Tag: advice

Choose your mood

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

Have you ever noticed something that triggers one person and puts them in “a mood” for the rest of the day, but a similar event has no affect on a different person? Why is that?

It seems like some people are predisposed to being angry at the smallest things – letting everything around them affect how they’re feeling at that moment. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. In most cases, it only takes a mindset shift to live a happier, less stressful life. Obviously there are things that happen to us that are very serious. Thinking positively doesn’t necessarily make the situation all better, but it’s still the better choice to make rather than dwelling on the negative. Regardless of how do you think about the situation, you probably can’t control those outside events and you can’t change the past. But you can control how you respond to them.

Choose to be happy and see the good in every situation. Why would you want to choose to be anything other than happy?

A quick reminder to not take life too seriously

Unless the events that are happening to you are life-altering such as a birth, a death, a job change, a (fill in the blank)… if it’s something that is a one-time event that can change the rest of your life, then don’t take it too seriously. It’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Will one night of poor sleep affect you for the next 10 years of your life? Will one missed work out mean that you are shortening your lifespan? Will one bad performance or bad review kill your career or business? Get into the habit of asking yourself, “will I even remember this happened to me a month from now?” (let alone ten years or more from now).

Of course, if you let these small things happen often enough, they will affect your life. But you don’t need to stress yourself out by overemphasizing the importance of every single event, every meal, every bedtime, or every workout. Do the right thing most of the time, but don’t stress. Everything is going to be ok.

On keeping an open mind

Be aware of confirmation bias in order to minimize it. If you deeply want something to be true, you’re more likely to stretch truths to aid your argument. You’re looking for reasons to be right about something and are more likely to ignore facts that don’t match the narrative you have in your head. Don’t do this. Try to keep an open mind. Try to listen to other’s ideas and truly understand them before taking a stance on the subject. And when you do form your own opinion, don’t cling so tightly to it so that you cannot fathom changing your mind (even when new information presents itself).

When will you actually pull the trigger?

You’ve been talking about how you want to do this or how you’d like to do that…but how long have you been saying this?

Stop procrastinating. If you want to do something, make it happen. Just do it.

It all starts with taking action. Sure, you need to plan and prepare. But you can only do that for so long. Eventually, you’re just lying to yourself that you need more time, more money, more…something…

When are you actually going to pull the trigger and do what you want to do? Do you want to get healthier? Start today. Do you want to go on vacation? Book it today.

What if you wait ten years to do something, only to find out you absolutely love it? Wouldn’t you want more time to experience that thing? Start now and live without regret. Because even if the experience isn’t everything you dreamed it would be, at least you would know if you like it or not. You would have clarity on what is, and not worry about “what if.” Stop waiting and just do it.