Today I want to share some of the truths I have learned over the years that have stopped me moving forward in life. Do any of these ring true for you?
- Perfection – Perfection does not exist. If you accept that everything can be improved upon then perfection cannot exist. Give up the concept of being perfect and get on with your life as best you can.
- Waiting for the right time – The right time is now, why put it off. If you’ve been waiting for the right time for something and haven’t taken action yet, it’s going to be difficult to start.
- Being stuck in the past – If you focus on the past, you stay in the past. Moving forward is about acknowledging the past, but gently let the invisible cord of the past go, and move toward a better future.
- Lying to yourself – Honesty with yourself and others will do wonders for moving you forward in life. Start with yourself and be as honest as possible about who you are, what you’re doing and where you’re going. If you’ve been a bit of an arse, admit it, and resolve to change.
- Staying on the ‘Poor me’ train – The ‘Poor Me’ train never reaches it’s destination, because there is no destination, it’s just a train full of whiners and moaners. Jump off at the next station and resolve never to go back on the ‘Poor me’ train again.
- Befriending the vampires – Vampires suck the life force out of you. It’s those people who bitch, moan, complain and generally suck the energy out of you. Drop them as quickly as possible, if you can’t drop them avoid them as much as possible.
- Keeping a tight comfort zone – If you’ve got a tight comfort zone then you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. Push the boundaries of your comfort zone little, and as often as you can. If you only do things you feel comfortable doing you will stop growing, mentally, emotionally and intellectually.
- Saying ‘I can’t do that’ – As soon as you utter this phrase your brain will take it as fact that you cannot do it, and give up trying to look for a solution. If you replace ‘I can’t’ with ‘I’m getting better….’, your brain will re-engage with you to look for ways to help you become better at something.
- Comparing yourself to others – when you compare yourself to others you will ultimately fail. If you work on exceeding your own expectations you will fair much better in life.
- Moaning – we seem to live in a world of moaners, and it’s easy to get caught up in it. Make it a point to only moan if you’re going to take action on what you’re moaning about, which should help cut down 99% of your moaning.
- Multi tasking – Multi tasking is not possible, period! Or rather you can multi task, but because you can’t multitask and give 100% to each activity it’s impossible to do something well without giving it your full attention.
- Asking ‘Why’ questions – A lot of the questions we ask ourselves are: Why does this happen to me, why can’t I do that, why is he better than me. Most why questions cause you to focus on the past and gives your brain a reason to look for reasons why you can’t do something. Instead you could ask ‘How’ questions, which are outcome oriented: How can I become better at that, how can I become the best I can be.
- Trying to be in the circle – People in the circle want to be the same and conform into a group. You’ve got around 70 years on this earth, spend it finding yourself and break free from the crowd, or at least find yourself and decide if you want to break free from the crowd or not.
- Not spending enough time with yourself – When was the last time you spent time alone and really loved it? Being happy with your own company is a good indicator of getting the right balance in life, as long as you’re not alone all day every day
- Trying for the quick fix – Get rich quick, Lose weight fast, build up muscle quickly. Going for the quick fix in anything, usually doesn’t work in the long run. Anything worth doing, is worth taking the time to enjoy the journey of achieving.
- Being a control freak – Another thing that is impossible to do is to control life. Life has a tendency to twist and turn when least expected. Planning ahead is good, but trying to control what’s in front of you can only lead to frustration.
- Thinking you never have any luck – Samuel Goldwyn said ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get.’ Luck comes to those who put themselves in the path of it, to do that you must get out there and be the best you can be.
- Watching the news – watching the news only perpetuates, in your mind, that the world is a bad place. The world is an amazing place with some bad people in it. If you watch the news you’d think every second person is a murderer, rapist or paedophile.
- Wishing well thinking – It’s great to wish for things in your life, and sometimes it can be a nice daydream to dream of winning the lottery, but if you are banking on your wishes coming true, you’re not going to go far. Better to have wishes and work toward them than sitting around wishing.
- Thinking the world owes you – Nobody, nothing or anything owes you a favour in life. We all have to take action toward the things we would like in life, it’s not coming to knock on your door.
- Watching TV – TV is another energy drainer unless used for educational purposes. Watching soaps and reality TV actually gets you emotionally involved in someone else’s life, even though, in the case of soaps, they are fictitious. You’re essentially giving away your energy to a box in the corner of the living room.
- Blaming others – There’s are always others who hurt us, physically, mentally and emotionally, but blaming them for not moving on with life will stunt your growth, emotionally and mentally. Accept that some people in your life have hurt you, and let them go mentally.
- Not deciding what to do in life – A lot of people are unhappy in their jobs, not because they can’t get the job they want, but because they don’t know what job they want. Decide what you truly, madly, passionately, want to do with your life and start taking small steps to get there.
- Not finding a reason to smile – We all have reasons to be grateful in our life, even if it’s just for the fact that you have access to a computer to read this post. Counting your blessings daily is a great exercise to improve the quality of your life.
- Chasing others – If someone truly wants to be a part of your life they will make the effort to do so. You don’t need to chase someone to be in your life, and waste energy trying to do so.
- Giving up too quickly – If you fail at something, learn from it and try again, if you fail again, learn some more and try again, if you fail again, learn some more……………
- Not taking risks – Life is inherently risky and you’ve made it this far. Risk more in your life, as the rewards will far outweigh the thought of never having risked at all.
- Not forgiving yourself – There’s not a single person on this planet that has not made mistakes in their life. Forgive yourself for your mistakes and free up your emotional energy for the things that matter.
- Not enjoying the little things in life – Stop for a while to enjoy the little things in life, 30 years from now those little things will mean everything.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have anything to add, just add a comment below and share your thoughts.
www.stevenaitchison.co.uk
