Stay Self Motivated always in Stressful Times

“Fall seven times, stand up eight!”

Just a few things to think about when life delivers a dose of difficulty and stress…

1. Happiness is never constant, and it’s not supposed to be. – You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.  To believe that you can reach a state of happiness and stay there forever, is like the tide believing she can reach for the shoreline and remain there forever; or like a fruit tree believing that if she only holds on tighter, she can keep her fruit from dropping to the ground.  Happiness is simply a series of moments that come and go and add sweetness to our lives.  Learn to accept this, and the more happy moments you will have.  
2. Failures are temporary situations that teach us necessary lessons. – Life’s best lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.  So yes, you will fail sometimes.  The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being brilliant. You’ll never be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work.  Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing.  So get out there and try!  Either you succeed or you learn a vital lesson.  Win – Win.
3. Even if you can’t see it now, you are making progress. – You may not be where you want to be yet, but if you think about it, you’re no longer where you once were either.  You have good reason to believe that you can trust yourself going forward.  Not because you’ve always made the right choices, but because you survived the bad ones, and taken small steps in the right direction.  So cry for a moment if you have to, and get it out of your system.  Crying doesn’t indicate that you’re weak; since birth, it has always been a sign that you’re alive and full of potential.  Once you’re done, keep going!  You’re undoubtedly getting closer to where you want to be.
4. How you feel when you’re stressed is not a true measure of reality. – Just because you’re afraid, doesn’t mean you’re in danger.  Just because you feel alone, doesn’t mean nobody loves you.  Just because youthink you might fail, doesn’t mean you will.  Look beyond your doubts and keep searching for the truth.  Be aware of your mental self-talk.  We all talk silently to ourselves in our heads, but we aren’t always conscious of what we’re saying or how it’s affecting us.  The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing, positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful.  Listen to your self-talk and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.  The sun is always shining on some part of your life.  Sometimes you just have to forget how you feel, remember what you deserve, and keep pushing forward.
5. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. – You can learn great things from your failures and mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.  If you’ve been asking the same questions for months or even years, yet are still stuck, it’s probably not that you haven’t been given the answers, but that you don’t like the answers you were given.  It takes a lot of courage to admit that something needs to change, and a lot more courage still, to accept the responsibility for actually changing it.  The most important step forward is taking the first step.  The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of positive changes – one building on the other.
6. You are not what happened to you in the past. – No matter how chaotic the past has been, the future is a clean, fresh, wide open slate. You are not your past habits. You are not your past failures. You are not how others have at one time treated you. You are only who you think you are right now in this moment. You are only what you do right now in this moment. 
7. Not getting what you want can be a blessing. – Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of good luck, because it forces you reevaluate things, opening new doors to opportunities and information you would have otherwise overlooked.  Remember, some things in life fall apart so that better things can fall together.
8. Being a ‘work in progress’ is a great state to be in. – Stop berating yourself for being a work in progress.  Start embracing it!  Because being a work in progress doesn’t mean you’re not good enough today; it means you want a better tomorrow, and you wish to love yourself completely, so you can live your life fully.  It means you’re determined to heal your heart, expand your mind and cultivate the gifts you know you’re meant to share.  May we all be works in progress forever, and celebrate the fact that we are!
9. Nobody else can do it for you. – Keep doing what you know in your heart is right for YOU.  Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and your actions louder than your words.  Live by choice, not by chance.  Make changes, not excuses.  Be motivated, not manipulated.  Work to excel, not compete.  Choose to listen to your inner voice, not the jumbled opinions of everyone else.  It’s your road, and yours alone.  Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
10. Life is not easy, but it’s worth it. – If you expect it to be, you will perpetually disappoint yourself.  Achieving anything worthwhile in life takes effort.  So start every morning ready to run farther than you did yesterday and fight harder than you ever have before.  Above all, make sure you properly align your efforts with your goals.  It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

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Inspire Everyone Around You

Live by choice, not by chance.  Make changes, not excuses.  Be motivated, not manipulated.  Work to excel, not compete.  Listen to your own inner voice, not the jumbled opinions of everyone else.

This is the way to inspire people!  This is how you can grow into the best version of YOU!

Here are a few more ideas to get you started with inspiring everyone around you:

1. Be authentic and true to yourself. – In this crazy world that’s trying to make you like everyone else, find the courage to keep being your awesome self.  Embrace that individual inside you that has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else.  Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms.  Above all, be true to YOU, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.  No it won’t always be easy; because when it comes to living as a compassionate, non-judgmental human being, the only challenge greater than learning to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, is learning to walk a lifetime, comfortably in your own.
2. Stick with what you love. – Take part in something you believe in.  This could be anything.  Some people take an active role in their local city council, some find refuge in religious faith, some join social clubs supporting causes they believe in, and others find passion in their work.  In each case the psychological outcome is the same.  They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in.  This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.  It’s hard not to be inspired by someone who’s passionate about what they’re doing.
3. Express your enthusiasm. – Passion is something you must be willing to express if you want to inspire others.  You can gain a lot of influence just by publicly expressing that you are excited and passionate about a topic.  Expressive passion is contagious because of the curiosity it stirs in others.  You’ll get people wondering why you love what you love so much.  Naturally, some of them will take the time necessary to understand what it is about the topic that moves you.  
4. Excel at what you do. – People watch what you do more than they listen to what you say.  Be someone worth emulating.  Most people are inspired by GREAT musicians, writers, painters, speakers, entrepreneurs, engineers, mothers, fathers, athletes, etc.  There’s only one thing they all have in common: They excel at what they do.  There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t going to do it right.  Excel at your work and excel at your hobbies.  Develop a reputation for yourself, a reputation for consistent excellence.
5. Focus on building your character. – Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.  Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others temporarily think you are.  A genuinely good character always shines and inspires in the long run.
6. Care about people. – People don’t care about how much you know, until they know how much you care.
7. Challenge people to do their best. – As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”  If people know we expect great things from them, they will often go to great lengths to live up to our expectations.
8. Lead by example. – Practice what you preach or don’t preach at all. Walk the talk!  Be the change you want to see in the world.  If you really want to inspire others to do something, then this ‘something’ should be a big part of your life.  You don’t necessarily need to be an expert at it, but you do need to be passionately involved.
9. Articulate what everyone else is thinking. – We are very connected to each other in various ways, the most important of which is our thoughts.  Out of fear, or passive shyness, lots of people hesitate to articulate their thoughts.  If you take the risk and say the things others are holding back, you become the glue that brings people together.
10. Make people feel good about themselves. – People will rarely remember what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.  Start noticing what you like about others and tell them.  Go out of your way to personally acknowledge and complement the people who have gone out of their way to excel.  As von Goethe once said, “Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.”
11. Help people heal. – Instead of judging people by their past, stand by them and help repair their future.  In life, you get what you put in.  When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life.  Do something that’s greater than you – something that helps someone else to be happy or to suffer less.  Everyone values the gift of unexpected assistance and those who supply it.
12. Share lessons from your successes and failures. – When you can, be a resource to those around you.  If you have access to essential information, don’t hoard it, share it openly.  You have more to share than you realize.  Mine the rich experiences of your life and share your wisdom from your unique point of view.  Be vulnerable.  Be willing to share your failures as well as your successes.  Others will relate to you.  They’ll understand that they’re not the only ones with challenges.
13. Keep your cool in tense situations. – What you do in a tense situation says a lot about your limits.  People take note of how far the pressure or social discomfort around you goes until you lose control of yourself and the situation.  President Obama, who often displays a calm and collected persona, had a joke in his speech at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner awhile back where he said, “In the next 100 days, I will strongly consider losing my cool.”  Obviously this made him appear even more calm and collected.  Bottom line: Keeping your cool in tense situations lets people know you have a mind of steel – a personality trait most people are drawn to.
14. Focus on the positive. – Be happy with who you are now, and let your positivity inspire your journey into tomorrow.  Everything that happens in life is neither good nor bad.  It just depends on your perspective.  And no matter how it turns out, it always ends up just the way it should.  Either you succeed or you learn something.  So stay positive, appreciate the pleasant outcomes, and learn from the rest.  Your positivity will help encourage those around you.
15. Keep your promises and tell the truth. – Inspire people with your dependability and commitment to the truth.  If you say you’re going to do something, DO IT!  If you say you’re going to be somewhere, BE THERE!  If you say you feel something, MEAN IT!  If you can’t, won’t, and don’t, then DON’T LIE.  It’s always better to tell people the truth up front.
16. Listen intently to what others say. – Make people feel important, and inspire them by showing them that they are.  Eyes focused, ears tuned, mobile phone off.  In a world that can’t move fast enough, someone who can find time to listen to others is always appreciated.
17. Communicate clearly. – Mystery does not inspire.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Share your vision and ideas often with those around you.  Also, be sure to maintain eye contact when communicating; it’s one of the most alluring forms of personal communication.  When executed properly, eye contact injects closeness into human interaction, which captivates attention.
18. Be faithful to your significant other. – There’s nothing more inspiring than the unwavering love and commitment between two individuals.  Furthermore, your sustained fidelity in a long-term intimate relationship creates a healthy foundation for everything else you do.

In the end, everything you need to inspire everyone around you is contained within you.  So get out there and start inspiring people with who you are and how you live your life.

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Happy v/s Unhappy People

Unhappy People	Happy People
Wait for something to make them happy "Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think." ~ Dale Carnegie	Feel happy now, enjoy every moment of their life "I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.” ~ Groucho Marx
Envy successful people “Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own.” ~ Harold Coffin	Admire great achievers and learn from them "A person who can create ideas worthy of note is a person who has learned much from others." ~ Konosuke Matsushita
Envy what others have "You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy." ~ Eric Hoffer	Enjoy what they have "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?" ~ Albert Einstein
Feel undervalued, under-rewarded, and frustrated "The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping." ~ Dale Carnegie	Self-confident, kind, and friendly "Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to everyone around you, and you will be surprised what a happy life you will lead." ~ Charles Schwab
Fear change  “It's the most unhappy people who most fear change.” ~ Mignon McLaughlin	Create positive change "Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness: on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself the ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way." ~ Norman R. Augustine
Self-focused, socially withdrawn, antagonistic "If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years." ~ Bertrand Russell	Compassionate, loving, sociable "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." ~ Dalai Lama
Hate their job "Work is the curse of the drinking classes." ~ Oscar Wilde	Love what they do "Success in its highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which come only to the man who has foundthe work that he likes best." ~ Napoleon Hill
Brooding, vengeful "I've learned... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you." ~ Andy Rooney	Understanding, forgiving "Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.” ~ Confucius
Stressed "There is no stress in the world, only people thinking stressful thoughts and then acting on them." ~ Wayne Dyer	Creative, innovative "Happiness is a continuous creative activity." ~ Baba Amte
Negative Thinkers “There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.” ~ Anthony de Mello	Positive Thinkers "The fact that there is always a positive side to life is the one thing that gives me a lot of happiness."  ~ Dalai Lama

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The power of unprompted giving

Want to have an immediate impact on a few people today? Anyone can give when they’re prompted or a need is staring them in the face. What about giving without being prompted or without a need being known?
What about doing this at work? Here’s a three step beginner’s guide:

• Think of 2-3 people in your sphere of influence, whether colleagues, vendors or customers.
• Take a moment to reflect on their unique interests, needs or impact on your life.
• Identify one thing you can do or say today to give to them, whether that means supporting their interests, meeting their needs or affirming their impact on your life.

Regular, unprompted giving might happen in a healthy home or church, but it’s too rarely seen in the workplace. While prompted giving is great, unprompted giving is even better because you are the sole catalyst. This makes the thought more meaningful and the impact more lasting.

Go have some fun and give today.

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