success Archives - Page 8 of 14

3 Proactive Strategies To Build A Successful Life

People say it all the time: “Just do it! Start where you are! Think positive!” Those things sound good in theory, but where do you actually begin?

Developing strong habits is a great start. If you want to build yourself into a more productive person, you’re going to have to make some changes with your daily practices.

Introduce the following 3 habits into your life. This isn’t about instant gratification. Instead, it’s about preparing for upcoming opportunities and growth, which will be beneficial to you in the long run.

Strategy #1: Take Ownership of Your Actions

As kids, we would point the finger at someone else if we didn’t want to get in trouble. Even if we knew it was our fault, we would do anything to avoid punishment. For some of us, we carried this habit over into adulthood.

If you do something wrong, own up to it. This is the sign of a leader. The point isn’t to find someone to blame, it’s to take responsibility so the team can move forward.

People are so worried about the consequences of their actions, that they don’t want to own their mistakes. This type of mindset holds up your process to achieving any goal.

No one wants to look bad, but in hindsight, see where you went wrong and improve upon what happened. If you should come across the situation again, you know how to handle it better. Own your actions and allow it to be a life lesson.

Strategy #2: Hold Yourself Accountable

In order to become the greatest version of yourself, you must hold yourself accountable. Your personal standards should exceed the standards of what others expect of you.

It’s good to have accountability partners, but they’re not always necessary. Some people work better alone because they can move at their own pace. In some instances, an accountability partner can hold you back.

Instead of giving someone else the responsibility of holding you accountable, hold yourself accountable. Letting yourself down should be more painful than letting someone else down. You can disappoint others and not care, but if you disappoint yourself (especially if it’s something you really want to accomplish), it should spark you into action.

Don’t depend on others – start holding yourself accountable. Without realizing it, your friends can be your biggest downfall. They may let you get away with skipping a workout or look the other way when you slip up. Trust yourself and don’t give in.

Strategy #3: Be Solution-Focused

When everyone else is complaining, find a solution. While everyone else is making up excuses, find a way to make it work. Make it a habit of making things happen.

It’s easy to find comfort in negativity. Most people live in those spaces, but there’s no growth there. If you want to find yourself in a better position, you’re going to have to do the opposite and that means finding solutions.

Be the person that looks for an answer. Even if your suggestion doesn’t work out, at least you didn’t sit there and complain while doing nothing. All you did was learn one way that didn’t work.

Whenever the chance is given, always look for a solution. Contributing to the problem doesn’t move you any closer to solving the issue. Your job is to focus on getting to the next level. Be solution-focused.

BONUS – Strategy #4: Be Consistent With Taking Action

This is the most important strategy. No matter what happens, be consistent with taking action.

You will encounter obstacles and challenges throughout your life – no one is immune to this. The only way you can guarantee your achievement is to take consistent action.

The more action you take, the more direction you give yourself. If you go in the wrong direction, turn around and go in another. This leads to the path towards your achievement. Keep taking action until you reach your goal.

Most people will see it as a sign to stop, but it’s just a hint that you should try again, but in a different way. You can change the course, but never change the goal.

These strategies will help you create a steady foundation for the rest of your life. Begin using them now and start reaping the benefits of your future sooner, rather than later.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: You Don’t Have To Like It (Just Do It)

You’re ready to start committing to your goal. You’ve done all of the research and you know what it’s going to take. The plan has been thought out and you’re prepared. The start date comes around and you realize that you’re not feeling it. It looked good during research, but now it’s time to do the actual work.

When people say they want to reach a certain goal, they mostly think about the parts they like to do. This can be fun and it’s part of the reason why you want to do it, right? Everyone says, “Follow your passion! Do what you love!” That’s called a hobby. If you want to make a living off of what you love to do, it’s called a business.

Now, you have to do business things. It doesn’t seem so fun anymore. You can only get paid under the table for so long. You will run into someone who will ask you to fill out an I-9 or W-9 for whatever type of tax or identification purposes*. Now, you need to temporarily stop baking cupcakes and start doing the paperwork necessary to make your business official.

Yes, I know you hate paperwork and filling out different forms and making payments to cover your business name with the state, etc. Well, you don’t have to like it, you just have to do it. While you’re baking those lovely cupcakes, you also have to make time for the things you need to do to make your business grow and to generate more customers. You can pay someone to do these things for you or you can take the time and do it yourself. I know it’s laborious, but you should always aim to have all of your ducks in a row.

You just learned that you need a license in order to bake those lovely cupcakes you’ve been baking for the last ten years. You already know how to do this, so why do you need a license? Well, it’s the law (for example purposes). If you get a surprise inspection one day, you’ll be glad you did it. Get your lovely cupcake baking license and keep moving forward. Want to be recognized as a woman-owned business? That’s a task – you’ll need the last three years of taxes, articles of organization, the date your business started, meeting minutes, NAICS codes, etc*. Ask anyone in a legal business and they will tell you that there’s much more to running a business, other than doing the part you love.

It sucks that these things come up, but don’t let it ruin your passion for those cupcakes. There are many other things you will have to do, just so you can bake those lovely cupcakes. As your business grows, you’ll be able to hire someone to help you with the boring, tedious paperwork. Again, you don’t have to like all of the exhausting, monotonous work, but you have to do it. Don’t let it stop you from starting your business. Everyone has to do it – no one is picking on you. If it’s needed, then do it. Plain and simple. The complaining and whining will only hinder your progress.

One more time: you don’t have to like it, you just have to do it. If it was easy, everyone would be successful.

*The examples in this post are merely used as a guideline in starting a fictitious cupcake business. Please do your own research in order to succeed.

#TBT: Make The Decision To Believe In Yourself

If you are the type of person who has no problem with believing in yourself, you’ve pretty much already won at life. For those of us who have a bit more trouble…

Are you aware of this massive power that you have in your possession? Everyday when you wake up, you can decide to be as courageous or as cowardly as you want to be.

Some of us allow outside influences to make that decision for us, so we just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.

There are others of us who make that decision every single day and we choose to be as happy and confident as we want to be. Nothing’s going to bring us down — we can handle it!

Why can’t we all be that way?

We are all born into different environments. Some grew up in a loving, forward-thinking home and others grew up in a negative, stagnant way of thinking home.

When your surroundings are positive and motivating, it’s easy to believe in yourself. Everyone is always rooting for you and they acknowledge your efforts.

When your surroundings are negative, there is no acknowledgement for anything. Everyone is stuck in the same place, with the ‘it’s always been like this,’ mentality. The possibility of doing any better is nonexistent.

Although your environment doesn’t determine your outcome 100%, it does play a major part.

It’s hard to go against the grain in a bad environment. The easy way out would be to accept what everyone else is doing and continue to ‘go with it.’

The harder thing to do is be proactive. Even when people say negative things to you 20 times a day, you find a way to turn it around.

“I won’t give in.”
“I can break the cycle.”
“I can do better than this.”
“I don’t want to end up like them.”

This is what pushes you ahead. Although they keep telling you that you’re no better than them, you believe that you are and you can do better.

On the other hand, some people believe in themselves so much, they abuse it and think they can do whatever they want.

When you become used to things turning out in your favor, your efforts can become lazy. You don’t stop after success happens — you have to put in even more effort to keep it going.

As you can see, your environment can work for you or against you. Some people want to break out of their negative environment so bad, they do the total opposite of what’s around them.

Others come from such a positive environment, they expect people to believe in them everywhere they go. When they come across a set of people who really don’t care, they become depressed and fall into a trap of believing what others say about them.

These scenarios don’t happen with everyone, but again, the environment does have an effect on a person’s self-belief.

Let’s teach our children to believe in themselves, no matter what others say or think about them. Teach them that everyone is not going to be encouraging of everything they do. Some people will tease them just to get under their skin.

Most of all, teach them that their self worth is not determined by what others think. Believing in yourself can be difficult, but with the right foundation and mindset, we can push ourselves farther than our thoughts can take us.

Just make that decision every morning. I am courageous. I am beautiful. I am helpful. I am worthy. I am powerful.

Don’t wait for permission (you don’t need it) or for somebody else to tell you (you know it better than they know it). Believe it!

Is Overthinking Slowing Down Your Progress?

It happens to the best of us – we get stuck in our thoughts and we end up not doing anything at all, due to overthinking. That simple, yet difficult, decision can take days to figure out.

Stop pondering and wondering. Take a position and act on it. Riding the fence will not help and it only feeds into being indecisive. Life doesn’t always give second chances, so we must gain ground when we can.

Overthinking Causes Regret

Have you ever thought about a time when you should have done something, but instead, you let the opportunity slip away? What made you procrastinate or shy away from that chance?

More than likely, it was overthinking. When you have a choice to make, it shouldn’t take days to decide. We get caught up in our feelings and we move based on emotions or by what others think. Later, we beat ourselves up because we didn’t take action on that choice. The opportunity has passed for someone else to take advantage.

Regret happens the older you get, so don’t act on the way you feel. Be a robot, eliminate your emotions and perform consistent actions based on your goal – that’s how you reach success.

If you do that, you no longer have to wonder or face the irritation of regret.

Overthinking Ignites Fear

Another reason we tend to overthink is because we are scared of the results we may encounter.

No one wants to be a loser, but remember: you never lose, you learn. Once you understand this, overthinking won’t be such a challenge.

The fear of something not going the right way, or the fear of ‘what if’, will always be there to haunt you. What you have to do is remove that fear by moving forward and being committed to the outcome, whatever it may be. You can always go back and improve.

Everyone experiences fear. The difference is, some people will allow it to paralyze them and others will follow through and do it anyway. Win or learn, those that never give up always end up on the right side of achievement.

Is Your Ego The Issue?

Your ego is that voice in your head that talks you into or out of doing certain things. It gives you feelings of courage or discouragement. Listening to your ego can be good if you choose to listen to the positive side.

To some, having an ego isn’t good. People who have strong egos are said to be arrogant, full of themselves or overconfident. Actually, it doesn’t seem so bad to believe strongly in yourself. Besides, if you don’t believe in yourself, who will?

Others whose egos aren’t as strong, are the ones who overthink. They let the soft side of their ego hold them back, as opposed to jumping in and learning as they go. To make them feel better, they call others with confidence vain or cocky. Don’t let your ego consume your mindset with weakness and fear.

Take A Position And Decide

It doesn’t matter if you end up making the wrong decision – you can correct it along the way, while continuing to make progress. Being stagnant with your decision-making only enhances your overthinking.

Take a chance, jump off the porch, dive in – do whatever you think is the best at the moment, but by all means, move! Overthinking is the death of progress and success. You don’t gain anything from wasting time, worrying about whether to go left or right.

Free your overthinking mind from unnecessary stress and anxiety. It doesn’t take much to consider your choices and act. Don’t make it harder than it is. Move with certainty and boldness and claim your future without regrets!

#BeGoalden

Intention Will Get You Farther Along Than Hope

It’s the beginning of the New Year and everyone has a resolution. Most resolutions are created in the spirit of the event, but very few are realized in real life with intention and focus.

What normally happens is, we begin to hope. We hope that we can lose weight or we hope that we can make more money. Hope doesn’t do what intention will do.

How Far Can Hope Take You?

When we’re young, people often ask us what we want to do when we become adults. No one ever tells us the details in order to get to that destination.

This leads us to hoping and wishing for the desired result. If we don’t know any other way to become what we want to be, we don’t don’t how to take the necessary steps to get there.

You can hope all you want, but the only thing that will change is the amount of time you’ve wasted. A car that doesn’t move doesn’t go anywhere. Thinking about the destination won’t magically get you there and hoping won’t either.

Hope is a good place to start, but it won’t carry you to your end goal. Now, we must connect our hope to intention. When the connection is made, things will start to happen and you will see more opportunities to grow.

Intention Involves Work

Intention is where the real work begins. Doing things on purpose builds your character and allows you to design your own path to success, with confidence.

Do you hope to win the game or do you practice in order to have the best advantage to win the game? Will you hope to read two books in one month, or will you come up with a strategy to read two books in one month?

The difference is night and day. Hope feels good in your mind, but intention will actually exercise your mind to get to where you want to be.

With intention, you know what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. You create a deadline and you think of alternate ways of following through. If you don’t make your deadline, you intentionally keep going anyway.

Be intentional with your free time. Create strategies to reach your achievements. We see successful people, but we don’t see the intentional work that went into their accomplishments.

How To Be Intentional

Understand that being intentional will take work (that’s why it’s called intention, not hope). Make your habits a daily practice in your life, so that you are making progress, everyday.

Make a detailed plan and put aside time to do productive work. This means actually doing the small things that will eventually lead to the big things. Don’t hope you’ll start walking this week, actually get out the door and walk to the end of the street.

Even if you don’t have the appropriate gear, it shouldn’t stop you. There are some things you have to do or figure out along the way, but the most important thing is to start.

All you need to do now, is walk everyday to the end of the street. As the days continue, go farther to develop your stamina and endurance. This is how you develop a habit with intention, which will lead to reaching your goals. There’s no other way to get there – you must simply make a detailed plan, put in the time and DO IT!

Stack The Odds In Your Favor

Nothing happens just because. People accomplish what they set out to do by being intentional and deliberate with their habits. Again, you may see their success, but you never see the details that produced it.

Make it where you will see progress in your life. Only you can force yourself to have better focus, discipline and consistency. Demand more from yourself than others. Know that it won’t get done, unless you take on the personal responsibility and do it.

Instead of looking at the next year, concentrate on today, this week, next month or the next ninety days. Once you begin, you’ll see results within a month and definitely in a year.

Don’t cheat yourself. Be productive on purpose, but most of all, be more intentional than hopeful.

#BeGoalden

Take Action, But Don’t Get Stuck On The Research

Take Action, Get It Wrong And Do It Again

The first step to taking action, for some, is doing research. There are lots of questions concerning how to get started and if it interests you enough to put in the time and effort.

It only makes sense to do some reading and asking around before you begin, but what happens when it turns into procrastination? Is there ever a right time to start?

Action Is A Verb. Be A Verb.

Let’s not make this harder than what it really is. Yes, research is designed to help you make informed decisions and to create strategic plans moving forward, but other than that, what’s stopping you?

We come up with all kinds of excuses: it’s too hot, my head hurts, I don’t have time, I’ll do it Monday, the stock market is down, it shouldn’t have happened that way, and so on.

It’s very easy to provide excuses, but what about taking action? No matter how much research you do, the wheels won’t start turning until you actually do something. Do not paralyze your actions by overthinking – simply move and adjust.

Don’t Ask For Action, Take It!

After you announce your goal, people will follow up to see if you’re following through. Did you think you would announce that you would take over the world and no one would ask about it later?

If you’re bold enough to put it out there, be bold enough to do it. We have these great ideas, yet, we never get around to them. An invisible fear creeps in and floods our imagination with all kinds of negativity and distractions.

All of a sudden, you’ve created a thousand reasons why your great idea was really a terrible idea. Others have talked you out of it by voicing their unsolicited opinions.

You do not need anyone’s permission. Don’t wait for the world’s approval, or you’ll be waiting forever. Hold yourself accountable and take responsibility for the results. The best thing about it is, you can always go back and do it better, no matter how many times you fail (which is only learning).

Do You Hide Behind Research?

Yes, a little research is sometimes needed before you dive into something. You want to know what you’re getting into and what it takes to become successful at it. At some point, you must go and do.

Some of us get stuck in the research phase. It’s comfortable because no one is expecting anything from us and we don’t have to face rejection. We feel safe from potential challenges and obstacles when we’re constantly ‘getting ready’.

Nothing happens when you continuously research. You may gain more knowledge and discover different routes to achieve your goal, but nothing happens. If nothing happens, nothing happens. It’s just that simple.

Go ahead and do your research, but do it and start. Don’t get stuck there forever – put some actionable force behind it. Instead of worrying about being perfect, be productive.

Stop Getting Ready And Just Do It!

The only way you’ll get there is if you take action. Understand that it may not be right the first or second time, but that’s how you improve and do better.

Step out of the ‘getting ready’ phase and step into the ‘now what’ phase. After you take action, think, ‘now what’? What can I do next? Can I make it better? How can I get closer to the outcome?

Success requires action, not constant procrastination through endless research. Don’t be your own worst enemy. If you take that first step and keep going, the fear will go away. The time will never be right, but the right time is now.

#BeGoalden

Don’t Let The New Year Fool You

It happens every single year. Around December, people begin to gear up and make resolutions, personal promises and new goals for the upcoming year. It never fails.

Who insisted upon the idea that we should give it our all, once a year? How does this affect our ability to succeed and grow?

New Year’s Resolutions

This is a popular topic of discussion around this time. We make a point to begin our ‘new’ journey on January 1st.

People make resolutions about what they are going to do, but does anyone look back and give productive thought to the current year? How can you improve if you keep standing in the same place?

Making resolutions is fine, but make it a continuation of what you’re doing now. It doesn’t make sense to start the same thing, every year – time is valuable. Most people give up within the first few months and forget about it. This leads to making the same mistake with the same goal, every time.

Resolutions and goals are estimated potential guides. We know what we want to achieve, we set a plan and we put in the work. What happens when we crash and lose our momentum?

Don’t Let The New Year Get You Stuck

After the first couple of months of ‘working’ on getting better, the enthusiasm starts to fade. We begin to do less and less everyday. Distractions look more appealing. Eventually, we stop altogether.

Instead of getting back on the horse, we allow small, meaningless tasks to consume our time and energy, just as it did before. That same vortex creeps back into our lives, sucks us in, and takes over. Complacency sets in and excuses become even more common.

There’s no doubt that the little things need to get done, but what happened to becoming the best version of yourself? Where’s that fire and rock solid intention that you possessed on December 31st, right before midnight?

The New Year Isn’t The Only Time

Where does it say that we have to stop and wait until next year to start all over again?

Most people make the same declaration every year, because they didn’t accomplish it last year, or the year before. They lose their excitement and they just stop and never think about it again – until December.

As opposed to procrastinating and waiting, let’s get in the habit of starting the next day. Instead of having one opportunity a year to get it right, you now have 365 (366 if it’s a leap year) opportunities to get it right and create a productive and more fulfilling life.

You don’t have to lose weight every year. Lose weight one year, travel more the next year, start a business the year after that and so on. Do something and make progress, otherwise, you just live the same life over and over again.

Growing everyday is better than growing once a year.

Let’s turn “Happy New Year!” into “Happy New Day!” You don’t necessarily have to wait until midnight every night to proclaim it, but you could review your resolutions and goals before you go to sleep and wake up in the morning with the same intent and motivation.

Commit To Your Greatness, All Over Again

The best part is, you get a chance to begin again, every 24 hours. No matter how ineffective you may have been yesterday (because it does happen), you can recommit and start all over again.

Build up your consistency by letting go of your fear of failure – do it until you get it right. Failing is the most straightforward way of learning how to do something better and it gets you to your success a lot faster than waiting. If you don’t keep pushing to improve, how will you get there?

There’s no need to wait for months at a time before you set a new goal, or begin one. You haven’t failed, you just need another opportunity to get it right. Give yourself permission and take that opportunity, daily.

#BeGoalden

What Does It Take To Turn On Your Light?

There may be times where you feel like nothing’s working. Success is for other people, not for you.

The first challenge is knowing what you want. If you don’t know your destination, how will you get there? Setting goals is the first thing you must do.

Seeing success can be delusional. It looks as if the other person has been there all of their life, or it took them no time at all to get there.

The part that you don’t see is where the magic lies.

Once you know where you’re going, you must figure out how to get there. The task may seem overwhelming, but it can be done, if you take it step by step.

The second challenge is forming habits and daily rituals. There has to be some sort of rhythm or pattern in place, in order to make progress.

People who set standards for themselves have a way that they do certain things, everyday. To be productive, there has to be habits in place to accommodate improvement.

The third challenge is taking action and moving forward. It’s not as easy as it sounds, considering the constant distractions we deal with on a daily basis. Even past that, starting is the hardest part of any journey, but it definitely can be done.

Not knowing what to do or where to start is a process in itself. When you feel lost, what do you do?

All of these challenges are what contribute to your potential success. Making the decision to follow through with the process is up to you.

Remove Your Limiting Beliefs

Let’s get this out of the way – before you begin anything in life, you must remove your limiting beliefs.

This can be tricky, because when you think you’ve removed them, they come back. It’s going to be a constant battle in your mind.

A strong foundation of discipline, focus and consistency will help along the way, but it won’t help unless you use them.

As you’re reading this now, your mind may be fighting against you, because you are about to do something it’s not used to – something uncomfortable. You’re having new ideas and you’re thinking new thoughts. It’s easy to just lay back and float down the river, but that’s not the path to success.

Going against the current is the path. Your mind is the current and you have to paddle you boat past those false beliefs, no matter how hard it is. Start believing you can, you deserve it, and it’s possible. Whatever the negative part of your mind is saying, believe the opposite.

If you want to stay comfortable and want to do the easy things, then this isn’t for you. It’s for those who are willing to step up to the challenge and advance towards a more productive and fulfilling life.

Living in fear can hold you back from the most amazing things that are waiting for you. It leads to regret – there is nothing more mentally devastating, than living with regret.

There are no hacks involved and no shortcuts. This is the work that has to be done, prior to your success.

Go ahead – turn on your light.

#BeGoalden

#TBT: Destroying The Habit Of Self-Defeat

We’ve all done it at some point in our lives, where self-defeat causes us to diminish our ideas and beliefs before anyone else can.

It makes you think you’re escaping the ridicule of others before they have a chance to do it. The idea of, “If I don’t do it, I won’t get hurt,” only leads to a path of self-sabotage and defeat.

What Is Self-Defeat?

Self-defeat is when you deny yourself of potential positive outcomes. You think it won’t happen anyway, so why even try? You don’t want to experience losing or having hurt feelings, so you run away from opportunity and beat yourself up.

First, let’s get over the idea of getting your feelings hurt. It’s going to happen. We’ve all had hurt feelings before, but we find a way to get past it. It doesn’t stop after you get old, so start dealing with it now.

The only way to deal with it is to go through it. Learn to develop a habit of persistence. Every time an obstacle occurs, don’t allow it to hijack your plan – be resourceful, figure it out and act. The next time it happens, you’ll know how to handle it and move on.

Putting yourself down only makes you weak and less confident. You need all of the confidence you can build up. Having a healthy self-esteem prepares you for those moments of uncertainty.

Want To See Your Enemy? Look In The Mirror

Secondly, don’t be your own worst enemy. There are other people who already do that. They try to insult you because you’re at least making an effort. It’s their insecurities – they don’t have a strong mindset to do the things they really want to do, so they try to push that same belief onto you.

Don’t let those types of thoughts enter your mind, because then, you begin to sabotage your own beliefs about yourself. You become your own worst enemy. You’ve done the enemy’s job for them.

Don’t let the enemy win!

At this point, no one has to do it to you, because you’re doing it to yourself. You disrespect yourself by believing what they say. You’ve placed limits on your own abilities, just to escape what they might say or ‘think.’

Who cares what they say or what they think? The only person in this world that knows exactly what you can do, is you. It’s not your parents, your siblings, your girlfriend/boyfriend – no, only you really know how far you can go. It’s in your control.

Stop listening to what other people tell you and listen to yourself. Tell yourself how awesome and strong you are!

Now, believe it. Don’t allow anyone else to take over your mind and bend it to what they like. Don’t worry about disappointing others, worry about disappointing yourself.

Self-Defeat Is A Limited Mindset

It’s great if you have an encouraging environment of people who trust and believe in you, but it comes down to you believing when no one else is there. Your cheerleaders won’t always be with you everywhere you go, so you have to learn to be your own cheerleader and follow through.

Don’t stop your progress before it starts. If there’s a wide open, 2 mile road ahead of you, why would you stop after taking 2 steps? This is where your self-defeat comes in:

Who do you think you are?
You’ll only make it halfway…
It’s too far…
Am I getting a prize for this?

All kinds of things will pop into your mind, but you must learn to stretch yourself. So what, if no one is there to see you do it? Do it for yourself! Do it for the benefit of knowing! This is how you build yourself. Stopping yourself before you start only makes you like everyone else.

You’re not everyone else. Find what you are interested in and go after it. Learn it, do it, make mistakes, do it again, create a better plan, follow it, fall down, get back up…that’s how it works.

It’s not a waste of time. It’s called progress and progress leads to success. Don’t sabotage yourself into a life of mediocrity and regret. Let your light shine!

#BeGoalden

Be Self-Aware And Live For Yourself

Part of building a strong foundation for your life is being self-aware. It takes effort to think yourself into your vision. When you know who you are, you will live for yourself.

Often times, we let others see our future before we do. Negative words are spoken in our presence and our minds automatically accept what was said.

How do you create your own dream? Why do you believe what others say about you? Do you really know who you are?

Be Self-Aware For You

People will judge anyone else, but themselves. It’s a quirky way to take the attention off of themselves and put it on others. This relieves any kind of embarrassment that could possibly happen when interacting within a group.

Understand that everyone has their opinions, but you don’t have to let it drive your life. More than likely, you’ll hear untrue opinions and hearsay about yourself throughout life. If you’re not careful, it’ll sink into your mind and ruin your self-esteem.

The issue isn’t you. It only becomes you when you begin to accept those opinions and judgments about you. You have the ability to turn it around. There doesn’t need to be a public debate about who you are, but you do need to know it on the inside, where it counts.

Are You Self-Aware? Who Are You?

Have you really thought about who you really are? We can easily talk about other people and give our thoughts on who we think they are, but can you honestly say who you are?

This is important, because if you’re not self-aware, you’ll take everyone else’s opinion and go with it. Allowing other people to shape your life through their assumptions can be destructive.

If someone says you’re not so smart, you may fall into that hole. Don’t step into other’s ideas of you. You are smart, but they only said it because they think that of themselves.

Get to know yourself. What do you like to do? Are you outgoing? Does being around kids bother you? When are you at your best? What do you know you need to work on? Are you working towards any goals?

Your Life Depends On You

Live your life, because no one else can live it for you. Be the director of your movie. You are the leading star, not the extra.

You may take the advice of others who have your interest at heart, but ultimately, it’s your life, so it’s your choice. Many times, we let others control and direct our movie.

A strong mindset is one of the most valuable things in your life. You possess the power to make a choice. Stop blaming the outcome of your situation on someone else. They may have had something to do with it, but again, it was your choice.

Be responsible for the decisions you make. Whether they are good or bad, take the results and own them. Most people point the finger at someone else – that’s easy. When you take responsibility for your choices, you are essentially taking control of your life and being self-aware in the process.

“I Am Not What You Say.”

Creating the person you want to become isn’t a simple task. All of the judgment, opinions and obstacles can wear a person down. It doesn’t have to be that way, if you know who you are.

Life has a way of making you feel like everyone and everything is working against you. At some point, everyone has felt this way. The ones who get over it, are the ones who know who they are and they keep going.

Be self-aware. Master yourself. Defeat the challenges and distractions that happen everyday. Don’t allow your attitude to fit into someone else’s small opinion of you.

Believe this: you are great – your potential is endless – you are brave and beautiful – you can do what you think you can do – it’s never a problem, just a challenge – it’s never a mistake, just feedback – you never lose, you just learned what didn’t work.

Always move forward and be the star of your movie.

#BeGoalden