8 Truths I do like to remind myself of

Busy schedules and weekly routines have a tendency to put my brain on autopilot and I lose sight of the important things in life.

Some of life’s essential truths need repeating.?

So, I’d better write them down:

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MY SELF-WORTH MUST COME FROM WITHIN

When our sense of pleasure and satisfaction is derived from comparing ourselves to others, we are no longer the master of our own destiny.?When we feel good about something that we’ve done, we must not allow anyone’s opinions to take that away from us.?Make myself feel proud.

While it’s impossible to turn off my reactions to what others think of me,?I?don’t have to?compare myself to others, and I can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt.?That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, my self-worth comes from within.

I must know myself better.?Be true to myself and follow my heart.?

Different is better than better.

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FEAR IS THE #1 SOURCE OF REGRET

When it’s all said and done, we will?lament the chances we didn’t take?far more than we will our failures.?Be brave.?Take risks.??Don’t fear risks.

Fears are largely, if not totally, irrational anyhow.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen to me? Will it kill me?”?Yet, death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to me.

The worst thing that can happen to me is allowing myself to die inside while I am still alive.

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I AM LIVING THE LIFE I’VE CREATED

I am not a victim of circumstance.?No one can force me?to make decisions and take actions that run contrary to my values and aspirations.

The circumstances I am living in today are my own— I created them.?

Likewise,?my future is entirely up to me.?If I am feeling stuck, it’s probably because I am afraid to take the risks necessary to achieve my goals and live my dreams.

When it’s time to take action, I remind myself that it’s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder I want to climb than at the top of one I don’t.

I collect moments, not things.

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GREAT SUCCESS IS OFTEN PRECEDED BY FAILURE

We will never experience true success until we learn to embrace failure.?Mistakes can even feel rewarding when we spend some time reflecting.

Our mistakes pave the way for us to succeed by revealing when we’re on the wrong path.

The biggest breakthroughs typically come when we’re feeling the most frustrated and the most stuck.?It’s this frustration that forces us to think differently, to look outside the box and see the solution that we’ve been missing.

As the saying goes:?“The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you raise your foot.”

Success takes patience and the ability to maintain a good attitude?even while suffering for what we believe in.?Accept and move on.

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LIVE IN THE NOW

I can’t reach my full potential until I learn to live my life in the present moment – in the?NOW.

No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future.?It’s impossible to be happy if I am constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality (good or bad) of this very moment.

To help myself live in the NOW, I must do three things:

1) Accept my past.?If I don’t make peace with my past, it will never leave me and, in doing so, it will create my future.

2)?Accept the uncertainty of the future.?Worry has no place in the here and now.?As Mark Twain once said,?“Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”

3)?If I am always searching for something more, something better, that I think is going to make me happy in the future, I will never be present enough to enjoy the great NOW-moments before they’re gone.?Forget tomorrow,?live now.

LIFE IS SHORT

The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.

We all have about 4,000 weeks. That's it.

Worse, none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow.?Yet, when someone dies unexpectedly it causes us to take stock of our own life: what’s really important, how we spend our time, and how we treat other people.

Loss is a raw, visceral reminder of the frailty of life.?Everyone knows that they are going to die; every one of us knows that.?The truth is, none of us believe it because if we did,?we will do things differently.?Show up for life.

Each day is a gift and I am bound to make the most of the blessing I’ve been given.?A?great day begins with a great mindset.?

Positivity is a choice.?

Time should be spent WITH others.

Smile, it confuses people.

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BEING BUSY DOES NOT EQUATE TO BEING PRODUCTIVE?

Everyone?seems to be so busy—running from meeting to meeting and firing off emails.?Yet how many of us are really producing, really succeeding at a high level?

Success doesn’t come from movement and activity.?It comes from focus—from ensuring that my time is used efficiently and productively.

I get the same number of hours in the day as everyone else.?I have to use mine wisely.?After all,?I am the product of my output, not of my effort.?I have to make certain my efforts are dedicated to tasks that get results or increase my?happiness.

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ADOPT POSITIVE SCEPTICISM AND WORK ON GOOD THINKING

I strive to be a consistent critical thinker to reduce cognitive errors and?stay alert of my natural biases, thereby increasing my efficiency and safety.

I question everything but also do accept the absence of answers and those answers that may contradict my hopes and beliefs.?I choose to be humble to prevent me from placing absolute trust in sensory perceptions, personal experiences, and even thoughtful conclusions.?I am?willing to always reconsider, revise, and change my mind when better evidence demands it.

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”?—William Shakespeare, As You Like It

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CHANGE IS INEVITABLE – I EMBRACE IT

Only when I embrace change can I find the good in it.?I am?bound to fail when I keep doing the same things I always have in the hope that ignoring change will make it go away.

After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Life doesn’t stop for anyone.?When things are going well, I appreciate them and enjoy them, as they are bound to change.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”?– Confucius

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And finally ...

Our lives due to their finitude are inevitably full of activities that we are doing for the very last time.

But there will be no way to know in the moment itself that you are doing it the very last time.

Let's treat every such experience with the reverence we’d show if it were the final instance of it.

LET’S GO, LIVE IT.