When Will Things Improve
It's frustrating when you’ve worked real hard for a long time and you still
don’t see any significant improvement in your life.
If it’s been that way for years, it can be down right soul crushing.
There is hope though. And it’s
really quite simple to figure out if you’re willing to take a hard look at some
key issues that may be hindering your progress. Here they are. Each
of them is a response to the question, "When will things improve?"
When you change your thinking.
Almost every book that I've read on the subject of personal development talks
about the importance of our thoughts.
It’s always a central issue and a first step toward improving your life.
Here’s what they say.
If you are thinking about all the things you don’t want, that’s what you’re
going to attract into your life, guaranteed!
If you are thinking more often about all the things you want, then that’s
what you’re going to attract into your life.
Once you get into the habit of keeping your focus on the things you want,
they will come faster.
This principle is called the
Law of Attraction .
Some authors refer to the Law of Attraction directly.
Others give it another name and present it from a different angle. But they are
all highlighting the importance of our thoughts. Here are some examples.
When you face your fears.
An unwillingness to face fear is responsible for more lost dreams than any
other issue. You may say to
yourself, “I really don’t want be a leader in my field that much if it means
that I have to do public speaking.” Or you may say, “I don’t need
to have the
perfect partner in my life that much if it means I have to
risk being
rejected.”
It took me many years to discover and understand this simple, but crucial,
principle regarding courage. “You
must do
what you’re afraid to do and THEN you get the courage.”
I have to admit that I’m a little angry that someone didn’t tell me this when
I was a kid. It would have saved me
from a lot of pain and I’d would have taken a lot more chances.
But no worries, I’m making up for it for years!
Fear is good. It ignites your
senses. It makes the challenges of
life more exciting! But don’t get
hooked on the adrenalin rush, because it will subside
when get the courage or
when you find out that what you were afraid of was just your imagination.
The more you face your fears, the more things will improve.
When you do what’s best for your body.
In order to achieve your dreams, you need to be at your best in terms of your
health, energy, fitness, appearance, and disposition.
The only way to get there is by eating a
healthy diet,
exercising, and
losing any extra weight.
Your ability to accomplish what you want will be in equal proportion to how
good you feel physically and emotionally.
Diet and exercise are two of the most important keys to achieving this.
Diet and exercise can do miraculous things, especially if your diet is
plant-based. I recently learned a
great deal more about the benefits of a plant-based diet by watching two
interesting documentaries on the subject. I became a 100% vegetarian the next
day. The documentaries are, "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead"
and "Change Your Food Change Your Life."
Read my reviews
here.
If you’re on the fence about the importance of diet and exercise, then the
things you want will likely remain on the fence with you.
When you do what’s best for your mind.
All the great men and women in the field of personal development talk about the value of meditation and
visualization.
I learned Transcendental
Meditation (TM) during my first year of college.
It had a huge impact on my life.
I still do it to this day.
Meditation gives you greater clarity, more creativity, reduced stress, and
improved health.
There are many forms of meditation.
Some are more formal and ritualized than others.
I would imagine that most of them provide some kind of benefit.
I'm sure you could find some simple instructions on the Internet.
I have to say though, the TM initiation process made it very real for me
and I enjoyed participating in the traditions.
Visualization helps you to get clear on what you want.
It also provides your subconscious mind with a blueprint of what you want
so that it can more effectively help you get it.
Visualization also stimulates motivation to do what’s necessary to get
what you envision.
I don’t completely understand how this works, but visualization, like the
Law of Attraction , seems to empower the Universe (or God if you
prefer) to help you.
I remember visualizing being a business executive with a corner office inside
a beautiful building located in a corporate park with an abundance of trees and
grass surrounding each building. At
the time that I was visualizing this dream, my
life was so far removed
from that reality that it seemed ridiculous to even think about it.
I also had never seen a corporate park like the one I had envisioned.
Fast-forward about five years and there I was sitting in that exact
office!
One day as I was admiring
the beautiful landscaping outside my office window, it hit me like a bolt of
lightning that I was living the life that I had visualized many years before.
My mind played the
Twilight Zone intro as pondered what had happened.
Meditation and visualization can help improve things more rapidly, precisely,
and will less effort.
When you define what you want.
What is it you really want? Do
you have a clear and detailed picture of what you want?
If you don’t, how can you expect things to improve?
I don’t agree with idea that you must create “complex” step by step plans for
achieving goals. Sure you need a
“rough” plan, but doing anything more is like trying to look into the future.
The “how’s” are the job of the Universe (or God if you prefer).
Your job is to define the “what,” which is the most important part.
The “what” is really the “outcome” you
want.
Focusing on the outcome is
where you get your power and motivation.
Clearly define how you want things to improve and you’ll more likely get it.
When you overcome an addiction.
Addictions that alter or even damage your physical and mental capacities will
limit or prevent you from creating the life you want.
An addiction means that the substance (drugs, alcohol) or thing (gambling) is
controlling the outcomes in your life.
You’ve give up your power to it.
The only way to get your power back is to end your involvement and go through
the discomfort of its physical and emotional demands (withdrawals) that you fulfill its every desire.
Then like
breaking away from a
toxic love
relationship, as each day passes you
become freer until one day you realize that you’ve got your power back!
Once you’re in full control, things can change in the way you want.
When you follow through on your ideas.
How many ideas for improving your life have you not followed through on?
Did you talk yourself out of it?
Did someone else talk you out of it?
Did fear block you from trying it?
There is no such thing as a perfect idea.
No idea is without risk of failure.
The only true failure involving an idea that's important to YOU, is “not trying.”
It would take 50,000 words to tell you about all the ideas I’ve
tried and failed at. I think my
family and friends would be amazed if they knew how many.
But like I am telling you, I don’t look at it as failure, because I tried. So my enthusiasm doesn’t diminish.
Thomas Edison tried 1,000 different ideas and failed at each one before he
finally succeeded in creating the light bulb. I'm sure glad Edison didn't
give up. If he had, I might be writing this on paper instead of a
computer!
I am able to follow through on most of my ideas because I don’t look at the
possibly of failure as a bad thing but rather a learning opportunity.
In addition, when I succeed, the struggles and failures make it much,
much sweeter.
Someone once said something like this. “If you haven’t been in the valleys of
life, you’ll never know the true joy of reaching the peaks.”
If you want things to improve, follow through on your ideas for making it
happen.
When you create an inspiring home.
How can things improve if your living environment is depressing?
Your home is your foundation.
It’s the headquarters from which all the operations of your life originate.
It’s were your big ideas are conceived, planned, and executed!
This is pretty important stuff.
The condition of you home affects the way you feel.
And it does so 24-7-365!
Here’s an example. When you walk into
a shabby, dirty, and foul smelling hotel room how do you feel?
How do you feel after you’ve been there awhile?
Depressed like the environment itself, I bet. Now, how do you feel when you walk into nice, clean, pleasant smelling
hotel room? How do you feel
after you’ve been there for awhile?
Comfortable and upbeat, I bet.
Are you motivated? Do it right
away! Clean your home.
Get it organized.
Spruce it up!
I’ve got one more suggestion. Stop
filling your home with images, reports, and conversations about all the
tragedies and pointless dramas currently happening by turning off the
news “shows.”
If you want things to improve, start with the basics.
When you stop waiting for motivation.
Motivation is created in the same way that courage is.
You must force yourself to start doing what you want and THEN you get the
motivation. It’s really that simple.
After you’ve done this a number of times, you'll begin to expect the motivation
once you’ve gotten started.
It’s really cool. I first
experienced this when I was trying to get myself into the habit of working out
at home after giving up my health club membership.
I put together an inexpensive home gym and then expected the motivation to
come. It didn’t.
I didn’t workout for several months!
Then one day I
said, “Enough!
I’m going to do this whether I feel like it or not.”
I was surprised to find that I was quite motivated to complete my workout
after a few exercises. Eventually I knew that the motivation would soon follow AFTER I forced myself to
start. I also noticed that the
motivated got stronger as the weeks and months passed.
I’ve used this principle in my areas of my life including writing articles
like this one. It took me awhile to
realize that I could do this since working out is physical and writing is
mental, but it works just as well.
You can be certain that motivation will arrive soon AFTER you begin!
***
When it’s been a long time and things haven’t improved, it can be
a serious challenge to
stay positive and motivated. I know.
I’ve been in some pretty deep valleys several times.
The unseen benefit to these situations, is how much sweeter the rewards
are when things improve.
Brad Paul
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