We too often doubt our ability. We look at the success of others and think, “I could never do that”. We think that others have talents that we do not possess and are incapable of developing. We judge ourselves harshly.
Humility is a virtue but there’s nothing wrong with realising your potential. You are far more capable than you realise. You can do far more than you think you can.
You are capable of things you couldn’t even imagine.
You are capable of things that would blow the minds of all those around you.
So rather than doubting yourself, back yourself. Make a conscious decision to give yourself your full support, your full encouragement.
Bet on yourself – the odds are better than you think.
Confucius summed it up beautifully.
Those who achieve greatly do so by throwing themselves completely into whatever they are doing.
They have a singlemindedness of focus.
They have an intensity of purpose.
They are prepared to make sacrifices.
They are prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears.
The only way to be really successful, regardless of what you do, is to throw yourself into it and do it completely.
People are defeated in life, not because of lack of ability, but for lack of whole-heartedness.
- Norman Vincent Peale
So go for it!
Image: mikebaird
It should.
It doesn’t have to involve wild adventures in far flung lands (although that would be cool). But it should involve some challenges that you overcome, some risks, some things that don’t work out, and some things that do.
In every good story: things happen.
People get hurt, humiliated, challenged, bruised, upset, defeated. But they also experience happiness, bravery, victory, peace, love.
If your life was a story, would it be worth hearing?
p.s. It’s not to late to start making the current chapter more interesting.
Everything changes, it’s a fact.
You are changing as you read this. The atomic structure of your body is quite different today to what it was yesterday. You are, in some small way, older and perhaps even wiser than you were yesterday. The world today is different to what it was yesterday. The whole Universe is.
Change is unavoidable so rather than fight it, embrace it. Work with it.
Rather than holding on to tired old ways of doing things, look to the future and find better ways of doing things.
Rather than believing that your best days are behind you, see a bright future ahead of yourself.
Rather than accepting that some things are out of your league, have a shot at them.
Change – it’s good for you.
They were just in the right place at the right time.
But it wasn’t luck.
It was because they were in lots of different places at lots of different times. So sooner or later they were bound to be in THE right place at THE right time.
If you knew for certain that was all you had left, how would you spend it?
You would probably appreciate the people around you more. You’d try to get some quality time in with friends, family. You’d play with your kids more. You’d go to the beach, try bungy jumping, eat raw squid. You’d be hungry for experiences and would try to pack as much into that year as you possibly could.
You probably wouldn’t spend more time at the office, complain about traffic so much, waste time sleeping in, watch so much TV, get into fights, argue about pointless things. You probably wouldn’t worry so much about keeping a spotlessly clean house, or about what the neighbours think. You would eat more chocolate.
In short you would focus on the things that matter and that you enjoy. Your life would actually be a lot better than normal during those 12 months because you would be putting more into it and getting more out of it.
It would probably be the best year of your life.
In some ways it would actually be a blessing if you knew you had a finite amount of time to live. It would give you the motivation you need to do the things you should be doing anyway.
Don’t wait for someone to tell you that you only have a year left to live before you begin.
Start now.
Step 1. Start being awesome.
Step 2. Continue.
It’s not actually any more complicated than that if you really think about it.
Image: ozczecho
Have you asked yourself that lately? Why are you doing what you do? Is there a good reason for it?
It’s easy to get stuck into a routine, or a rut, and just keep on truckin without paying much attention to where you’re going and why you’re heading in that direction. But it’s worth stopping to take stock in case the reason has changed…or disappeared…or wasn’t really there in the first place.
- Why do you do the job you do?
- Why do you live the way that you live?
- Why do you want the things that you want?
- Why do you act the way that you do?
Maybe the answers are fantastically, awesomely, amazingly, incredibly, brilliantly wonderful. Or maybe they’re not. Either way it’s worth asking.
…is service.
Rather than contemplating our own navels and focusing on how we can get more ‘this’ and more ‘that’ we’ll look to see what we can do for others.
Not helping people get better at tennis or making money. Not just helping little old ladies across the street but REALLY helping others.
Helping people who are really suffering. Helping people who desperately need help. Helping the world as a whole. Changing the world. Improving it. Caring for it. Because it most certainly needs it!
And the funny part is that in helping others we’ll actually help ourselves far more than any amount of introspection will ever achieve.
Pretty much anything.
What is stopping you from achieving it is the part of you that disagreed with the previous sentence. That part of you is the problem. That part of you is where your battle lies. That part of you is what you need to override.
