Getting a fresh start with the New Year is an artificial custom – you can begin to get the life you love and live it at any time you choose. But let the first couple of weeks of January 2012 be the starting point for a new you. Envision yourself at the end of the year and describe at least 3 achievements you would like to have achieved to make you feel that 2012 had been a successful one.

Maybe this year you are going to find work that you love. Or you may want to excel even more at the job you love. How about getting a good balance between your work and leisure time? What about galvanising your financial situation? How about finding and committing to a dream project?

How can you make the most of your life through the so-called credit crunch?

Get motivated right now to make the most of 2012 and indeed the rest of your life. Believe in yourself. Know that you can do and have anything you want. Ooze with self belief and others too will believe in you. Go all out for it in 2012!

Here are some tips to help you achieve your goals and to make 2012 your best year ever.

1.  Spend some quality time on your own and reflect on your goals in all areas of your life – short, medium and long term. Write these down – you increase your chances of materialising them, once written down. Be very specific, and as descriptive as you can.

2.  Write down your three main goals in big bold letters and hang up next to your bedside, in the kitchen, by your pc, etc. Having them visible like this keeps in the forefront of your mind exactly what you need to achieve by when, and what you must do to make it happen.

3. Identify quickly the key steps in the first three months of 2012 to move you towards your goals. Make the steps realistic for the time frame, but ones that stretch you at the same time. Track your progress on a regular basis, maybe on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

4. Create an action plan and take regular action. Start today and if possible, start right away. Take that first step – you will immediately generate a lot of enthusiasm & confidence in this and other areas of your life. Do not wait around to be inspired – just get on with doing things, even if it is a small step and that will lead to further steps.

5. Look at your life in a new way. For example, plan to make all the money you need in 2012 within the first six months. Develop a new theme for the year such as making it “debt free” or “most chilled out ever”. At the same time, ensure you give yourself enough nurturing time – book your holidays right now and plan to spend quality weekends with your loved ones.

6. Let go of things that drain you. Look at those situations, places, people or anything else that drain your energy, and eliminate them gradually.

7. Establish a support team around you. Make yourself accountable to someone who resonates with your goals and will support you in achieving them. Find like minded people – and develop powerful, supportive and energising relationships. This may require you to upgrade your friends and build new relationships.

8. Learn from your role models. Emulate those who have already achieved what you are aspiring to. Apply their lessons and principles to yourself, and thereby fast track your achievements in 2012.

9. Spruce up your image. Look at everything about you such as your clothes, haircut and other things about your personal brand. Start giving the impression of being successful and you will be during the course of 2012.

10. Keep your cool and chill out. You may get overwhelmed at times and find that there is just not sufficient time for everything. Review your commitments and priorities and refocus on the most important steps.

11. Celebrate your successes. Acknowledge yourself and know that you are doing really well. Reward and pamper yourself. Choose to celebrate in the best way for you.

12. Find ways to excel and to improve yourself. There are numerous self help resources around you such as books, magazines, websites and so on. Make 2012 the year that you evolve, grow and fulfil your potential.

Most importantly remember at all times to be kind and gentle with yourself in 2008. Have patience and let your life unfold like a budding flower. Laugh a lot – after all life is meant to be fun. Develop a sense of humour and do not take life so seriously.

It is never too late or too early to have a great year. Start 2012 the way you want to carry on during the rest of the year.

I wish you all a fabulous New Year. Make 2012 your best year ever. Get the life you love and live it – you know you deserve it.

Here are my final words for you to inspire you in 2012 – and for the rest of your life:-

“Remember that your life counts – and make it count. You are unique. There is no one like you on this planet. Never has been and never will be.

Do not sell your self short. Do not sell the world short. This is your life – love it, live it. One life, one chance – grab it.

Get the life you love – and live i

Environmentalism in Islam
Choosing to practice the religion of Islam goes hand in hand with affirming a relationship with the environment. As part of ‘greening’ your faith, try going a whole month without extra “stuff”. No more packaged foods, less use of television and computers, no more cars and fumes, no more indulgent-consumption, nothing bought from a department store, nothing with an on and off switch. Try just letting go and disconnecting from material “things”.
The whole idea of being a Muslim “environmentalist” is founded on discipline. You are in control of what you use, what you eat, what you do, where you go, and what you affect. The boundaries of halal (lawful) and haram (prohibited) are there so we are not taking more than we ought to. So you have to ask yourself – what am I affecting and is it positive?

Top Tips For Greening Your Islam
“If any Muslim plants any plant and a human being or an animal eats of it, he will be rewarded as if he had given that much in charity.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, 8:41)
‘Green’ is a relaxing colour that psychologically connects us to the green in nature – plants, growth, rebirth. By including more ‘green’ in your life, you automatically come to appreciating the ground. The same earth that will one day cover you after death.
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was a steward of the earth, who hugged trees and planted seeds. Eco-Muslims believe in water management, they do not excessively cut down plants and they reuse everything from fruit peelings (which makes great compost) to rain water (better plant nourishment).
n    Grow flowers in your back garden, start a community project and get your children involved. Herbs such as parsley and basil, and tomatoes and peas grow with little maintenance from a large pot or container
n    Check how much water you’re using for wudhu (ablutions for prayer) and reduce this amount. Prophet Muhammad only needed a potful for his wudhu so use less water
n    Sort your rubbish out into– recyclables, glass, uncooked food, and then bin or compost it. What you throw away is going to be dumped somewhere else, but by using less plastics and reusing paper and card, you’re creating less (or no) garbage for someone else
n    Ask your masjid committee to install low-energy light bulbs, use solar panels for lighting and to ask masjid-goers to recycle their rubbish in provided bins. Introduce more outdoor prayers for healthier minds and create a mini-garden for children – a greater incentive to attend the masjid
n    At home, break from your household routine to carry out community service in your neighbourhood, even if it’s just 5 minutes a day. Shop at charity stores to buy inexpensive things you need for your home and always ask yourself before buying brand new, “Do I really need this?” More often, the answer will be no.
By using less, we are actually gaining more. More appreciation, more understanding and more faith in Allah. I am The Eco Muslim, and I hope you can join me on this path. n

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.”
Benjamin Franklin

What do you fear in your everyday life? One common answer would probably be to be criticized. To stand there and hear those words streaming out of someone’s mouth and feel stupid or feel rejected or like you are getting smaller and smaller.

Sometimes criticism can be too harsh and nasty. That part isn’t can be hurtful. But it is a part of life if you want to live your life your way. There is no magical protection from being hurt or feeling pain but these tips can help you to better handle criticism and sometimes to get something good out of it.

Don’t reply right away.

It is very easy to become riled up, angry or defensive when you receive some criticism. This is not a good position to be in to fire away a reply if you don’t want to wind up making the situation worse.

Rather work on keeping your self-esteem high. And to lash back at the critics or to not be the better person here can really hurt your self-esteem. It might feel good for a while to do so but it is a dirty high that comes with a hangover of feeling worse about yourself and subtle or not so subtle self-destructiveness.

So this is about your own well-being to a high degree. And try never to reply back right away. Instead look closer at the criticisms. If you receive criticism in real life try to at least take a couple of deep breaths to cool down just a bit and to feel more balanced before you reply.

Really listen to the criticism

Instead of attacking the other person for his or her words and building a hostile atmosphere try to calm it down. Try to remain level-headed, open and figure out how this message can help you.

Ask yourself questions like:

Can I learn something from this piece of criticism? Maybe there is something here that I do not want to hear but that could help me to improve?

Remember: the criticism isn’t always about you.

Some criticism is certainly helpful. Some isn’t that helpful or just simply attacks. What should you do then?

Well, remember that criticism isn’t always about you. It would be nice if all criticism one gets comes from level-headed place. But in reality people will have a bad day or week. Some will hate some part of their life. Some might not be all that well at this moment.

So they lash out at you to release pent up negative emotions. On your blog or maybe in school or at work. It’s not fun. But it happens.

To lessen the sting of this criticism or these attacks try to be understanding. Think that based on the message you got – often really angry or overly critical about some pretty minor thing – this person isn’t feeling too good right now and is overreacting or need to release some pent up emotions.

By understanding of this it becomes easier to just let such criticisms go instead of feeling bad or becoming angry too.

Reply or let go.

If you reply then try one or a few follow up questions if you think that could help you. And even when someone blurts out something not too constructive like “Your work/blog/product isn’t very good” you might want to ask a few open-ended questions to get more constructive information.

Questions like:

What part of it did you not like or did you not find helpful?

How can I improve it?

While replying to a critical comment try to keep your attitude positive and kind no matter what they have written. Thank him or her for what he or she wrote. You may add a question or two to get more clarification.

Sometimes it is better get back a much more level-headed reply where they actually help you to improve what you are doing and although you may still feel a bit hurt it also feels good to be the better person in this situation and to create a constructive conversation.

If they won’t answer your questions then they are probably just lashing out. And so it is time to let go.

Don’t reply to all the criticisms though. You have more interesting things to focus on.

Keep your daily balance.

This isn’t a step to handle one specific email, phone call or critical message. But it becomes a whole lot easier to handle criticism if you stay balanced in your daily life. Those messages seem to not be as hurtful, they don’t affect you as much or sometimes just roll off your back like water on a duck when you:

Work in a relaxed way. Extra stress makes you more susceptible to the negative messages and to overreacting to criticism.

Manage the 3 fundamentals. That means to eat properly, to get enough sleep and to work out a couple of times a week. Keeping the balance of your physical fundamentals make you mentally stronger too.

Keep the self-esteem up. Criticism can send you down a spiral of self-loathing and feeling lousy about yourself. Keeping the stress down and the energy-giving fundamentals up can help you to not wind up in such dark places. Keeping your own self-esteem up is also vital. A couple of basic things that will help you to do so is to behave in way where you do the right thing (like being the better person when replying to a critical email) as best you can, to appreciate yourself, your good traits and accomplishments and to forgive yourself instead of beating yourself up about stuff or holding yourself to impossible standards.

Mark Twain

Motivation can be a huge help for you to achieve what you want in life. But how can you find all that motivation you need?

Well, looking at timeless advice from time to time helps me. And in this article I’ll share four of my favorite timeless thoughts on motivation, four thoughts that motivate and inspire me.

Make a conscious choice.

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
Wayne Dyer

“I was thinking one day and I realized that if I just had somebody behind me all the way to motivate me I could make a big difference. Nobody came along like that so I just became that person for myself.”
Unknown

Help, accountability and motivation from others is always good. But in the end you to be able to rely on yourself. And there is really no escaping it, because as Dyer says, it’s always your choice what to do.

So you have to consciously choose to motivate yourself. You can do that by:

Doing what you really, really like to do. When you really like doing something then the motivation to do it comes automatically (most of the time). And when you really want something then it simply becomes easier to push through any inner resistance you feel. You are so motivated to achieve whatever it is you want that the risks you may encounter may be scary but smaller than your desire.

Make a list of upsides. Write down all the benefits you will get from achieving something, like for example getting into better shape or making more money. Save it and pull that list out of the drawer whenever your motivation is lacking and review it. Or put it somewhere where you will see it every day. This is a powerful way to reconnect with your motivation and reasons for taking action.

Compare yourself with yourself. Comparing what you have and your results to what other people have and have accomplished can really kill your motivation. There are always people ahead of you. Most likely quite a bit of people. And a few of them are miles ahead.

So focus on you. On your results. And how you can and have improved your results. Reviewing your results is important so you see where you have gone wrong in the past to avoid similar missteps further on. But it’s also important because it’s a great motivator to see how much you have improved and how far you have come. Often you can be pleasantly surprised when you do such a review.

But the most important thing is to take responsibility for your own motivation and feelings and not wait around for someone else to do it. When you do that you will most often find a way to get yourself to start moving towards what you want.

Walk your talk.

“Walking your talk is a great way to motivate yourself. No one likes to live a lie. Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you advise others to do.”
Vince Poscente

This is great tip. Whenever you don’t follow your own talk or just your inner rules of how you want to behave you tend to feel bad. Your esteem of yourself sinks and your motivation to get going does too.

So you have to be honest with yourself when you feel like you are out of alignment. You have to get up and get started again. When your talk and inner standards you have set for yourself align with what you do then you your self-esteem goes up.

You feel great because you are living like you deep down want to. And you are getting all these important things done and can enjoy the results. And then you want more of that good stuff, you sometimes feel so motivated that you can’t wait to get going.

This is not always easy. In the short run it’s often easier and less uncomfortable and scary to lie to yourself a bit and hold yourself back. But the rewards for walking your talk are big. Both on the outside and the inside.

Set big goals that really inspire you.

“Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.”
Robert H. Schuller

Without inspiring goals you tend wander around aimlessly in a confused funk.

I think the most important thing about setting goals is to find goals that really inspire and motivate you.

What are your goals? As much as possible, you have to set the goals for yourself. Should and ought to-goals aren’t good enough. Or goals that other people have set for you.

Think about your goals. Think about who has set them. Then think about what you really want in life. Then set your own goals. Write them down.

I also don’t think one should be afraid of setting big goals. Set a big goal that inspires you even if it may seem a tad unrealistic at the moment. If you have too easily achievable goals then you may find that they don’t give you that motivational spark and drive. When you start to think a bit bigger then you get motivated and your mind starts looking for the solutions that will help you achieve that goal. Thinking too small can leave you with a “meh…” feeling or make you feel like you can do it later.

And a benefit of doing things this way – even if you don’t quite achieve your big, big goal or it takes a while longer than you may have hoped for – can be found in a quote from Les Brown:

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.”

Don’t get too hung up on being motivated to get started.

“The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”
John C. Maxwell

Here’s another view on motivation. Maybe you don’t need it to get started? Maybe you can create it along the way?

Many times I have found it better to just do it and start working instead of trying to motivate myself to get going. At first what you do may suck quite a bit and it’s hard going. But after a while inspiration and motivation seems to catch up with you. Things start to flow easier and your work is of a higher quality.

And after you have kept going for a while you become more and more motivated. Because you start to feel like you can actually do this and you can keep going to achieve your goal. And now you are also walking your talk which boosts your motivation.

On some days you may not seem to be able motivate yourself into action. Even if you review your goals or reasons to achieve something.

That’s ok. You can still make a conscious choice based on what you know deep down is right and just start moving your hands and feet anyway. No matter how you feel inside, no matter what negative thoughts may be circling around in your head.

Try both to get yourself motivated before you begin and to just do it and find the motivation along the way. Try both ways and see what works best for you.

Know the Cleaning Lady

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

“Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say “hello.”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

Pickup in The Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home.

A special note was attached. It read: “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.”

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.

Remember Those Who Serve

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked. “50¢,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

“Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. “35¢!” she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.

When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn’t have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

The Obstacles in Our Path

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand – “Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.”

Giving When It Counts

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will save her.”

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?”.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

]]> http://www.youthwavebd.com/lessons-about-how-to-treat-people/feed/ 0 http://www.youthwavebd.com/get-the-perfect-nights-sleep/ http://www.youthwavebd.com/get-the-perfect-nights-sleep/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:24:24 +0000 Youth Wave http://www.youthwavebd.com/?p=1376 Scientists still aren’t sure exactly what sleep is for, but we definitely need lots of it. Daniel Bennett reveals how to get a good night’s rest

Get enough rest

Diabetes, heart failure and obesity are just a few of the health conditions linked to a lack of sleep – we need it, even if science can’t yet tell us why.

The current consensus is that sleep performs two vital functions: your brain needs to flush out the metabolic by-products that have built up during the day, and the mind needs to start preparing for the day ahead by ditching any newly formed memories that are no longer needed.

Dreams are believed to be a side effect of this process, which is characterised by eye movement, hence the term Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Ensuring you get enough of both phases is crucial for getting a perfect night’s rest.

Block blue light

Your body has two systems that govern sleep. The first is a sleep homeostat – essentially a gauge that rises as you stay awake and drops while you sleep. Counter-balancing this is the circadian system, which provides an ‘alerting signal’ that oscillates between wakefulness and tiredness, regardless of how long you’ve been awake.

But this alerting signal can keep us awake late at night, and it can even delay the restorative, deep portion of sleep. It can also be influenced by differences in the intensity of light, so with a bit of DIY work, you can attempt to mould this cycle around the pattern of your day.

“Any light suppresses the hormone melatonin, which peaks during the night to make you feel sleepy,” says Dr Simon Archer, a chronobiologist at Surrey Sleep Research Centre. “But it’s actually blue-light receptors in the eye that are responsible for doing that, so light enriched with red will help you fall asleep faster, whereas light enriched with blue will coax you into wakefulness in the morning.” So the ideal bedroom would make use of lights infused with red to wind your circadian system down during the evening, and a blue light that gradually gets brighter to kick start it again in the morning. Time to stock up on those coloured bulbs.

Minimum 8 hours

Without the full eight hours, your sleep homeostat won’t empty entirely. Sleep researchers describe this as a ‘sleep debt’, which is measurable in scans of the brain’s electrical activity.

The ability to manage your sleep debt is partly determined by genetics: about 10 per cent of the population carry a particular combination (one from each parent) of variants of the Period 3 gene, causing them to feel tired earlier in the day so they go to bed and wake up much earlier.

It’s also important to identify how your body reacts to a lack of sleep, and pay back your sleep debt when the opportunity arises. For some this may mean short naps in the day, others can just wait for the weekend.

Sleep continuously

The transition from sleep time to wakefulness is physiologically very stressful on the body, so you’re never going to be all that perky first thing in the morning. To get out of bed at your freshest, waking up seven to eight hours after falling asleep is ideal. Any less or any more and you risk interrupting either stage of sleep. Leaving your blinds or curtains slightly open will also help suppress melatonin production, helping you to resist 10-minute snoozes.

]]> http://www.youthwavebd.com/get-the-perfect-nights-sleep/feed/ 0 http://www.youthwavebd.com/lift-the-stress-out-of-your-morning/ http://www.youthwavebd.com/lift-the-stress-out-of-your-morning/#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 06:02:05 +0000 Youth Wave http://www.youthwavebd.com/?p=1338 “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely…”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another morning. Another day begins. You get up too early, stumble into the shower and in somewhat of a haze try to get things together and get work or school on time. But by applying a few simple tips you can make not only the morning but the whole day more relaxed and smooth.

Plan the night before. Choose the 2-3 most important tasks and put them on a to-do list. By choosing just the most important stuff instead of a dozen things you are less likely to start procrastinating or realize at the end of the day that you filled it with less important tasks.

Pack your bag the night before. This very simple habit can alleviate quite a bit of stress in the morning. If you pack your bag before you go to bed then you don’t have to run around in your house half panicked tomorrow while looking for your books or some important papers.

Make your lunch the night before. Pack the leftovers of your dinner in a container and put it in the fridge. Just don’t forget to put it in your bag in the morning. You may even want make an extra serving so you can quickly heat up dinner when you get home from work/school. Doing this the night before will save you a bit of time and possibly a bit of money.

Don’t forget to just relax. You can’t get much done if you never get any rest and revitalization. Well, you can for a while but soon you’ll start to feel run down, stressed out and fill up with all kinds of negative emotions pretty much all the time. So take some time to just relax. Meditate in one way or another. Take a warm bath. Take a walk in the woods. Listen to relaxing music. Have some fun with friends and/or family. Release pressure, stress and tension that can come from a hard day’s work so you don’t carry all of that into the following morning.

Get enough sleep. It’s tempting to stay up a bit longer and let the “morning-you” take care of the problems. Revert to old behaviour patterns such as negativity and being easily stressed – that come from lack of sleep. But be good to yourself at least some days during the week. Go to bed a bit earlier and catch up on your sleep.

Use a morning ritual. What you do early in the day often sets the context for your day. We have a tendency to want to be consistent with what we have done before. So a morning ritual that sets the right tone for the day can be a great start. For example, get up and drink two glasses of water, eat breakfast and drink a cup of tea, make the bed and declutter for a few minutes. Then prioritize the items on your to-do list and get started with the most important task.

Keep everything in its place. If everything has its own place then it is whole lot easier to keep your home reasonably ordered and decluttered from day to day. And to find the keys as you are heading out the door.

One of the most successful and enigmatic musicians of the last hundred years must be Bob Dylan. Throughout his career, albums and awesome songs he has constantly redefined himself and both confused and enthralled listeners. Here is some clarity though, some of my favourite words of wisdom from Dylan.
Find what you love to do.
“A lot of people can’t stand touring but to me it’s like breathing. I do it because I’m driven to do it.”
I think this is a first step that many of us have a big problem with. Or just forget about. Because when you find something you really love to do it doesn’t seem like work that much anymore.
When you do something you love you don’t have to push yourself so much. You keep going because you like doing it, not just because your want to reach some goal (although that can be exciting too). Taking action also becomes natural when you doing something you really want to do. A lot of the time you can’t wait to get going with it.
So the problem many of us encounter may not be that we don’t know enough tips to keep ourselves motivated to keep going. The problem may be that we are working on the wrong thing all together.
So do you find out what you really want to do?
I certainly don’t have all the answers for that one, but one tip is just to explore life.
To just try things out and see what you love. It’s easy to have theories about what you or may not like. But you never know until you have tried it for a while in real life.
Understand that success is today too.
“A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”
When you read about success it often seems like something you should work towards. Something there in the distant future.
This way of thinking can lead to many ups and downs. Sometimes you feel really good and are working towards what you want in an effective way. Sometimes you feel like doing nothing. It can become a rollercoaster.
But one of the most important parts of success in area of your life is simply consistency. To get up in the morning each day and do what you know is right in your life.
Working out instead of coming up with excuses not to. Being kind and open instead of closing up and gossiping or trying to put someone down or making them wrong in an interaction or just in your head simply to feel better about yourself. Pushing a bit outside of your comfort zone instead of staying inside it and feeling safe.
How you live today and each today is very much connected to the most fundamental goals people have in life. To be healthy. To be effective and get the most important things done. To raise self esteem and self confidence and keep it at a high level (things that to a large part come from taking responsibility for each day in your life and doing what you know is the right thing to do).
So success is not about what you do in a few inspired rushes towards the goal. Things take time. Often more time than you might think. So keep an eye on where you are going. But keep your focus on the process instead of that alluring goal. Do it by making today and each day a success.
Life is change.
“There is nothing so stable as change.”
As humans, we often want to feel safe. We want certainty. And for a while we may think we have it. And then something always comes along to knock that feeling out of us.
So there is a superstition of safety. This is not just something negative though. It’s also created by your mind so you can function in life. No point in going all paranoid about what could happen a minute from now day in and day out. But there is also not that much point in clinging to an illusion of safety. So you need to find balance where you don’t obsessed by the uncertainty but also recognize that it is there and live accordingly.
As you stop clinging to your safety life also becomes a whole lot more exciting and interesting. You are no longer as confined by an illusion and realize that you set your limits for what you can do and to a large extent create your own freedom in the world. You are no longer building walls to keep yourself safe as those walls wouldn’t protect you anyway.
If you want to grow and move forward it’s not only essential to get used to the thought of life as changing and unknown but also to let go of the past. When you let go of the past then change becomes so much easier to handle. And growing becomes easier too.
Because if your goal is to get fitter, then when you let go of a self-image of being unhealthy and instead stick to the one where you are healthy you stop working against yourself. Your actions, thoughts and self-image are now aligned. And so doing the right things by eating healthy food and working out becomes the natural thing rather than something you have to push yourself to do every day.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”Winston Churchill“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”Maria Robinson“It’s better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right.”Unknown
Negative thinking can poison what – from the outside – looks like a pretty good life with opportunities. Pessimism can create ceilings and walls made out of glass where there really are none.With such forces controlling your inner life your outer life tends to stand pretty still. Your time here waste away. It’s a terrible thing.But you can change. And in this article I’ll share six fundamentals that have been essential for me to make that mental change.These are things that actually work in real life to change how you view things. However, just knowing these things won’t change your thinking. You have to practice them and fail from time to time and then get back up again and keep using them until they become new habits of thinking.Focus on what you want.What do you think about most of the time? Your troubles and worries? If that is the case, if you spend your attention on focusing on what you don’t want then it’s easy to feed the negativity monster in your mind with more energy and to get stuck in analysis paralysis.But if you instead spend most of your time thinking about what you want out of life in various areas then you become more focused. Your mind starts to spit out solutions to your obstacles. You feel like taking action to start moving step by step towards your goals.So focus on what you want. Post reminders on post-its and whiteboards in your surroundings to keep your attention where it needs to be. Write down your goal and focus single-mindedly to taking yourself towards it. Ask yourself questions that helps you find the useful and positive such as:What’s awesome about this situation?And what is the hidden opportunity in this situation?Be grateful for what you got.What you want is something out there in the future. But it is also important to view what you have in the right way to keep an optimistic viewpoint.So appreciate the little and big things in life you have instead of focusing too much on what you don’t have.Ask yourself: what can I be grateful for in my life right now?When I ask myself that question I often come up with simple answers such as the roof over my head, the delicious food on my table, having the opportunity to sleep in and the people closest to me.Avoid negative generalizations.Negative generalizations about life can really wreck your outlook.If you for example run into an obstacle or problem then the negative thinker may generalize this as something that is just there and will continue to stay there. While the optimistic thinker views the obstacle as something temporary that can be overcome by taking action (even if that also means failing and learning a few things along the way).If the negative thinker runs in criticism then s/he may generalize this as something personal, like the other person is out to get him/her and that s/he is somehow a bad or generally an incompetent person just because this piece of criticism.The optimistic thinker on the other hand will keep some distance to the criticism. S/he thinks that the piece of criticism may be valid for this area of life rather than saying something about everything (if the criticism is about not being on time for meetings at work then that is the issue that needs to be corrected, it does not mean a bad performance in all areas of that job).The optimistic thinker also keeps in mind that criticism may sometimes not be valid but will arise because the other person has had a bad day, is irritated about something else or hates some part of his or her own life.Shape the input.If you let pessimistic and negative thinking into your mind then it will be pretty much impossible to stay optimistic about life.So shape the input.Take a closer look at what movies, TV, news, books and music you consume and how they affect you. Look at how the people closer to you too such as friends and family affect your thoughts.Then take action to reduce or cut out the most negative sources as best you can and replace that void in your life with more time with the positive influences.Set the context for your day.What you do early in the day often sets the context for that day. A good start leads to good day and a bad start to a bad day.Some suggestions that will help you to set the positive context for the day:Spend a few minutes in the morning on thinking about what you want and your goals. This sends you off to highly motivated and focused day.Spend a few minutes being grateful for what you got. This sets you up for a positive mood throughout the day.Exercise. This will help you release inner tensions and worry and fill the space they occupied within you with new energy.Do the most important thing first. This is how I start my day. Today I woke up and did my usual morning ritual that ends with doing the most important thing on my to-do list. And so I started to write this article. This not only makes sure that the most important thing gets done each day. It also makes me feel good about myself and makes the rest of the to-do list feel lighter to move through.So make an effort early in the day. It really pays off even if you may not always feel like it just after breakfast.Be good and kind to yourself.How you view yourself and treat yourself has a huge impact on how you view the world around you and interact with it.You are at the centre of your world and if you like yourself and are good to yourself then it becomes a lot easier to thinking optimistically about your future and the world around you.Here are a few of the best ways to be good and kind to yourself:Do the right thing. Do what you deep down think  is the right thing as much as you can – but accept that you will never be able to do it all the time – to increase your self-esteem and your sense of the things you deserve in life.Write down five things each night that you are grateful for about yourself. Or appreciate yourself by doing a two minute exercise where you just list small and big things about yourself that you like and good things you have done. You can do this exercise in your mind or on a piece of paper. These two self-appreciation exercises will help you create better thinking habits. Because the more you do things like these, the more this kind of thinking will naturally pop up in your everyday life too. You are changing how you think about yourself and what you have a tendency to focus on (both in yourself and in the world around you).Don’t beat yourself up. It’s just a stupid habit and no one will reward you for it. And it only makes it harder to improve since you will probably start to procrastinate to avoid the pain of your own future self-beatings for example.