You Are Success – Part II

You Are Success – Part II

“About 90% of the things in your life are right. Make sure you don’t overlook the 90% that’s right because you’re focusing on the 10% that’s not.” – Dale Carnegie

It is so easy to create a negative mindset.  News headlines loudly exclaim stories of war, famine, death, plagues and all kinds of tragedies.  The fact is that the dismal and disastrous sell.  Shining a spotlight on these events leads many to assume that the world is badly off and getting worse.  This flies in the face of the data indicating that worldwide there is less hunger, disease, conflict and death than ever before.  Life expectancy across the globe has risen to 72 years of age, the highest ever, an increase of 5.5 years in a little over a decade.

Yes, this world will always have calamities and disasters, but despite the fact that there is stuff going wrong there is a heck of a lot going right every minute of every day.  Paying inordinate attention to the negatives tends to blind us to the good and positive that exist.  I am not belittling your woes or your difficulties, nor am I saying that the world could not do with some improvement.  I am merely asking that we remember the things that are going well.  It is important to remember the progress that we have made.  Barely 150 years ago, slavery was widely accepted and rights of women and children were similarly dismal.  The bygone days were not as sunny as many paint them to be today.  By all measures, human rights have been successfully improved up to the present and they continue to break new ground in various regions.

On a more personal level, I’d like to speak to those who think of themselves or their efforts as failure. Your plans may not be going as you expect them.  Your life may seem off track.   Everything may seem to be going wrong.  If that is how you feel then you would be wise to stop and take measure of your assets.  Are you able-bodied?  Do you have friends or family that care for you?  Is your sanity intact?  Can you still see or hear?  Do you have a safe home?  Do you enjoy personal freedoms?  These are not small matters.  Many lack these things and suffer greatly.  Do not take them for granted!

No, you are not a failure.  Failures are events that occur and then pass into history.  They do not define anyone or anything.  Take a candid and impartial look at your life.  No matter who you are you still have a lot going right for you.  Don’t ignore that truth.  The words of Dale Carnegie are correct.  Ninety percent of your life is successful.  You are a success.  Don’t lose that perspective while tackling the small bit that is going wrong.  Start taking inventory of that successful ninety percent and confidently learn to put it to work improving that troublesome ten percent!

©2018 Scott D. Wilson

You Are Success

You are ‘Success’

Simple Definition of ‘success’ (from Merriam-webster.com)

     1 :  the fact of getting or achieving the correct or desired result

     2 :  the correct or desired result of an attempt

    3 :  someone or something that is successful : a person or thing that succeeds

Every day…

You successfully take up to 23,040 breaths.

Your heart effectively beats about 103,000 times.

Your autonomic systems process and balance thousands of chemicals required for life.

You communicate with others speaking almost 5,000 words.

You make about 35,000 decisions… some better than others but you will make them.

And so much more.

You are walking, talking, thinking miracle.

The fact that you are here reading these words is a testament to your human success.

The fact of your success is not debatable but your realization of this fact may be so.

Failure is an event, not a person.

You literally embody success.

Where there is life there is success!

How can you even consider thinking in terms of failure?

Acknowledge and harmonize with your existing success story.

Life will be what it is.

Some days will feel more successful than others.

Time and space will be uncomfortable and difficult at times.

It may even imperil your existence.

But until that last breath leaves…

Until that last heartbeat…

You remain successful.

Know it.

Believe it.

Live it.

©2016 Scott D. Wilson

Stop Waiting for Inspiration or Motivation!

Stop Waiting for Motivation or Inspiration!

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action."-Frank Tibolt

The writer who waits for inspiration will never become an author. The painter who holds out for their muse will never create a masterpiece. The athlete who relies on motivation will never win gold medals. This should be common knowledge, yet many lament their lack of motivation and inspiration and use it as their explanation for their procrastination. We humans are masters of the excuse. We will grab hold of anything that sounds plausible in order to avoid taking responsibility for our own inaction. Meanwhile the cure to our ailment is staring us in the face.

Whether it is inspiration or motivation that you lack then action is the prescription. Action generates motivation and inspires us. A writer, by the practice of writing, becomes inspired as they play with thoughts and ideas on the page. An artist, through experimentation with colours, patterns and perspectives develops inspiration. The martial arts enthusiast gathers motivation as they develop and improve their skills through repetitive practice of the forms. So many of history’s greatest people have endorsed the truth of this concept.

We like to believe that it is the world that thwarts our dreams. It is too difficult. It’s just not fair. It’s not going to work. The reality is that we are grasping for reasons not to even make an attempt. We are seeking justification for not taking action. We stand as the biggest and worst obstacle towards achieving our own goals. Without any true effort we lamely claim that we *tried* to write, *tried* to paint and *tried* to exercise, but we lost our motivation and we had no inspiration. With our consciences soothed we settle back down into our mediocre existence, free from the troublesome call of our greater aspirations, goals and hopes.

No master of any craft ever expected to achieve mastery overnight. They knew from the start that the path would be littered with failures and disappointments. However, they likewise knew that there would be no path at all if they never took any steps. They had to take action. Each stride was a test of their faith in themselves and their commitment to their goal. If they needed inspiration or motivation for every footstep then they would never start or they would turn and retreat whenever the road became difficult. Stop waiting for motivation or inspiration to kick in. Take action and realize that in the action itself you will find your creativity and your motives.

"Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it." -Zig Ziglar

©2018 Scott D. Wilson

Quiet Courage

●♥● Quiet Courage ●♥●

“Courage does not always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
‘I will try again tomorrow.’ ”—Mary Anne Radmacher

Defeat and failure are inevitable. No one wins every time. Disappointment visits everyone from time to time. It is easy to become tired and discouraged. Look at the word ‘discouraged.’ It is a combination of ‘dis’ and ‘courage’. ‘Dis’ indicates a failure or lacking, as in disagree, dislike and disinterest. So ‘discourage’ is literally a failure or removal of our courage.

Personally, I always believe this world is full of quiet heroes. Their acts will never make the history books. Their tales will never become the stuff of legends. Yet the importance of their actions is monumental, and their courage is magnificent. They are the brave and weary souls who pick themselves up, wipe the blood from their lips, look life directly in the eyes and silently say “I will try again tomorrow.”

Without their recommitment to keep going much of what we take for granted would not exist. If these heroes succumb to discouragement then the world becomes much darker. When our silent warriors give up on their goals, their families and worst of all, on themselves then we all lose. It is their daily courage that sustains the fabric of our communities and our society.

So if you find yourself among the downtrodden and the downcast today, please take heart. You are not alone. Many silent warriors continue their noiseless battles around us every day. Let your quiet courage defy your circumstances. Heroically say to yourself, “I will try again tomorrow.”

ⓒ2018 Scott D. Wilson

From Action to Self-Esteem

●♥● From Action to Self-Esteem ●♥●

“The only way to get positive feelings about yourself is to take positive actions.
Man does not live as he thinks, he thinks as he lives.”—Vaughan Quinn

We often feel crappy about ourselves. We are our own worst critics. This is an unfortunately natural part of human nature. HOWEVER, we do not need to be a victim in this matter! There is hope and a treatment: action.

Let those last words sink and think in. Man does not live as he thinks, he thinks as he lives. This is a profound truth about ourselves. Our thoughts and out thinking processes are moulded by the way we choose to live our lives. Every action that we take teaches us about ourselves and our reality. We react to our actions and the results. In so doing we generate both thoughts *and* emotions!

You want to hack your emotions? You want to *feel* better? Then take positive actions! Feeling good is not purely a matter of mind over emotions. If it were then there would be a lot mot happy and contented people. Our point of view does play a part; however, emotions respond to action! One of the best ways to feel better about yourself, about who you are, is to go out and do something positive.

Take action to make you own life better! Take action to make someone else’s life better! Take action to make this universe a bit better! You cannot act positively and constructively without it impacting and improving your psyche. There is a time and a place for mantras and positive affirmations, but don’t just let them be words. Today, right now, whether you feel like it or not, make some positive actions. I guarantee that if you make the effort to do something good that it will pay off. Your self-esteem will rise through affirmative behaviour!

ⓒ2018 Scott D. Wilson

To Be Continued

To Be Continued

“Don't think of it as starting over.

Think of it as picking up where you left off.”

–Scott Wilson

Starting over sounds difficult.  Starting over feels like being back at square zero, as if you never began the journey in the first place.  Sometimes that may feel good because one leaves all one’s mistakes behind and starts fresh.  However, it often it comes with the heavy emotions of past failures and tremendous effort to regain momentum.

Let’s be fair.  You are not truly staring over again.  Time has passed.  You are a different person now than you were then.  You have learned and hopefully you are wiser and you have a new and better perspective.  Don’t negatively judge you past self.  They did not have the same life experience that you now have.  They were younger and possibly more naïve and less aware.  Ideally, we are all using our past to better understand and deal with the present.  Unless we choose to be foolish we should be somewhat better at living life today than we were in the past.

A better mental model would be to look at your goal as a project that you put away on a shelf for a while.  It is right there where you left it.  It may have gathered dust.  It may even have suffered some environmental damage from neglect.  That just means that you need clean it off, make a few repairs and pick up where you left off.  That’s a far cry from throwing away your passed efforts and starting from scratch.

Look honestly at your prior efforts.  Who was that person?  What stresses and responsibilities did they bear?  What made him or her neglect their dreams and desires?  How did they approach the goal and what made them stop?  Imagine if they had left you a journal with all their struggles, progress and failures.  What could you learn from it? What can he or she teach you today as you pick up from where they left off?  How can you build upon the foundation of their efforts, both successful and unsuccessful?

You are not starting again.  You have so much more now than you had then.   Yes, the circumstances may have changed but so have you!  You are wiser today.  Choose to see that wisdom and experience and apply it to you old goals.  Don’t throw away anything from your unsuccessful attempts because they can give you keys to being successful hear and now.  When you stopped last time it was NOT a failure; it was a resting pause in your plans.  Today is simply a continuation of your quest.  Just like when sleep tonight, it does not mean that we start everything over again tomorrow.  The same is true here.  Wake up anew.  Brush the sleep from your eyes.  Blow the dust off your goals and pick up from where you left off. 

Cheers!

©2018 Scott D. Wilson

Dieting? You really have nothing to lose!

Dieting? You Really Have Nothing to Lose

Think you need to lose 10, 20, 50, 100 or more pounds?

NOPE, technically you don’t need to lose anything.

 

What you need to do is change the lifestyle that is making you heavier into a lifestyle that is getting you fitter.

 

Once that lifestyle is in place the weight will eventually take care of itself.

 

The weight itself is not the problem.

 

It is simply a symptom of bad living.

 

The problem is the lifestyle of inactivity and overindulgence.

 

If you were a doctor and every day a patient came in with a new laceration that you had to sew up, would you say they had a problem with bleeding or would you be concerned about the behaviour that is getting them stabbed?

 

A good doctor would not just keep putting in stiches.

 

That would be irresponsible.

 

Recognize that everything that you have done up to now has made your body what it is presently.

 

Recognize that much of your past behaviour has been detrimental to your well-being.

 

Recognize that you NEED to change in order to get healthy and stay healthy.

 

Recognize that change is hard and it will feel a bit like dying.

 

Nonetheless, commit to making changes TODAY.

 

Make *small* changes, bit by bit, slowly.

 

Keep making changes and repeating them until they become new and better habits.

 

It may seem tedious.

 

It may seem to take forever.

 

Keep going.

 

You are changing, and that takes time.

 

Focus on the positive changes that you make.

 

Don’t focus on the scale and a meaningless number.

 

Focus on the improvements that you are making.

 

Focus on the health that you are regaining.

 

Focus on feeling, acting and becoming better.

 

Keep that focus and keep going!

 

The day will come when you look back and go “Wow! I made it!”

 

Until then, keep building a better you!!!!!

 

Cheers and all the best!

 

©2018 S.D. Wilson