When you see your favorite athlete, business person or actor/actress do you ever look at them in amazement and marvel about their “fortune” in becoming successful? Do you wish you had the talent and expertise they do?
What most people forget is that they are simply seeing the end result of many years of hard work. Practice, trial and error, failures and then success. The success comes from day after day of working on a specific goal. Whether you aspire to be an Olympian or an expert in your field, the path is the same. Dedication, perseverance, a specific plan and consistent action
Your life is comprised of a series of days and minutes.
Each day you wake up and make a choice. Are you going to do something that gets you closer to your goals today? Are your goals written out very specifically? We’re rapidly approaching the end of the year. Stop and take a moment to see where you are and make any necessary adjustments.
Have a long-term plan but live it every single day. One day you’re going to wake up and see how far you’ve come and realize that your success happened one day at a time.
Call it intuition, a sixth sense, or your “gut”. I like to think of it as the deep dark recesses of your brain. The sooner you learn to access and trust this powerful resource, the sooner you can tap into real change in your life. Whether it’s in business or a relationship, the more tuned into your gut you are, the better your decisions will be.
Learning to trust your gut
At one time or another everyone kicks themselves for ignoring that “little Voice” that tells them to do or not do something. Where exactly does that “little voice” come from? How can we develop it? Read or listen to interviews about people you consider successful. Stories of being intuitive, following hunches, and listening to the gut will most likely be present in the vast majority.
The following articlesgive a great inside look at the conscious and sub-conscious processes involved with what is commonly called intuition.
I learned to listen to my “gut” at a very early age once I realized that the times I’d made a bad decision were when I chose to tune out that familiar little voice inside. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to separate negative “mind chatter” from gut. Try thinking of your gut as a recollection of subconscious pieces of information your brain is feeding you, it may make it much easier for you to accept its warning signals.
Yes we felt the earthquake in San Diego, and yes we’re ok - thank you for thinking of us. For those of you going home from Comic-Con, we just wanted to give ya a little excitement on the way out! I was on the first floor of a two story building and the windows rattled and the wall shook enough to let me know that it was bigger than a 3.0
My in-laws (who are real family, not “in-law” family) live in L.A. and endured the Northridge quake in ‘94. My first thought was that it was a strong quake and wanted to make sure everyone was ok. I researched it online first, as the Northridge quake taught me not to tie up the phone lines in case people needed to call out because of emergencies.
Everyone is fine and it’s a great reminder that your whole world can literally be shaken up in a second. Are you “ok” with everyone you love right now? Is there anything that needs to be said? Have you told them you love them and appreciate them lately? Life can change in an instant. Make sure you’re prepared in every way.
If you haven’t watched this video, please make the time to watch it. If you have watched it, make the time to watch it again, and then give yourself the gift of living as Randy Pausch did. Not just waking up every morning and getting on the hamster wheel of life, but really living and being present in each moment.
Learn to share your gift with the world, we all have one. Don’t put things off until “someday”. What if you knew that today was your last day on earth, what would you do? Why aren’t you doing it now?
Please watch this in honor of a man who truly understood what it meant to be alive. Thank you Randy Pausch, you gave us a gift of a lifetime.
Painfully reminded by the date of my last post, it’s amazing how quickly time passes. I’ve been remiss in my posts lately, but good things are happening. I’m focused more than ever on living a purposeful life. What does that mean exactly? By definition: Having purpose; intentional; having a purpose in mind; resolute; determined.
You may be sick of hearing me talk about taking action, but I’m going to keep doing it because it’s the most important thing you can do to effectively meet any goal you set your mind/intention to. Since my last post, I’ve been taking daily action towards what I feel my life’s purpose is, and that’s empowering others. Yes, I have a special place in my heart for people in under-served communities, teens, the abused, but really, it extends to anyone that longs for “something more”.
So many people I’ve known get stuck in a rut of thinking that they can’t make a difference, whether it’s a difference in work or in life—yes you can! But guess what? You actually have to DO something. Whether that means speaking up, raising awareness, suggesting a solution to something you see as a problem, trying something new, anything-just do it. Stop listening to the negative chatter in your head and do something – anything! Even if it’s not the perfect solution, you get momentum going. One thing leads to another. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen time and time again in my life. One tiny change can snowball into the life you’ve always dreamed of.
I have another secret; it’s not always comfortable. It’s not supposed to be. Anytime you want or need to make a change it can kinda downright suck. There I said it. No pretending, no sugarcoating. The best part though is the results. Whether it’s making a painful decision to get a divorce, leave home, change careers, if it moves you even one tiny baby-step closer to your long-term goals do it and revel in the feeling of being in charge of your destiny. No matter how scared, uncomfortable, or sad you feel in the short-term, the end result will be the life you want –but only if you are willing to take an active part in the process.
