Stories

"If you want new outcome, you will have to break the habit of being yourself, and reinvent new self." —Dr. Joe Dispenza

Can you accept the notion that once you change your internal state, you don’t need the external world to provide you with a reason to feel joy, gratitude, appreciation, or any other elevated emotion?

Your thoughts and feelings come from your past memories. If you think and feel a certain way, you begin to create an attitude. An attitude is a cycle of short-term thoughts and feelings experienced over and over again. Attitudes are shortened states of being. If you string a series of attitudes together, you create a belief. Beliefs are more elongated states of being and tend to become subconscious. When you add beliefs together, you create a perception. Your perceptions have everything to do with the choices you make, the behaviors you exhibit, the relationships you chose, and the realities you create.

"What shows up in our lives is a direct reflection of our thoughts and emotions." — Pam Grout

What shows up in our lives is a direct reflection of our inner thoughts and emotions.

Scientists now know the brain receives 400 billion bits of information each second. To give you some idea of just how much information that is, consider this: It would take nearly 600,000 average-size books just to print 400 billion zeros. Needless to say, that’s a heck of a lot of reality. So what do we do? We start screening. We start narrowing down. I’ll take that bit of information over there, and let’s see—this one fits nicely with my ongoing soap opera about the opposite sex. When all is said and done, we’re down to 2,000 measly bits of information. Go ahead and take a bow, because even that’s pretty impressive. We’re talking 2,000 bits of information each and every second. But here’s the problem. What we choose to take in is only one-half of one-millionth of a percent of what’s out there.

"When you learn the difference between busy work and your life's work, that's the first step on the path of purpose." — Brendon Burchard

When you learn the difference between busywork and your life’s work, that’s the first step on the path of purpose.

Seek clarity. Generate energy. Raise necessity. Increase productivity. Develop Influence. Demonstrate Courage. These are the six habits that you need to adopt if you are to reach high performance in any situation.

Just as athletes never quit training, high performers never stop consciously conditioning and strengthening their habits. Real success—holistic, long-term success—doesn’t come from doing what’s natural, certain, convenient, or automatic. Often, the journey to greatness begins the moment our preferences for comfort and certainty are overruled by a greater purpose that requires challenge and contribution. 

Past

Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from your current activity when attention drifts to an internal direction. This is very common. A large-scale study showed participants spend 47% of their waking time on average on daydreaming!

Think about it. Let’s say you spend 7 hours a day sleeping. That leaves you 17 hours each day for your daily activities, your work and play. That is 1,020 minutes. And 40% of that is 479 minutes which translates into 7.98 hours.

So on average a person will be on an autopilot, doing the same things for 8 hours each day. And will then have 9 hours out of the 24 each day to live with intent. To be purposeful in their actions. To act on the plan of action in their journey. To be present. Daydreaming is a thief! It steals your time.

Present

It’s a pastime we all need watch out for. None of us will be present every minute of our day. No-one can be under control 100% of their time. Right? But there are things we all can do.

One of them is a daily meditation. Especially if done in the morning to start your day. It doesn’t have to be long, even a 10-minute session can get you on the right track for the day if you haven’t meditated on regular basis before.

Hundreds of studies have been done over the years about the benefits of meditation. There are many! But today I want to concentrate only on one of them.

Future

Hundreds of studies have been done over the years about the benefits of meditation. There are many! But today I want to concentrate only on one of them.

I heard that a meditation is like cleansing of the mind. We wash our bodies and we wash our clothes on regular basis. Giving our brain time off from a thought overload is just like that. Plus combining the morning meditation with thoughts of gratitude helps me to be patient with myself as well as others; it helps me to be more present more often.

So how do you get the most out of your day? What is the secret of living with intent?

It is knowing your purpose. It is having a passion in your life for something meaningful, something worthwhile, something worthy of your future legacy. So, next time you catch your mind wondering, stop and be intentional and Be Inspired!

Planning.

How do you decide the importance of what needs to be done each day? Do you schedule your time? Do you use a calendar planner?

We are all very busy and days seem to go by faster as we let the technology dictate where we place our attention. How much of our time is stolen by apps on our phones? Let me say it differently: “How much time do we let others steal from our day?” Between responding to emails and texts, and reading and reacting to posts, we lose time every day. Big time!

Hate to tell you, but that planning thing you may have been avoiding… really is the only thing that will help you from losing precious time. That “planning thing” is actually that important! It’s a map to your day and week. It’s your GPS for your time allocation.

Your day and your week.

How often do you use GPS when you are driving somewhere? Have you tried to get somewhere new without a map or GPS? Did you lost some time? Or worse, did you get lost?

The time in your day works the same way. If you care about having the time to spend with your family; if you want to have more time for your friends; if you care about being productive — then having your day mapped out is crucial.

Putting first things first means doing the most important things every day first. It means getting up in the morning and knowing your day’s direction. It means being clear about your priorities and acting on them.

Imagine getting up in the morning and heaving a clear guide to your day. Something like a time-map! A GPS to your steps and actions for that day. It really is not that difficult. And it makes all the difference. All it takes is spending a few extra minutes the day before and map out your next day’s actions.

Will help go a long way to live in the present.

Make decisions on your priorities. The trick is not leaving it for the morning. The difference in productivity is huge when you start your day with the plan, versus making the plan in the morning.

Be intentional about the things that bring you results. Decide what needs to be done first. Think about what would actions that day would really move you closer to your goal.

We all procrastinate sometime. The trick is to keep it to the minimum. And one way to avoid procrastination is to know what the next step is, be prepared, have a plan, don’t improvise. And yes, hate to tell you, some discipline will be required.

So, do some planning, get creative and Be Inspired!

Source: Stephen Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People