Are you living the lifestyle you want to live and doing the things you want to do? Are you inspired, motivated and looking forward to life?
If your answer to any of these questions is 'no' (and you're not alone!) then we should examine the reasons why.
For most people, the thing that's holding them back is fear. Now, I'm not talking about abject terror here - we're rarely that scared of our barriers - but simple, low-level, background negativity that reduces our confidence, lowers our self-esteem and persuades us that we're not up to the task, that we're not good enough.
The result of having fear ever-present in our lives is that we give in and settle for less than we're capable of and, in the long run, living below our potential causes us frustration. We become increasingly discouraged at our lack of progress in the important areas of our lives and fall into a cycle of wanting more yet being afraid to take control.
One way to determine how to make your life the work of art you desire is to model people who are already successful in their own lives. These people normally exhibit very similar qualities and attributes that, if emulated, create a blueprint that we can use to create similar results for ourselves.
Extensive study of success literature written in the last century has revealed that many people who have made a success of one or more areas of their lives have done so by following a few simple rules.
Rule 1: No one can do it but you
Very few people ever win the lottery, inherit money or have 'unknown benefactors' that suddenly appear to make their lives perfect. These occurrences are so few and far between that they will affect less than 1% of us during our lifetimes. The truth is that it is you and only you who can make your life better.
Rule 2: Avoid making excuses
We all have our lists of 'if onlys' and 'buts', for example: 'If only I had more money I'd have a better life' or 'I'd love to be/do/have but...'
For most of us who are living beneath our potential it becomes crucial that we recognise these words for what they are… excuses. They are so powerful in holding you back that I suggest removing the words 'if only' and 'but' from your vocabulary. Try it for the next 21 days. Don't allow yourself to justify or rationalise, and whenever you catch yourself doing so, reset the clock and start over. Your goal is to achieve 21 days of excuse-free living. You'll be amazed at how much you'll get done in this time!
Rule 3: Your beliefs become your reality
The old saying 'if you can conceive it you can achieve it' is only partly correct. Only with belief can something become a reality. If you believe you can achieve something then you're right. If you believe that you can't, then you're also right. It's that simple.
You see, beliefs are like a software programme that's continuously running in the background in the subconscious part of our minds where it receives its commands from our conscious mind.
Whether we believe that we're beautiful or ugly, successful or unsuccessful, happy or unhappy, our subconscious minds will actively seek out evidence to support these beliefs by filtering in or out the relevant information to make them true. This is why we must be ever-vigilant about what we choose to believe about ourselves and the potential our lives hold for us.
Rule 4: Select your inner circle
There is a saying that in the next five years of your life the only things that will change will be the people you mix with and the books you read. This is a way of saying that our lives are heavily influenced by those that we allow to penetrate our barriers or inner circle.
Our self-image, self-esteem and beliefs are formed as a direct result of every relationship we've had since birth. Every word of support, comfort and love serves to build a positive image of who we are, while every criticism, put-down, snipe or negative comment will lower the value we place on ourselves. For this reason it's vitally important that we carefully select those we allow into our inner circle.
If your friends, family or work colleagues are persistently negative about you specifically or life in general, then do your best to limit your contact with them and associate instead with those who make you feel more positive about yourself and your abilities.
Rule 5: Get out of your comfort zone
Successful people are those that are ever looking forward toward a better, brighter future. They choose goals that challenge and test them and stretch them to new limits in order that they can grow and prosper.
Success is rarely, if ever, found in your comfort zone. Simply put, if you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten. If you're happy and successful then great, but if you're not, then your comfort zone becomes your prison, yet it's one of your own making and you can leave it at any time.
Rule 6: Take action
Though the first five rules are clearly important, they are impotent and powerless unless the last ingredient is added…action!
Those who have made successes of their lives have taken consistent actions over time that have led to their desired results.
As simple as it may sound, that's really all there is to achieving the successes you desire, yet those who are considered successful have no doubt got where they are by following these rules to greater and lesser degrees.
