I stopped putting energy into wishing my life were any different -- into wishing bad things didn't happen to me -- and instead focused 100% on making the best of what I had.
I worked 365 days straight, selling and writing, with a level of discipline which eluded me the first 25 years of my life. I was fueled by passion to do what I had never done before: to venture from my painfully comfortable realm of mediocrity -- from which I operated my entire life -- into the space of being extraordinary.
Anything is possible when you are committed.
There is no point in dwelling on or feeling bad about the aspects of our lives that we can't change.
By focusing on what we can learn from our challenges and how we use them to add value to the lives of others, we can turn any adversity into an advantage.
It begins with accepting total responsibility for every aspect of your life and refusing to blame anyone else. The degree to which you accept responsibility for everything in your life is precisely the degree of personal power you have to change or create anything in your life.
It really doesn't matter who is at fault -- all that matters is that you and I are committed to leaving the past in the past and making our lives exactly the way we want them to be.
Wherever you are in your life right now is both temporary, and exactly where you are supposed to be.
"You've got to wake up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction." - George Lorimer
Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days -- which inevitably create a successful life -- in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life.
"Your level of success, will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become." Jim Rohn
Approximately 95% of our society settles for far less than they want in life, wishing they had more, living with regret and never understanding that they could be, do, and have all that they want.
If we don't commit to thinking and living differently than most people now, we are setting ourselves up to endure a life of mediocrity, struggle, failure and regret -- just like most people.
Our subconscious minds are equipped with a self-limiting rearview mirror, through which we continuously relive and recreate our past. We mistakenly believe that who we were is who we are, thus limiting our true potential in the present, based on the limitations of our past. As a result, we filter every choice we make -- from what time we will wake up in the morning to which goals we will set to what we allow ourselves to consider possible for our lives -- through the limitations of our past experiences.
When presented with opportunities, we quickly check our rearview mirror to access our past capabilities. "No, I've never done anything like that before. I've never achieved at that level. In fact, I've failed, time and time again."
Accept the paradigm: my past does not equal my future.
The average person takes life one day at a time, and has no higher purpose beyond merely surviving. Most people just focus on getting through the day, taking the path of least resistance, and pursuing short term, short-lived pleasures along the way, while avoiding any pain or discomfort that might cause them to grow.
The secret to overcoming mediocrity: live a life of purpose.
What's important is that you choose a purpose -- any purpose -- and start living by it, now.
Every time you choose to do the easy thing, instead of the right thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the type of person who does what's easy, rather than what's right.
When the alarm clock goes off, and we hit the snooze button (the easy thing), most people mistakenly assume that this action is only affecting that moment. The reality is that this type of action is programming our subconscious mind with the instructions that it is okay for us to not follow through with the things we intended to do.
Research has shown that we virtually become like the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Who you spend your time with may be the single most determining factor in the person you become and your quality of life.
Don't let the fears, insecurities, and limiting beliefs of others limit what's possible for you.
One of the most important commitments you will ever make is to proactively and continuously improve your circle of influence. Always seek people who will add value to your life and bring out the best in you. And of course, be that person for others.
When we fail to make time for personal development, we are forced to make time for pain and struggle.
Arguably the single most significant cause of mediocrity and unfulfilled potential, which prevents 95% of our society from creating and living the life they truly want, is that most people have no sense of urgency to improve themselves so they can improve their lives. Human nature is to live with a "someday" mindset and think life will work itself out. How's that working for everybody?
Now matters more than any other time in your time in your life, because it's what you are doing today that is determining who you're becoming, and who you're becoming, and who you're becoming will always determine the quality and direction of your life.
Your entire life changes the day that you decide you will no longer accept mediocrity for yourself.
We hit the snooze button and resist the inevitable act of waking up, unaware that our resistance is sending a message to the universe that we'd rather lie there in our beds -- unconscious -- than consciously and actively live and create the lives we say that we want.
When you delay waking up until you have to -- meaning you wait until the last possible minute to get out of bed and start your day -- consider that what you're actually doing is resisting your life.
Resistance to this inevitable daily act is a defiant statement to the universe that they would rather lie in bed, unconscious, than to create and live the life they desire.
For the most part, we need as much sleep as we believe that we need.
It's been said that nobody actually likes waking up early, but everyone loves the feeling of having woken up early.
Five simple, snooze-proof steps to making waking up in the morning easier than before:
Set your intentions before bed
Move your alarm clock across the room
Brush your teeth
Drink a full glass of water
Get dressed or jump in the shower
Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed.
Often when people feel tired -- at any time of the day -- what they really need is more water, not more sleep.
"Any extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most." Robin Sharma
When you change your inner world -- your life -- then your outer world -- your life situation -- will improve in parallel.
"You can learn more in an hour of silence than you can in year from books." Matthew Kelly in his book The Rhythm of Life
Meditation is a gift that you can give yourself every day.
Affirmations are one of the most effective tools for quickly becoming the person you need to be to achieve everything in your life.
When you actively design and write out your affirmations to be in alignment with what you want to accomplish and who you need to be to accomplish it -- and commit to repeating them daily (ideally out loud) -- they immediately make an impression on your subconscious mind.
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right either way." Henry Ford
Your affirmations must clearly articulate exactly what you want your ideal life to be like, in each area.
Being (who you need to be) and doing (what you need to do) are prerequisites for having what you want to have. Get clear on who you need to be, are committed to being, in order to take your life, business, health, marriage, etc. to the next level and beyond.
In order for your affirmations to be effective, it is important that you tap into your emotions while reading them. MIndlessly repeating a phrase over and over again, without feeling its truth, will have a minimal impact on you.
Jim Carry wrote himself a check in 1987 in the amount of 10 million dollars. He dated it for "Thanksgiving 1995" and added in the memo line, "For acting services rendered." He then visualized it for years, and in 1994 he was paid 10 million dollars for his starring role in Dumb and Dumber.
The greatest gift we can give to the people we love is to live to our full potential.
The fastest way to achieve everything you want is to model successful people who have already achieved it.
Achieving mastery in any area requires repetition -- being exposed to certain ideas, strategies, or techniques over and over again, until they become engrained in your subconscious mind.
There is more value in re-reading a book you know has strategies that can improve your life than there is in reading a new book before you've mastered the strategies in the first.
It is hard to put into words how overwhelmingly constructive the experience of going back and reviewing your journals can be.
Digesting food is one of the most energy-draining processes the body goes through each day.
Start valuing the health benefits and energy consequences of the foods we eat as much as or more than the taste.
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." Jim Rohn
It does take 21 days to form a new habit but the third 10-day phase is crucial to sustaining your new habit, long term. The final 10 days is where you positively reinforce and associate pleasure with your new habit. You've been primarily associating pain and discomfort with it during the first 20 days. Instead of hating and resisting your new habit, you start feeling proud of yourself for making it thus far.
Do what's right, not what's easy.
By waking up each morning and practicing The Miracle Morning, you will begin each day with extraordinary levels of discipline (the crucial ability to get yourself to follow through with your commitments), clarity (the power you'll generate from focusing on what's most important), and personal development (perhaps the single most significant determining factor in your success).
Your miracle morning will always start with the preparation you do the day or night before to get yourself ready mentally, emotionally, and logistically for The Miracle Morning.
"Things do not change. We change." Henry David Thoreau
Where you are is result of who you were, but where you end up depends entirely on who you choose to be from this moment forward.
It occurred to me that it didn't matter how accurate each of his criticisms were, because that was how I was showing up for him -- and probably many others.
Never settle. Create the life you deserve to live, and help others do the same.
