get up early, you often take the initiative on everything to come.
2. They have more robust eating habitsOne of the most important parts of being successful stems from eating properly and caring for your body. This means that you should look to make sure that you have a more scheduled eating plan in your life. If you eat well, you will do well. You should look to cut out things like quick snacks or, worse, fueling your body with sugar and caffeine. The most successful people are ahead of the curve as they look after their body properly and care for their inner systems. You’ll find much more positives about yourself if you get into the frame of mind of eating on a scheduled basis, avoiding peaks and troughs throughout the day. The secret to having consistent energy levels is to spend more time making a consistent schedule of what and when to eat. 3. They know what’s importantThese people who are often the most successful are driven by their own success, and their own ability to achieve and do great things in life. They know the world is an ever-evolving location, meaning they are more than happy to appreciate change and to not stand still. Instead of thinking they have ‘made it’, successful people know that their success is never truly permanent. So, they keep going to ensure it remains permanent. 4. They remain physically activeAnother key trait of the successful is that they are much more intelligent when it comes to exercise. While getting older means that your exercise is less effective, regular bouts of walking and light exercise will help you to keep your body feeling fresh and productive. You will be much more likely to get things done with regular walking and general physical activity tied in with eating well on a regular basis. If you are serious about improving yourself and becoming more successful, then you need to commit more time to consistently staying active. However, don’t try and commit to a set in stone workout regime: commit to doing what you can every day. If you have an extremely busy day, then it’s still important to do a little bit of exercise. Don’t allow yourself to get into the frame of mind of avoiding exercise as it’s too much to fit into your working day. Even if it’s just a small walk, the most successful people always find the time for some exercise.
5. They allow themselves to restLastly, the most successful people in this world are not hard on themselves enough to never allow themselves to rest. If you are going to be successful, then you will do so from a perspective of physical improvement. Don’t give up vital sleeping hours because you feel like you don’t have the time to sleep. You need your rest if you want to get the very maximum out of your body day-in, day-out. Techniques such as meditation can be a good way to help rest and recover a little if you feel drained and fatigued during the day. The most successful people know their limits, and know when – or when not – to push themselves to the limit. If you can get used to avoiding overdoing it, you will be more successful. from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-ways-successful-people-stay-healthy/ Have you ever played with Runes, Tarot Cards or consulted the I Ching to get an answer to a major life question? I have. When I don’t like the answer, I “fish” again until I am satisfied with the outcome. Interpretation is everything. In fact, in my book Follow Your Bliss, Not Your Blisters, I teach a technique for learning how to tap into “happy” at any time. Understanding the role interpretation plays in our lives is fundamental to how much we can rise above negativity and be in control of our thoughts and emotions. Intuition is the divine guidance we have been given to successfully navigate our lives. At times of indecision, we are very likely to dismiss our gut feeling as just another voice in our head, but it is not. Gut feelings are the “how to” book of your life. Very often we “know” what to do about a situation, but we have so many “reasons” for why we don’t take right action that we go astray. I was working for Hilton Hotels and was transferred to Atlanta. Prior to that transfer, I had dated a colleague in Florida who had worked in Atlanta and called him for his advice about where to live. When he told me his old address, I went there to find a place. As fate would have it, the ground floor apartment they showed me was his exact old haunt. There was a ditch outside which I envisioned would be a lake one day with a swan on it, the town was cute, so I said, “OK, I’m in.” Except for one thing. My whole being knew I shouldn’t live there. It felt “dangerous,” but the neighbors seemed nice enough and there was a lovely pool. I called friends and family and inquired if they ever felt bad vibes walking into a place, public or private. I really didn’t need their answers. I knew I shouldn’t be there. Cut to the chase. The day the movers arrived, I went to the apartment only to find a sign HANGING ON MY DOOR warning that there had been personal attacks in the complex and to be careful.
Ignoring my fear that was now confirmed by the note on the door, I moved in. Three days later, my house was broken into while I was asleep and I was, indeed, attacked. One thing I will add is that as the attacker held me with a knife in my neck telling me he was going to kill me, I tried to resist like any 5’2, 101-pound person might. Immediately, I heard a loud voice in my head saying: “Don’t resist.” I followed the sudden intuition screaming at me and that is why I am here to tell the story. Medical science says our “gut” is in constant and direct communication with our brain and vice-versa. We even use the idiom “my gut tells me” when we want to affirm something. Usually though, when we are not sure what action we should take, we tune into our thoughts. Our thoughts are so very rarely clear. Logic is not perfect and is anti-intuitive. Pros and cons can’t be balanced, but you can count on the feeling in your gut. The exercise you need to tryHere’s what you do. Let’s say you are offered a job that excites you but requires you to move 3,000 miles away from your friends, family, and the cute doctor you are dating. “What to do, oh my.” Sit quietly, be mindful of the question, and as you are doing so, sense what is going on physically in your gut. You will either feel expansion – a sense of lightness and excitement, or a sense of dread. It will be clear. It is intuitive. Anything you do after that is up to you, but we all have this guiding light built in. The person you are dating may be smart, funny, and generous but what’s with all those slurs about your weight, your hair color, your family. Hmmmm, think again. Rather, gut again! I think even the word intuition is interesting. We pay institutions tuition to get essential knowledge and growth but the path our journey takes us on is an inside job. To follow your intuition is to follow your bliss in the name of positive experience and brilliant expansion. from https://addicted2success.com/life/your-gut-feeling-is-more-important-than-you-think/ The notion of talking to yourself, that is affirmations, have been around for as long as the personal development industry. If you’re not familiar, an affirmation is a positive declaration usually beginning with the word “I”. It is meant to bring into the present some future behavior or condition that you would like to see occur now. The power of affirmation is that they can control your thinking, but you control the affirmation. So, the more affirmations that you recite, the more you are focusing on what is truly important to you. Most of you are familiar with the psychological notion of affirmation, and I will explain that in more detail, but I doubt you are familiar with theological and metaphysical reasons why affirmations work. Thus, you will find three paths theological, psychological, and metaphysical to the same end. Please keep in mind, the goal here is to get you to use affirmations! So here it goes: The theological argument for using affirmationsThere is an old saying in Judeo-Christian thought that God helps those who help themselves. If we are in a fugue, or mentally debilitating state, the theory goes that if we begin moving out of that state God will multiply our efforts. But it is up to us to begin the process. Notice, when Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive”, that the onus is on us to initiate the process. Before we can receive, we must ask. Thus, the use of affirmations begins the process of us asking for divine assistance. Many religions use affirmations as a way of invoking greater aid from the divine source. The psychological argument for affirmationsSince we consciously develop affirmations and repeat them over and over, it is assumed that our subconscious mind will absorb them and tag them as true. While the conscious mind has power of cognition, the subconscious mind has the power of accomplishment. And, the subconscious mind will begin to perform in accordance with what our conscious mind tells us is proper. By repeating affirmations consistently, we are programming our subconscious mind for greater success and whatever else the affirmations contain. Most personal development programs use this argument for the use of affirmations, and it is very well researched and documented that this is a very dynamic process in rewiring our thinking.
The metaphysical argument for affirmationsBy careful reading, you will find that the personal development and success industry over the last 60 years or so is based upon much of the metaphysical writing from the mid-19th century to the first quarter of the 20th century. This movement, called, “The New Thought” movement can be mapped directly to the aforementioned industry. The underlying belief is that positive affirmations generate a higher level of vibration than simply allowing our mind to wander and perhaps entangle into negative thinking. Since higher-level vibrations always absorb or destroy lower-level vibrations, it is assumed that by consciously directing our mind we will attain a higher level of vibration. So, there you have it, three different arguments as to why you should use affirmations. Over the past three decades I have found that many people have tried them and, unfortunately have stopped using them because they simply didn’t work for them. Below, is a system that I have taught for a number of decades to firmly install the use of affirmations, and, more importantly to see their results. Give this a try before completely crossing out affirmations off your list.
I have seen this work countless times. And I still use this process myself. Let me know what you think about my affirmation routine below! from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/affirmations-the-key-to-training-your-mind-for-greater-success/ Have you ever had to suffer under a toxic leader in a business setting? You know, the one who puts their individual interests ahead of the company or organization they serve? Of course, toxic leaders don’t come equipped with a warning label. They are usually hidden under smiles and friendliness. But it rarely takes long for that feeling in your gut that something isn’t right to be justified. Oftentimes, you figure this out when what you thought was straightforward turns out not to be, or when you’re told something you later learn was a lie. The problem with toxic leaders isn’t just that they are poisonous to the culture around them, it’s that they are typically very good strategists. Toxic leaders might be bullies, but schoolyard strategies don’t work. When I was in grade school, I was a scrawny kid. I learned to deal with bullies at an early age. Once, our local newspaper snapped a photo of me in karate class. It was a great photo of a small, skinny kid in full kick. But when the paper ran it, suddenly all the school bullies decided to test their skills on me. At that time, my best strategy was to be fast. I vividly remember a particularly large kid yelling, “Hold still so I can hit you!” Really?
As an adult, it isn’t in me to give in to bullies. When someone is misrepresenting themselves or lying at the expense of others, it ignites every feeling of wanting to create justice in an unjust situation. Initially, when dealing with toxic leaders in my career, I followed the same strategy that has worked as a kid. I worked fast to out-maneuver them. They lied, I told the truth. They did backdoor campaigning, I immediately spoke openly. They misrepresented facts, my fact checks were rapid and came with backup. They got rid of impediments to their rule, I stood up for people who were being ousted unfairly. The thing is, it’s exhausting. There is great personal cost because it takes all of your energy. And often when everything was finished, the results were exactly the same as if I had done nothing. Toxic people get to leadership roles because they are good at strategy. And I found that I often underestimated just how far they were willing to go to get what they wanted. Will you cross your own personal lines to win the game?Stephen Covey shared in his book, The Speed of Trust: “When keeping your commitment becomes hard, you have two choices: You can change your behavior to match your commitment, or you can lower your values to match your behavior.” I found that in dealing with toxic leadership, the question I had to ask myself wasn’t: “What happens if they win?” Instead, it was “Who do I want to be?” I could be someone who became consumed with winning, or I could drop the rope and end the game of tug of war. This willingness to let go is one of the hardest things to do, because you don’t know what will happen to the company, group, or organization you love. Toxic is a synonym for poison, and make no mistake, poison has one function. Perhaps, you stay in too long and get consumed with angst trying to patch up the collateral damage that toxic leaders create in their wake. So, how do you know when it’s time to drop the rope?The timing gets clear, when you look inside. There is always a moment when staying will require you to cross a personal line. When you get to the point where the only move is one that will compromise your integrity, you’ll know you’re done. You wave the white flag and pack your bags. You leave, giving up whatever it is that you’ve built that you’ve been so afraid to lose. It’s the counter-intuitive move to let the toxic leader win that is the very thing which creates positive motion. And often, there is great personal cost to make that move. But here’s the thing, that’s only in the short term. Toxic leaders always make the same mistake that costs them in the end; and it’s inherent in the nature of the toxicity itself. Healthy leadership focuses on the people they are leading. They look at the impact of their decisions on others. They build people up, and engender loyalty which results in influence. The focus of toxic leadership is on themselves. They go for ego-based wins not realizing that those short-term wins lose them followers. Leverage gets mistaken for loyalty. The myopia causes toxic leaders to miss that they don’t have a following. In fact, it often produces deep frustration for them because they don’t understand why their actions don’t create momentum. The surprising reality is that toxic people don’t think they are toxic. Most are genuinely astounded—not to mention defensive—when confronted with their toxicity.
The win you get from letting goYou can’t win the “you’re toxic” argument. Evidence doesn’t work because they won’t believe it. Not only that, but they enjoy the fight because they believe they are fighting a just cause in protecting themselves. You can’t bank on their empathy for those they are leading. It doesn’t exist. Toxic leaders enjoy the fight, and no amount of strategy will allow you to protect yourself (or your reputation) against someone who doesn’t act with integrity. So don’t. Let the toxic leader win. If you stay too long, your creative energy is drained in the conflict—and often the results are the same as if you’d left earlier. Go use that energy to build something life-giving somewhere else. Besides, you can afford the short-term loss. The win is in protecting your integrity by not playing the game. How do you deal with toxic people? Share your advice in the comments below!from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-reason-why-you-should-let-toxic-leaders-win/ |
ABOUT USHi I am Stacy Klein. I like swimming and i enjoy being organized and strive to become more efficient every day. Archives
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