Everything starts with your internal world
So before I properly begin, I wanted to give a little disclaimer that I am a goal-driven person and an organizational freak. And being completely honest with you, I am proud of that for many different reasons. First of all, effective planning helps me to avoid wasted time and stress and secondly, it enables me to embrace the chaos in my head. I have so many thoughts and different ideas in my mind that if I don’t write everything down immediately I will go nuts. Not to mention the obvious fact that I will probably forget what I was thinking of. And if it happens creative chaos will turn into a destructive one. That’s why, in order to avoid this, I needed to develop some good strategies. And it’s called “an effective strategy of managing obsessive planning” 🙂 Yeah, I know it sounds a bit lame but it’s working. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Is anyone with me on this? I really hope so…
Anyway, as you can see my strategy of planning everything in detail is nothing more than a survival mechanism for a psyche that brings overthinking under control. In other words, it’s just plain common sense. Of course, I could wonder where that came from. And actually, I thought a lot about this in the past. Like probably many other people I wanted to find the answers to my behavior and eventually I came up with some more or less reasonable explanation for this and here there are:
- It’s my unconscious mind that rules my behavior
- I am an obsessive planner by nature
- It’s a strategy that enables me to embrace chaos
- Overthinking and obsessive planning is a consequence of suffering from depression and anxiety (so maybe it’s a coping mechanism)
- It’s a mild form of OCD… but hey don’t worry I’ve got everything under control (planned, organized and scheduled in detail!)
- Or perhaps it’s simply a method of survival for someone who had to learn to rely only on themselves in early childhood.
So as you can see there are a number of possibilities. But regardless of what is the true answer to my kind of obsessive planning behavior I learn to use it to my advantage. Yes, it’s exactly what I did. Besides weaknesses remain weaknesses only if you’re not addressing them. Every single “weakness” can be turned into a strength. For me, weaknesses and strengths are two sides of the same coin. Learn to address, accept and embrace your weaknesses and you will easily turn them into your best strengths! Everything depends on how you look at things. It’s your mindset that determines your actions. I will give you a simple example, maybe a bit odd but still a good one: A good sharp bread knife - a person can use it to slice bread and make sandwiches for their kids or use it to hurt someone… The same object, two completely different usages… The same thing with anxiety. While many people tend to look at anxiety as their worst enemy it can be actually this health condition that can be used to their advantage. Yes, even anxiety has some serious advantages and I am not the first person who tells it.
Therefore, it became an integral part of my life. Furthermore, I’m not all that concerned about it. You know why? Because it makes it easier to make and keep New Year’s Resolutions that I love so much.
Create A Blueprint Of Your Future
As I said before, I am a goal-oriented person and every single year I make measurable and realistic resolutions and I stick to them. Of course, I try to stay flexible and make so room for unexpected opportunities that may and certainly will present themselves at some point. Because being completely aware of the unpredictability and capricious nature of life being “prepared” for unexpected surprises is just plain common sense. And sure, I know that you cannot be fully prepared for the unknown, I just saying that it’s good to create a blueprint of your future. Because whether we like it or not, we all must take an active role in shaping our future. It’s not enough just to think intensively about something you want to achieve. You must take action to actually go a step closer to your goal. Because there is no magical way your goals will just magically appear. You need to establish your goals, have a specific plan and take action that will determine your future. Any little thing that will get you closer to your objectives it’s a real accomplishment you should be proud of. And remember that if something does not go with the plan don’t get discouraged. Open your mind, accept the uncertainty and unpredictability of life, always take advantage of the unexpected opportunities when they present themselves and go and achieve your goals!
Oh no wait, hold on a second. Before you start creating the best version of yourself let’s talk about the power of habits. It might seem that we’re getting off subject but actually, it’s the opposite. Because here we’re are going to talk about life-changing habits that will take you straight to your goals. Regardless of what goals you have set for 2019, I guarantee you that if you adopt these healthy habits you will achieve your achieve them. Of course, we are talking about measurable and achievable goals because if you want to become a Pandacorn it may be a little bit difficult…
But hey, if you really believe in this, go ahead and try to achieve your goal! Sky’s the limit…. Oh no, wait we live in a world where this issue is, in fact, no longer an issue… so maybe everything is possible… besides miracles do happen… so go for it! Be confident and no one will question you!
Anyway, after this nice, long introduction let’s get to the main topic of this post. These are my 8 powerful life-changing habits to adopt this year you will get the life you want! Remember you always have the power to change the direction of your life. You just need to become aware of this power, unlock it and create a life you want to live. Adopt a positive mindset, stay mindful and just go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals. Because if you really want something you will go for it. You will make it happen for yourself. It depends only on you. Get out a pen and paper and craft the life you want!
But first, read this powerful habits and take whatever resonates with you and incorporate it into your daily routine. Work hard, play harder and have fun!
8 powerful life-changing habits
1.Define Your Purpose
-What is your purpose in life?
Oh my gosh, I remember having a major panic attack every single time someone asked me this question. Why? Well, because I wanted so badly to come up with a spectacular answer. The one that would knock someone off their feet and show me in a good light as a genius, brilliant, talented, gifted person. So instead of being honest with myself and tell the truth, I was frantically searching for the ultimate meaning and purpose of human existence. And as you can imagine I failed profoundly in doing that. Why? Probably because there is no such thing as the one legitimate life purpose that resonates with everyone. Of course, we all want to be happy and reduce our suffering but I wouldn’t call it a life purpose because it’s more an expectation that we all have about life. Life is a journey and the real meaning of this journey is to find fulfillment but people find it in many different ways. So, I would say that when we come to the answer to this metaphysical question, we find that there is a multitude of responses.
As a matter of fact, when you think about it, at different times in our life we have a different purpose. When we are kids our main purpose is to play and have fun, when we are at the university our purpose is to get a degree (or have fun:)) then we want to get a good job and earn a decent amount of money etc… when we are sick our purpose is to recover… The purpose of life is not constant, it changes, depends on the circumstances and it’s highly influenced by mental and physical state we found ourselves in. We all have different views and values, and that is only right. For me personally, the main purpose of life right now is to make my loved ones smile. But at the same time, I would say that I have multiple life purposes because like any other person I have multiple roles in my life. And each of these roles has a different purpose. For instance, my main life purpose right now as a dreamer and coffeeholic is to get my favorite coffee (black with a dash of almond milk and coconut oil) then I go out and search for unicorns… don’t even try to stop me!
What I am trying to tell is that if you don’t know how to answer this question don’t torture yourself. Live your life mindfully, be grateful, find and feed your passion and adopt a positive mindset. Put yourself in a positive headspace. The one that will help you to overcome every struggle and face your deepest fears. The universe is never wrong and everything happens for a reason. But to find it you need to be patient, mindful, and self-conscious. Start with self-reflection and you will see where that takes you.
2. Set Your Intentions
We tend to put all our energy and focus into setting and achieving our goals while we completely forget about setting our intentions. This is kinda weird considering the fact that goals and intentions are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. This is because a goal is a destination, an external achievement while an intention is a journey toward a goal determined by your inner world. Furthermore, an intention is a reflection of your inner world, your inner energy that leads to personal fulfilment and prospering life. In other words, an intention is the quality of consciousness, energy, motivation, and determination that creates external consequences for your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations. An intention is a motive behind your goal. For instance, your goal may be to earn more money but the reason for this may be to impress your friends or you want to support your spouse who has some financial problems. So, an intention is your consciousness “why”. It is the real reason why you want to achieve something. Is the quality of consciousness and motivation which is going to determine the effect that occurs.
That’s why if you want to set a meaningful and powerful intention you need to connect with your inner-self. Listen to your gut, trust your intuition, do the things that give you passion and fills you with a sense of purpose and make your deepest dreams come true.
3. Define Your Goals
As we all know by now I’m a goal-driven person. I love setting goals for myself, especially if they are like measurable resolutions. My strategy is to set meaningful, measurable, achievable and hard to misinterpret goals for 2019. While my goals are specific and well-defined I try to stay mindful, flexible, open-minded and review frequently. Why? Well, because no matter how specific, relevant and time-bound your goals are there is always a certain amount of unpredictability and uncertainty of life that surprises you with various unexpected opportunities. Some of them will be your lucky chance arising from some particularly favorable circumstances created by the universe. Others will encounter unforeseen issues that will make you change or adjust your 2019 life blueprint in the middle of your projects. So be prepared for some modification, alteration, and improvement of your 2019 goals because you may need to amend your life plan. And don’t get discouraged when things are not turning out the way you expect. If it happens, stay focused, think positive and make the best of it! And remember that the best things in life come when you’re not looking for them. So instead of staying ridiculously focused only on your goals focus on the journey which leads to certain outcomes. Take advantage of unexpected opportunities when they present themselves and create the life you want to live.
4. Get The Right Mindset
The world is a reflection of us. Quantum physics shows that everything is made from energy. It’s all vibrational energy. We are vibrational beings living in a vibrational world. We shape and influence this energy field with infinite potential with our intentions, expectations, and beliefs.
Of course, I am saying that your thoughts are your reality because that’s not how it works. Besides, it would be too easy. However, you can create a certain vision of reality using your intentional thoughts which, when powerful enough can change your own actions. It happens because the way you think about yourself turns into your reality. So, for instance, if you indulge in negative self-talk and constantly beat yourself up you are basically throwing away a chance of creating a life of your dreams. So please, stop doing that! Instead, shift your perspective. Adopt a growth mindset and stop fearing criticism and failure. Take time for self-reflection and think about the things that give you passion and fills you the sense of purpose. Listen to the inner voice that connects you to truth and deeper meaning.
Remember that the one that is holding you back is you because the power of your mind is limitless. All you have to do is to unlock this power and create the life you want to live.
A fundamental step to adopting the right kind of positive mindset is the decision to take responsibility for your own life. Your thoughts determine your actions, and your actions determine the life that you live. So as you can see, everything starts with your internal world. And if you change your mindset into a more happy and fulfilling life you will see that it manifests itself in the external world. But it will happen only if you get into the alignment. Because changing your life is about alignment. This means that to create a life you want to live you should focus on positive self-talk, positive thoughts and positive actions that will shape your current reality into your desired reality. So, use the power of attention, create intentional thoughts, practice mindfulness and get into the flow! Do these things and align with the lifestyle that you want!
5. Take Action
Ok, here’s the thing. I completely agree that everything begins with a positive mindset.
But while a positive mental attitude is a crucial ingredient that you need to add to your life blueprint you need to add a specific action to make it happen. Both mentality and action are two sides of the same coin: “the life of the coin of your dreams.” Yeap, this one. So there is no way your goals will magically appear without you moving in the right direction. You just have to do the things you want to do. In other words, you have to start living the life you want to live in. Try to do anything, small or big that will get you one step closer to my goal. The more action you take the more you will be living the life you want to live.
Here’s how you can easily do it. Think about your goal and about specific actions you have to take to achieve this goal. Then, break down your large, clear and well-defined goal into small, actionable chunks, specific action steps that will lead you to your main goal. Write everything down and notice how ticking off the things you did makes you happy, satisfied and proud of yourself and your accomplishments.
So, as you can see it’s easier than you think. It’s all about researching, planning, scheduling, organizing, taking an action and achieving your goals. For instance, if you want to buy a house but you don’t even have a job well you need to find a job first. Then save some money, get a financial advisor and get a house… Do something, take action because it’s the action that creates motivation not the other way around. And never forget that your life depends on you. ONLY on you.
6. Embrace The Unexpected
We tend to embrace order and avoid chaos at all costs. Why? Well, I’ve got an idea and here it is: I think we can all agree that while being able to predict and anticipate every single event and experience in our life would be easier, less anxious and very uncomplicated it would be also effortless, commonplace and just incredibly boring. Just think about this, if you have the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year you will deprive yourself of all the genuine pleasure and great joy of unexpectable opportunities that are waiting to be found. A predictable life would rob us of all the so bitter and so sweet secrets that we have yet to discover. Besides, what would be the point of living a life that would be so annoyingly planned out? Imagine that you have a choice: you can choose between a completely predictable life deprived of surprises, excitement, and adventures or wild, adventurous and inspiring life experience full of unexpected opportunities and breathtaking surprises. What would you choose? A dull, predictable life or riskier but at the same time a more exciting lifestyle? Just ask yourself this question. I personally prefer not knowing what is coming next because this makes my whole life experience more exciting, interesting, creative, inspiring and just worth living. How boring, unexciting, uninspiring and monotonous predictable life would be? Yes, I agree that would be much easier but at the same time, it would be so meaningless and trivial life. Oh my gosh, I got goosebumps, you saying that. If you could anticipate every single event in your life. Besides, the best things happen in life when you least expect them. So if you prefer, for some reason, to have everything under control you completely forgetting about the fact of how inspiring, creative, breathtaking all the chaos and unpredictability of life can be. So instead of trying to create a peaceful order that by the way is a complete illusion, try to embrace the unpredictability of life and grow mentally, physically and spiritually from this experience. It’s not about going straight to your goals it’s about the journey you have to make to achieve your goals.
The best things in life come when you’re not looking for them. So be focused, open-minded and flexible. Take advantage of unexpected opportunities when they present themselves. Of course, I’m not saying that it doesn’t require some sort of preparation. So how can you be prepared for the unknown? Well, certainly you cannot be fully prepared for the opportunities that haven’t even presented themselves yet but if you are mindful, open-minded and self-conscious you won’t miss your chance to take advantages of some unforeseen, extraordinary circumstances that will lead you to whole new life maybe even your dream life.
So don’t be negative and discouraged when things are not turning out the way you expect. Instead, try to make the best of it!
7. Be Consistent
Ok, try to think about your goal as a new skill you want to learn. The only way to do it is to practice until you eventually become a master of that skill. It’s the same thing with taking an action. The more action you take and the more practice you get, the better your chances of achieving your goals. It’s not a secret that consistency and persistence in action are two crucial ingredients to success. Your good intentions, dreams and positive mental attitude is nothing without consistency. In other words, consistent action creates consistent results and the required outcome. Imagine walking up a staircase where every single solitary step is a small actionable chunk of a large goal that you have established before and then broken into these small chunks. So you’re kind of going up this staircase to that goal that you want and eventually, you will end up to that goal and you will start to maintain that goal. So as you can see it’s all about taking consistent and persistent action toward your life goals. The more action you take the easiest to attain your goals will be. It’s not rocket science it’s pure logic.
I really hope what I am saying makes sense…
Anyways, ask yourself a question: What can I do right now to get closer to my goals? Write everything down, plan it out and start doing these things! Go for it!
8. Show Gratitude
Last but definitely not least powerful habit that you should adopt in 2019 is practice gratitude. This is particularly important, especially because we live in a world where gratitude becomes really hard. It is truly rare to hear “thank you” when you do something for somebody. So many people are so self-centered that they don’t even notice others around themselves. I really cannot understand this because it really doesn’t take much to express gratitude and acknowledge the positive attitude of another person. Sometimes, one genuine smile is enough to thank somebody. If you believe in karma you know that what goes around comes around and you live by this rule. But if you don’t believe in it just do a little experiment and notice and observe what is going to happen.
I really like to keep a gratitude journal and write down every single thing that makes me feel happy blessed and in high spirits because it keeps me grounded and remembers me to appreciate my life. If you’re not into keeping a gratitude journal, just try to show appreciation for the life you’re living, for the people that are in your life and for the things that you have available for you. Because life is so unpredictable, surprising and really short. Accepting the ups and downs makes you living an authentic, fulfilling life. Being grateful and expressing gratitude is incredibly beneficial for your mental and physical health not to mention that it keeps you humble.
I don’t know about you but I try to find an optimistic viewpoint even or especially in negative situations. Because the most difficult and painful experiences are those that shape our character, make us stronger and helps us to grow personally, mentally and spiritually. Everything happens for a reason and one thing always leads to another. When you accept the ups and downs and the uncertainty of life, you begin to be grateful for what you have and not dwell on what you don’t. The joy and happiness that comes from appreciating what you have in life shifts your mindset and brings you closer to achieving your goals!
Be mindful
Stay positive
Create a life you want to live!
xx Kate
