Can you imagine living in a world of your own with no limits? It would be like having a season pass to your favorite theme park. No one can deny you entry, and you can go whenever you want to during park hours. You basically paid a one-time fee to ride or splash as much as you want! If your current lifestyle doesn’t allow you to splurge, then you just might be living within limits. I may have a resolution for you.
The key elements contributing to your marginal lifestyle may be one of the following:
You
You, yes, you can limit yourself with your tongue and inertia. The tongue is the most powerful part of your body because it sends messages to your brain, be it positive or negative. Therefore, if you are speaking negatively over your life, your brain will respond accordingly. Try repeating positive affirmations to trigger more positive thoughts. Replace the words “can’t and won’t” with “can and will”. This small change in your vocabulary can help tap into strengths you didn’t know you had.
Once you’ve trained your brain to start thinking positively, you must begin to act on what you speak about. You can repeat positive affirmations day and night, but unless you take action, nothing will happen or change. You can’t expect your ideas to materialize without breaking the curse of inertia. This can mean making changes in your behavior, routine, or environment.
Time
Many of you are stagnant because the lack of time. Surely, we only get 24 hours in a day, but if you use this time wisely, you can take steps toward achieving important goals. Eight hours to work, sleep, and play? Yeah right! If this were true, we’d all get plenty of our personal work done without cutting into our sleep time. As for play time, exactly when does that happen for the average full-time employee or mom? Never! Thus, you must take advantage of every break or downtime you have in your days.
I understand some careers are more demanding than others, but no one is working all the time. You may have some longer days than usual when you really don’t get many breaks or much downtime, but eventually you do get some time to yourself. If you don’t, you must learn to make some time for yourself. Everyone needs that. Nevertheless, the only way you can make changes in your life is by sacrificing some time. You may have to sacrifice some lunch breaks, social media, tv time or even family time, and miss a few parties or events. The key word here is “sacrifice”.
At a previous job of mine, I could not seem to find a way to prepare for a certification I wanted to obtain because the internet had too many restrictions, and I sat in an open cubicle. Therefore, I started bringing my iPad. I would eat my lunch and cover as much material as I could within that time frame. Then, I tried to cover some in the office by reading the transcript instead using the audio feature, but the connection kept failing or running too slow. Between using my lunch breaks, some short breaks, and allotting some time in the evening, I just didn’t seem to be getting close enough to my goal. A year had passed since I purchased the program, and I was struggling to finish. It’s a good thing I was able to move at my own pace.
After finally completing the course, I took the first practice exam and failed terribly. I had forgotten much of what I had learned! So I did some more studying and attempted a few more times, and I still failed. I thought to myself, “There’s gotta be another way”. I needed a way to study on the clock during downtime. My solution was to use my cell phone. It was small and easy to conceal or put away quickly in case my supervisor walked up. I started studying my practice exam every day I had a chance to, and my score kept going up! Guess what happened eventually? You guessed it…I starting receiving a passing score consistently! After a couple of weeks of preparation, I took the test and passed!
I wasn’t happy at the job. I didn’t like the idea of being watched and controlled. I felt like I was limiting myself, so I did something about it. Complaining surely wasn’t getting me anywhere. But my certification did.
On another note, if much of your time is consumed talking on the phone, schedule appointments for important calls and designate a “talk time” that’s convenient for your leisure calls. For example, my talk time is in route to or from work, usually from work. This tends to work for me.
Money
In order to break some barriers, it will cost you. Most educational or vocational training programs incur fees that must be paid in order to enter. If you can get free assistance through government funding or some other source, that’s great, but there are no guarantees. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t let fees discourage you. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way.
Think about a time you wanted something so badly in life, but you weren’t sure how you were going to finance it. It could have been your dream wedding or vacation, a new car or house, or some new furniture. You found a way to make it happen.
Other things that can cost money include investment opportunities, starting a business, expanding a business, acquiring real estate, etc. As long as you make it your priority or goal combined with sacrifice, the money will come with your efforts.
People
Believe it or not, this can be one of the biggest hindrances. Why? Because people can consume so much of your time. This is okay as long as you are working toward a goal together or sharpening each other. But the wrong people can consume a large fraction of your time and interrupt your progress with negative energy. Negative people will not support your ideas or contribute to your growth. However, how much time you spend with anyone other than your immediate family should have its limits.
Caveat: Negative people are not always boisterous and hostile. They can silently show lack of support by constantly trying to pull you in the wrong direction. For example, if you say you need to study for an exam, they’ll still try to get you to hang out with them.
Summary
Don’t get in the way of your own success with your tongue.
Make more time for your goals and less time for play.
Don’t let money scare you. Let it prepare you.
People can be a distraction. Purge as necessary.
And remember…
“Make sense of what you do, and make every cent count.”
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