“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
— Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, goals, ambitions, expectations? Sometimes the actual feat seems so much bigger when you look at it as a whole. Take a few deep breaths and see what the task on hand is made of actually.

If you have a goal of losing weight, maybe even a lot of weight, is it all going to disappear at once? No. You will lose it pound by pound, week by week. The same goes for any large goal. Writing a book, page by page. Renovating a house, room by room. Building a relationship, date by date.

A big mountain may seem stuck in one place, but you could actually move it if you started piece by piece, pebble by pebble.

“Nothing is more tragic than someone who has sight, but no vision.”
— Helen Keller

What is the vision of your future? If you were to project yourself into the future, say five years from now, on the current path you are heading, what do you see? Are you happy, are you living to your fullest potential?

Now, take this one step further. If you were to make some changes in your life that you have been contemplating but haven’t quite made the leap in that direction — see yourself in five years from that point with these changes influencing your path. What’s different? What’s better?

I had help projecting myself into the future and was pleased and motivated by the second level of being. If I were to leave my inhibitions behind and just go for it, what a difference it would make in my life, even five years down the road.

Sometimes even the most logical changes to be made are difficult to commit to since they are not immediately rewarded. Quitting smoking, losing weight, building a successful business, to name but a few goals, these take time and considerable effort to achieve and then maintain. A month or even a year down the road doesn’t necessarily mark the end of the goal or the complete rewards for your efforts. But five years, ten years, twenty years will definitely see the mark of these positive changes.

“Successful people are not without problems. They’re simply people who’ve learned to solve their problems.”
— Earl Nightingale

The universe rewards action. If you have a goal, but you don’t have a plan, it actually could more accurately be called a wish. And even more so, if you have problems and you reason that if you run away from them or turn your back on them, they will somehow just disappear, you may be running for a long time.

That doesn’t mean that you should stop dreaming. It is those thoughts that will help you create your reality. Realize though, that there will not be a magic pill that suddenly changes everything to good in your life. But there can be a magic mindset that allows you to see the situation from a different perspective.

Be a success. Face your problems. Work on them. Set goals and take actual action steps to bring you closer to solving them. Review your goals and see what areas still need work. Revise your goals if your ego has tricked you to make them unattainable, and therefore sabotaging your efforts right from the get-go.

Live in the now. Be grateful for all you have in your life and be responsible for everything that is happening in the present moment, for you are creating the stepping stones for your future “now”.

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
—W.M. Lewis

How many of us spend our days talking about the life we could have, or will have soon, or should have. Unfortunately, talking about it won’t actually make it happen. Each day you have to consciously decide on the actions to take that will keep you moving forward and avoid the decisions and actions that keep you stuck in the past. Having a desire for change but not taking the necessary actions to accomplish change will leave you at a standstill and probably also leave you feeling disheartened and dissatisfied.

Debbie Ford reminds us in The Best Year of Your Life that now is the time to set clear, concise, structured goals to keep you moving forward. Take the time to set your goals on paper with specific deadlines attached for each major milestone that you need to accomplish. Recognize the action steps that you need to take and do them. With each new action you take you will be one step closer to fulfilling your goals and your desires.

Here’s a bit of “tough love” for you. I am simply going to quote Dr. Robert Anthony completely for today’s inspiration because he says it so well.

“If you feel that you were off to a good start but are currently stalled, you need to admit to yourself that you have probably slipped back into your comfort zone.

More than likely you have been deceiving yourself that you are making progress, but at the same time you are really not getting anywhere.

What you need to do is take action. Even if it is a very small action.

Nothing you can tell yourself, nothing you can say to others, nothing you can think or feel or imagine is going to get you out of the mental bog you’re mired in.

The only thing that can rescue you is - to take that next step.

Maybe you know what that is. If you know exactly what it is, DO IT!

If you don’t know, or aren’t sure, allow you intuition to guide you. Do whatever you feel compelled to do, but do it NOW to get yourself going again — even if it means entering. . .

. . . your discomfort zone.

– Dr. Robert Anthony

“Man improves himself as he follows his path; if he stands still, waiting to improve before he makes a decision, he’ll never move.” — Paulo Coelho

Indecision, procrastination, creative block, laziness; it doesn’t matter what you want to call it, it all amounts to the same thing — nothing gets accomplished. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I understand fully what it’s all about. I’ve been there before plenty of times myself. I have used many excuses — some more legitimate than others — for not moving forward.

But there comes a moment when you have to realize and tell yourself (because for some reason it usually doesn’t work when someone else tells you) that if you just keep waiting for that something to happen, or that idea to come, or hey what about maybe just winning a lottery instead, you will never actually move forward in your life.

As simple and yet as difficult as it may seem, the best course of action when you come to inaction is ACTION. As you move along your path you will either stumble upon the missing pieces or they will find you along the way. The main thing is you are always improving if you keep moving forward because there is always something to learn along the way.

“There’s an infinite amount of work. The big question is what do I have to do today, this week, this month, this quarter?” — Christine Comaford-Lynch

We have all most likely done it more than once in our life. We decide to sacrifice lunch with a friend or figure it’s not that important to get that sleep you so desperately needed. Or what about the classic, “Sure I can do that” when you already have a full agenda… and that new task isn’t even in line with your personal goals.

What would you gain with those choices? There will always be more work tomorrow. This doesn’t mean you should slack off. It is all about real life balance though. And what “real life” balance means, is that things don’t have to be perfect. There may have to be a slight lean on your table when one leg tends to take more attention than the other three at times. It means that you shift and adjust.

But you need to remember that it is supposed to be about joy. It’s supposed to lead you to your happiness. And if somewhere along the road that you find yourself now traveling you realize that you are no longer heading in the right direction, you need to make some real life changes.

And remember, it’s ok to say “no thanks”. It’s ok to say “Hey, this isn’t what I want to be doing now”. “This is not taking me to my joy, my goal, my passion.” Breathe, and get back on track — YOUR track.

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
—W.M. Lewis

How many of us spend our days talking about the life we could have, or will have soon, or should have. Unfortunately, talking about it won’t actually make it happen. Each day you have to consciously decide on the actions to take that will keep you moving forward and avoid the decisions and actions that keep you stuck in the past. Having a desire for change but not taking the necessary actions to accomplish change will leave you at a standstill and probably also leave you feeling disheartened and dissatisfied.

Debbie Ford reminds us in The Best Year of Your Life that now is the time to set clear, concise, structured goals to keep you moving forward. Take the time to set your goals on paper with specific deadlines attached for each major milestone that you need to accomplish. Recognize the action steps that you need to take and do them. With each new action you take you will be one step closer to fulfilling your goals and your desires.

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
— Langston Hughes

What are dreams? Dreams are our passions. They are the goals that live in our heart, but are often pushed aside for the goals we feel we should have, the ones we feel are acceptable or necessary to have in life.

Honor the hidden dreams of your passions even if you cannot accomplish them right now. Believe in them and allow them to unfold when they are ready to enter into your life. When you allow your dreams to live in you and in your heart, you will find yourself flying higher in joy than when you try to bury them or deny their existence.

Keep dreaming, and keep dreaming big. When you least expect it they may greet you at your door.

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”
— John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

I have been thinking a lot about risks these past few days. What is a risk? Well the dictionary defines it as: 1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger. 2. A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard. So with this in mind the question is, is it better to take risks or not take risks in life?

The more I think about it the more I come up with the same answer — life is about taking risks for things that you value and are passionate about and learning from the experience no matter what the outcome. (more…)