Jan 13 2017
17 ways to finally build the life you love in 2017!
If you’re like most people, you had some ups, some downs, muddled through and did OK. But is OK really good enough for the rest of your life? Do you want more? Do you feel you deserve more?
Well, the good news is that 2017 is the perfect chance to make a change, break through the obstacles and problems that have been holding you back for so long, and finally make the existence you’ve always envisioned a reality. Whether you want to lose weight and get in better shape, improve relationships and find the love of your life, or just get that promotion at work and improve your finances, there is a specific formula for achieving the life you love!
Here are our 17 ways to finally build the life you love in 2017! (We’ll start with the first 8 and cover the next 9 in part 2.)
1. Have fun!
You have to enjoy the journey or else it will all be a monotonous drag, and that includes achieving your goals and changing your life. So make sure you smile, laugh, surround yourself with good people, and sing along to your favorite song and dance a little, and that positivity will inject joy and energy in everything you do.
2. Get motivated by positive, not negative thoughts.
The mind feeds off the words “I can” and other positive affirmations, so much so that it will actually change your physical response. Too often, people who are trying to make a change in their lives or reach goals are motivated by negative thoughts like, “I’m too fat,” “I don’t have a love life,” “I’m never good with money, etc.” Holding those thoughts in your head over and over will only derail you from where you want to go, since it’s like running backward.
3. Focus on one thing that fires you up.
Did someone say you looked fat at the Christmas party? Did you lose that promotion at work to someone less qualified? Are you turning 40 soon and you don’t like where you are in life? Choose one thing that makes you more than a little angry and use that fire as fuel to keep motivated! Sometimes it’s good to be gentle, compassionate, and kind with yourself…but sometimes it’s healthy to get a little pissed off to give yourself a jump-start!
4. Think long-term and big picture.
Success and achievement aren’t always linear, so you’ll have ups and downs along the way. Instead of reacting negatively to every obstacle and setback, “zoom out” and take a big picture view of your life and what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s all a process, and the little daily habits you change will make a huge positive impact over time!
5. Forget perfect.
Guess what? You’ll never be perfect, so set that impossible goal aside and instead focus on just being better every day, every week, or every month – which includes appreciation and enjoyment for what you already have and what you already are! By the way, if you think people want you to be perfect, they don’t (they just want you to be real); and if you think others appear perfect, they’re not!
6. Start by doing one small thing (and then another).
Momentum is everything in life, and once you’re a permanent fixture on the couch, it seems excruciating just to get up and do anything. So instead of saying “I’m going to run 5 miles tomorrow,” and never getting started, focus on doing one small thing, like push-ups and sit-ups during the commercials, learning something new for 10 minutes every morning, or changing one meal to something healthy every day. Stick to it, and very soon it won’t be hard to do more and more…BOOM! You have momentum!
7. Take responsibility.
When you stop blaming other people and circumstances for the outcome of your life, you’ll have removed the first barrier to changing your life. In fact, when you take full accountability and responsibility for your life, you’re automatically empowered to control your own destiny!
8. Set a plan.
This is where the rubber meets the road, as they say – when you’re going to take all of the wishing, dreaming, and hoping and transform it into tangible action that will really change your life. And SMART, FOCUSED, and CONSISTENT action is all it takes to break through and finally achieve the highest and best version of your life. The first part of setting a plan is defining your goals – very specifically, including measurable quantifiers and timelines.
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We’ll cover a lot more about goal setting, follow-up and how to put your wonderful and life-changing plan into place in part two of this blog!
Jan 26 2017
17 ways to finally build the life you love! (Part 2)
Whether you want to lose weight and get in better shape, improve relationships and find the love of your life, or just get that promotion at work and improve your finances, there is a specific formula for achieving the life you love!
In part one of this blog, we covered the first 8 ways to finally build a life you love. Here are the next 9:
9. Write down your goals
We ended part one of this blog by telling you how critical it is to set specific goals. The next important part of your goal setting is writing them down. It seems like a minor thing, but numerous studies show that the process of committing your goals to paper goes a long way towards actually reaching them.
In one case, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, Dr. Gail Matthews, conducted a study on goal. She compared several test groups, breaking them down as:
Group 1 thought only about their goals but didn’t commit them to paper.
Group 2 thought about and wrote down their goals.
It went all the way up to Group 5, that not only wrote down their goals, but wrote down action steps they could take to reach them, shared their goals with a supportive friend, and finally, made weekly progress reports to that friend.
Her work concluded that Group 2 – who simply committed their goals to paper – was 42% more likely to achieve them than Group 1.
Incredible!
10. Have an accountability partner
In that same study, test Group 5 wrote down their goals but also action steps they could take to reach them, and then shared their goals with others, including a weekly progress report. Remarkably, that group achieved their goals at a 78% higher rate than Group 1 – who just set and thought about their goals.
The point is that if you REALLY want to get to the finish line with your goals, it’s paramount that you not only set them and write them down but share them with a trusted accountability partner, including periodic progress reports.
11. What can you control?
They say that about 99% of the things we worry, stress, and get anxious about never actually happen. While I don’t know if that statistic is accurate, the point is valid. If you want to achieve your goals in 2017 and beyond, focus only on what you can control, and then work towards and pursue those things. You’ll be amazed at how much time and energy you have, that you used to waste on things you can’t control.
12. Stop making excuses
We all have goals and dreams we’d love to reach in life, but too often, we find a way to create one excuse after another to discourage ourselves. I always tell my clients that making excuses is just your subconscious trying to negotiate a surrender before you’ve even tried. In fact, we’ve dedicated a whole blog to highlighting twenty of the most common excuses we make – and how to break through them for good!
13. Change your diet = change your life
It’s physiologically impossible to fill your body with garbage and poison (like processed foods, bad fats, empty carbs, sugar, toxins from pesticides, etc.) and NOT feel a long term negative effect. Honor the temple that is your body by eating a healthy, clean, natural diet, and you’ll sleep better, have way more energy, get sick less, think more clearly, be less stressed, and enjoy a whole host of other benefits that allow you to live the life you love!
14. Banish negative thoughts
You’ve probably been barraging yourself with negative self-talk and limiting beliefs your whole life, and embracing every failure while dismissing your victories. But there are ways to train your mind, just like you train your muscles, so with even the smallest step in the right direction or the first smallest victory, belief will grow from a seed into a tall tree.
15. Surround yourself with positive affirmations
Replace all of those negative, self-doubting thoughts with inspirational messages. Plaster photos, quotes, and reminders of your goals, dreams, and aspirations all over your bathroom mirror, your car, your desk, your home gym, on your phone, etc. as a constant reminder. Research shows that the mind can’t differentiate between real and imagined thoughts, so by filling your head with positive affirmations, you’ll be altering your physiology, outlook, and belief systems!
16. Take risks
There is nothing wrong with failure. In fact, we should embrace failure, because we can learn, grow, and get stronger from it. But there is something wrong with not trying new things or not adventuring out – and that choice lies entirely with you. So get in the practice of taking risks that get you out of your comfort zone and bring you closer to the life you want to live, regardless if they pay off or not. It will be so scary at first, but with discipline and practice, pretty soon you will be fearless!
17. Find your “WHY?”
Your WHY? is the overriding meaning you give to your life, your reason for existence that makes it all worth it. It’s what makes you go “Ahhhhh” and be at peace when you see a sunset or just lay your head on the pillow every night. Your WHY? can be to help others, provide for your family, your artwork, your legacy, or just a big goal that drives and motivates you. No matter what it is, keeping that big picture in mind will help you love the life you live, enjoying the journey along the way!
By Norm Schriever • Diet, Exercise, General Health News, Health and Wellness, Motivation • Tags: break through, inspiration, live the life you want, motivation, new years resolutions, personal coaching