Five Steps to Unleashing Your Untapped Potential

LIFE LESSON

Today is National Coaches Day. While many think of the person along the sidelines during a sporting event, coaching takes many forms. As a certified happiness trainer and life coach, I get the privilege of helping people create their ideal selves every day.

Two of the most valuable services I provide: perspective and encouragement. If you’re attempting to reach a goal by yourself, you are relying one one person. Yourself. Your own experiences. Your own lessons. #SpoilerAlert: By the way, you are blind to some of those lessons, which is why many of us repeat them until they cause a crisis of enough magnitude that they cannot be ignored.

A good coach can see your situation from a third person, nonjudgmental perspective and reflect back to you your ultimate goal(s). Secondly, through consistent encouragement, a good coach can also help you keep going, especially when 1. the going gets rough or 2. you’ve forgotten how far you've come.

When weight training, many times my personal trainer has encouraged me to try one more rep, knowing that I have the strength within to push myself. At the same time, they’re there to support me if my muscles fail.

There are many programs and philosophies that teach “one day at a time,” or “just for today...”. This makes sense, because the only personal time zone that remotely comes close to being under your control is right now. RIGHT NOW. The past is gone; the future has yet to arrive. Each day, when you commit to yourself to your goals, your are taking steps to your highest self.

Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that you really bungled a choice yesterday. In keeping with the “just for today” philosophy, you can review yesterday’s decision, glean the lesson from it and apply it to today’s actions. Punishing yourself for screwing up doesn’t do anyone any good and prevents you from growing and changing. Therefore, dispassionately assess your choice, adjust your behavior and move forward. Easier said than done, but it must be done if growth is your goal.

That’s why you get plenty of practice. You've got this!

LIFE HACK

Never underestimate the power of your mind to shape your reality. If you’re naturally pessimistic, you can cultivate optimism by changing your focus. Learn to harness your thought power for good.

Imagining requires a willingness to tap into possibility thinking and an understanding of potential energy. When you see or experience anything in particular, understand that you are comprehending a limited amount of information. You are limited by your perspective. Outside of your perspective exist other options, other tools and other outcomes.

Science shows that those with an optimistic outlook tend to be more proactive when it comes to their health, have better cardiovascular health and a stronger immune system, earn a higher income and have more successful relationships.

Furthermore, optimists seldom spend or waste time on regret or blame, as both of these represent drains on energy. Regret is a time sink, because no energy spent on it can change the past. Blame disempowers the blamer, hindering their capacity to change things. I’m going to let you in on a secret:

All creators are optimists.

So the next time you’re faced with a disappointment, I would recommend that you not focus on what’s missing. Focus on what you have. That is the seed for your next step. Here are five techniques for boosting your optimism:

? ‘Try on’ a positive lens — Put on those ‘rose colored glasses’ for a second. Shifting your perspective is as easy as consciously thinking happy thoughts.

? Be mindful of your friends and peer group — Negativity is contagious. Your physiology and psychology are affected by the people you allow into your orbit.

? Limit your exposure to the news — While being aware of the greater world around us is important, too much time spent on marinating in doom and gloom can leave an impact.

? Spend time each day journaling — Writing out thoughts of gratitude rewires your brain and helps lower stress.

? Release what you can't control — Take ownership of what you can do; release the rest.

True optimists are fully aware that we live in a world with negative and harmful people. However, rather than focusing on the worst parts of any situation, optimists turn their thoughts to the best possible scenario. Optimists are able to harness their imaginations toward positive outcomes. From these observations come lessons, and these lessons generate action, which calls into being a new future.

The opportunity to create either world is within your power.

TREAT

This is a freebie for kids! Lowe’s is hosting a DIY-U kids’ Firehouse Dog Bank workshop on Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. (presumably local time). The piggy banks that kids will assemble come complete with a firehouse facade and a Dalmatian. See if a store near you is participating and register in advance — submissions close on Oct. 11.

P.S. Are you a business focused on wellness, self-care, or personal growth? Sponsoring is the perfect opportunity to showcase your brand to a highly engaged in-person audience of hundreds eager to explore new products and services AND an online audience of millions. Learn more about FutureU sponsorship here .

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An author, media consultant, life coach and speaker, Molly Cantrell-Kraig has been recognized as one of CNN’s Visionary Women, been profiled by both the Christian Science Monitor and the Shriver Report. Cantrell-Kraig has also been interviewed on the Women’s Media Center and the BBC, speaking on such topics as women, independence, gender roles and life transitions. As a catalytic change-agent, Cantrell-Kraig is a self-described work in progress whose focus is on helping others achieve their goals by sharing her own experiences.