“Live every day as if it were your last. Otherwise, you will die with the best you had to give still within you. Life waits for nobody, either you act on life or life will act on you.”
Stop spending so much time thinking about the success of others and start focusing on your own vision for the future. Have the courage to understand that every minute spent thinking about someone else’s victories is a minute taken away from the fulfillment of your own. Stop putting off your hopes and dreams to another day. Stop putting off becoming the kind of leader you know in your heart you can be. Now is the time to make things happen. Now is the time to take some risks in your leadership. Now is the time to test those new strategies you have been thinking of testing. Now is the time to show your people how much you value them. Now is the time to really love your family and commit to your community. Do all those things you have always wanted to do, whether that means learning how to play the saxophone or mastering that golf game of yours. Climb the mountain of life and see what life looks like from the summit. You will see things others cannot see.”
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. Before you can do something, you must be something.”
You cannot be the inspirational leader you hope to be if you wake up every morning feeling miserable and depressed. You cannot guide your people forward to victory if you are being kept behind by a lack of energy. You will not be able to capture their hearts and energize their minds if you are still yelling and screaming at them all day. Remember, before you can like another person, you must like yourself. Success on the outside begins within.
“Love Your Irritations. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. Stop listening with the intent to respond. Instead, listen with the intent to understand.”
The things that drive you crazy are actually giant opportunities. The people who press your buttons are actually your greatest teachers. Be grateful for them. Love them. The things that irritate, annoy and anger you are entry points into your evolution and elevation as a human being. They are signposts for what you need to work on and the fears you need to face. They are gifts of growth. The people or circumstances that take you out of your power have extraordinary value: They reveal your limiting beliefs, fears and false assumptions. You can blame the people who trigger you and make it all about them.
Or you can do the wise thing and look deeply into yourself to discover the reasons for your negative reaction. Use the challenges to grow self-awareness. Because how can you overcome a fear you are not even aware of? And how can you transcend an insecurity you don’t even know you have? As you begin to shed light on your personal weaknesses and take responsibility for them, you actually begin the very process of shedding them. Shadows exposed to the light begin to disappear. You become stronger. More powerful. More of who you were meant to be. You begin to see the world through a different set of eyes. People really can evolve into their greatness— I see it every day.
“One of the most enduring of all the ancient laws of humanity is that we see the world not as it is, but as we are.”
By improving, refining and defining who we are, we see the world from the highest, most enlightened perspective. By mastering ourselves, we see the world and all its limitless opportunities and potential from the top of the mountain rather than from the bottom. Commit yourself to excellence. Raise the personal standards you have set for yourself. Strive to do everything spectacularly well. Remember that when you settle for mediocrity in the small things, you will also begin to settle for mediocrity in the big things. And anything less than a conscious commitment to peak personal performance is an unconscious commitment to weak personal performance.
“Stop wishing for fewer problems and start searching for greater wisdom.”
You must stop making excuses for why things have gone wrong and assume some responsibility for a change.
“The Law of Diminishing Intent says that the longer you wait to implement a new idea or strategy, the less enthusiasm you will have for it. I think anyone who has worked in the corporate world knows the feeling of rushing out of a motivational seminar full of great ideas that will change every aspect of his or her life. But then the demands of the day compete for our attention and all our good intentions and personal promises for change get pushed to the wayside. And the longer we put them off, the lower the probability we will ever fulfill them. So the lesson is to act daily on your strategy for change before it dies a quick death, burying your future vision with it. As the German philosopher Johann von Goethe said many years ago, ‘Whatever you can do and dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic.’ ”
Success on the outside begins within. Enlightenment comes through the consistent cultivation of your mind, body and soul.
“The lack of willpower is a mental disease.”
“If you suffer from this weakness, make it a priority to stamp it out quickly. An abundance of willpower and discipline is one of the chief attributes of all those with strong characters and wonderful lives. Willpower allows you to do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it. It is willpower that allows you to get up at five in the morning to cultivate your mind through meditation, or to feed your spirit by a walk in the woods when a cozy bed beckons you on a cold winter’s day. It is willpower that allows you to hold your tongue when a less-actualized person insults you or does something you disagree with. It is willpower that pushes your dreams forward when the odds appear to be insurmountable. It is willpower that offers you the inner power to keep your commitments to others, and, perhaps even more importantly, to yourself. It is the essential virtue of every person who has created a life rich with passion, possibility and peace.”
“Building self-control and discipline into your life will also bring you a tremendous sense of freedom. This alone will change things.”
Believe it or not, developing the power of your will can erase the worry habit, keep you healthy and give you far more energy than you have ever had. You see, self-control is really nothing more than mind control. Will is the king of mental powers. When you master your mind you master your life. Mental mastery starts with being able to control every thought that you think. When you have developed the ability to discard all weak thoughts and focus only on those that are positive and good, positive and good actions will follow. Soon you will start attracting all that is positive and good into your life. It is just as easy to think positive thoughts as it is to think negative ones.
The question may come to your mind that why do so many people worry and focus on all the negative information in our world?
Because they have not learned the art of self-control and disciplined thinking. Most people I have spoken to have no idea that they have the power to control every single thought they think every second of every minute of every day. They believe that thoughts just happen and have never realized that if you don’t take the time to start controlling your thoughts, they will control you. When you start to focus on good thoughts only, and refuse to think the bad ones through sheer willpower, I promise you they will shrivel up very quickly.
“When you control your thoughts, you control your mind. When you control your mind, you control your life. And once you reach the stage of being in total control of your life, you become the master of your destiny.”
So, if you want to have the inner strength to get up earlier, eat less, read more, worry less, be more patient or be more loving, all you have to do is exert your will to cleanse your thoughts.
“The person who doesn’t make time for exercise must eventually make time for illness.”
It simply involves making sure that you respect the timeless truth that says, as you care for your body, so you care for your mind. You must have the wisdom to exercise regularly and eat to win. There are 168 hours in a week. Surely you can find a few to swim, stretch or run.
According to a study at my alma mater involving 17,000 Harvard alumni, it was found that every hour you exercise adds another three hours to your life. Now, that’s an excellent return on investment. So what are you waiting for? Now is the time to get into peak condition. It will add so much to the quality of both your professional and personal life. It will make you feel wonderful and give you the energy to do all the meaningful things you want to do. It will even enhance the clarity of your thoughts. Don’t be so busy striving to make a living that you forget how to live a life.
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