There was a guy who worked in a factory making parts for aircraft. In his younger years nobody cared about recycling. After a few months on the job, he realized he was throwing away 10 plastic caps, 20 metal screws, and 2 pounds of wires, every single day. He calculated how many parts he was throwing away every month, and figured out how many parts he would be throwing away each year.
In a years time he would throw away 2,400 plastic caps, 4,800 metal screws, and 480 pounds of scrap wires. That was just working the base 40 hours a week! He didn’t include overtime.
He began to count how many other workers there were and what recyclable materials they were throwing away every day. Many of the workers threw away almost twice as much as he did!
He decided to start a daily collection of all his recyclable materials as an experiment. In a few weeks he had filled buckets with the scrap parts. He decided to save them all in their own containers. At the end of the year he asked to have a meeting with his managers and explained to them what he had been doing. He then took them to a small storage room to show them what he had saved in years time. Everyone was flabbergasted! They couldn’t believe it! The entire room was full with recyclable materials.
He then explained that after a few months of working at this factory he became bored and made up a game to simply keep his mind busy. He decided to log how many hours in a day he actually worked. In an 8 hour day he calculated he actually gave the company about 6 hours of his time.
An 8 hour work day, 5 days a week added up to 1,920 hours a year.
The 6 hour work day he was currently giving his company added up to 1,440 hours per year. In one year, that was 480 hours he was getting paid for that he was not actually working.
Between breaks for the bathroom, team meetings, stretching breaks, getting drinks from the water fountain, and visiting with co-workers, along with other daily interruptions, he accomplished a lot less than he had originally thought he would.
He began to realize a few things:
Every second counts. Every minute matters.
Character counts. Mindset matters.
This being true, this man decided to really try to optimize every second and every minute of every 8 hour work day he possibly could.
That was when he came to the realization that there are another 16 hours in he day besides the 8 at work.
Could this same idea apply to other areas of his life? He wondered, “How can I be a better husband? How could I be a better father? What could I do, consistently, that would slowly but incrementally improve me in ways that will help me add more value to my workplace, the people in my life, and to people out there in the world I don’t even know yet? What are some simple and easy things I can do each day that will slowly add up into something of great value and worth?”
We all have an inner voice. It is the subconscious programming that continuously runs in the background. Some of us would never treat anyone the way we talk to ourselves in our own head! Some of us have created the habit of constant negativity towards ourselves. We sometimes take the harshest words we hear from others, especially when we are younger, twist them and make them even more cruel, and then replay them in our minds throughout the day, or even for the rest of our lives. This, to me, doesn’t seem like a very good strategy to use in creating a life of beauty and abundance. In fact, I know from first hand experience that it is not. I used this habitual way of being for over the first 40 years of my life.
An old proverb says, “If there is no enemy within, no enemy without can do us harm.”
It is important we treat ourselves with the same love and respect we want from others. Our confidence, happiness, and the way we feel often comes from what we allow ourselves to think about and believe ABOUT OURSELVES.
There is a woman who does seminars to empower people in learning self-confidence. She has them write down the cruelest things they say to themselves in their minds. She then lines everyone up and has each person go down the line, facing each person, and repeating the things they say to them self to the people they are facing. Almost everyone realizes they would never be as cruel to others as they are to them self.
The brain is just like a supercomputer. The subconscious is simply a program that is ALWAYS RUNNING.
WE ARE THE PROGRAMMER!!!
It is our chosen perspectives and beliefs that put the RAS (Reticular Activating System) into action, and MAKES THINGS HAPPEN…
The RAS is our own, personal GENIE IN A BOTTLE. What we speak, our subconscious HEARS and BELIEVES, no matter what we tell it, and it tells the RAS to goes to work on making it happen. EVERY WORD WE SPEAK IS A CREATION. The job of the RAS is to CONTINUOUSLY build and seek out evidence to prove that which we think and speak.
I don’t just share quotes. I share PROGRAMS, disguised as quotes and beliefs.
What are some of YOUR favorite quotes that you have CONSCIOUSLY been reprogramming YOUR mind with? Through repeating them on a consistent basis, these little programs begin to run more often than the OLD programming we USED to focus on. We DISPLACE old ways of thinking when we replace them with NEW ways of thinking.
IT IS THROUGH REPETITION THAT WE REPROGRAM THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND.
Today I will create a folder on my phone, a file on my computer, a space within my journal, or find an available notebook, in which I will make a collection of all of my favorite quotes (PROGRAMS) to read and re-read throughout the day and before I go to sleep tonight. I will CONSCIOUSLY reprogram my SUBCONSCIOUS to tell me what I ACTUALLY WANT IT TO REPEAT.
Some of the most useful information I love to review comes through Gary John Bishop and Bruce Lipton. Put their names into Youtube and enjoy!
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
There are so many breathing techniques that are incredibly helpful. Breathing properly brings more oxygen to our brain, helps our bodies and our minds to relax and heal, expands and strengthens our lungs, and calms our nerves. Certain breathing practices done consistently, first thing in the morning, a few times throughout the day, and right before bed can and will work wonders!
I’d like to invite you to try something right now, if you haven’t already. It’s called BOX BREATHING. Breath in slowly while silently counting in your head, “One-one thousand, Two-one thousand, Three-one thousand, Four-one thousand.” Expand your lungs and breath in as deeply as you possibly can during this four seconds until you feel like your lungs will burst, then hold it in for another count of four. Slowly let it out for a count of four, and when your lungs have completely deflated, hold your breath again for four seconds. Repeat this process three times.
A short Tedx talk given by Max Strom found on YouTube, entitled, “Breath to Heal,” explains why proper breathing is required for healing.
Box Breathing is something anyone can do at any time throughout the day. I’ve found it helpful when I am feeling anxious, stressed, challenged at work, or in life. Box Breathing is also something the Navy Seals practice, and they don’t waste their time on technology or practices that don’t work or that may be ineffective in any way. Their lives depend upon their habits and practices, so the fact that they practice Box Breathing on a daily basis certainly interested me.
Try this method of breathing for yourself each day for a just a week. At the end of the week take a personal inventory. Did this technique help you? How? Is it worth it to keep practicing this breathing exercise every day, or is it a waste of your time? Find out if it works for you and try it for just one week. It just may be just the thing you have been looking for to helpalleviate stress and anxiety from your life.
I actually set alarms for everything new I try until it has been completely integrated and habituated into my life, including this breathing practice. If it works, I keep doing it. If it doesn’t, I keep searching for and experimenting with things which will. I simply get more done that way.
Some of these alarms go on daily, for three months, in order for the habit to become fully integrated. Some of the things I try are so fun, useful, effective, and easy, the alarm only lasts a week. Other habits take a bit longer to integrate. My wife and kids tease me because of the alarms constantly going off all day long, but it helps me, and so I keep doing it.
Another breathing technique that up-regulates the immune system and makes us stronger, is the Wim Hof method. Try it out and see what you think!
There simply came a point and time in my life where change was necessary, and I knew that in order for things to improve and change for me, I was going to need to improve and change some of my personal practices and habits. This practice has helped me immensely. I hope it helps you, as well.
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will try this new breathing technique. If I find it beneficial in any way I will make it a habit to continue, periodically, throughout each day.
More helpful videos on the importance and value of breath exercises:
This is the video which introduced me to Box Breathing:
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
Remember the goals you wrote down? Review them. Look at them right now.
So many successful people write down or review their goals every single day, rather than just once a month, or once a year. Many of them get into the habit of reviewing them in the morning and right before they fall asleep at night. This can help us to remember and to focus repeatedly and consistently on what we want, and ensure that we take the necessary actions to make sure our goals come to fruition. When we focus on what we want, long and hard and intensely enough, we will make it happen.
One of my friends shared this incredibly empowering idea:
Throughout the day, we can choose to consistently get into the habit of asking ourselves: “Is what I’m doing right now going to help me to accomplish what I want to?” If we want to make this an empowering, useful habit, we can set an alarm to remind ourselves to ask this question, until it is a habit.
We can choose to remember: To be the best possible version of ourselves it will take discipline, self-control, hard work, and consistency. We are constantly re-creating ourselves with every thought we think, with every word we utter, and with every action we take, or decide NOT to take. It will all come down to the very personal decision to practice DISCIPLINE or NEGLECT. The best and most useful content I have ever encountered about discipline and neglect is found on YouTube, for free. Type Jim Rohn: Don’t neglect your mind, into the YouTube search engine for this short, but highly impactful, video.
We will never regret doing our best and sticking to a routine that helps us become a better version of ourselves, a little more each day. We will gain SO MUCH from doing this. Everyone around us will gain from it, too.
Is your Daily TO DO list OVERWHELMING?
Do your Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Goals, sometimes just seem like TOO MUCH TO HANDLE?
Each day we wake up, WE ALREADY WON!Everything else we accomplish is a BONUS!Even if our best for the day simply includes one of our 20 items being checked off the list, if it truly was our best, WE WON!!!
Keep at it! We can push through that discomfort, until we make the uncomfortable COMFORTABLE. Consistent practice and repetition makes the difficult, EASY.
YOU’VE GOT THIS.
That which we feed, nourish, pay attention to, and give energy to, will FLOURISH. That which we decide to starve through neglect, will DIE.
Just like a garden that is well-tended to, produces a beautiful and valuable harvest, so it is with our minds.
Our minds are the gardens, the thoughts are the seeds.
We can grow food, or we can grow weeds.
Imagine you are given only ONE WEEK left to live, and your body is shutting down too quickly to do much of anything…
What would you ruminate on?What would you think about?What would you wish you had done?What TRULY mattered the very most to you?What and who was MOST IMPORTANT to you?Where did your feelings of significance, pride, and happiness come from?What is the legacy you have left behind?
Make a quick mental or written list to answer these questions. Just think of, or write down, the very first thing that pops into your head for each question.
Now, review the goals you have made.NOW you have a purpose to recreate or slightly tweak your goals-goals that will empower you to live a life of greatness, and to live the life you want and deserve to live, not just for yourself, but for others, as well.What will the new, improved, or additional, goals be??
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will review my goals, and throughout the day I will be mindful of which activities contribute to achieving them. I will also be mindful of which activities distract me from accomplishing what I truly want. I will recreate, improve, or add to, my goals, if and when I feel it is necessary.
Every day I will strive to be the best version of myself I can possibly be.
goodinthehead is also on Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
What we focus on WE FEED. What we pay attention to WE ACTIVATE. WE ENERGIZE what we spend energy on and give our energy TO.
That which we focus on tends to grow exponentially in our minds, in our hearts, and in our lives. That which we focus on, eventually becomes our life. We manifest and project our outer reality through our internal focus.
What we focus on we eventually create. First, we create it in our mind, whatever it is. If we focus on it long enough and hard enough, we start to feel it, talk about it, research it, learn about it, and then we start doing something about it. We take action! The more we focus on it, the more we do something about it. If we want something badly enough, we will focus on it relentlessly, and do whatever it takes to get it. We will make it happen. We will change our habits. We will become what and who we need to become in order to attract, manifest, create, and project that thing which we truly desire.
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will remember the importance of WHAT I focus on, and will constantly pay attention to what it is I am thinking about and focusing on. Am I focusing on what I DO want to create more of, or on what I DON’T want to create more of?
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
Daily routines are a springboard to action. Daily routines are an excellent tool we can all use to feel more and more accomplished, successful, and confident. A daily routine can help us feel like we are doing something for ourselves that will help us to be the best version of ourselves we can possibly be for that day. Consistently doing small things each day, builds momentum, empowers us, and helps us build confidence and credibility with ourselves.
In 2014, decided to build a morning routine around what I want to do. Usually, at the end of an 8 or 10-hour day, I was too tired, distracted, or unmotivated, to do what I wanted to do, so I put off the things on my daily list of things I wanted to do for another day.
I found that through my morning routine and waking up an hour earlier every day (waking up earlier started with 10 minutes, then grew as my confidence and desire to did), I am able to do what I want to do before I go out to do what I have to do. Doing this energizes me. Each day I follow this morning routine, I feel happier, more fulfilled, and more energetic. I feel like my life has meaning and purpose. Through consistent adherence to a daily morning routine I have become a different, more improved, and more evolved version of myself.
The slow, steady, small, incremental, seemingly meaningless tasks, that are a part of my daily morning routine, have enabled and empowered me to live on a higher energy/vibrational level, each and every day. I am literally able to do more for myself and others, with energy left at the end of the day! It seemed impossible, and counter-intuitive, but by waking up earlier to do what I want for the first part of the day has served me well.
Adding just one small, consistent change to our daily routine may change the outcome of our lives, over time.
Just one small improvement made consistently, over time, has the potential to forever alter the trajectory of our entire life.
There are many things that can help us create a more enjoyable, meaningful day. We can read 10 minutes every day while we eat breakfast. We can listen to motivational YouTube channels while we get ready for the day. We can save our favorite quotes from Facebook and Pinterest into the favorites folder on our phones, and review them every chance we get throughout our day.
It’s easy to consistently do something small and easy every day!
It is also easy not to.
Once we follow a personal routine for a week or so, it will become easier. In a month’s time, it will become ahabit. In three month’s time it will become a lifestyle. This lifestyle shapes our personality, and when personality persists, outcomes and results change to match the new us that we become.
What we put into our minds at the start of our day will effect the entire rest of our day. Done on a consistent, daily basis, these things will enlighten our minds, elevate our moods, and continuously make us a better version of ourselves. It is absolutely worth trying.
Habits which are repeated, literally change the physical, hormonal, and chemical structures of our brains and bodies.
OUR PHYSICAL REALITIES ARE CREATED BY OUR THINKING AND FEELING, WHICH WE THEN PROJECT ONTO THE SCREEN OF LIFE.
Having a routine where we get the same sleep hours, have a regular eating schedule with the same healthy meals and snacks, take vitamins every morning, and get at least 10 minutes of exercise a day, can and will stabilize our brain chemistry and improve our mood, thereby altering our lives for the better. It will empower us to think more clearly and make better choices. Following a personal morning routine is ABSOLUTELY worth doing.
I have been completing a daily morning routine since 2014. It started off incredibly small, and became something energizing, powerful, and valuable to me, and to everyone I know. I am a better father, a better husband, a better man, a better employee, and a better friend, because of it. To see what I now do, or for suggestions that have worked wonders for me in my own life, google The goodinthehead Habit-Hacking Challenge.
I started very small, by saving just one quote a day.
I went to work on my beliefs,
and then my new beliefs went to work on me.
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will make an easy, personalized routine for myself, and follow it every day to start my day off right, and help me to eventually accomplish my goals. I know this will slowly but surely help me become a better version of myself each and every day. I will remember: CONSISTENCY IS KEY.
goodinthehead is at www.goodinthehead.com and also on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Kindness makes a difference in everyone’s life.
In high school, I realized not everyone had a great life. A lot of the kids were going through horrible things at home, getting bullied, living through drama, and having a rough time. I made it a point to say hello to, and smile at, as many people as I could every day. It was like a game. I loved seeing a smile spread across someone’s face when I surprised them with a greeting or a smile in the hallway or in class. It didn’t just make them feel better. It made me feel better as well.
Sometimes, we aren’t able to create and control our environments, BUT MOST OF THE TIME WE ARE.
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will commit random acts of kindness every chance I get. Every day, I will strive to be the best version of myself I can possibly be.
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
“Having a clear plan is as important as motivation and willpower. It also helps you see past distractions and inoculates you against negativity.”
-Brendon Burchard
Setting goals is the simplest way to realize what we truly want in life.
Setting goals is an easy-to-use tool to help set things in motion and to begin taking action.
“Making New Year’s goals is an affirmation that you are interested in fully living life in the year to come.”
-Melody Beattie
I once heard Pitbull say, “It’s not about making it. It’s about maintaining it.” I liked that. I now think that small, consistent, continuous, never-ending, easy, incrementalimprovements, achieved each and every day, is what it is really all about.
It isn’t about maintaining what we have, as much as it is about constant and consistent personal growth and evolution.
If we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Taking baby steps makes starting anything easier. Melody Beattie wisely teaches:
THE NEW YEAR STANDS BEFORE US, LIKE A CHAPTER IN A BOOK, WAITING TO BE WRITTEN.
WE CAN HELP WRITE THAT STORY BY SETTING GOALS.
Life isn’t always about intensity. Intensity is an incredibly helpful tool to help us get things started, but, in my opinion, it’s more aboutconsistency.
ACTION is the key to creating a great life. Having the ability to prioritize our actions, each day, helps and empowers us to create and manifest the EXACT reality, life, and existence that WE want to live.
Rarely will great ideas and inspiration interrupt us.
We can choose our goals. In my opinion, daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and yearly goals all need to be contemplated, in order to LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE.
When we are realistic, but push and challenge ourselves, we are able to do more and to enjoymore. We must remember to go easy on ourselves and stay positive. If we don’t accomplish every single goal or task we set for ourselves, every single day, we must remember that it is not the end of the world, if we are at least trying and doing our very best.
At least we are doing something, and anything is always better than nothing.
The person doing only 10 push ups a day, completing 10 pull ups in a day, or walking once around the block, is lapping the person sitting on the couch at all times watching tv. SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.
Before deciding on any goal, what is the purpose exact behind it? Improvement? Contribution? Wealth? Clarity must be achieved to create and manifest the exact outcomes we desire.
Daily goals are a simple checklist of things we need to accomplish for the day. It is imperative that these are simple tasks, and things we can quickly and easily accomplish every day, consistently, as part of a ritual that become habituated. We must remember to back off on the inspiration and build a foundation. We must start slowly and methodically.
We don’t walk into the gym for the first time or after years of not working out and lift heavy for an hour or two, working out every muscle in the body. It will hurt for days, while our body and mind struggle to repair themselves. We, most likely, will not want to go back. Our commitment will wane, and we may struggle with our confidence, having given up, and losing the opportunity to earn credibility with our self, by consistently doing something challenging.
It is better for our body, our mind, and our confidence level to work one body part for 20 minutes on day one, another body part for 20 minutes on day two, then yet another body part for 20 minutes on day three, and so on. So it is with our goals. It is much more effective to start with one, small, easy-to-accomplish action item. We can easily build our foundation, our confidence, our ability to execute, and our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual strengths slowly and methodically. After starting with one small, easy-to-accomplish item on our list and after sticking to it for a month, making it a habit, we can then add another item to our list of things to do, and after another month, add yet another habit.
Why would we want to walk into our list of things to do every day like we would a gym for the first time or after years of time off and expect to consistently hit it hard, and somehow magically keep it up?!
It is up to us to set ourselves up for success from the very start.
When things are kept simple and are easy to accomplish, they are much more likely to get done.
Weekly goals consist of something we want to do just once a week. We must remember to keep it simple and just do it. Go on a hike. Eat a super healthy meal. Volunteer at a homeless shelter. It’s only once a week!
Monthly goals and yearly goals can be something rewarding, like a special dinner or an extravagant vacation. Each day, as we complete each task on our list which becomes a daily routine, we are doing and becoming exactly what we want and deserve. Why not set a reward system into play? It helps to have something to look forward to and work towards.
Through the simple process of goal setting, we purposefully assign ourselves as the DESIGNATED ARCHITECTS of our lives.
We can ask ourselves: “What can I do to be the best possibly version of myself I can possibly be, in order to empower myself and others in creating and manifesting an even more deeply fulfilling and beautiful life?” Maybe we want to read a book every month. If so, this needs to be added to our daily goals or checklist. Reading 15 minutes every night before bed is much more likely to happen than reading a book, last minute, all at once.
Creating consistency in a daily routine will be the easiest and best way to earn credibility with ourselves, and grow our confidence levels to heights we never even imagined possible.
Start with just ONE thing. Keep it simple and easy by only focusing on adding ONE thing to each months daily routine. THIS is the secret to successfully navigating a life of continual progression, growth, and evolution.
For an incredibly helpful and empowering list of possible tasks to implement into a daily routine and make them habits, in order to accomplish ANY goal more easily, google the goodinthehead habit hacking challenge.
Write down what you would like to do daily, each morning, to start your day.
When creating a daily routine or ritual, start with just ONE thing. Keep it simple and easy by only focusing on adding only ONE thing to each months daily routine. THIS is the secret to successfully navigating a life of continual progression, growth, and evolution.
It is super useful to review all goals for just one minute every morning as part of a daily routine, and review these goals just one minute every night before laying down to sleep. I had to set alarms on my phone to do these things for a month straight before it became a habit.
Most people start the new year making goals and wanting to change and improve, then overwhelm themselves. Start small. Keep it simple. Keep it easy, then add more as you are able. Just do it. Be a Nike kind of person. Your future self will thank you for it. Your future partner will thank you for it. People will be proud of you for it, and most importantly, you will be proud of yourself.
Consistency creates more confidence, more capability, and more momentum, to navigate through ANY difficulty, challenge, or struggle that the universe may throw at us.
CONSISTENCY CREATES A CONVERSION, AND A CONVERGENCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES, WHICH MANIFEST THEMSELVES AS SYNCHRONICITY. THIS “SYNCHRONICITY” IS SIMPLY THE UNIVERSE CONSPIRING ON OUR BEHALF.
IT IS THROUGH CONSISTENCY THAT WE BECOME INCREMENTALLY MORE PREDICTABLE AND DEPENDABLE. THAT IS WHEN THE UNIVERSE CAN MORE EASILY CONSPIRE ON OUR BEHALF. IN THIS WAY, WE ARE CO-CREATORS WITH THE UNIVERSE.
During your day, make it a habit to ask yourself, “Is what I am doing right now going to help me accomplish my goals?” Set an alarm, as a reminder, if needed.
Consistently refocusing on what WE decide is important, will manifest more of those important things in our lives.
Stuck? Don’t know where to start? A fun place to start is by answering a few questions: (These questions are from Melody Beattie’s book, THE LANGUAGE OF LETTING GO, which I have been reading daily since 2014 as part of my own, personal, morning routine.)
What would I like to have happen in my life this year?
What would I like to do, to accomplish?
What good do I want to attract into my life this year?
What particular areas of growth would I like to have happen to me?
What blocks, character defects, or weaknesses, would I like to have removed from my life this next year?
What do I want to attain this next year? (List both little things and big things.)
Where do I want to go this next year?
What do I want to have happen in friendship and in love over the next year?
What would I like to have happen in my family life?
What problems do I want to see solved?
What decisions do I want to make?
What do I want to have happen in my career over the next year?
What would I like to see happen inside and around me?
Take a piece of paper, a few hours of your time, and write it all down. You are worth it! Once we are clear on what it is we WANT, we can then work on breaking it all down into a few daily tasks, and make ALL of it our reality.
IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE PRICE OF GETTING STARTED, YOU SHOULD SEE THE COST OF STAYING EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE AT.
By visualizing your goal as already completed, you flip your mind onto the frequency that contains the way that it will be attracted to you.
-Bob Proctor
“REMEMBER YOUR FUTURE.” -Jason Archer
Yes, the LAW OF ATTRACTION is a real thing, but it will NEVER be activated until we do the work required of us to set this law in action.
Today’s challenge for myself: Today I will strive to be the best version of myself I can possibly be. I will take the time for myself to write down my wishes, wants, and desires, and come up with a personal, individualized, and unique, daily, weekly, and monthly plan and list of tasks, to habituate everything necessary in my life in order to manifest this beautiful, purpose-filled reality, that I want and deserve. I will be RELENTLESS in the pursuit of my goals.
As a personal challenge to you, I would like to invite you to make the commitment to read one of these books, each month, for the next year. We are the culmination of the content we allow to remain focused upon in our minds. These books have DECADES of experience, wisdom, and suggestions, to create a more beautiful life than you can now imagine. We are capable of compressing DECADES into HOURS, simply through reading or listening to a book! Investing in yourself and in your future can really be as simple and inexpensive as the price of a book each month. If you have already read any of these books, remember that REPETITION BEGETS MASTERY.
THE ONCE-A-MONTH BOOK CHALLENGE:
7 STRATEGIES FOR WEALTH AND HAPPINESS by Jim Rohn
THE COMPOUND EFFECT by Darren Harday
THE POWER OF HABIT by Charles Duhigg
HIGH PERFORMANCE HABITS by Brendon Burchard
ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear
MINDSET by Carol Dweck
THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie
STRESS LESS, ACCOMPLISH MORE by Emily Fletcher
MANS SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor E. Frankl
THE ALCHEMIST by Paolo Coelho
THE 7 SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCCESS by Deepak Chopra
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share this, and ANY message, which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
This article is about two very different topics: Empowerment and unhelpful enabling.
Empowerment inspires others to be their best selves. Empowerment is teaching and expecting others to do things for themselves that they can and should, rather than allowing them to depend on others to do everything for them. When we show and teach others, especially our children and loved ones, to do the things for themselves that are THEIR responsibility, it helps them to build confidence and strength. It inspires them to go in the direction most optimal for THEM and gives them the momentum needed to start down a pathway which will empower them to help THEMSELVES add value to their lives and the lives of everyone around them. We empower others with encouragement, positivity, confidence, empathy, understanding, and unconditional love. We listen. We are there for support. We do not take over and do that which they can do for themselves. We show them how and let them try, then try again and again. Doing everything for them takes away from them the opportunity for personal growth and evolution.
Enabling is when we do something for others that they can and should do for themselves. When we do something for someone else that they can and should be doing for them self, we allow them to use us. Sometimes others prefer this “easy” way of life and they make it a habit, eventually destroying every relationship they then create with high expectations of others, causing bitterness, resentment, and disconnection. When we do everything for others, we take away their power. We make them weak. We create a situation in which they no longer have the opportunity to build confidence and strength. They no longer see the need to work towards something they need or want to accomplish or acquire because we are GIVING it to them. They become complacent and needy. Soon, the dynamics of the relationship change in many ways. Soon, all of our energy is spent taking care of someone who can and should be taking care of them self, but instead they are choosing to let us do it for them. This doesn’t always happen, depending on the character of the people involved, the clarity of boundaries expressed and practiced, and the emotional intelligence being upgraded, but when we create situations with this lifestyle as an option, it is much more likely to happen than not.
Sometimes it is helpful to re-assess and re-evaluate how we are helping others.
Allowing others the opportunity to learn how to help themselves and take care of themselves can be more valuable than any thing or any amount of money we give.
Today I will take a good look at myself and decide if I am empowering others, or enabling them. If I am being enabled by others, I will take back my responsibility, power and control. I will choose to do what I can and should be doing for myself. I will make any improvements or changes which I think are necessary. I will stand by my decisions to help and empower others to care of themselves, regardless of any manipulation or control tactics they may use to get me to continue doing for them, what they are capable of doing. I will protect my energy, conserve it, and use it to create a better life for myself and those I love.
One of the most helpful books I have come across concerning the topic of empowerment vs. enabling is Melody Beattie’s book, THE LANGUAGE OF LETTING GO. I highly recommend buying it, or searching for today’s content on google.
Above is an example of what to put into the search line, then which one to click on for the daily read. It is broken up into daily sections, and the section only takes a few minutes to complete each day.
goodinthehead is also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow me there, as well, for daily messages, inspiration, motivation, and reminders. Please pay it forward, and share any message which may empower someone you love or may care about. It is through adding value to others by sharing and spreading wisdom, that we become more valuable as individuals, and collectively, as a whole, we all become wiser.
Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our realities.
That which you focus on tends to grow exponentially in your mind, in your speech, and in your life. That which you focus on, eventually becomes your life.
What you focus on you eventually create. First you create it in your mind, whatever it is. If you focus on it long enough and hard enough, you start to talk about it, research it, learn about it, and then you start doing something about it. You take action! The more you focus on it, the more you do something about it. If you want something badly enough you will focus on it relentlessly and do whatever it takes to get it. You will make it happen. You will change your habits. You will become what will attract that thing to you that you are focused on.
Do you want better health and a more beautiful body? Do you want a better job? Do you want to feel happier in your personal life or have a stronger, more beautiful relationship? The truth is, you are going to have to get off your ass and do something about it. You will have to change your focus.
The amount of success you have in any area of your life depends on your degree of focus. The more you focus on something, the more it tends to appear in your life.
Are you angry? Are you sad? Are you happy? What is it you think about the most that causes these feelings in your life?
If you want to change any aspect of your life, change your focus.
The easiest way and best way, I think, to change your focus is to begin each day with a “Gratitude List”. It’s something you can write down once, each day, or simply just think about. It takes very little effort, but with consistency it becomes a habit. If you do it every day while you are getting ready for work, driving to work, or even if you have to wake up an extra 15 minutes early to have the peace and quiet to do it, it will change your life.
We don’t have to look very far to realize we have a lot to be grateful for. No matter how bad we think we have it, there is always someone else out there who has it so much worse. We sometimes get so caught up in ourselves and in our own lives and thoughts that we don’t recognize what is going on around us. Take a moment or two each day to look around, where ever you may be, and see and listen to what others are going through.
When I drove a cab, I saw many different people every day. Each day I worked I was reminded how blessed I was.
I remember picking up a woman and taking her to a school for the blind. She told me that she had four daughters and a pretty great life til a few weeks ago. I asked her what happened a few weeks ago that made things so bad and she told me that she had fallen out of bed, hit her head and detached both her retinas because she had a problem with her eyes she didn’t even know about. Her entire world was turned upside down. I was blown away. I didn’t know what to say. I asked if she was ok, and her response was, “Hell no, I’m not ok! I am so angry!” She went on to explain all of the things going wrong in her life and everything that was upsetting to her and all the difficulties she was going through. I didn’t know what to say. I dropped her off and didn’t feel right the rest of the day. When things like that happen to people, it reminds me how fragile life is. It reminds me that something like that could happen at any moment to me or someone in my life I care about. It’s an unsettling fact.
A couple of years later I saw her again. I remembered her right away. She was listening to a podcast by Joe Rogan and seemed positive and upbeat. I was taking her to the school for the blind again, but this time she seemed happy, positive and strong. I told her that I remembered her from a few years ago and could see right away that she seemed like a totally different person. I asked her what made the difference in her life that made her go from completely angry and miserable to happy and positive. She explained to me that once she accepted there was nothing she could do about her sight and started realizing she had always taken her vision for granted she decided not to take anything else for granted. She started focusing on all of the things she had to be grateful for in her life and realizing how blessed she was. She started listening to books on tape and pod casts that were upbeat and positive. She told me she had never been happier or more grounded in her life. She felt like she had never been a better mother to her four daughters and explained that she recieved phone calls from many friends, family members, and students she knew from the school for the blind every single week, asking for advice and telling her they felt drawn to her because she radiated positivity and strength.
Years ago, I worked in the medical transportation field. I truly went home feeling blessed every single day to be who I was and to have the life I had. I took people to dialysis every day. I took people that were hurt, badly in car accidents, who had family members that were killed. I took a 16 year old boy that decided to get drunk with friends from school. It was the first time he ever drank, and they decided to go swimming in a pond. He dove into what he thought was going to be deep water but was only an inch deep and snapped his neck. He was facing a lifetime of complete paralysis. I met many people with cancer, and took many people home to their families to die, some of them within the next 24 hours of their life. I drove people to Hospice to die alone because they had nobody. I went to care facilities every day and spoke with elderly people who had nobody to visit them because they didn’t have any family at all. It tugs at your heart strings and really puts things in perspective.
No matter how bad you think you have it or what you may be going through, someone else out there has it much worse. Knowing this, it becomes so much easier to realize how blessed you really are.
So many times in life, I have been so focussed and caught up in self-pity and misery and negativity and anger that that was all I could think about. It’s almost as if I attracted more situations into my life to cause even more self-pity, misery, negativity and anger. The opposite is also true. The more I focus on positivity, gratitude, love, kindness, happiness and strength, the more I seem to attract situations and people into my life that causes more positivity, gratitude, love, kindness, happiness and strength.
What you think about the most and what you focus on consistently in your mind will absolutely manifest itself in your life in every way. IT IS A CHOICE. You, and you alone, are in charge of your mind, your thought process, and what you choose to focus on for every second of every day.
I have a bed to sleep in every night. I have food to eat. I have a way to make money and pay my bills. I am able to take care of the needs of my children-not all of the wants, mind you, but all of their needs. I was raised in a family where love and kindness were present in the home. I am close to my parents and my siblings. My children are healthy and make good choices. I am engaged to an incredible woman and have a great relationship with her. My health is great. I can see, hear, walk, think strait, and for the most part I live pain free, physically and mentally. When I didn’t have a car, I was able to ride a bicycle to work. If I were to lose my job, I am perfectly capable of getting another job doing just about anything. If I lost my car, I still have a bike. If I lost my bike, I can walk or take a bus anywhere I need to go. Each day I feel like my mind and body are healing more and more.
What are you grateful for? What are you going to focus on today? Will it improve your mind, your day, and your life?
Try out the Gratitude List every morning and see if it doesn’t help you change your mood and your focus the rest of your day.
Why not focus on creating the life you are excited to live everyday?
