Make sure that your life is always expanding by being courageous. Having your life shrink is no fun at all, and it does happen if you’re not careful. You can travel the world on a shoestring, start your own business, and find the love of your life all at the same time if you’re courageous enough. On the flip side you can see your friend list shrink, see your bank account dwindle, and end up with the wrong person if you’re not courageous enough. It’s a two-edged sword that you want to be on the right side of.
People believe that the best of the best are born that talented. But it like Malcolm Gladwell says. it takes 10,000 hours to truly master any endeavor. The people who have gained great success have gotten that far through dedication and years of practice.
Oprah is an oddly polarizing figure. She’s been loved and hated for her successes. She credits all of her success to positivity. When she speaks of her success, she rarely talks about hard work and determination. Rather she focuses on having the right thoughts and the right approach to life and work and values.
In your heart of hearts, you know what drives you and what makes you a gift for the entire world. It is probably so much deeper than you give yourself credit for. If you live those beliefs and convictions, you can make major changes in the world. That’s how a few people with no jobs (like Emerson and Thoreau) shifted the entire thinking of a nation (Transcendentalism).
If we allow ourselves to be contained by negative thought, we will never achieve our fullest potential. Shakespeare is right to say this in the sense that we constantly struggle with selling ourselves short. Don’t get stuck in your past. Where you are now, is not where you will always be.
If things aren’t going your way, you only have yourself to blame. You must be the one to enact the change that you need. Chances are, things are in constant motion all around you. Maybe you have become stagnant in your personal or professional life. You must be the one to take the first steps and welcome change.
Here’s a nice breakdown of what it takes to get places. The brains in your head give your body the directions it needs to take you where you want to go. You just have to know where it is you want to go. Determining your destination is priority one. What the brain can dream up, the body can fulfill as long as there is a strong determination and a clear vision of what it is that is wanted. The great part is that this is all up to you, you have plenty of choices, and there are countless directions that you can head.
Everything that is possible now was once impossible before. It took dedication and fortitude for those to create what others said could not be done. Believe that you can, keep moving forward and you will. Things might get hard, but keep your positive attitude at the forefront and things will work out fine.
Everyone wants the perks of success but not everybody is willing to do the dirty, unglamorous work to get there. Aj Joshi compares hard work and success to building and riding a train. People will wish and complain about what they don’t have but won’t put in the work to get it.
Existing is what everybody does. Living, now that is truly rare. People who wake up every day feeling blessed with another day to be alive are the ones that are truly living on this earth.
