Tomorrow is a new day

Finish each day and be done with it…tomorrow is a new day.
“Finish each day and be done with it…tomorrow is a new day.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

At the end of the day, you might have some regrets about what you did or didn’t do or what you said or didn’t say, but you have to let it go.

You can’t change that anymore.

The best thing you can do is to move on. If you feel bad about something, apologize or do something to make it right – don’t dwell on things you can’t change.

Half-baked thoughts: Varying levels of parenting

Levels of parenting:

1) Being a parent = Having a child.

2) Being a good parent = Taking care of your child/children.

3) Being a great parent = Taking care of yourself and your child/children.

It doesn’t take much to be a parent, but it does take a lot of time, effort, and sacrifice to be a good or great parent. The difference between good and great might not be what you think though…instead of giving more to your kids and never letting them struggle, I think a great parent lets their kids find things out on their own.

A great parent lays the foundation for their children – making them feel loved and safe, providing a roof over their heads, and giving them access to healthy foods. A great parent also teaches their kids manners, how to respect others and to be kind, and to have a good work ethic.

But a great parent is not a helicopter parent (or, a lawnmower parent). They don’t hover over their children – never letting their kids experience failure or disappointment. They also don’t clear a path for their children – making their lives so easy that they never experience struggle.

Lastly (at least for this post), a great parent takes care of themself as well as their children. They eat right, exercise their mind and body, and are financially responsible. They are there to serve as a role model for the kids, who inevitably will learn from the parent’s actions. This not only allows the parent to have their own time to recharge, but it also gives the kids some independence from their parents.

Everything is interconnected

Have you noticed how pushing yourself physically improves your mental strength? Or how challenging or positively stressing your mind can benefit you relationally and spiritually? And by taking care of all of those things somehow creates a better financial picture for you and your family?

Everything you do is interconnected. You may be focused on one aspect of your life (like physical health), only to realize the side effects it has in other areas. This is why it’s so important to start your day off right. I love the Miracle Morning for this reason. In it, Hal Elrod recommends to start off each day with S.A.V.E.R.S.

S.A.V.E.R.S. is an acronym that stands for silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing (writing). If you can wake up an extra half hour (or hour) early to do this, you can build momentum for the rest of your day. By doing this, you will have stimulated your mind and your body, while also giving you clarity on what you want/need to accomplish for the day. I often feel energized after doing this.

Once I’m done with the S.A.V.E.R.S., I make a healthy breakfast. I know that not everyone likes to eat breakfast, but I feel it’s the most important meal of the day, if only because it is when you have the most willpower to eat healthy (while also saving money and giving you the satisfaction knowing that you cooked that meal). If you skip breakfast, it’s too easy to buy fast food or to eat donuts at the office (hurting your wallet and your waistline). And once you start down that slippery slope, it’s hard to get back on track.

Figure out how you can continue to stack little wins throughout the day. It can feel overwhelming to win the day, month, or year. But when you put it into perspective to just take one small, positive action at a time, eventually they’ll add up to make you a healthier, happier person. And don’t forget, every decision you make is interconnected with a different part of your life. Never take that for granted.

Don’t be the reason you don’t achieve your dreams

We all will fail in life and the secret for many people’s success is that they’re willing to fail more often and more quickly than those afraid of failure. They understand that failing is a natural precursor to success. You have to try new things – different things – if you want to improve your life. Sometimes, you’ll have great intuition and choose the right action to propel you towards your goals. Sometimes you’ll get lucky. But almost always, if you fail to take action (or if you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result), you’re going to be stuck in the same place. So even though it may not look like you’ve failed from the outside looking in, is it true? Sure, you don’t have one moment to point to where something didn’t work out. But isn’t the end result of not achieving your dreams a bigger failure than swinging for the fences and occasionally striking out?

There are a lot of reasons why people don’t achieve their dreams, many of which are outside of our control. We can accept that because if we try to control everything (even things we have no power over), we will be fighting a losing battle. But what we can do is control our thoughts, words, actions, and attitude. We decide what we read, who we listen to, who we hang out with, and how we talk to ourselves. We decide what words to say (I can, I will, how can I?) and what words to not say (I can’t, I don’t know how, I give up). We decide whether we want to get up each morning when we say we will or whether we hit the snooze button and sleep in, or whether we follow through with what we said we would do. Are we generally happy and not complaining? Are we putting out positive vibes where others want to be around us or are we so negative that others actually feel worse after hanging out with us?

Don’t be the reason why you don’t achieve your dreams. Live intentionally. Plan your next steps and follow through with them. Think big and act big. You need to take enough action and occasionally swing for the fences instead of always playing it safe. If you don’t ever reach your lofty goals, that’s fine. But when you think back, have no regrets over why you didn’t achieve it. Give it your all, do it ethically and in a way that is true to you, and go from there.

Be consistent and enjoy the process

If you learn to enjoy the process, the rest will fall into place. You’re more likely to end up with the result your desire and learn to be happier (both during the process and with the end result).

For example, instead of just saying, “I want to lose 25 pounds,” try to figure out what process you need to follow to do this. Do you need to cut out sugar and processed foods, work out for 30 minutes or more five days per week, drink more water, get better sleep, etc.? If you can learn to love doing those things, you can easily achieve the result you desire. And then when you get to your goal, you’ll also be much more likely to keep those healthy habits because you actually enjoy doing them! No more of this “yo-yo” dieting. No more working out really hard for 3 months and then not working out at all for the next 6 months.

You have to be consistent to achieve results. And the more you enjoy the boring, consistent process, the better results you’ll see.