You Hold the Key

We ALL hold the key to our personal success, happiness, joy, humor and all around good times.  Most don’t realize they possess this power- it seems to be a well-kept secret based upon all the whining I see from others throughout the day.  They go through life reacting to events like a pinball rolling down the board.   Always a victim bouncing from one bad event or relationship to the next.

Many of us were sold a bill of goods as young kids and haven’t bothered to question what we were told.   We were told we weren’t good enough, smart enough, didn’t live in the right part of town, etc.  Life is tough and you need to take the good with the bad.

These were our parent’s thoughts that they passed on to us.  As with all parents, they don’t consciously wish ill upon their offspring, but they didn’t realize their power either.  They were passing along the same advice their parents gave them.  This is why society moves forward slowly – each generation incorporates the same beliefs that were handed down to them by their parents.  These ways were treated as gospel.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh  – but it’s never too late to have an awakening!

You’re in charge of your life – everything in your life.  Everything.  You aren’t a leaf in the wind that gets blown around and sometimes ends up in a great situation and sometimes ends up in some deep doo-doo.  It doesn’t work that way.

STEP 1 – REALIZE YOU ARE IN CHARGE.

No one but you has complete and total control of your thoughts.  No one.  The key to success is to take command of this incredible power and begin using it to create an awesome life for yourself.   Instead of viewing events as either good/bad, begin to view them as all good.  All good from the standpoint that everything is helping you to grow, be a better person, and increase your personal power.  It’s a simple mind-shift that will take you from being a victim to being an empowered and resilient person on a mission.

This typically doesn’t  happen overnight.  It takes time to reframe your thinking and stop your old ways of talking to yourself and thinking about the world.   Moving from predominantly negative thoughts, to slightly negative, to neutral, to slightly positive and finally to predominantly positive thoughts takes commitment and determination.  This is a process that continually improves over time.  The more you do it the better you get.

STEP 2 – DEFINE YOUR VISION (PLACE YOUR ORDER)

After you get to the place of having predominantly positive thoughts define your vision.  What is it that you want to create in your life?  A better job?  Great relationship?  More money?  Better health?  Whatever it is get some clarity around it.  Get as specific as possible and while still maintaining a positive attitude about it.  If you think about your vision but find yourself getting all worked up and negative about it then back off a bit and make your vision less specific.

It’s important to absolutely know you will attain your vision when you feel/think about it.  For example – if you have the vision of working at your ideal job and whenever you think about this vision it elicits positive thoughts and feelings then you’re in the perfect mind-frame and telling a great story.

On the other hand, if you have the same vision but add a specific and short timeframe to it the results can be disastrous.  By taking your vision of  having your ideal job and by adding the words “next week” you add stress to your thoughts and feelings.  Your self-talk begins to doubt and the negative thoughts increase and the likelihood of a successful outcome plummets.

STEP 3 – TAKE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP

Once you have your positive vision and are keeping it active in your thoughts throughout the day, be aware of events that will take you closer.  Always take the next logical step and be appreciative of how much closer you are to achieving your vision.  It’s interesting how this works – the more you’re on the lookout for the next step and know it will happen, the sooner it shows up for you.

I was extremely successful as a research project leader by following these 3 simple steps.  I always viewed my assignments as a huge dynamic jigsaw puzzle – the pieces would fall into place at the perfect time.  No stress involved – just maintain your vision and take the next logical step.