SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Certainly life has its pains and disappointments, but you don’t have to totally invest yourself in them. Life has its setbacks and injustices, but you don’t have to identify yourself by them. You can acknowledge and deal with the negativity without letting it get to you. You can live in a world that is sometimes harsh and cruel without choosing to see yourself as a victim. Sure, there are lots of difficulties that come along. Yet there are even more positive possibilities to live for. Instead of letting the difficulties get you down, let them inspire you. Let them inspire you to focus more intently on the good, valuable and beautiful aspects of life. No life is free of pain, inconvenience, frustration or challenge. However, there is no law that says you have to let those negative things completely overwhelm your awareness. Take the difficulties in stride, and then be sure to move quickly on to the joys. No matter what has happened, remember that joy can always be your next experience.

Your intentions can be enormously powerful, yet they must be clear, specific and meaningful. If you just have a vague idea of the results you intend, the results you actually get will have little value. Decide what you wish to do today, or this month, or this year, and make it precise. In order to be fully committed, you must know exactly what you’re committed to doing. The more clearly you visualize your intentions, the more powerful you make them. When you can see exactly where you’re going, you can also find realistic and workable ways to get there. The power of your intentions also comes from the strength of purpose behind them. When they’re solidly connected to what’s meaningful in your life, then you’ll put your best efforts into making those intentions happen. Your intentions are powerful precisely because they enable you to focus and harness your substantial energy. Your intentions bring results because they compel you to create those results. Make them clear and meaningful, an...

Some of the most interesting and valuable experiences are the ones you don’t expect. Surprises can bring into your life good things you never knew were there. It’s comfortable to stick with the same old routine, but comfort is overrated. Choose to regularly jump out of that routine, and get yourself in situations where you can be surprised. Learn to look forward to the difficult, the unusual and the unknown. When you’re not sure what you’ll find, you’re more likely to find something that will bring new richness to your life. You are superbly able to be curious, innovative and adaptable, so make use of those powerful abilities. Step out of the comfortable box that houses everything you already know, and enjoy exploring unfamiliar territory. If you were a typical child, you loved surprises. Make it a point to get some of that magic back. Go where you can surprise yourself. And experience firsthand just how fascinating and rich your life can be.

The way to achieve big things is to take care of the little things every opportunity you get. Instead of seeing yourself as too important to do some small task, see the task as too important to ignore. Don’t worry about whether you’re making a big enough difference. Just keep your focus on making whatever positive difference you can. Every major achievement is filled with countless minor details. Get the small details right, and you’ll get the big achievement done. Now is the time you have in which to act. So do what you can do now. A molecule of water is so small it cannot be seen by the naked eye, and the ocean is so vast it cannot be seen all at once. Yet the vast ocean is nothing without the tiny molecule. Each little effort matters. So make one every chance you get.

Don’t be too smart for your own good. Don’t be too critical of your own work. Prepare for what you intend to do, and plan how you will do it, but not to the point of obsession. Sooner rather than later, finish the planning and start the doing. Even though you won’t get it perfect, focus all your energy on getting it done. Even though you may have your doubts, push on through them and keep going. Achievement is never clean or linear. Great achievement is messy and inconvenient, daunting and often quite unpredictable, and it is worth all that. You have great achievement within you, today, in this place, using what you have and what you know. What a shame it would be to never let that unique achievement see the light of day. So get busy right now and begin to let it see the light of day, on this day. You have so much to give to life, and such exquisite fulfillment to savor from doing so.

Put something positive in your world. Circumstances, events and other people can’t be depended on to do it, so step up and do it yourself. There are plenty of influences in your life that can lead to dismay and disappointment. Fortunately, you don’t have to be one of those disappointing influences. You can put something positive in your life any time you choose to do so. Go ahead and choose this day, this moment, and this place to do so. You know you’ll be much more effective with a positive perspective. So do something good for yourself and for your world. There are all too many things to feel bad about. Use a little time today to do something you can truly feel good about. Put something good and positive in your world today. Give yourself the gift and the power of a fresh, new positive outlook.

Frustration is a painful, debilitating feeling that can often cause you to do things you’ll regret. So choose to quickly let it go. Frustration, as automatic and overpowering as it may seem, is a choice. And you can always make a different choice. The habit of reacting in frustration is just that, a habit. Like any other habit you’ve developed, you can get rid of it when you choose. Yes, life regularly presents you with difficult dilemmas for which frustration is a perfectly understandable reaction. Other than grabbing your attention, however, your frustration never does accomplish much. So once you’re aware of the frustrating situation, make the choice to find a more useful, effective response. Step back from the desire for instant drama, and work on creating some long-term positive results. Channel the high-powered energy of frustration into intentional, focused, positive action. Give yourself the option to act effectively and appropriately, and you’ll find you have no need...