Continue reading “Suffering Is Optional”Have you ever admired an exquisite pearl necklace, each lustrous pearl perfect in shape and shimmering iridescence? Do you know how pearls are made? Natural pearls are created when an irritant, a grain of sand or a bit of stone, gets inside the shell of a mollusk. The mollusk reacts to the irritant by coating it with a substance to reduce the irritation. Over time, as layer upon layer is added, a pearl is formed. The source of a natural pearl is irritation. The mollusk responds to the irritation by creating something of beauty and value.
TheExceleratedLife.com
A Simpler Life
“Designing a simple life means having fewer distractions in your life, so you can focus on what matters. It’s about saying no to everything that gets in the way, but saying yes to what’s right for you.” ~ Melissa Camara Wilkins
What Is Required For A Simple Life?
“If less is more, then nothing is everything.” [CoachU]
What is required to live a simple life? Does it mean giving up all luxuries? Going “off the grid”? Giving up your job? Cleaning out your possessions?
Actually, it could mean that and does for some people – but it isn’t a requirement. Most of us could lead simpler lives and create more time, energy, and resources for pursuing the things that really matter.
For example, research shows that people who have shorter commutes generally have a higher sense of well-being. [Morin] Yet, the trend is to move further away from our jobs to the suburbs and larger and larger houses. Most of us would be happier living in a smaller house, closer to work, but we have been enculturated to think bigger is better and more is preferable.
Continue reading “A Simpler Life”Plug The Energy Drains
Thomas Leonard, the “father” of life coaching, was one of the first people to understand and point out how tolerating petty annoyances was a huge drain on one’s energy. Here are steps you can take right now to begin dealing with the things you are tolerating.
TheExceleratedLife.com
Thomas Leonard defined tolerations as those things we “put up with, accept, take on, and are dragged down by” . . . including “people’s behavior, situations, unmet needs, crossed boundaries, unfinished business, frustrations, problems, and even our own behavior.” [Coach U]
Continue reading “Plug The Energy Drains”Have A Good Day
Your life is made up of a string of days. String together a succession of mediocre or average days and you build a mediocre, average life. String together a succession of good days and you build a good life. String together a succession of great days and you build a great life! Very seldom do great days happen on their own, without your involvement. You can get a great start on a great day by using the “Golden Hour” – the first hour of the day – to set the tone for your day.
TheExceleratedLife.com
Hyrum Smith called them the “magic hours”, a block of uninterrupted time, usually in the early morning, when you can concentrate on things beyond the normal urgency and routine of the day. This may be a time when you read or meditate or plan the day ahead. Brian Tracy refers to this time as the Golden Hour — the first hour of the day which can set the tone for the rest of the day.
Continue reading “Have A Good Day”Turn Excuses Into Actions
“The truth, as I see it, is that everything you think, say, and do is a choice — and you don’t need to think, speak, or act as you’ve done for your entire life. When you abandon making choices, you enter the vast world of excuses.” ~ Wayne W. Dyer, Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits
Making Progress Or Making Excuses
Are you making progress toward your BIG goal or are you making excuses? When you get down to the basics, this is a fundamental choice you and I must make. As my friend Robert says, “There is no such word as gress. You either progress or you regress.”
Continue reading “Turn Excuses Into Actions”Being And Doing
“To be or not to be, that is the question.” ~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1
Action Is Necessary . . .
Action, I have often said, is the last word in “attraction” (as in “The Law Of”). And I emphasize again the importance of taking actions to reach your goals. Faith can move mountains, but you also need a shovel and a pail. However, I recognize that a person can get caught up in doing for the sake of doing – endless to-do lists, constant activity. Carrying around the feeling that you always have to be doing something does not lead to flourishing.
Continue reading “Being And Doing”Boost Your Willpower
Automate decisions. The more decisions you can automate, the more will-power you save for situations where you need it. What decisions do you make every day that you could put on auto-pilot?
Today is the 111th day of 2016. A little over 100 days of this year are past and gone. It’s a good time for you and me to evaluate our progress toward our BIG goals. I confess I haven’t made as much progress as I would like but I continue to look for ways to devote more time to my goal, and I continue to work on the basics, the fundamentals, to become the person who can achieve the goals I set for myself.
Continue reading “Boost Your Willpower”Go For It
“I just can’t seem to get started on my goal.” “I have a goal I want to achieve but I don’t have time to work on it right now.” Sound familiar? Are you using a similar excuse to postpone a worthwhile goal that you’d like to be moving toward? If this sounds like you, here are some things to consider.
Is your goal your goal? The first thing you need to decide is if this is your goal. Not your parents’, not your spouse’s, not society’s, not a “should” or an “ought to”. If it isn’t something you can feel a strong desire to achieve (you may not feel it now but you need to be able to create the desire) chances are it isn’t your goal and either (1) you won’t achieve it, or (2) it won’t mean that much if you do make it. Be sure your goal is your goal.
Continue reading “Go For It”Fixed Mindset Or Growth Mindset
Are you “smart” or are you a “hard worker”? Adopt a growth mindset and work smarter AND harder!
Events And Responses
Recently, I was reading through an e-book on setting aside one hour a day to work on your #1 goal and I came across this bit of advice:
E + R = O
Event + Response = Outcome
[Fábrega]
“Right now you may be telling yourself things such as the following:
- I can’t find the time to work on my goals right now; I have a kid.
- My boss is always asking me to stay after work and take on more job assignments.
- I have such a long commute.
- There’s just so much stuff coming at me.
Why Be Happy?
Research in the field of positive psychology has shown that we have a “happiness setpoint”, a level of happiness around which each of us tends to hover. We may have intervals of bliss and intervals of deep sadness, but in general, we tend to move back to our happiness level. Research also shows that we have the ability to influence our happiness up to approximately 40%. That is, we can increase our levels of happiness to a sizable extent.
Continue reading “Why Be Happy?”