Tag: success

#TBT: Attitude Is Everything

#TBT: Attitude Is Everything

Everyday, we have the chance to wake up and be our best. We don’t have to ask permission or be forced into an average mindset – we wake up as a blank slate. It’s the start of a new day and we get to choose how we go into it.

Exactly, what choice do we have? I can choose to start my day with good intentions. I can choose to start my day being sad. If something happened the night before that really angered me, I may choose to start the day mad because I remembered what happened the night before.

Once we choose how to start the day, it determines our attitude. To wake up being grateful is the perfect way to begin. Think of all the things you’re thankful for and you’ll immediately start the day with happiness.

On the other hand, if you had a bad day yesterday, try not to let it follow you into the next day. If you got a traffic ticket the day before, your attitude may not be the best. Don’t allow that attitude to carry over into the rest of the day or the following day.

A bad attitude has the ability to creep into your mind and live there. Every thought that comes into your head will be greeted with a negative vibe. You’ve already lost before you even begin to have a great personal thought.

Things happen. Your attitude is the measuring stick of your present feelings. If you’re having a great day, you have a great attitude. If you’re having a terrible day, you have a terrible attitude. Have an even, positive attitude no matter what happens. Sometimes we forget, but we do have that choice.

First, have awesome thoughts when you wake up in the morning. You will have a magnificent day – be positive about what may happen. Starting off with an angry attitude sets you up for a negative day. You may bring down a good mood in every room you walk into. Don’t be that person who sucks the energy out of a room because of a funky attitude.

Second, don’t allow a bad attitude to stick with you. Yes, it can be hard to get through the day after something has brought you down, but it doesn’t have to ruin your entire day. If someone passes away, it’s understandable that you’re sad – that’s something that will take a while to work through.

If someone is driving slow in front of you, it may be annoying, but you can adjust your attitude once the situation is over. Don’t carry it into work, lunch and into family time. It’s ridiculous because it is robbing you of an otherwise, potentially great day. Your family will see you being grumpy and it takes away from them (and it’s not even their fault!)

Also, having a terrible attitude may prevent an opportunity from coming your way. I’ve heard of many situations where someone was about to be offered an opportunity, but because of their attitude, it didn’t happen. You’ll never know when an opportunity may present itself, so always have a gracious and positive demeanor.

Another way is to know that each step you take, you’re about to walk into a different situation that deserves a fair shot. You wouldn’t want to see someone, say ‘hello’ and they just snarl at you for no particular reason. Even if you are about to do something you don’t like to do (for example, washing dishes), do it with a smile. It has to get done, so you may as well do it with a smile and make it as happy of a moment as you can.

Having a bad attitude doesn’t help anyone. If you can help it, why not have an awesome attitude whenever you can? It beats being down and giving off bad vibes. It is in your control to be the best you can be. If you don’t have to be a grump, don’t be a grump. Your day will be much better for making that impactful, small decision.

Self-Sabotage Is Holding You Back

Self-Sabotage

Self-sabotage is when you set yourself up for failure. You become unconsciously satisfied with being your own enemy.

It seems backwards – don’t you want to be successful? Why would you run away from accomplishing your goals? Who doesn’t want to work towards a good life?

Your Level of Confidence

Being your own downfall begins with your self-esteem. Throughout life, you’ve become used to coming in last, being in the background or just being non-active.

Some people are born into environments that are anti-productive. This is a situation where you can respond one of two ways: you can become the opposite of your environment, or you can fall into it’s trap.

It’s difficult to go against the grain to become who you really want to be. When your surroundings don’t reflect a path to your vision, it becomes a challenge to fight against it. Even though gravity is pulling you down, you make an intentional effort to pull yourself up.

On the other hand, it’s easy to give in to what’s around you, good or bad. When you live in an unproductive environment, it starts to look normal. It weakens your self confidence and you accept the loser mindset. Your actions begin to mirror your poor self image and it causes self-sabotage.

Leave The Past In The Past

People make mistakes and bad decisions in life. Things can happen out of your control, but it’s your choice to either react or respond.

Another thing that causes self-sabotage is holding on to the past. Whatever happened may have been terrible, but you’re only hurting yourself when you constantly relive the memory and allow it to take up valuable space in your mind.

When you forgive, you’re not giving in to the person that hurt you, you’re allowing yourself to let go of the pain and move forward. Replaying the hurt as if it happened today is what holds you back. When you forgive someone, you free yourself – you take your life back and start to breathe again.

Holding on to the past contributes to self-sabotage. You’re prohibiting yourself from making progress because you’re stuck in that place. This leads to blaming others for your position in life, when really, all you have to do is let go and move on.

Forgiving is not as easy as it sounds, but it’s the only way to give yourself peace and reclaim your life.

Self-Sabotage Can Be Prevented

These are just a couple of ways that self-sabotage can destroy your progress. It can sneak in through various forms, but if you can recognize and prevent it from occurring, you’re one step ahead.

Instead of going with the flow with everyone else, think for yourself. Your choice may not be the most popular, but at least you know it’s how you want to operate.

Do the impossible. Always reach for goals that seem right outside of your grasp. Use your energy to stretch yourself to your potential. Don’t let anyone talk you out of your dreams – continue to increase your confidence (trust yourself), strengthen your mindset (listen to motivational speeches/podcasts and read inspirational books/blogs) and take productive action (learn from your mistakes and setbacks).

Don’t allow self-sabotage to take over your life. As you can see, some people live with it, yet, they don’t know why their lives are miserable or unlucky. When you decide to leave the past in the past, you can level up your surroundings, let go of what happened and create the future you dream of!

#TBT: Live Your Life Today

#TBT: Live Your Life Today

Whatever it is you want to accomplish in your life, do it. There may not be much time for you to contemplate.

Everyday is a chance to do what you want to do and make progress. Even if it is uncomfortable, the opportunity is there for the taking.

We think so far into the future, that we forget to do something today. Overthinking takes over our mental space and we end up doing nothing. Planning is essential, but starting is just as important.

If you knew what day would be your last, you would do everything you want to do, within that amount of time, especially if it was soon. That’s what makes time so precious because we don’t know how much of it we have left.

And that’s the catch – you don’t know when your last day is. Therefore, you must do your best today, as if tomorrow may not come.

So what if you mess up? So what if it didn’t turn out right? So what if only one person showed up? How many times are you going to let an outside force, stop you from reaching your goal?

The trolls, the gossip, the weird stares – none of that matters in the end. Don’t waste time thinking about that insult. Stop saying ‘yes’ to situations that allow you to float through life. Hold yourself accountable and do what you want to do. No one can live your dream the way you can because your dream is in your control.

We think so small of ourselves and give so much consideration and power to what other people think. Instead of praising others, praise yourself. Stop thinking that other people are always successful, you are successful, too! Stop thinking that good things only happen to other people, good things happen to you, too!

None of us are any better than the other – we are all human and we all have the ability to do something great. Some of us leave it up to other people to be great, but the capability is there. You just have to get up and do the work that it takes to be great.

Don’t let your time run out without making your mark. Put forth phenomenal effort daily. Regret is a painful feeling that no one should have to experience. The only way not to, is to live your life, everyday.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: How To Find The Opportunity In Fear

How To Find The Opportunity In Fear

It sounds impossible, but you can find the opportunity in fear. Depending on your mindset, fear can either hold you back or take you to another level.

We’ve been trained to see fear and hurt as something to avoid. It’s something ‘bad’ that we want to get away from and we don’t ever want to experience it.

Have you ever considered that maybe your fear is pushing you in the right direction? Let’s examine how we normally react to fear.

Blaming And Complaining

Fear gets the best of our emotions. As soon as something makes us fearful, our feelings kick in and take over.

For some of us, that means we automatically become defensive. We create different excuses as to why we haven’t done something. The excuses are portrayed through blaming and complaining.

We say things like, “I couldn’t make the speech because they didn’t give me the right microphone…” or, “The lights were so bright, I couldn’t see the audience.” That’s fear consuming your mind and your attitude.

Those may be somewhat legitimate reasons (to an extent), but they’re still excuses. Sometimes, you will have to get things done, whether you are comfortable or not. Everything is not guaranteed to happen to your personal satisfaction. The end goal is to make it happen, the best way you can.

Practicing Fear

Some of us actually practice the fear within us. When you have pity parties and feel sorry for yourself, that’s being supporting of a negative emotion.

We say things like, “They said I’m no good at singing. I never was and I guess I never will be…”, or “I flunked the test twice already – I guess it’s not meant for me.” You’re indirectly inviting negative energy to take hold of your life.

If it’s something you really want to overcome, don’t feel bad because it didn’t happen the first time around. As long as you breathe, you can make another attempt.

There will always be people who are critical of whatever you’re doing. Never allow what someone else thinks, to interfere with what you’re doing. It’s their insecurity, not yours, so don’t claim it.

The Pity Party

The pity party is the ultimate setback. Some of us were raised to think and be fearful of things we’ve failed at. We’ve been taught to accept that we’re not ‘good enough’ and that’s not okay.

We’re used to reacting to obstacles by putting ourselves down. “Why me? What did I do to deserve this?” Then, you begin playing all of your failures from the past, over and over in your mind.

This is not the ONLY way to respond to fear. Yes, it hurts when challenging situations happen, but have a mindset of power and opportunity. Stop practicing fear by having a “woe is me” attitude and thinking that you’ll never succeed.

Be Proactive

All of our lives, we’ve allowed fear to steal valuable moments from us. We’re so used to believing in a negative, emotional power, that it literally takes up our most important asset – time.

Reclaim your time and take advantage of your fear. Be productive by turning it into an opportunity to become better. Make it a personal project that you must successfully complete!

Instead of letting fear control you, take control of it. See the benefits of what fear has to offer and use it in your favor. On the other side of fear is improvement. See through it, then, see it through.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: Happiness Is Your Responsibility

#TBT: Happiness Is Your Responsibility

Your happiness is in your control. Often times, we allow outside circumstances to direct how we feel throughout the day. We have the power to feel the way we want to feel, but sometimes, we give up that responsibility to someone else.

Being happy and having the right attitude takes conscious effort. You can easily go through life thinking of unfortunate things that have happened in the past and reliving it everyday, but you also have the ability to decide to be positive and move forward.

Find Your Happiness

The reason why so many of us aren’t happy is because we are waiting on someone, or some thing, to make us happy. “I’ll be happy when I’m married – I’ll be happy when I lose 10 pounds – I’ll be happy when I finish school.” Relying on an outside source to make you feel good will fail every time.

When you wake up in the morning, give yourself permission to feel joy. Yesterday may not have been a great day, but you don’t have to invite that feeling into the next day, or the day after that. Even if you need to address the same challenge today, go into it with a positive mindset, knowing you will overcome it.

Find happiness on your own. Make the decision that this day will be productive and fulfilling, because you will make it that way. If you made the attempt and it doesn’t work out, leave it where it is – don’t carry it over into the next day. Keep a good attitude, start again and work through it with confidence.

A Good Attitude Is Rewarding

Possessing a positive attitude is more beneficial than having a bad attitude. How many times have you received poor customer service, because that person had a negative vibe?

Everyone won’t be chipper and delightful all of the time, but by having a good attitude, you remain in control of your feelings. Just because someone else isn’t having such a good day, doesn’t mean that you should give in and mirror their emotions.

Having a positive attitude lights up a room – you never know who it could affect. People with bad attitudes expect others to participate in their negativity, but you could always walk away or change the direction of the conversation.

Who wants to be around a person who’s always gloomy? Keep your attitude at a positive level and don’t let others steal your happiness.

Distractions And Discipline

Distractions are out there, fighting for your attention. It could be in the form of watching the news, people gossiping, or chasing that new, shiny object.

Whatever the situation is, don’t let your attitude follow the various distractions you encounter everyday. There are pleasant distractions that can make your day, but when it takes away your concentration, it can lead down a different road.

Distractions are a form of control. Whenever you fall for a distraction, it has power over your demeanor. There’s no way to avoid all distractions, but you still have control over how you receive and react to them.

Practice being disciplined with your attitude. When something grabs your attention, your reaction is normally to go with it. Letting distractions control your feelings can bring about anxiety and stress. Instead, acknowledge it, have your feelings about it (if necessary) and get back to your happiness. There’s no need to ruin a good day, over a small disturbance.

Happiness Takes Practice

Having a positive attitude should be common practice in your life. Don’t let other people take away the joy you want to keep.

It can be a daily battle, but it becomes easier the more you do it. By making the effort and choosing to have a brighter perspective, you open yourself up to opportunities and handle challenges more effectively.

This doesn’t mean that the bad distractions will go away, it just means that you’re in a better position to manage them – again, you have the power. When you choose to be happy, instead of allowing some outside force to hijack your emotions, you become more positive and it catches on to other people around you.

We all have a choice – are we going to guide the day, or let the day guide us?

Always keep your happiness, a good attitude and a bright perspective.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: How To Turn Procrastination Into Progress

#TBT: How To Turn Procrastination Into Progress

Procrastination occurs in many ways. Some people put things off at the suggestion of others, while some are stuck being comfortable.

With the internet, most things have become easier to access. Today, you don’t need to wait for anything to happen. Delaying any type of progress is a choice that you consciously make.

With that being said, how can you stop being hesitant? Is it possible to pull yourself out of that negative vortex? When is the best time to go from procrastination to progress?

The Procrastination Trap

Change can be as difficult as you make it. Sometimes, we tend to make things harder than they really are, especially if it’s outside of our confort zone.

Instant gratification is a procrastination trap. You’re so used to having things happen instantly, you begin to think that everything should happen right now.

When you come across something that takes a little more time to come together, you become anxious. Then, you decide to leave it alone, because it’s not happening fast enough.

This leads to you procrastinating on many things, simply because it doesn’t happen right away. Realize that it takes time for some things to fall into place – all you have is time. Prepare yourself with patience and realize that everything doesn’t come about within a moment’s notice.

The Progressive Mindset

In order to make progress, it starts in your mind. Your mind is your first line of defense when it comes to obtaining information and processing it.

Your environment may be bad, your friends may be critical and your luck may not be going good, but you still have a choice. Don’t let the limitations around you affect your way of thinking.

When you think, think of positive things. Think about improving yourself, achieving that goal, having a good day, helping someone in need, or receiving good news. It may not turn out the way you think, but you learn to accept things the way they are and adjust, so you can make changes.

Progress happens when you’re able to shift your thinking and adapt to any outcome that may happen. Procrastination will hold you back from even making that first attempt, but a positive mindset will allow you to follow through and create a solution.

Procrastination Begins With Small Steps

Once you find a solution, you can begin to step into your life. As long as you don’t let procrastination stop you, you will eventually develop a productive habit.

When you get into the practice of actually starting, it’s not as hard as it seems. Begin with something small and easy to accomplish. This will have a snowball effect – the more you do it successfully, the better you can accommodate bigger tasks with confidence.

Taking small steps isn’t frightening. It’s small enough to begin, but big enough to get you going in the right direction, away from procrastination.

Outside factors can have an influence on how you move. Don’t let your environment intimidate you and don’t let small-minded people convince you to stay complacent. Starting small is better than not starting at all.

Beating Procrastination

Overcoming the habit of procrastination won’t be easy. It’s not something you can expect to happen within 24 hours. The best time to start is always NOW.

Like anything else, making progress will take time and effort to establish and maintain. There are many distractions working against you already, but as long as you don’t expect things to happen instantly, have the right mindset and take small steps, it’ll all come together.

Procrastination comes in many different forms, but you can handle it. With the right outlook, you can defeat the battle of putting things off and become more productive and dynamic with your goals.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: Are You A Worrier Or A Warrior?

Are You A Worrier Or A Warrior?

There’s obviously a difference between a worrier and a warrior – warriors are powerful and disciplined. Worriers are doubtful and full of fear. What separates a warrior from a worrier?

A worrier is what most people default to. They worry when they don’t know what else to do. It can be very stressful, but they’re the one who creates the stress.

On the other hand, a warrior is steadfast and strong. Warriors control the situation, not the other way around.

Worriers Are Common

Worriers are uneasy. When things go wrong, they don’t know what to do. They react to situations, as opposed to thoughtfully responding to them.

People who worry, react and make things worse. Instead of solving the problem, they add their own drama to it and magically place the focus on themselves.

Worriers create fear and doubt, naturally.

The only thing that a worrier does successfully, is waste time. They are not ready or prepared to handle tense circumstances. Everything is, “Oh, no!” and “What if (insert negative thought here)?”

Not only do worriers cause anxiety for themselves, they create an unsettling environment. It’s hard to change the energy from negative to positive, but it’s very easy to drag it from positive to negative. That’s what they do.

Worriers stop at no, but that’s where a warrior begins.

Signs of a Warrior

Warriors are people of strength, mentally and physically. No matter what happens, they will figure it out and make it work.

Unlike worriers, warriors bring peace to a situation. If they find themselves in a disturbing scenario, they have the ability to calm things down and develop a strategy to move forward.

Warriors turn their problems into challenges.

The best characteristic about a warrior is that they have discipline. They have the discipline to believe in themselves and to not make excuses. They have the discipline to feed their fears and starve their doubts.

Warriors can motivate and inspire the people around them. Others depend on them to lead and win in every situation. If they don’t win, they don’t accept defeat. They will find their fault, so they can do better next time around.

Being a warrior is a daily practice. It’s not something you’re lucky to be born with – it takes effort and constant development.

Today, being a worrier is common in our society. We have the option to be either one, but some of us don’t have the desire to be a warrior. We’d rather have someone else save us and hope things get better.

Making the impossible happen is what sets the warrior apart from the worrier. In the warrior’s mindset, wanting better leads to doing better.

You have a choice – will you be a worrier or a warrior?

#BeGoalden

Having Empathy Makes The World Better

Having Empathy Makes The World Better

Having empathy goes farther than getting temporary revenge, or becoming angry for the rest of the day. People will cut you off in traffic. Someone may have a hyper child in the doctor’s office. The cashier at the store was rude to you for no reason.

Are people doing these things to be mean? Is it up to you to bring it to their attention or call them out on it? Consider using empathy as a tool to keep calm and carry on.

What Is Empathy?

Empathy is the experience of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another person. Instead of having a bad attitude right back at the other person, you understand where they are coming from and possibly why they did what they did.

When someone cuts you off in traffic, are they doing it just because they can, or are they in a rush to the hospital? Normally, we think of other people as being rude and obnoxious – they want things their way and they don’t care who they hurt in the process.

Having empathy allows you to make room for understanding. There’s no doubt that some people are just rude and obnoxious, but not everyone. Some people have a very good reason for speeding or breaking down at work. It’s not always the case, but let’s be more considerate before we judge and react.

Empathy Is Better Than Bitterness

One day, I was in the store with my mom and sister, in the checkout line. There was a lady in the front of us, rudely talking to the cashier. “If you didn’t want to be here, you shouldn’t have came to work! Your attitude is unacceptable!”

As we approached the cashier, we could see that she looked a mess, crying and going through the motions of ringing up our items. She didn’t greet us or look at us. She didn’t even tell us our total for us to pay.

As a child, I felt bad for her because she was obviously hurting and the lady before us didn’t help the situation by creating a distraction for others to see. My mom payed for our things and as we were leaving the store, the supervisor apologized to us.

“I’m sorry about that – she’s had a rough morning. She found out that someone in her family passed away.” That explains it all.

The cashier wasn’t being impolite or disrespectful on purpose. People handle grief differently – maybe she wanted to work to take her mind off of the death in her family. The lady before us didn’t help the situation by mouthing off and being rude.

Be Mindful Of Others

Make an attempt to be empathetic before judging. Yes, there are some people out there who do things just to show off or because they feel like it, but there are others out there who are dealing with more than we know.

The same way you want others to be considerate and have empathy for you, have the same consideration and empathy for others. Again, it’s not always the case that people have a good reason for doing something out of the ordinary, but it gives you peace for yourself, as opposed to being angry for the rest of the day.

Don’t waste your good energy, when you don’t know the whole story. It’s easy to judge, but it’s hard to have empathy. Let’s be more human to each other. People look for attention in the wrong ways – sometimes, all they need is for someone to understand and listen.

Be the example and show the world what true empathy looks like.

#TBT: Learning To Self-Educate

Learning To Self-Educate

Once we graduate from school, most of us are glad to get out of the mundane, everyday cycle of sitting in a class, taking tests and doing homework.

Traditional school is the basis of your learning. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, it teaches you the fundamentals to get along in the world.

The path to education has changed the learning landscape now. Learning is no longer limited to a school building. Although this is the way we still provide education, it extends beyond that.

Learning For Yourself

The internet has changed the education game. Twenty years ago, you couldn’t go to school online or listen to an in-depth podcast on what you like to do. Sometimes, when you’re inside the change that’s happening in real time, it’s hard to realize the benefits around you.

It doesn’t take any effort to learn anything, today. Back then, you had to learn AT school or ON the job.

Today, you can learn anything from the internet. You can Google it, watch a YouTube video or listen to the podcast.

Somewhere in that little device, is the answer to your question.

You want to learn how to install a car engine? YouTube it. You want to repair your credit? Listen to a credit repair podcast. You need a little inspiration, motivation or you feel stuck? Go to the Goalden Lady website.

No matter what it is, the answer is accessible – it’s there and it’s free! Don’t limit yourself by being stubborn and doing it the old way. There are so many options and possibilities now, it’s ridiculous, but it’s ridiculously great!

Use The Advantage

If anything, the internet has made learning more interesting and fun. It’s beneficial to everyone, on all levels. The best thing we can do today is take advantage of it. Gone are the days where you have to call, sit and wait for someone’s help. Today, you can grow and make progress on your own.

Make a decision to open yourself up and take a chance at becoming better. Achieving your goals still takes hard work, discipline and focus on your part in order to see success. The path of action may not be easier, but having (and using) access to your resources gives you more of a head start.

Keep learning. Self-education is key. We are no longer confined to a ‘one way only’ system. You can do so much more with technology today. You have the power, literally, in your hands. Learn it and leverage it.

#BeGoalden