Are you Thriving, or Surviving?

Flourishing, or Existing…?

How much can we, as humans, overcome?  How much can we change our lives?

How much can YOU overcome?  How much can YOU change your life?

Where are you on the scale between just existing, and getting by… and actually being in charge of your life, and thriving?

What direction will your life take if you don’t have a destination you’re going toward? 

If you don’t have a dream…a vision… for your future… what will your future look like? 

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What would it take to take you from where you are, to being on top of your game…in charge of your life?

Your Health… Your Career… Enjoyment of Your Life…

You can do it.

Where would you start?

A good place to start would be to think how you want your life to be.  And don’t think little.  Think BIG.  Something that you really, really want your life to look like, but think it might not be possible.

Open your mind…to Believe…You can do it.

There will be all sorts of obstacles to stop your progress…even before you begin.  So realize they will pop their ugly heads into your life at any (or every) moment.  You’ll need to believe you can make the changes you want.  And you can do it.  You won’t succeed if you don’t believe you can.

And you can not spend one ounce of energy on how you will get there.  Don’t think about where the money, the time, the help you might need…might come from.  If you do, you’ll limit (or kill) your dream.  Just think of WHAT you want.

This goal will be something you’ve never done before.  This goal would be designed to help you grow…to draw you out of yourself into a spot you did not realize was possible.

If you knew how to reach that goal, you wouldn’t be able to get the good from the goal.  This goal will be accomplished from inside you.

There are some goals that you can have, that are doing something you already know how to do.

There are some goals that you can have, that are doing something you think you can do.

But this goal is for something you want.  Something you REALLY, REALLY want.  This type of goal with from using our imagination.  It’s something you’d probably classifiy as “unrealistic”.  Something you will build.

From “unrealistic desire” the next step would be to think…if that were to happen… as a theory.  Something that “may happen this way”.

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Second, make that thought of how you want things, more clear.  Think exactly how you want your life.  All the details.  What will you look like in that life? What will you be doing, exactly? How will you feel? How will you live, day-to-day? What will you do in your spare time?

Put ALL your mental energy into building the image of what you want.

Write out everything you can think of … all the details of your life; what spaces will you be in? What smells will you experience? What things will be fun? Who will be with you?  Everything you can think of.  Write it all down.

If you know where you want to go, you can figure out a way to get there.  You’ll have a compass.  You’ll wake up in the morning excited to work toward what you want your life to be.

We have much more creative potential than we give ourselves credit for.

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The main thing to know is that you are the only person in the entire world that has the ability to improve your state of being.

And beneath that, is the foundation of you: your self-image.  If your self-image is low, it will be hard for you to reach your goal.

So you also need to know, you are also the only person in the entire world that has the ability to improve your self-image.

The more you move in the direction of the image you want, the more your self-image will improve, and the more your life will improve.

There is no end to the good that you can experience as you begin to see the abilities that really do live within you.

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So.  You know what you want.  You’re thinking of things to help get you there, and making some forward progress.

Now.  Are you ABLE to accomplish this?  Science says our brain has unlimited potential to figure things out.  Theology says we have unlimited resources.  So, it seems the answer must be… Yes.

Can you argue with that?  I don’t think so.  And why would you want to set yourself back?  Say Yes.  And step another step forward.

So the next question would have to be…Are you WILLING… to do whatever is required…to bring this mental image into reality in your life.

According to Bob Proctor, in order to accomplish any goal of something you really, really want in your life, you start with a dream—an unrealistic dream, which you turn into a theory, which then becomes a fact.  He says these are the three stages of creating a change in your life.

The hurdles now are:

your ability—which science says you have, and

your willingness.

What can help you with your willingness?  The most powerful thing to move you along your path, is … you must make a definite decision.

Making wise decisions can take a lot of confusion out of your life.  It can do away with the constant conflict of what to do.  Decision making brings order to your mind.  And it moves you into results.

Do you often say, or hear others say, “I don’t know what to do”?  or “What should I do?”  Everyone spends time there on occasion.  But staying in this place keeps us confused and off-track, making no progress toward what we want.

Think of ways to add enthusiasm to your decision.  Think of ways you will enjoy reaching your dream.

Think about these things you’ve written when you wake up in the morning, and before you go to sleep at night.  Your mind will get familiar with it, and you will be able to come up with a path.

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Something I’m learning (or, re-learning) right now is, I don’t need more education to do what I want to do.  My next step needs to be, do what I already know how to do…

Thomas Edison said “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astonish ourselves”.  Let’s begin to astonish ourselves.

Have you seen people (or yourself) complain that they’re having a hard time producing, or selling, or doing some other task successfully… but yet who are ignoring known sales procedures that top professionals follow?

We all do things that are unproductive, and we all neglect things that would make us more productive.

If you want your life to change, you must interrupt your pattern.

Most of us have a pattern of operating at 40 miles per hour even though there is infinite horsepower under the hood.  So we never get to the speed we are capable of.  Let’s decide to astonish ourselves.

Go after the goals you want.

Override that “old” pattern.  That old pattern has a lot of power to talk you out of doing the thing you decide to do.  So we have to be persistent.

Napoleon Hill wrote a whole chapter on persistence in his book, Think and Grow Rich.

Persistence is necessary to move you from where you are to where you want to be.  It involves changing habits.  And to do that, we have to keep persisting.  We do things without thinking a lot…it’s from habit.  There must be changes in our habits, for us to see results.

The books Atomic Habits and Tiny Habits by B. J. Fog, PhD. are excellent and inspirational books about improving your habits.  I highly recommend them both.

Calvin Coolidge said:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. 

Talent will not.  Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. 

Genius will not.  Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. 

Education will not.  The world is full of educated derelicts. 

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan ‘Press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Ordinary people do extraordinary things all the time.  Don’t supress what you want…don’t dismiss it.  You may experience failure… rejection… other obstacles. 

You don’t have to see it as “failure”—look at it as an opportunity to try another way, and to learn.  You don’t have to let go of your dream.  Persistence will help you draw on resources you don’t even know you have.

You have Greatness within you.  How do I know that?  Because we all do.  But few of us let it be free to grow.

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Do you know many people who know “This” is what I want?

Bob Proctor says:  Do you know of the people who know “This (certain thing)” is what I REALLY want, and I’m prepared to give my life for it?

If that last question caused you to stop and re-consider… possibly think further about it…because you’re already giving your life…for what you now do, and what you have right now.

What are you trading your life for?  Whatever you’re doing…it was your decision.  Or maybe you’re just following other people.  Well, that’s your decision too.

Dottie Boreyko said, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”

Our minds are much more powerful than we realize.  Once we let ourselves be free to feel what we want for our life, our imagination feels free to come up with random thoughts of how we make next steps.

Trying to pry into our brains to “figure it out” may not make much progress, but freeing yourself to dream…has more power than we can imagine.

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 The thing that prompted me to tell you these things today, came to mind as I was cleaning out a drawer full of all sorts of random things.  In the “mess of things” in the drawer was a 3x5 card.  I had written on it, what my goal was: A Successful Business.

It was written as we were working to make our RE/MAX Real Estate office successful, many years ago.  My card noted what I would consider successful:

Successful Agents,

an Efficient, Smooth-running Office, having

a Broker in Charge, and having

a Bookkeeper in Charge.

The card’s not dated, so I’m not sure when I wrote it, but several years before we sold our office, we reached these goals.  And those results were the reason we were able to sell at a good price.

Even though I don’t distinctly remember writing these goals, they were ingrained in my mind and heart from wanting them so deeply.  I thought of them morning and night.  My heart and mind looked at all times for opportunities to make them happen.

We worked hard, and I kept that vision on my mind over a long period.  I had planted the seed in writing them.  My heart and mind kept them nourished.  And they grew—while I wasn’t even paying attention.

As I looked at the card, I realized that accomplishing this vision had actually started on that 3x5 card.  I didn’t even know when it happened, because I wasn’t paying attention.  It was like it happened on its own.

So I couldn’t say, or feel, “I’ve arrived”.  There is always room for growth, and these goals gradually evolved into more goals.

That’s what makes us into better people.  We grow.  And we keep growing as long as we keep our focus.

So:

1.     Think of how you’d want your life to be.  Let your thoughts be free to be big thoughts, almost unattainable.  Allow yourself to dream.

2.     Think of that way of life in deep and clear detail.  Write down every detail you can think of  (Not how you would do it).

3.     You have greatness within you.  Let yourself feel it.  Let your image of yourself grow.

4.     Consider (and KNOW) that you are ABLE to do it (based on science and theology).

5.     Consider your true willingness to make this your life’s goal.

6.     Make the Decision.  So you can Astonish Yourself.

7.     Do something to interrupt your pattern of mediocrity—to change your habits.  So you can Astonish Yourself.

8.     Be persistent.

9.     Astonish Yourself.

10. Enjoy your life that you’ve been given.

These are only a few ideas on how to change the outcome of your life.

If you want to make any kind of changes in your life, this is a very brief outline.

If I can help you in any way in making any kind of changes in your life, contact me.

Thank you for reading, and a word of advice:  Build your Life.

Sharon