mindset | The Caleb Barney Collection

What is the next step?

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. Set yourself up for future success by taking action on the most meaningful next steps as frequently as possible. Figure out what it is you’re trying to achieve then reverse engineer how to get there.

This seems simple enough, and the concept really is, but it’s not easy. We get distracted by trivial tasks on our To Do list that don’t push us forward, by other people’s goals that don’t relate to our own, to life’s obstacles, and to extraneous information that may help us in the future, but not right now. But what we need to keep going back to, what we need to keep refocusing on, is what is the next most important action we need to take and then go do that.

Get on base

Don’t always swing for the fences. Sometimes, just getting on base is the better route. When you try to hit a home run at every at-bat, you’re much more likely to strike out. Sometimes, just getting on base gives you a better chance to win the game.

Labeling

Avoid tying your identity to a group or characteristic. Stop labeling yourself. For example, do not view yourself as smart. This will get you in trouble eventually. If say you are smart, or let other people’s kind words influence your opinion of yourself, you could fall into the trap of viewing your decisions as always being right and be close-minded to others’ suggestions.

On the flip side, don’t label yourself as your feelings either. Instead of “I’m depressed,” you should say, “I feel sad right now because X.” It is important to understand that you are not what you feel. Your feelings fluctuate throughout the day – they are temporary, but if you dwell on the bad and tell yourself that is who you are, your mind will work hard to keep you in that rut.

Lastly, do not identify yourself with a political party. Why should you have to choose between labeling yourself as a Republican or Democrat? Shouldn’t you come up with ideas and solutions on your own instead of having answers fed to you? Don’t follow the herd and just say or do whatever a party leader says. You don’t need to have an us versus them mindset. Instead, try aiming for a more inclusive mindset. How can you include more people in your life and improve their lives? Don’t follow others blindly. You can take the best from one person’s/group’s opinions and merge it with the best from another to develop your own guidelines. Make sure that what you say and do aligns with your core values – who you are and who you want to be as a person.

Making better decisions

Each day is full of making decisions. The majority of them are easy and don’t even register with you when you’re making them. But some are monumental and can impact your future. So how do you consistently make the best decisions? Below are three ways I try to keep in mind to make the best decisions possible…

1. Always think of the long-term ramifications of your decisions. A good way to do this is to take emotions out of your decision-making process. Emotions are powerful, and if you only focus on what makes you feels good now, you may be hindering your future self. Sleeping in, not working out, not eating right, spending too much money on something you don’t need…these usually feel good at the time you’re making the decision, but if you take the easy or “feel good” option often enough, your long-term health will suffer.

2. Remove temptations. If you know that your self-control is weak when it comes to making certain decisions, try to stay away from having to decide. For example, if you have a huge sweet tooth, but want to lose weight, don’t keep sweets in the house. If you make unhealthy things inconvenient (or remove temptations), you will be less likely to do them. This is the opposite of number 3 (automation)…

3. Automate repetitive tasks. Do you have a hard time saving/investing money? Have it automatically withdraw from your bank account on the 1st and 15th of every month. Now you don’t have to remember to do something. Another way of thinking about this is to set up rules for yourself. By setting up rules, you don’t have to think about whether you should or shouldn’t do something. Some examples might be: not eating after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m., wearing brown dress shoes with blue slacks, drinking 20 ounces of water as soon as you wake up, etc.

These are just a few ideas of how you can set yourself up to make better decisions on a regular basis. Do you have any tips that weren’t mentioned above? Feel free to share in the comments section below!

Forget perfect

Perfectionism is the killer of dreams. It kills dreams before they even get started because nothing will ever be perfect. If you wait for everything to be perfect to take action, or if you keep tweaking something and decide not to launch it because it’s not perfect, you’ll never end up doing anything.

Instead of waiting for perfect, just take action! Action is almost always better than inaction. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t overthink. Don’t let outside circumstances dictate what you can do. Just do it. You may stumble and fall along the way, but as long as you keep getting up and trying again, you’ll be ahead of where you would have been if you never tried. And who knows, maybe you’ll stumble over something better than you ever expected…