Making Mistakes

I don’t know about you, but for a period of time, I just didn’t want to get anything wrong or make a mistake. Boy, how that one desire restricted my life. It restricted what I could achieve, how far I stretched and kept me in my safety and comfort zone.

Then one day I had a mind switch and realised the more mistakes I make, the more I learn, the bigger my comfort zone, the more I can achieve. I started to look at mistakes and failures as part of my expansion, as part of being able to achieve everything that I wanted to achieve.

You may have heard the story of this famous figure before. However, I would love to share it again.

• Failed in business, 1831
• Defeated for legislature, 1832
• Second failure in business, 1833
• Defeated for speaker, 1838
• Defeated for elector, 1840
• Defeated for congress, 1843
• Defeated for congress again, 1848
• Defeated for senate, 1855
• Defeated for vice president, 1856
• Defeated for senate again, 1858
• Elected President of the United States of America, 1860

It is Abraham Lincoln. What if Abraham Lincoln just gave up at some point in his journey? This journey was nearly 30 years in the making. What kept him persisting, never giving up, and seeing every step as part of the journey?

Perhaps we should just keep trying more often. Never underestimate your power to achieve what you desire. Take a chance; life is there for you to design. What is it you want to achieve? Embrace and be very proud of all your mistakes, it is from here you learn your greatest lessons and grow.

Short Cut to Calm

Feeling stressed out and worried can be exhausting. There’s the trying to get everything done, and that’s tiring enough. Then there’s the extra energy that it takes to worry, and the tension caused by stress. All that leaves us even more drained.

When we’re stressed and spinning, it can help to short-circuit the action. Maybe we started off our day with something that caused a cascading domino effect of stress. Maybe it’s been intense for days or weeks, or even months. Whatever the case, when you catch yourself in stressed-out mode, or you notice that mind has sped off on a track of worrying, a key to returning to calm is to stop that action. Our breath can be used as a short cut back to calm. In fact, our breath can be our best friend to both short-circuit the stress cycle and also create a calming cycle in the body.

The fight or flight response is the body’s response to stress, so we’re ready to run or fight even though we’re probably sitting in a chair. Adrenaline and other stress hormones course through our bodies, and that would be fine if we were about to run from an attacking sabre-toothed tiger. But if we’re just going through our day in that heightened mode, we’re using far more energy than we need to, and overtime, are causing our body’s wear and tear, and even damage.

In contrast, slow deep breathing 8-10 times activates the vagus nerve. We’re learning now that the vagus nerve, which has almost as many nerve channels as the spinal cord itself, activates a kind of relaxation response in the body. With 8-10 slower, deeper breaths, the vagus nerve gives your body the signal that all is safe, that there is no immediate danger. The body begins to respond with a slower heart rate, it slows the flow of stress hormones, and the bio-chemistry of relaxation takes over.

You can short-circuit the stress cycle and feel calmer by stopping to take 10 slow, deep breaths. You can bring yourself from stressed out and worried to calmer, more present, and more energized. Next time you notice you’re feeling stressed, remember this short cut to calm. Do yourself a favour, and just stop for the few moments it takes to breathe slowly 10 times. You’ll notice the difference.

Today Is Unwritten

A wonderful thought to have at this very moment, right where you are, no matter how much of this day has gone or how much of this day is still to happen. Whatever’s left is ... yet unwritten.

Words, ideas, images, experiences and feelings on the pages of your life book have yet to be experienced.

 
It never gets repeated again so hold for just a moment how precious it is that you are alive, you have this moment and that you get to choose a never-again repeated day.

Balance

Balance is the key to life.  If we had sunshine all the time without rain, the plants would suffer.  If we only focused on one area of our life such as work, other areas such as our relationships, health and fitness, personal development, may suffer.

Balance is about your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  When we focus too much on one area, other areas in our life are impacted and, in some cases, other areas of our life suffer.

We have to be aware of over-scheduling ourselves.  Aiming for total balance is perhaps aiming too high - it is all about overall well-being.  Combine being at work with your friendship groups.  You could even exercise at lunch time with some of your work colleagues.  That means you are working on your business relationships plus health and fitness.  Maybe you could combine your children’s sport commitments and be involved; in some way, this helps with your family time.

The message I am giving here is rather than separating categories, combine categories.  If you exercise then try to exercise with friends.  To spend time with your children, then get involved in things they do, combine work with your social life.

Remember, we no longer live in a society or world where it is 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, 8 hours play.  It is about using our time well and we can do this to help maintain balance.

I look forward to hearing your creative success stories about balance.

Is My Dream Possible?

Many of us don’t even spend a lot of time thinking about what we really want from our life.  Some of us who do, may be asking the wrong question.  What question is that?  It is "Is my dream possible?"

Then they look at their life, their abilities and their conditions to determine the answer.

The answers to those questions may be convincing.  You may look at where you live, your age, your bank statement.

However, the world is an interesting place.  The universe is full of endless possibilities.  Many say, by definition, it is unlimited.

When you look at your current life, your current abilities and your current conditions to determine your dream, you squeeze the infinite into a tiny little picture of what you think is possible.

We have to really dream to make our dreams possible.  We have to be a little bit crazy and reach to the improbable and impossible.  Remember, a hundred years ago, flying in a plane was impossible, the telephone was ridiculous, the light bulb, cars, televisions, and computers.  If those inventors looked to the current conditions back then to determine their dreams, we may never have made these leaps.

So start asking a different question - "What would I love?" Then allow yourself to dream without limit.  Write down the ideas that come to you.  Look for the feeling of excitement, nervousness, ridiculous, laughter and let it guide you to living the life of your dreams.