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Ask yourself what “enough” is for you. More is not always better. What is enough to give you contentment? Enough money. Enough things. Enough house. Enough car.

How do you balance healthy ambition and contentment?

Why do you want “X, y, or z?” Or…why do you THINK that that’s what you want? Are you seeking accolades or external rewards? Be introspective. Discover what drives you and learn more about what makes you tick. Once you gain that awareness you can help shape your next actions.

“There is more pleasure in loving than there is in being beloved.” – Thomas Fuller

Trying to be beloved, searching for others’ approval, is a never ending battle that you cannot win. Be true to yourself and love others. Do what is right and it will bring you the peace of mind that you desire, whether you know it or not. Loving others makes you a more complete person. There are different kinds of love that everyone should experience – passionate love (for your husband/wife), love of your child/children, love of kinship (mother, father, sister, and brother), fraternal love (friends), love of mankind (society at large, having compassion on strangers), love of Mother Earth (not contributing to pollution, taking time to enjoy nature’s beauty), love of music, love of competition (sports), etc. There are so many types of love that should be experienced by everyone. There is not a finite amount of love to be given or received. It is infinite. Having/giving love is not like taking a piece of the pie, where if you take a piece, there is less available for everyone else. If you give more love, you will never run out. Have an abundance mindset of love, where more is always available. A scarcity mindset, where you can only divvy up so much before it is gone, will trap you into thinking small and living an unfulfilled life, lacking in love. 

Have you ever looked out into a starry night sky and wondered what else might be out there? Have you sat on a beach, watching the waves continuously ebb and flow, cascading across the beach. Have you stood in a forest, looking up to the tallest trees or out to the jagged rocks, knowing that this same sight has been viewed by people many generations before you?

Being in nature can be eye-opening if you allow it to be – if you really make an effort to truly be present, not just to snap the next photo to put on your Instagram feed.

Being in nature can put life into perspective. If you build your ego up too much, go out in nature to realize how small you really are. You are a tiny part of this present world, and in the grand history of the world (let alone the universe), you don’t even register on the radar. You are a spec of sand among many. Don’t build yourself up to be bigger, better, or more important than you actually are.

Being in nature can help you use your imagination. Next time you’re in the woods, imagine what it was like to live here 300 years ago. No cities existed (at least not like they do now). No farms were around. It was basically you, your tribesmen, animals, trees, and vegetation. Would you have been able to survive the harsh winters?

We live in a world today where everything the news reported is “catastrophized.” Bad events are happening all around us. But what doesn’t get emphasized enough is that this is the best time to be alive in all of mankind’s history. We live in a world today where, for most people living in the U.S., basic needs like having food, water, and shelter are met by nearly the entire population. We live in climate controlled conditions. We have more access to any information we want than at any point in history. Life is good! But just because we have access to this technology doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t go back to our roots every once in a while. Go out in nature and explore again. Remember what it’s like to be a kid! Put your life into perspective and use your imagination again.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

Take the time to do whatever task you’re working on and to do it correctly. If you’re too busy to “do it right” then you won’t have time to do it a second time or a third time to correct the mistakes you made when you haphazardly completed it the first time.

Ask yourself, do I really need to be doing this task? If not, can you delegate it to someone who has more time and is more capable than you at the present moment?

Before delegating to someone else, ask yourself, does anybody need to complete this task? Sometimes we fall into a routine of doing something because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” But if it doesn’t need to be done at all, why waste your time or someone else’s time? Eliminate what you can.

Lastly, if it is something that needs to be done, can you figure out a way to automate it? Do you have systems in place that allow you to save more time and to still get the work done by automating the task? This will probably require some more time upfront, but once you have the systems in place to automate the redundant task, it will help you in the long run.

“The soul that is within me, no man can degrade.” – Frederick Douglas

Nobody can make you feel bad unless you give them that power over you. It is up to you whether or not you relinquish that power. In order to combat that, you must continually work on strengthening your mind and your emotions. 

Nothing is bad unless you think it is bad, just like nothing is good unless you say/think it is good. If someone states something that could be construed as rude, you have the choice to let it affect you. 

“Choose not to be harmed, and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed, and you haven’t been.” – Marcus Aurelius