Month: June 2017

It can be easy to look at others and make moral judgements about how they aren’t making the most of their time/opportunities/privilege and how hard you ‘have it’ in comparison. It’s a tempting victim mentality, a justification for your own frustrations and shortcomings. However, it is important to realise that everyone has a complex web of life, obligations and commitments – many of which are unseen and you are unaware of. Your path is your path – and it is the only one that you are qualified to judge. Do so soberly and with the same amount of judgement that you throw at others – or just let go of the judgement altogether – whichever is more motivating for you!

Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to everything that people ask you to do? Does this lead to you having little time to take care of yourself and the things that are important? It’s time to set some boundaries and practice being assertive. If someone continually asks you for favours that chew up a lot of your time, simply explain that lately you’ve been really busy and are struggling to stay on top of everything and this time, no, you won’t be able to help. Sometimes people get into a habit of asking certain people for things, without really evaluating the effect it has on them. Remind them of it, and they will slowly come to appreciate your time and boundaries.

Some of us are really hard on ourselves about the things that we haven’t yet achieved. However, it is important to realise that you do many things VERY well each day. And that these things should be recognised and appreciated as progress. Getting into the habit of recognising your strengths will form a more positive attitude within yourself, and making you more likely to try new things and believe that you are capable. So show yourself some love today and recognise the hard work you are doing!

People say taking the first step is the hardest – and sometimes that is true. However, it is common for us to take one step and then relax a bit too much because we believe that the rest of the process should be relatively ‘easy’. Not so. Our impatience to get to the goal without laying important foundations of discipline and behaviour adaptation can often rob us of the everyday willpower to continue those steps and processes that build us into people who will appreciate and maintain those rewards and goals. It is demonstrable in the case of many lottery winners – they instantly get to a financial goal, but have none of the discipline and appreciation of earning that money, so they often find themselves in similar states of financial status within 6 months of their win. So appreciate, trust and persevere with the journey – it is the most important part.

We are all guilty of saying one of the following things:

“I haven’t had enough time”

“I haven’t had enough money”

“I haven’t had enough motivation”

We often say this when we are confronted by a circumstance that we realise is important and we are not prepared for. However, if someone were to go through your expenses, time or energy levels with a magic fine-toothed comb – we secretly know that we simply haven’t prioritised this area. Of course, sometimes you are working 70 hour weeks to get a project completed and then, yes, time is limited. Often, however, it is the statement, “I haven’t made that a priority in my life lately” that is more often true. It is difficult to juggle all the demands of our lives, and that is why it is important to be conscious about how we are spending our time, energy and money by tracking in a diary or an app – so that you can reach your goals in less time and feel more in control of your life.

So many of us start improving our lives by making a new habit. A week in and you look back – you’ve managed to make some change, but there are a lot of times when you didn’t get around to your new habit. This can be really hard to get past, motivation-wise. This is where many people give up. However, if you look at as a comparison to the week before, where you didn’t implement this at all, you are improving! Just try to add one more session of your habit in the next week. This isn’t an all-or-nothing event, but a steady focus and refocus to becoming a better you.