I can, and I do. 

In everything I set out to achieve, I am always focused on doing my very best.

I have the power to succeed within me; it is part of who I am and runs through everything I do. My power is unstoppable.

I know in my soul that I have the ability to meet my goals and to exceed them. My goal is just the beginning of my full potential, and I constantly amaze myself at all I can achieve. 

I can achieve anything, and I do every time I try.

I see that the responsibility for my life lies with me. I am the only one who can build and create the life I dream of. My future is in my hands, and I am responsible for my own happiness.

This is a concept that excites me. I see potential all around me in everything I do, and I make a choice to grab this with both hands. 

My life is within my grasp, and I am the captain who must steer it in the direction of my dreams.

My dreams are within my reach. I am the architect of my own destiny, and I have incredible power lying within me. I choose to awaken this, coax it to life, and help it to reach its full potential. 

Today, I am unstoppable. I know I am able to achieve anything I set my mind to, and this knowledge offers me a sense of power and authority over my own life. I achieve my dreams.

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. Am I giving myself a chance to achieve my goals?
2. What three things am I most proud of today?
3. Do I truly believe in myself?

Flipping your switch can seem like a massive undertaking. There are a million different ways to achieve if all the articles on the internet have anything to say about it. However, flipping your switch is a personal undertaking, one that may have similar milestones for everyone but really can and should be tailored to a person’s needs to be successful. Keep reading for the seven steps you need to personalize to flip your switch. 

1. Find an Activity that Challenges You

The activity that will most help you flip your switch is the one that challenges you. Not your neighbor or your sibling. But you. This could be as simple as folding an entire laundry basket in one sitting or the Sunday morning crossword in pen! 

2. Commit to yourself

Whatever challenge you’re undertaking, you’re doing it for yourself. Make a promise that you will try your hardest and not give up when the going gets tough.

3. Set Realistic Goals

Make sure your goals are attainable. You aren’t going to fold all the laundry you do on Sunday by the end of Sunday. But maybe you could at least hang up the stuff that will wrinkle. Or perhaps you will only use a pen on the crossword answers you feel 100% confident about, pencil on the rest.

4. Turn off the T.V. (or the Internet) In General

Get rid of the useless distractions. That show will not help you concentrate or make time go faster. You can’t flip your switch on one activity if your brain is partially paying attention to another.

5. Remove Interruptions

Kids, phones, whatever, do your best to remove the interruptions before you start. Then your flow and concentration will be more effective. 

6. Track Your Progress

Find an easy way (read: not time-consuming, expensive, or labor-intensive) to track your progress. Sometimes this is a calendar to check off days. For others, maybe you need to journal about your feelings, how they went, or your next goal to achieve. Read my article on apps for changing habits. 

7. Enjoy Your Experiences

Enjoy what you’re doing and the experiences you are having. It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey. 

Learning to flip your switch is a process, not a one-day training online. It will take time and practice to find out precisely what it takes for you to be in the zone.

Emma always baked rye loaves at home, so she knew the recipe by heart. Even with distractions, she still got the ingredients right. But somehow, she missed her measurements this time around. 

Realizing her mistake after seeing a slower than usual rise, she exclaimed, “Oh no! I didn’t use enough yeast in the dough. Now my rye loaf won’t rise.” 

Upon hearing Emma’s calamity, Regina thought to herself, “Well, I’m not going to be the first of Regina’s loaves to end up flat...I’ve got to think of something!” 

Regina knew how tough it would be to rise with less yeast than required. But she contended that anything is possible when one is determined to succeed. 

Resigned, Emma put the dough in the baking pan and placed it in the oven. She had zero expectations of her usual quality rye loaf. “I guess once it bakes, I can chop it into small pieces and make croutons instead.”

But Regina had other ideas. It would take a lot more effort than previous rye loaves used, but she was raring to go. “I’ve decided that I’m going to take several deep breaths while baking and exhale powerfully to help with rising,” she said. “I know that I have what it takes to be successful,” she affirmed. 

And with that, Regina kept going. She kept pushing herself little by little until the peak of the loaf started to rise. She knew right away that her hard work would pay off. 

When Emma peeked in the oven and saw the rise, she was excited by what she called a miracle rise. Regina beamed with pride, knowing that her perseverance led to a positive outcome.

Moral of the story: Your outcomes are a direct result of your effort and determination.

The Resolute Rye Loaf Self-Reflection

Regina knew that things often happen predictably in the natural order of life once specific steps are taken. But in times when you miss a step, the outcome is often unpredictable. 

She also recognized the importance of determination in ensuring the desired outcome. Sometimes, there is only so much to leave up to the natural order of things. 

In the case of Emma’s blunder of using too little yeast in her rye recipe, the outcome, though predictable, shaped up to be disastrous. But it’s possible to avert disaster once you act quickly and rely on your inner drive to reverse your fate. 

Life has a way of throwing curveballs. The negative outcome may seem unavoidable, but things turn around for the better when you refuse to give up. 

Constant focus on your end goal always gives you the extra push to drive through obstacles or speed bumps. Reject thoughts of defeat and affirm your ability to thrive. 

When you take that path, your negatives turn into positives. Stay resolute and watch the promise of success unfold in front of you. 

Until you see the result, wait in expectation of greatness. Persistence is the formula for positive living. 

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. How do I know when there is more perseverance left in me?
2. Which examples from others do I use to motivate myself?
3. How much time do I spend sharpening my skills?

'Your success in any endeavor depends on your willingness to never give up, even when the reward is delayed.' - Harvey Mackay.

Susan B Anthony was an advocate for American women's rights to vote in the late 1800s. The majority opinion was that women didn't have to vote or be equal to men. They labeled anyone who wanted to change that notion a troublemaker. For that reason, some admired Susan while others despised her. She let nothing deter her, soldiering on until she had a significant following. At one gathering thrown in honor of her work, she received flower bouquets and joked about a particular time in her political career when people had thrown plenty of things at her, which were not flowers. Before her death, people asked Susan if her pursuits had been worth all the things she had gone through. Her answer was a definite yes. They enacted the law allowing women to vote around 1920, several years after her death. American women and the rest of the world, in general, will always attribute their ability to vote in the present and future times to Susan's persistence and determination to fight the system on their behalf.

Perseverance separates the success stories from failures. It separates the winners from the quitters. Any exceptional person significant enough to write about in the world's history books has faced tremendous challenges in their various pursuits. What clinches success is the determination to win despite those challenges. We should never leave success to chance or luck—Hard work, persistence, and an attitude that refuses to take no for an answer shape it.

Why perseverance is essential.

Everyone wants success in whatever they start, but we forget the hardships lying on the path to that success. Here is what separates us. Some make a decision with their heart, and others use their emotions to start towards their goal.  A frothy emotional appeal will get you to the point where the trials come. If you made a decision with your heart, no matter what gets in your way, you would surmount it. We are human enough to fall short of our goals a couple of times, despite our meticulous planning and goal-getter mindset. Any failure you encounter will chip away at your confidence and self-belief. It becomes easier to believe that you do not have what it takes, and that results in a great temptation to throw in the towel and settle for something less risky.  

The road to success is not a straight line. It requires a level of alertness to navigate the bumps and steer clear of the failure-sized manholes waiting for your fall. Perseverance takes you to your destination despite those setbacks. What guarantees you success is getting up after every fall. Determination and persistence mean you will fight for your dream, despite the temptation to give up. It means that you know that the journey is rough but will risk the discomfort to get the rewards when you reach your destination.

Rewards of perseverance.

• Reaping the fruit of your labor.

Agricultural metaphors can represent the story of success. There is a lot of groundwork before you can see the harvest. The planning stage is preparing the land. Next, you plant something to reap. Part with something of yourself in your pursuit of success, pouring it into the ground and waiting for it to yield fruit. After that, nurture the plant by watering it regularly and weeding out whatever is hindering it from growing. Invest in your dream by watering it with the required resources. See what has the potential to choke or compete with your vision and weed it out. All processes involved are not glamorous. They demand hard work and persistence. Only then can you expect fruit to break forth. You also need to be patient, as fruits will not grow overnight. Pour what you can into your dream and be patient before you quit. 

• Building confidence for future

Accomplishing a challenging task will bring you a lot of confidence when you tackle the next leg of your journey. Your excitement to take on more tasks comes from knowing that you persevered in previous endeavors, including those that seemed impossible. You develop the confidence to deliver better on your goals. This also does wonders for your repertoire. You can give your clientele reasons to choose you over your competitors when you articulate your past successes. Eventually, you come highly recommended in your sphere, which is the greatest reward for anyone whose dreams offer a service to others. Persevering and winning because of it will always open doors for the future.

• You learn more about who you

The journey to achieving your goals is often long and trying. Being determined to succeed teaches you a lot about who you are. If you quit easily, you get to know your low threshold for patience. If you persevere, you also get to learn about your strengths and limitations, so you can work the strengths to your advantage and find ways through your limitations.

Rewards are not always instant, but with perseverance, they are a guarantee.

Be willing to persist in the face of challenges, and you will be well on your way to success.

Never give up if you know you are right.

Remain courageous and confident when you know the odds are against you.

Permit no one to intimidate you or shake your belief in yourself.

Take new courage and resolve from the many successful people who faced incredible challenges to find greatness.

To succeed, you might have to fail without giving in to the temptation to quit. Have the courage to go after what you want, regardless of the many times you will miss the mark. Seeing your dream come true will bring fulfillment in ways that will overshadow any failure you encounter. Giving up will only bring a lifetime of regrets. So instead of quitting when the going gets tough, push forward and claim your victory.

The myths around failure.

When people commit to their dream, the expectation is that passion, coupled with excellent planning, will prevent failure. The truth, however, is nothing worth pursuing is that predictable. Many unforeseen circumstances can still knock your legs out from under you, even with all the planning. You could expect setbacks and still be ill-prepared to handle them. Certain things might catch you off-guard. You need to accept that reality if you are to build resilience in the face of adversity.

At ten, doctors diagnosed Kieran Behan, a young boy with a dream to become an Olympic gymnast, with a cancerous tumor on his thigh. The doctors decided on an operation to remove the tumor, but it went so bad that he suffered nerve damage. He received the news that he would never walk again. With great determination, Kieran started his journey of recovery. After fifteen months in a wheelchair, he found his way back to the gym, only to slip from a top bar a few months later. He sustained a head injury that took him out of school for a year. His determination to become a professional gymnast saw him retraining his brain to get his co-ordination back. Years later, he persisted and qualified for the European Championships. Unfortunately, the strain he had put on himself had caused several fractures and a blown knee. The youthful man was ready to give in until he remembered his goal. He pushed himself past the pain to become the Challenge World Cup floor champion in 2011. He realized his dream of competing at the Olympics when he qualified as a contender in 2012. Though he never won the gold medal, the young man's resilience brought him where the expert doctors had said he would never walk. Kieran did not let anyone steal his dream from him.

Failure does not always mean that you should rethink the vision. Sometimes, it means your methods did not work the way you thought they would. It could be the right indicator towards a better way of tackling the work ahead. Do not quit because you failed once. Instead, give yourself room to fail a few more times before throwing in the towel. Somewhere along the way lies victory. Don't miss it just because you encounter a few stumbling blocks.

How to stay motivated when quitting is easier. 

• Remind yourself why you started.

Remember the excitement you developed upon discovering your passion? Everything seemed so possible, so within reach until you encountered the first few hurdles that showed you, it would not be a walk in the park. When you doubt yourself and your ability to perform well in your endeavors, take time to remind yourself why you chose that dream. Remind yourself of the strides made so far and how those achievements validated your pursuit. Remind yourself of how it felt to see things falling into place, and it will encourage you to jump right back into it.

• Keep your eyes on the prize. 

Many people lose sight of the bigger picture when things take a sticky turn. This loss of focus is dangerous as it amplifies failures. It becomes easier to compare your progress with your peers, and comparison seldom yields any good. Keeping the end goal within your sights will help the vision seem closer and more attainable. Visualize the feeling of contentment you will get once the rewards come through, and it will motivate you to pull through towards your victory. 

• Take the road less traveled.

Successful people are risk-takers. They will do what no one else is comfortable doing. Whatever seems daunting to the ordinary person is fodder for a winning mindset. While it is essential to plan, one can easily quit at the planning stage because they feel they are not up to the task. If you are going to win, you will need to perfect the art of leaping into challenging tasks before you are ready. Do not allow room for stagnancy. It only brings a greater level of discomfort and disappointment in the event of setbacks. Always stretch yourself to build resilience for adverse seasons. Set a few challenging goals that will shake off complacency and gear you up for tough times.

• When it's overwhelming, ask for help.

No man is an island. While you must be ready to pursue your passion alone, you will need others to achieve your dream. Surround yourself with a healthy support system. The kind that does not clip your freedom to try things and that is available to help build your confidence back up when things are not going your way. Find people who can provide a safe space in which you can discuss your fears with no fear of judgment or ridicule. Reach out to people who have gone ahead of you and find out how they stayed the course when faced with challenges of their own. Stay away from people who say, "well, at least you tried."

When quitting is tempting, look at yourself in the mirror and repeat, "I will not quit until I am living the life I dream of!"

Why do some people succeed where other, more talented people fail?

How is it that stars burn out and fail were others with lesser talents manage to excel?

People grasp at the newest trends, latest technology, and desperately hope that they can capture the magic of success. They find a role model to emulate, they study, and they strive, looking for success or the secret to unlocking it. There isn't a secret to success. Success doesn't always come down to creativity, strategy, intelligence, or talent. If it did, the valedictorian of your graduating class would be where Bill Gates is, instead of working a mediocre job complaining that everyone else has all the luck. 

The answer to this question will never change. When someone asks who will succeed? The answer will always be – the people who persevere. Let's look at the five characteristics of people who persevere.

1. Keep It Visible

Yes, people who persevere keep visual reminders of their goals nearby. Whether it's on their desk, fridge, or the dashboard of their car, it plants the seed of success in their mind and allows them to focus their attention on all of the things that will help them achieve their goal.

 They recognize that worry and stress destroy focus, so they find a way to manage their stress levels. They do this by using their time effectively, an ability supported by keeping reminders visible.

2. Technology

If you can't tame your use of technology, then it will quickly become your master. We might live in a highly connected world, but it's up to you to define the boundaries with regards to your time. Your phone might have notified you that a new email just came through, but that doesn't mean you have to change your focus to deal with it. People who persevere know that the only thing that should dominate their time are things that contribute to achieving their goals. 

3. Preparation

If you plan two, three steps ahead, then you have a good idea of what is going to come next. This helps you prevent complacency. With every new phase, one must consider what skills, experiences, knowledge, and relationships should be developed to succeed. That's something people who persevere do regularly.

In that planning, you can create a template of sorts to improve your consistency with tasks that you know you will repeat. It'll save you time, too. 

4. Questions

People who persevere ask a lot of questions, but not just any questions, the right questions. When you ask the right questions, you get the right answers, which is what helps you push on through whatever obstacle life may throw at you. 

5. Gravity

We tend to gravitate to the most obvious or dominant thought, and because it's dominant, we move to believe that it's true. At least, this is what people who persevere do when they're choosing goals that ignite their passions. They have this ability because they are in touch with their inner-world to the point where they know their values, they know what they believe, they know what they want, and their life is built around making it happen. 

They sharpen their focus, they focus on building their competence, and they allow their competence to ignite their passion. That's what people who persevere do. 

At the end of each day, ask yourself whether you have done something that left a lasting or positive impact. If you can't answer yes, then go out of your way to do something so that you can say yes. When it comes right down to it, you either will or you won't. It isn't about trying; it's about doing. That's what people who persevere understand.

Building your dream company is no easy task. It takes time, effort, and a whole lot of hard work. However, there are seven basic strategies you need to know and understand that can make the difference between “killing it” and “killing your business.” 

1. Love What You Do

If you do not love the company, you are building, and what you are doing daily, then you will eventually end up hating your business. That equates to not reading this article at all. 

2. Build Your Dream Team

Surround yourself and your business with people that will support you and your business. This includes your family, friends, and employees. Don’t just hire an employee to hire someone, make sure the person you are taking on loves your company, loves the job, and can get things done. 

3. Know Your Market

Know who you are creating a product or service for and make sure you are creating a product or service that they will want. You may love your homemade chocolate chip, banana, caramel cookies. That does not mean that the rest of the world will love them or even love them enough to buy some. Know who your target market is and make sure your product is worthy. 

4. Believe in Your Product

Believe. Believe. Believe. If you do not believe in your product or service, then no one else will—end of story.

5. Understand Scale & Growth

In layman’s terms, this means to not get too big for your britches. Companies of all sizes start and end daily. Make sure no matter the amount of financial backing you have, that you are keeping your growth and scale in check. 

6. Care About Your Customers

Your customers are your bread and butter. You need to care about how they receive your product, if they are happy with it, and are they going to return or pass your name along. Without customers, you will not have a business, and word of mouth is the best form of advertisement you can have.

7. Identify Your Advantage

Why should customers pick your business over others? You need to know why you are better, and that needs to be your number one selling point. No matter the product or service, you need to have an advantage over all the others. 

Rocking it as an entrepreneur is no easy feat. Companies are created daily. Companies also close daily big and little companies. Make sure that you have someone to run things past. This person needs to be objective and have experience running a business.

 Are you losing motivation? It happens to the best of us. But there are tricks to staying motivated, many of which involve taking a hard look at your goals. With a little preparation and solid planning, there’s no reason why you can’t stay motivated through whatever project you’ve set out for yourself.

How?

1. Start with the big picture. What is it you’re trying to accomplish? Having an idea of the eventual goal will help you to stay on track. The clearer the vision, the more likely you are to keep going, even when times get tough. Ask yourself what it is you’re trying to achieve – and then picture yourself achieving it. The visualization step is the most important one here. We tend to perform in the way we expect to. So if we expect to fail, we do. By seeing success, you’re more likely to attain success.
2. Now that you’ve gotten the big picture, make sure this is YOUR goal. At first glance, that statement seems ridiculous – why would you make a goal that isn’t your own? This answer can be found most easily in asking WHY you want to accomplish this goal. If the word “should” comes up, then chances are you might want to re-evaluate what you’re doing. We often set goals because we feel like they’re something we’re supposed to do, and not because they’re something we want to do. You’re less likely to stay motivated when you’re on the path of ‘should.’
3. Next, you’ll want to break those tasks down into something manageable. Now that you have a goal and are sure it’s something you want to do, you might feel a little overwhelmed about how you’re going to accomplish that goal. By breaking it up into smaller pieces, you regain the feeling that you’re doing something possible. Like a pro tip? Celebrate the small successes as you go. That will help keep the motivation levels high.
4. If you’re still a little overwhelmed, get organized. It might be that you don’t feel prepared to work on this project because you lack the research or supplies. Figure out what you need and then go about making sure you have the proper tools to get the job done. It’s easier to stay motivated when you have what you need to succeed.

5. If all else fails, remember why you set the goal in the first place. It could be you only need a little reminder of your previous motivation to find the fresh motivation to keep going.
6. Take care of yourself. If you do not eat nutritious food regularly, rest, and relax, you will become run down, tired, and irritable. Motivation will be hard to maintain when you are tired and cranky.

Motivation isn’t something you have to lose as you work on a project. You can keep your motivation levels high with a little forethought and planning. By staying on track with your goals, you’ll find that motivation will likewise keep on track, guiding you through the job at hand until completion.

Everyone has dreams and goals. However, not everybody lives their dream. Such is the reality of life, but it does not have to be a reality for you. Believe it or not, you have greatness in you. We all do because the ability to realize our full potential is directly powered by our attitude and the way we handle ourselves in front of adversities. Every so often you will hear someone say "I did not make it because the deck was stacked against me…" – that is an excuse, but it is not true.

Most people fail to achieve their greatness not because life handed them a lousy hand, but simply because they adopted the wrong attitude.

In the words of Les Brown, "Just because fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up." When you speak the right words and cultivate a different mindset, you can reach your desired altitude regardless of the circumstances.

The way by which we operate as humans is a manifestation of what we believe is possible for us. It begins with the words that you say with your lips. These are a representation of what you believe with your heart. This belief acts on the subconscious mind and transforms into a series of behavioral patterns that form your attitude. People with the right attitude react positively to whatever life throws at them. For some, it can take a while, but with consistency, they do manage to overcome their adversities. Often, when you overcome your difficulties, you achieve great heights, higher than you could have imagined for yourself.

Oprah Winfrey faced a lot of adversities in her life. Before she became the Oprah that everyone in the world knows and adores now, she was an 'ordinary' woman. She went through the highest forms of body shaming and abuse, racial abuse and was even sexually abused by some members of her family. She never let all this get in the way of her dreams and goals. She turned each adversity thrown at her, into a personal triumph and developed the attitude of a winner. With a great attitude and tenacity, Oprah Winfrey managed to excel in everything she did. She graduated high school as an honors student, earned a full scholarship to college, rose through the ranks of television to become a global personality that everyone looks up to.

That is the kind of attitude that one must adopt to reach the summits. It begins by changing the way you speak about yourself and then changing the way you react to events, whether good or bad. If you genuinely want to live your dreams, you must confess with your mouth that it is "POSSIBLE" and believe with your heart that indeed you have greatness within you. You must be relentless in your approach and refuse to lose momentum in your pursuit of success.

J.K. Rowling, a well-known author, went through many disappointments before she managed to sell her first novel. While recovering from a divorce, Rowling was surviving on government aid with barely enough to feed her baby. She could not afford to buy a computer or to foot the cost of photocopying her first book. She did not let these challenges stop her. Instead, she sat down and typed with her own hands, each copy that she sent to potential publishers. Even then, many publishers rejected her manuscript. However, she did not allow those rejections to stop her from reaching her desired goal. She persisted until an eight-year-old girl, daughter of CEO to a small publishing company called Bloomsbury, gave her a breakthrough.

We can all reach our desired goal if we try relentlessly- The key is adopting the right attitude and encourage yourself to keep going after your dreams. Remember, the words you choose to say or write, translate into an attitude which then enables or disables your ability to go after your dreams. Choose carefully the words you focus on because what you focus on, expands into your reality.

If you choose to focus on negative words, it will only hinder your progress and prevent you from reaching your desired goal. So choose to focus on positive words and unlock your growth to achieve your desired goal!

Working from home has many advantages. In many ways, it can be the ultimate freedom; you get to set your hours, working when, where, and how you want. However, there are also several potential pitfalls you need to be aware of and watch out for, or you'll risk turning your home-based job into an unproductive nightmare.

Failing to keep business and private life separate

This is one of the most common issues for people who work from home, especially those who are self-employed. When the home office is "right there," it can be hard to stay away even if you should be off work for the day. Before you know it, you'll have spent another few hours of your precious weekend at work. This is the fast track to burning out, and something you must learn to avoid if you want to be successful working from home.

Not planning your work

This mostly applies to people who are self-employed and may not have a boss telling them what to do every day. When you're working on your projects, planning is an absolute must. If the first thing you ask yourself when you start your day is "Ok, what am I going to do today?", then you're setting yourself up for failure. It's much better to plan out the next day before you go off work in the evening, so you're ready to get started first thing in the morning.

Working at irregular times

When you're free to set your hours, it doesn't mean that you should only work "whenever you feel like it." Chances are after a few months that you'll rarely feel like it at all, especially when there are so many fun distractions around the house. That's why it's better to try to stick to working the same hours every day. Even if it might resemble a "real job" a bit too much for your liking. You can always take breaks during the day if you need to recharge, but try to at least go into your office around the same time if you want productivity levels to stay high.

Not getting out of the house regularly

When you work from home, there is usually very little motivation to go outside. You've got everything you need at home anyway, right? That's true, but after a whole week, you'll most likely be feeling isolated and lonely, and that's perfectly normal. That's why taking time for little things like grabbing lunch with a friend is important- something as simple as that can boost your energy and make your working week easier and less tedious.

You have goals of a new career, purchase your own home, and improve your health. Or perhaps you have smaller goals, such as learning a new language or traveling more often. However, you always find excuses about how the time is not right or the perfect opportunity is not here.

Most people have good ideas and the talent to achieve their goals. They fail because they quit or most often never even start. They get caught up in ruminating over what they might do and never take action.

If this sounds like you, it's time to make a change. Follow these three steps to stop thinking and start doing!

Set Your Priorities Straight

Start by defining your priorities. What do you want to achieve the most? Set short-term and long-term goals, such as getting a promotion, acquiring new clients, or buying a home. Give yourself due dates for each of these goals. Even if you don't meet the deadline, it should be just enough to get you started.

Eliminate any distractions that are wasting your time and focus on your end goal - to acquire new leads and boost your revenue.

Stop Overanalyzing and Go for It

Do you spend hours or days thinking and planning? Do you always focus on the worst-case scenario? Are you constantly trying to read between the lines? These signs indicate that you tend to overanalyze everything.

Like it or not, your thoughts are not reality. Just because you're thinking of the worst-case scenario, it doesn't mean it will happen. Don't believe everything you feel or think. Sometimes, you need to go with the flow and take some action. Overanalyzing situations, events, or actions rarely leads to a productive outcome.

Focus on the Positive

Psychologists advise there is a good reason for staying positive. A negative attitude fuels fear and anxiety, keeping you from reaching your goals. Your natural tendency is to think of what could go wrong instead of keeping an open mind. 

Keeping a positive attitude is good for your health too. It boosts your motivation and inner drive, helps you stay strong when times get tough and gives you a fresh perspective on the world around you.

Try meditation, positive affirmation, yoga, or whatever it takes to ward off negative thoughts. Focus on the good in your life and stay positive. Negativity leads nowhere; it's neither productive nor helpful.

We’ve all experienced mental fog. You feel your brain is in the clouds instead of an actual brain. Its symptoms include:

• Difficulty concentrating
• Diminished memory
• Find it hard to focus
• Poor communication skills
• Low motivation
• Easily distracted

Brain fog is a result of any imbalance in the control center of the brain, otherwise known as the hypothalamus. This imbalance can be a result of inflammation, free radicals or any stress brought on by several factors, such as:

• Multi-tasking
• Exhaustion
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Imbalanced hormones
• Infections
• Not getting enough sun exposure
• Substance abuse

Even though the mental fog is natural as a result of our busy, nonstop lifestyles, it shouldn’t happen frequently. If you feel that you’re experiencing fogginess more often than you’d like, then here are some simple changes you can do to stop it from happening and prevent any future occurrences.

·         Eat right

It’s incredible how much power our food has over us. Processed foods high in saturated fats and gluten all have a negative effect on your brain. So much so that a study has proven how gluten sensitivity has been linked to low concentration and focus abilities. Also, not getting enough water into your system can lead to brain freeze.

• Take your vitamins

If your diet is lacking in antioxidants, vitamins, such as D and B complex, or minerals, such as calcium, zinc, and magnesium, then you should start looking for supplements that work along with your diet and provide you with all the necessary nourishment you’re lacking.

·         Get better sleep

We all sleep, but it’s the quality of our sleep that can either make us or break us. High quality sleep improves brain function on the whole. While it’s ideal for getting the full 8 hours each night, some people require only 6 for optimal effectiveness. Find what works best for you, then regulate your sleep by creating a relaxing bedtime routine and a comfortable sleeping area.

·         Work out

When you exercise, you send fresh, oxygenated blood to your entire body, mainly your brain. This boosts its cognitive functions and diminishes brain fog. Studies have proven how exercise can improve learning and study skills, optimize concentration and memory skills.

·         Find a hobby

While we tell ourselves there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done, let alone find time to enjoy a hobby, there are ways to incorporate fun, relaxing activities into your weekly schedule. The first step is to schedule some “me” time and stop thinking it’s selfish, like most of us do. The second step is to find something you enjoy doing to chill out. It could be meditating by yourself in a quiet room with scented candles, or a class or club and getting to meet new people. The final step is to decompress and enjoy.

Brain fog is entirely reversible. You need to do the work and find out what works for you. Each one of us is unique, so it may be a bit challenging at first to find that perfect fit. You’ll be glad you made an effort once you regain clarity and be able to perform at your best.

Many aspects of pushing forward towards success involve getting out of your comfort zone. Your whole life, you may have very well been somewhat sheltered, or have gotten used to just rolling with the punches as they came to you.

This kind of mindset doesn’t work so well for being successful and changing the things that you’ve known your whole life can be a scary jump to make. However, everyone goes through it at some point.

Being uncomfortable may seem like a bad thing, but there are positive aspects to it. When you’re nervous, it means that you know you’re doing something that you wouldn’t normally do.

This is a step forward - you doing something out of character - and knowing this means progress is being made. You’re no longer stuck in that same rut - you’re changing things up.

You should know that going into your journey to success; you’ll face a lot of adversity and struggles. There will be times when you’re upset, feeling stuck, feeling uncertain, and all kinds of things.

However, those negative feelings are greatly outweighed by the sense of accomplishment you get when you start to reach your goals. Eventually, you will embrace the nervousness and the worries that come with taking on something unfamiliar.

Even if you have to put on a smile at first, you’ll soon find yourself loving being in new situations with tons of opportunities to do something that will help you succeed. You’ll finally be breaking up the monotony of everyday life with new, refreshing experiences.

It is said that nothing worth having comes easily, and the same for your path to success. You’re trying to retake your life and change it all up for the better.

This is a daunting task because you’ve spent so much time in your old, unfulfilling life that you don’t know whether or not you’ll succeed in this new mindset and lifestyle. However, it’s much better to have at least tried.

Even if you were to fail to become successful with a new strategy, you'd be able to sleep comfortably knowing that you did give it your all. If not, you’ll end up with regrets later in life about not having tried. On the other hand, you might end up successful after all, and you’ll finally be able to live that life you’ve always dreamed of.

Motivation is the driving force that inspires us to take action to achieve our goals. Everyone has experienced a time in their life when their motivation takes a downward turn. It is important to remember that at the end of the day, your motivation starts and ends with you. You can wake up feeling inspired and crush your day, or you can sit around the house and be lazy. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Here are several useful tips for increasing your motivation starting today. 

Tip #1 – Set Clear Goals

Many times our lack of motivation happens because we haven’t set clear goals for ourselves. If you go any way the wind blows, how can you expect to stay motivated? When you set clear and specific goals, it helps to focus your attention on what matters most and provides you with the motivation you need to continue on when things get tough.

Tip #2 – Find Your Why

You wake up and struggle to get going; it may be because you haven't found your "why" yet. When people fail to achieve their goals in life, it is because they haven't taken the time to discover what it is that makes them come alive. We are more motivated when we feel like there is a purpose to what we are doing and where our efforts contribute to the greater good. Finding your "why” will increase your motivation starting today. To identify your why, you'll want to ask yourself the following questions:

• What makes you come alive inside?
• What excites you. You can not stop thinking or talking about this subject.
• Where do you add the most significant value?
• What are your innate strengths?
• How will you measure your life?

When you find yourself running into roadblocks on your way to achieving your goals, step back, and reassess your “why.”

Tip #3 – Prioritize Your Health

Your level of success in life is determined by how you take care of yourself. If self-care isn’t a top priority in your life, everything else suffers, which can cause you to be more distracted and less motivated. Try creating a morning ritual and make a habit of waking up and engaging in activities that will increase your motivation. If you want to improve your motivation, then you have to make your physical health a priority.

Tip #4 – Picking Your Friends

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn

Take a look at these five people and ask yourself.

• Who do you spend your time with?
• Why do you spend time with them?
• Are they negative or positive people?
• What actions do you have in common?
• Are they action takers or do they gossip?

This is the most essential tip for increasing your motivation starting today. Spend your time with motivated people. It is contagious. When you are around motivated people, you do more without thinking about it. You want to help them accomplish their goals. When you show motivation and passion people will want to help you too.

 Most people have dealt with limiting negative self-talk their entire lives. Negative experiences start during childhood and continue throughout our adult lives. This is a normal part of life that we all experience. Too often though, our thoughts become negative as well. Even more troubling is when we start negatively talking to ourselves. This negative self-talk is one of the most limiting behaviors. Use these tips to help overcome limiting negative self-talk.

1. Distinguish between negative thoughts and critical thinking.
   We need to hone the art of self-critique. Otherwise, we will never believe that we are doing something wrong. However, you need to recognize when that critiquing becomes negative self-talk. When you can distinguish between these, now critical thinking has become a powerful tool.
2.  Accept failure.
   If you like to beat yourself up whenever you fail, you are in for a steep road ahead. You will fail, and you will do it many times in your life. Embrace this as a gift rather than a burden. Try to view failure as more of a lesson learned. Don’t tell yourself you are a failure; tell yourself that you just learned what doesn’t work.
3.  Repeat daily affirmations.
   You should look for affirmations that fit your current life situation. Use these as often as you can. Try repeating these affirmations every day. You should even write them out on a piece of paper and keep them close. The idea here is to program your mind for positive thinking. The more you keep at it, the more natural it will become. Ideally, those negative things you tell yourself will eventually be taken over by your positive affirmations.
4. Limit your time with negative people.
   These people thrive on negativity and enjoy dragging others down with them. If you cannot avoid them altogether, spend as little time with them as possible. You already struggle with negative self-talk, so you don’t need them adding more negativity. If you spend more time with positive people that build you up, your negative self-talk will naturally reduce.
5.  Learn to see the good in people.
   If you are always thinking negatively of others, it makes sense that you will more naturally think negatively about yourself. Being more open-minded towards others will help you be more accepting of your flaws as well.
6.  Negative thinking is a choice.
   Even though you have been bombarded with it since you were a child, thinking negatively is something you choose to do. Conversely, positive thinking is just as much a choice as negative thinking. Choosing positive thinking isn’t an easy, quick fix; it takes a lot of work and practice. …so start now!
7. Strengthen your self-belief.
   Negative thinking often occurs due to a lack of belief in yourself. When you strengthen your confidence, it will help you get through those times that bring you down.

Eliminating limiting negative self-talk will open the door to a bright and exciting future. It will be worth all the effort you put into it. Do not give up. 

Image by John Hain from Pixabay