By Matt Mover Senior Business Consultant / Business Owner
Time for Change
It’ s surprising how easy it is to lose sight of the important things in life as we all start each new year. Busy schedules and our regular daily routines have a tendency to put our brains on autopilot. When things aren’ t going quite the way you’ d like them to, it’ s often because you’ ve lost focus on what really matters? But focusing on life’ s fundamental truths can be difficult, especially when they remind you that you’ re heading in the wrong direction. The best things in life don’ t come easily my friends, and failing to observe yourself carefully is a sure path to mediocrity. We all get caught up in the craziness of life and the media and the new Washington Administration. I firmly believe more so today than ever that Socrates said it best:
“ The unexamined life isn’ t worth living.”
Socrates’ observation can also apply to our personal life as well.“ We run our lives sometimes on questions, not answers.” Life and our personal decisions do run on questions! You should be asking yourself regularly if you’ re headed in the right direction?
Many of life’ s essential truths need repeating. We all need reminders that help us to stay focused on what’ s really important.( Family, Friends-Job Security and Country) Keep these truths at hand and they’ re sure to give you a much-needed boost an a daily bases my friends.
Great success is often preceded by failure. You will never experience true success until you learn to embrace failure. I don’ t encourage failure. Your mistakes will pave the way for you to succeed by revealing when you’ re on the wrong path and then righting the course to success will follow. The greatest breakthroughs typically come when you’ re feeling the most frustrated and the most stuck. It’ s this frustration that forces you to think differently, to look outside the box and see the solution that you’ ve been missing. Success takes patience and the ability to maintain a good attitude even while suffering for what you believe in.
Being busy does not equal being productive. Look at everyone around you. They all seem so busy running from meeting to meeting and firing off emails or another text. Yet how many of them are really producing, really succeeding at a high level that can be measured?
Success doesn’ t come from movement and activity. It comes from focus from ensuring that your time is valuable and used efficiently and productively. You get the same number of hours in the day as everyone else. Use yours wisely. After all, you’ re the product of your output, not your effort. Make certain your efforts are dedicated to tasks that get results.
You’ re only as good as those you associate with. You should strive to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who make you want to be better. And you probably do. But what about the people who drag you down? Why do you allow them to be a part of your life? Anyone who makes you feel worthless, anxious, or uninspired is wasting your time and, quite possibly, making you more like them. Life is too short to associate with people like this. Cut them loose get rid of waste.
You’ re living the life you’ ve created. You are not a victim of circumstance. No one can force you to make decisions and take actions that run contrary to your values and aspirations. The circumstances you’ re living in today are your own you created them. Likewise, your future is entirely up to you. If you’ re feeling stuck, it’ s probably because you’ re afraid to take the risks necessary to achieve your goals and live your dreams. When it’ s time to take action, remember that it’ s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than at the top of one you don’ t.
Fear is the # 1 source of regret my friends. When it’ s all said and done, you will lament the chances you didn’ t take far more than you will your failures. Don’ t be afraid to take risks. I often hear people say,“ What’ s the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?” Yet, death isn’ t the worst thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to you is allowing yourself to die inside while you’ re still alive.
You don’ t have to wait for an apology to forgive. Life goes a lot smoother once you let go of grudg-
22 March / April 2017 | www. saaaonline. org