It’s amazing how easy it is to forget about the most important things. A busy schedule and your weekly routine lead to the fact that the brain begins to run on autopilot. But some vital truths need to be repeated. Keep this list at hand and read it every time you need motivation.
1. To be doing does not mean to accomplish
Look at the people around you. They are overloaded with work – rushing from one meeting to another, writing dozens of emails. Are many of them really successful? Have they achieved great heights?
Energy and swiftness do not lead to success. Success comes with the ability to focus on the important things and with confidence that the time is spent effectively and usefully.
You have the same number of hours in a day as other people – use them wisely.
Still, the results obtained are not equal to the effort made. Your efforts should be focused on the tasks that will bring the desired result.
2. Big success often begins with a failure
You’ll never know what real success is until you learn to accept failures. Errors pave the way to success and warn you if you have chosen the wrong way.
The right solution often appears at the moment when you lose faith in yourself and give up. Desperation makes you think otherwise, get out of your comfort zone, and see the right path.
To be successful, you need perseverance and the ability to defend your point of view, even if you have to endure some inconvenience because of it.
3. Fear is the main source of regret
When all is said and done, you begin to make excuses saying that the opportunity you had would have inevitably led to failure. Do not be afraid to take risks.
People often ask: “What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?” Death is not the worst thing that can happen. It is much worse to let yourself fade away, while still alive.
4. You need self-assessment
If you compare yourself to others and still feel happy and have fun, you are no longer master of your fate. But if there is a feeling of satisfaction when you do something well, do not let other people’s opinions or achievements take that away from you.
When you cannot accept easily what people think about you, do not compare yourself with others. Treat the opinions of others with some mistrust.
It does not matter what others think or do; your self-esteem depends on you.
Regardless of what people think of you at a particular time, one thing is important: you will never be as good or as bad as you say.
5. You are as good as your environment
Try to be surrounded by the people who inspire and help you to strive for the better. You may already be doing this. But what about the people who pull you down? Why do you allow them to be part of your life?
Anyone who makes you feel useless and restless or is just wasting your time is likely to affect you. Life is too short to communicate with such people. Set yourself free.
6. Life is short
Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. However, when someone suddenly dies, we begin to critically evaluate our own life: what is really important, how we spend our time, how we treat other people.
A loss is a wound, a ruthless reminder of our life’s fragility. And it is true.
Remind yourself every morning when you wake up that life is a gift and you are lucky to have it. Just when you begin to live, realizing that every day brings happiness, you will be happy.
7. You can forgive without somebody’s apology
Life will be easier if you get rid of offences and forgive other people, even if the offenders are not going to apologize. Grievances from your past can destroy your happiness today. Hatred and anger are emotional parasites that prevent you from enjoying life.
Negative emotions, reinforced by insults, lead to stress; constant tension, in its turn, destroys health.
Researchers from Emory University have shown that prolonged stress contributes to high blood pressure and the emergence of cardiovascular diseases.
When you forgive someone, it does not mean that you justify their actions – you simply cease being a victim.
8. You live the life you have created for yourself
You are not a victim of circumstances. No one can force you to make decisions and to act in conflict with your values and goals.
The circumstances in which you live today are your own circumstances that you have created for yourself.
Your future also belongs entirely to you. If you feel unsatisfied, most likely, you’re afraid to take the necessary risks to achieve the goals and realize your aspirations in life.
When it is time to act, remember that it is always better to be at the bottom of the ladder, which you want to climb than on top of the wrong one.
9. Live in the present
You cannot see your full potential until you learn to live in the present. Guilt is not able to change the past, like anxiety does not help to change the future. You cannot be happy if your mind is elsewhere, you cannot fully experience this unique (good or bad) moment in life.
To live in the present, you should do two things:
- Accept your past. If you’re at odds with your past, it will not let you go; on the other hand, it can help create your future.
- Accept the inevitable future. Anxiety is pointless here and now. Mark Twain once said, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”
10. Changes are inevitable – accept them
Only by accepting the changes you can see the good in them. Open your heart and square your shoulders, if you’re going to learn and take advantage of the opportunities brought by changes.
You are doomed to fail if you keep doing the same thing and hope to get away with changes by simply ignoring them.
It’s crazy to do the same thing again and again, hoping for a different result.
Life does not stop for anyone. When things go well, learn to appreciate this and have fun before it changes. If you are always looking for something else, something better, something that will make you happy – you’ll never feel satisfied with the present to enjoy the wonderful moments until they are gone.
