Ah, procrastination. Thirty years ago it’s a word you rarely heard but nowadays it’s bandied about by almost everyone, mainly because almost everyone deals with it on a daily basis. But how you deal with it will determine your level of success.

• It’s knowing you have important things to do but wasting time doing other things instead.
• It’s feeling overwhelmed by how much needs to be done and so never even starting.
• It’s feeling bad because you know you should be doing projects with a higher priority but somehow you just can’t get yourself to do them. All of a sudden checking emails, Facebook or shopping online seems a much more attractive option.

Procrastination can make us depressed and miserable and at the very least cause our productivity to plummet. The burden of having so much to do but being unable to do it can weigh heavily on us.

Most cases of procrastination can be traced back to a single chore that’s creating a bottle-neck and holding up everything else. It’s that one job we hate to do but we know we have to. So why not just do it, right? Not as simple as it sounds.

For me it’s a certain exercise in my workout session. I hate it. It’s hard work and motivating myself to do it is even harder. But, it only takes 5 minutes, it really works so it’s well worth the effort, and once I get it done the rest of the workout just flows smoothly and before I know it I’ve finished. And I’m proud of myself.

Sounds simple? It is simple, but it’s not easy when your brain keeps throwing roadblocks at you. A bit of personal accountability is required.

I’ve noticed that procrastinating on this one little thing can hold up my entire day. So I’ve learned to get it done early and get it out of the way. No matter how much I don’t feel like doing it I know that if I can get that one 5 minute exercise out of the way the rest of my day is more productive and I feel much better.

And, you know, once you start it becomes easier. It’s the starting that’s hard. Just tell yourself you’ll do it for 5 minutes. Chances are when the 5 minutes is up you’ll continue because you want to get it finished and you’ve realised it isn’t nearly as bad as you thought.

Even if you don’t finish the whole job until later in the day, just getting the hardest part out of the way sets you up to accomplish a whole lot more. Coming back to it later in the day is easier when you’ve done the hard part.

When you’ve finished congratulate yourself and get started on another task on your list. You’ll find that when you do the hardest jobs first the rest of your day will flow and you’ll surprise yourself at how much you get done.

It is the only way to beat procrastination and get productive. But keep in mind we can’t be productive 100% of the time. It’s ok to do nothing sometimes and, as strange as it sounds, doing nothing some of the time can make you more productive the rest of the time.

So remember, pick the hardest thing on your to-do list and do that first. The rest will become so much easier. You just have to start.

KEEP THE FAITH

 

As promised in my last post here are 5 more of those stupid, irritating expressions we see and hear all over and may even use ourselves.

5 Very Unique

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this one, I’d still be writing this, it’s that pointless. If something is unique it is one of a kind, there’s nothing else like it. Something can’t be kind of unique or very unique, it is or it isn’t. There aren’t degrees of unique, it’s all or nothing. The Statue of Liberty is unique. Uluru in the centre of Australia is unique. They are one of a kind, there’s nothing else like them. People feel like they need to add an extra word in front for emphasis, it’s wrong and unnecessary. Stop it.

4 Alot

Just typing the above word was physically painful for me and made my text editor auto-correct. It isn’t even a word. I see this one a lot in the readers’ comments on many websites and I stop reading. A lot has always been two words and it will always be two words. I know the English language is evolving and words get shortened and fused together but, trust me, this is one expression that will stay as two separate words.

3 Irregardless

Here’s one guaranteed to make a lot of people scream and hit things. Another case of feeling as if something must be added to the front, or perhaps just ignorance of the meaning of the original word. Regardless means without regard; the opposite of regard. So by putting ir in front you’re effectively changing the word to mean its opposite, which is regard. Do you see where I’m going with this? Thankfully it irritates enough people to ensure it doesn’t prevail.

2 I Could Care Less

I hadn’t seen or heard this cringe-worthy saying until recently but now it keeps popping up everywhere. I’ve even heard well-known professional speakers use it. It should be I couldn’t care less meaning I care so little that it’s not possible to care any less. Or, to put it another way, the care factor here is zero. To say you could care less implies that you don’t care just a little bit and there is plenty of room for more not caring. Or, to put that another way, it doesn’t make sense. Why would you tell someone you could care less? They couldn’t care less about your degree of caring.

1 A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Another nugget of wisdom from our parents’ and grandparents’ days when such things were thrown around without questioning the wisdom behind them. How does not spending money that you’ve already earned earn you that money a second time? If I take my lunch to work instead of spending $10 at the shop then I’ve saved $10. I haven’t earned another $10. I wish. If it worked like that I’d double my money every time I refrained from spending it.

Since I started writing about these stupid sayings more have come to my attention, either by way of people pointing them out or just from my own reading. Expect to see a lot more in future posts.

 KEEP THE FAITH

 

In our everyday speech and writing there are certain words and phrases that we use all the time which, on closer inspection, seem to be a bit ridiculous or even meaningless. Worse still, some don’t even mean what we think they do while some just make us sound downright dumb. These common words and phrases have infiltrated our vernacular and the Internet is now peppered with them. Here are 5  of the most prevalent and absurd sayings that are currently being spewed out.

5  You Want the Honest Truth?

Almost everyone has heard this at some time. Is there a dishonest truth? Can you imagine someone saying, ‘Do you want the dishonest truth?’ And if someone is willing to give you the honest truth then what sort of truth were they giving you previously? The words honest and truth sort of go hand in hand. If you’re telling the truth we would assume you’re being honest about it. It’s the equivalent of a dishonest lie. In short, even omitting the word honest renders it a silly question since most people want the truth without us having to ask them.

4  Free Gift

A lot of businesses like to offer their customers a free gift in exchange for information, usually contact details like an email address. Nothing wrong with that, it’s a fair exchange, but when was the last time you received a gift that wasn’t free? The very nature of a gift is that we don’t pay for it, someone else does, that’s why it’s a gift. All gifts are free otherwise they wouldn’t be gifts; they’d be purchases. Perhaps it would be better if we just said gift or told people exactly what the free offer is such as a free e-book or audio.

3  Life is Short

Don’t we love to justify our decisions with this statement? Get out and live your life, life is short. Well, yes it is when you compare it to, say,  how long the Earth has been around or how long it will be before our sun dies. Assuming we’re talking about our life and how short it is a moth or a common housefly might argue with you. To them it’s unfathomably long. My real point here is life isn’t that short. It lasts for a lifetime and I dare you to name one thing you can do that is longer. Sure, there are longer things than life and sometimes life can seem too short but it’s the longest thing you’ll ever do.

2  Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

No doubt many of us have heard this little nugget of wisdom from our parents and teachers who only had our best interests at heart. It was a fine saying back in the days when they presumably did lots of waiting but these days waiting won’t get us what we want. These days we’re much more proactive and we go out and get what we’re after. We make it happen instead of waiting for things to happen. If we want those good things we know we have to get off our butts and get things moving. As Einstein once said, ‘Nothing happens until something moves.’ Those who wait won’t move anything.

1  New and Improved

Salespeople and advertising executives love to slap this one on their products to try to increase sales but which one is it, new or improved? If it’s new that implies there is no previous version so how can it be improved? And if it’s improved then it can’t be new because it’s an improvement on the previous one. It’s either one or the other, not both. Something that’s new can be improved but then it’s no longer new, it’s improved. It can’t be both at the same time.

Stay tuned for next week’s post where I’ll dissect 5 more silly sayings.

 

KEEP THE FAITH

 

Anyone who is keen on tracking their progress is well aware that the second quarter of the year has already started. That means the first quarter is done and dusted, never to be seen again.

If you’re like most people and have slipped off track a little since those ‘do-this-or-bust’ days in early January don’t despair, all is not lost. After all, there are still three quarters of the year left to make up for lost time.

As John Harricharan likes to say, everyone’s problems fall into three basic categories: money, health and relationships. I can almost guarantee your particular issue is linked to one of these.

Regardless of what you wish to improve in your life the easiest way to make any significant change is to implement small daily tasks to inch your way closer to your goals. After a while these small changes add up and before you know it you’ve made substantial progress.

If you keep making the same resolutions year after year and never accomplish them it could be that your goals are too big or too vague. Change your strategy.  If what you’re doing isn’t working then you need to do something else.

Trying to make big changes all at once is a recipe for failure, the same as trying to change too many things at one time. Making small changes to your daily routine will ensure your mind doesn’t become overwhelmed and it will gradually re-program your subconscious mind to accept the changes and make them your new daily habits.

So what to do to get yourself back on track and instil new, automatic habits that contribute to you achieving your goals?

Clarity and focus are essential.

Start to question why you set these goals in the first place. Is it something you want to do or something you feel you should do? If your reasons are based on what you think you should be doing then it’s going to be much harder to find the motivation to achieve your goals.

You have to want to change. All your results come from internal decisions, not from external sources. You need to want change so much that failure is not an option and you’ll do whatever it takes to succeed. Watch this and be inspired.

If your goals are based on what you think you should be doing such as losing weight or quitting smoking but you don’t want to do it  try turning those ‘should dos’ into ‘must dos’. Instead of telling yourself you should do it, which encourages procrastination, tell yourself you must do it. Come up with more compelling reasons to achieve your goals and write down the action steps you must take.

Don’t be too ambitious and try to change too much too soon. You’ll meet with resistance from your internal programming which doesn’t like massive, sudden change.

Instead, choose three small things you can improve right now; one financial, one health and one relationship issue. Work on those goals and with success will come forward motion and momentum. Once you’ve mastered those three, pick three more, and so on.

The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Get clear on what you want and why. Focus on the small steps you need to make it happen. Incorporate those steps into your daily routine. Your progress will become the motivation to keep going and you will become unstoppable.

Greatness is a lot of small things done well and done consistently.

If you ever feel overwhelmed and want to give up, just revisit your goals and action steps and scale them down if necessary. Don’t give up. Even tiny steps will still get you there. Visualise the end result AND also see yourself doing the steps to realise that result. Do something every day, no matter how small, and you will succeed.

Remember, it’s the little things you do daily that add up to greatness and change the way you think and act. Commit to your progress and you’ll soon start to see a change for the better.

KEEP THE FAITH

 

 

One of my mother’s favourite sayings is, ‘You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar’. Meaning you’re more likely to get what you want if you’re nice about it; that your attitude is everything.

She must have said it a lot because I’ve always treated people the way I’d like to be treated. I believe everyone has the right to be treated with respect and kindness, even the negative person who just shouted at or insulted you. They may be going through tough times; you don’t know what their life is like.

They might have started the day happy but been influenced by someone else’s negative attitude. All it may take to make their day better is a kind word or a smile from you. Let your positive outlook affect other people; it has a domino effect. They, in turn, may affect someone else’s attitude in a positive way. There are plenty of negative people out there but it’s easy to turn that frown upside down.

You’re going to go about your day anyway so you might as well be happy about it; being miserable benefits no one. You have the ability to lift up other people, help them to be happy and to pass it on to the next person. Resolve to have a good day – an excellent day – it’s all about your attitude and your attitude influences everyone you come into contact with.

How often has your day been brightened just by someone smiling at you? Or by the cheerful employee at the grocery store or post office? Wouldn’t the world be wonderful if everyone were friendly and acknowledged each other as the valuable gift they truly are? Sure, we all have bad days but don’t take it out on other people; they have their own problems to deal with. And don’t ignore people as if they’re not there.

If you were to observe people in crowded cities you would witness them walking amongst each other as if each were alone. Those other people who annoy you and get in your way are of the same species as you. We’re all this together, there’s no escaping that fact. Speak to people, be polite, help them do what they need to do and watch how people react to you.

You’ll find that we really are all the same and we want and need the same things: to feel useful and to interact with our own kind. People flock to see motivational speakers who bring us together, if only temporarily, and make us feel like we belong. We go to parties and gatherings to try and get that same feeling and the benefits that come with it.

I say why not have that feeling every day? Just talk to people, even if you don’t know them. Remember, everyone you know today was once a stranger to you. Smile, perform random acts of kindness, and treat everyone with respect, even if you think they don’t deserve it. Do your best to make everyone’s day just a little better and they will want to do the same for the people they meet.

It can seem like a lot to start with, especially for shy people, but it will soon become habit and when you see the effect it has on others it will brighten your own day and make you so much more positive and productive. It all begins with a smile. That’s all you need to do. If you don’t feel like smiling, do it anyway. The more you smile, the more you feel like smiling. Work your way up from there, at your own pace.

It’s astounding how one person’s happiness can spread to affect everyone around them. It really is contagious. And did you know it’s impossible to dislike someone who has made you laugh? Test that theory for yourself.

 

Keep The Faith

 

 

Not too long ago if anyone were to ask me if I think the subject of correct apostrophe placement has been done to death my answer would have been an emphatic yes.

Apparently I would have been wrong. Just because  the Internet is plastered with advice on how to use them does not mean that people are taking the advice on board.

Not a day goes by when I don’t see the blatant misuse of apostrophes. We’re in the midst of an epidemic of gung-ho English language abusers.

To refresh everyone’s memory an apostrophe is used to show that something belongs to someone or something else. It goes at the end of the owner’s name before the ‘s’ if there is one owner – e.g. Allyson’s apostrophe fetish (the apostrophe fetish of Allyson). If the owner is plural it goes after the ‘s’ – e.g. The writers’ apostrophe fetish (the apostrophe fetish of the writers).

Apostrophes are also used to show that letters have been omitted – e.g. did not becomes didn’t, have not becomes haven’t.

Here is a more detailed explanation.

What apostrophes are not used for are simple plurals. Take the case of the picture above. Got it right on the first word but doesn’t it go downhill from there? I have to drive past this sign regularly and it never fails to irritate me.

What’s worse is presumably a professional sign writer is responsible for this atrocity, not once but three separate times on the three sides of the sign – a panorama of incorrectness. One would think if someone paints signs for a living they would have, at least, an understanding of basic English punctuation rules. Not a good advertisement for this tradesman’s skill. Indeed it makes everyone involved look like twits.

The worst part of all is imagining that a whole bunch of people must have gathered before the finished sign umming and ahhing and nodding their approval – the illiterate idiots.

If it were my sign and my business being advertised it would never have seen the light of day, figuratively speaking of course since I’m almost sure it was painted in the light of day. Even if it wasn’t that’s no excuse. I won’t even begin to mention the rest of the sign – by the way Terry, 2 is a number not an adverb – oh never mind!

How many other people drive past this and cringe? And where are those amazing people who risk life and limb to erase the superfluous and offensive apostrophes which blight the urban landscape? I always do it on a smaller scale such as chalkboard menus and printed material but this one is a job for the extremists.

I’ve done what I can by pointing it out – as if people haven’t noticed it. All I can do now is hope those punctuation fanatics find it and relieve us of this outrageous travesty.

KEEP THE FAITH

 

As you surf the Internet perusing the offerings of all and sundry you might notice the same words and phrases being repeated on a lot of websites.

We are bombarded by so much information and we read so much each day that we don’t even think about the things we’re reading. We just accept them at face value without stopping to think whether they even make sense.

If you spend enough time on self-development or marketing websites, or even blogs, you’ll notice that the owners of these sites are willing to give you something in return for your email address. These free offerings are marketed as free gifts. This term is widespread and doesn’t appear to be country-specific.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with offering something in return for capturing an email address to add to your list. This common practice is known as a lead magnet and it’s your chance to make a great first impression. It is the terminology that bothers me. Think about it.   Free gift.   Should the words free and gift be side by side?

Isn’t a gift, by definition, free anyway? If it wasn’t free it wouldn’t be a gift, now would it? I certainly wouldn’t want to pay for any of my gifts. Can you imagine that? Someone gives you a wonderful gift, and then presents you with the bill. That’s less of a gift and more of a purchase.

Perhaps free gift should become free offering or free contribution. Or perhaps what’s being offered could just be called by its name, a free e-book or a free audio or a free report. That makes more sense than telling people your gift is free since that’s what gifts are.

You don’t give someone a gift and proudly announce,  Here’s your free gift. No, no, that’s ok, it’s free, no charge. Just as you wouldn’t give someone a gift and tell them it’s for free.

This is another strange expression that I’ve noticed. Oftentimes when someone gives you something they tell you it’s for free. Isn’t it just free?

Call me a little strange but I breathe a sigh of relief when I look at a website and someone is offering something free, not for free.  If the offer was for sale it would be for X amount but when you’re giving something away the expression isn’t quite the same.

Free is not a quantity. It’s a state of being. The word is telling us there is no charge for the item, that you can have it without having to exchange something of equal value. It’s yours, no strings attached, no payment required. Although in a lot of cases what appears to be free is far from it on closer inspection, so it’s wise to be a little wary of such offers.

The English language is varied and flexible. There are lots of different ways to express what you have to say. There’s no reason to use the same tired phrases which, as I have brought to your attention, don’t always make sense when you think about it.

So let your creativity off its leash and give it free rein. Indeed, throw the leash away and never again stifle your imagination. Put some thought into what you want to communicate and make good use of the richness and diversity of language. There are thousands of great words just waiting for you to use them. Really read and understand what you’ve written so it makes sense.

Original thought is a rare and wonderful thing and a sure way to stand out from the crowd.

KEEP THE FAITH

 

 

At the risk of sounding like I’m obsessed with the weather, I’m going to, for the last time, obsess about the weather.

When I wrote last week’s blog post it had been hellishly hot for too long, had cooled down just enough and for long enough to make me believe I would survive, and was about to revert back to hellishly hot.

Well it did. It was fiendishly hot for a few days, and then it rained.

So what, you say. It rains everywhere. Yes, yes it does. Sometimes it even rains here in a civilised manner. But not last Friday.

We can go for months without rain here but when it rains, it pours. And pour it did on Friday night.

Let me explain that the road I live on crosses several, usually dry, creek beds. One cannot get into the nearest town without crossing some of these creeks, no matter which way you go.

On Friday these roads – crossing – creeks became raging torrents of water – crossing – roads. Clearly I wasn’t going anywhere for a while. That’s fine, I could wait.

Then the power went out. After phoning the relevant authority to enquire when it might be restored I was told the equipment could not currently (pardon the pun) be accessed – so my guess was as good as theirs.

Now when the power fails here it takes with it my Internet access and my running water – plenty of water running in the driveway but not the kind I prefer. All our water is pumped from holding tanks and, of course, the pumps are electric.

Let’s look at the scenario so far.

• I’m home alone.
• It’s raining – a lot.
• I can’t go anywhere – the creeks have claimed the roads as their own.
• I have no electricity – therefore no water, Internet or anything else electrical.
• No one knows when the electricity will be restored – I’m guessing no time soon.
• It’s starting to get dark.

What to do in a situation like this? I go to bed, what else?

The next morning, still no power here but the town had their power restored. Number one priority now is the contents of my fridge and freezers.

I may not have electricity but I have access to plenty of places in the town with fridges and freezers that work, and a four- wheel drive. So I fill the car with everything perishable and make a dash for those whitegoods.

That drive is not for the faint-hearted. Lots of water, lots of mud, lots of slip-sliding but I make it. I take the dog with me for moral support . His idea of moral support is staring back whenever I look at him but we make it back home as well.

By now it has stopped raining and has started to dry out but I’m still home alone with no power, and now, no fridge contents. I eat some fruit and catch up on my reading, and sleeping.

Sunday morning – still no power. And to make matters worse I have a flat tyre from yesterday’s four-wheel drive expedition – I told you it was rough.

I attempt to change the tyre but my jack keeps sinking in the mud and one of the wheel-nuts refuses to come off. I call the local road-side assistance man; after all, that is what I pay them for. He arrives within the hour and solves my tyre problem.

He also tells me the roads have been graded and anyone can get through now. His vehicle is almost clean, hardly any mud on it. My vehicle looks like it is made of mud.

I continue to catch up on my reading then realise I should probably clean out the fridge and freezers. Halfway through that job the kitchen comes to life in a blaze of light and beeping. The power has been restored!

If you ever want your weekend to feel like it’s extra-long just switch off the power. How time drags on without electrical distractions, and it’s oh so quiet. I always thought Christmas day seemed like the longest day of the year but it has nothing on a day – or two – without power.

I got through it, everything is back to normal and the weather is just beautiful now; perfectly sunny in the day and pleasantly cool at night.

If adversity builds character then I just added some character; I must be full of the stuff by now.

Here’s to an uneventful but productive week with lots of light and beeping, running water (from the taps, not the sky) and Internet.

 KEEP THE FAITH

 

There was no blog post from me last week due to a breath-taking heat wave which sucked the energy and inspiration out of me and everyone else in this region.

I’ve yet to meet anyone who can honestly say this is their favourite time of year. Parts of the northern hemisphere are frozen while down south we’re being slow-roasted and choked by heat and out-of-control bushfires.

Living in the southern hemisphere we expect it to be hot in January and February – it is summer after all – but this year has been something extraordinary – and I don’t mean in a good way.

With the exception of a few days here and there the last three weeks have been a trial run for a trip to hell, or perhaps a cruise around the sun.

We have endured day after day of 40+ degrees C (104+ F) – emphasis on the plus – with a horror run of eight days straight during which the temperature didn’t drop below 41 degrees (105.8 F) in the daytime and 28 degrees (82.4 F) at night.

A couple of days of that and the house becomes unbearable, like walking into an oven. A week of high temperatures and it’s hard to decide which is hotter, inside or outside. And forget trying to get any meaningful sleep. I don’t know about you but if I don’t get enough sleep life starts to lose its lustre. My brain turns to mush and coherent thought is harder.

Now I love the warmth and freedom of summer as much as the next person but too much heat and that freedom is lost. You just want to lie around in an air conditioned room and life’s priorities start to shift. Instead of a happy, productive person bustling through your to-do list you become more focussed on survival.

Your main concern is keeping yourself, and those around you, alive. Plants and animals must be checked numerous times a day. Water! All of a sudden it takes over your thoughts. You become obsessed with it, that and trying to get enough sleep, of course. If, at the end of the day, everyone is still alive and your sense of humour is intact then you’ve had a successful day.

When I awoke this morning it was a refreshing 20 degrees C (68 F) and this part of the planet was sighing with relief. The mercury (we still use that word even though it’s no longer used in thermometers) has climbed to almost 40 degrees C (104 F) again but that’s ok. I got some sleep and had a break from the heat. That’s all I needed. And the heat wave will be over by week’s end.

To all the people in the north who are freezing as I write this: I wish we could swap temperature extremes for a day and then debate on which is worse. What a lively discussion that would be, and what a shock to the system.

And to all the people affected by the weather, or the effects of the weather, my thoughts are with you.

For now I say “Keep the Faith”. The end is in sight, tolerable weather is just around the corner and we will prevail. Although another summer such as this and I’ll be packing my bags and moving to the coast.

Keep the Faith

 

Continuing on from my recent post about doing what you love, and to show that I haven’t always walked the talk, I’d like to tell a story about my worst job.

I applied for this job, went for an interview and got it on the spot. It was all so easy. Within six weeks I had been promoted to manager and I thought life was pretty good.

The job was about thirty kilometres away but the trip was through spectacular scenery and a pleasant, quiet drive it was, with very little traffic.

A few months into the job I started to dread getting out of bed and going to work. I had trouble pinpointing the exact cause of my trepidation but after some soul-searching I knew it was a combination of things.

Being away from my kids so much, not having time for me, an insecure boss with a tenuous grip on reality all made me realise that I hated the job and I had been using clever techniques to fool myself into thinking otherwise.

Whilst I loved the drive to work, I hated turning onto the long driveway that would take me to my destination. I would soak up the scenery like a sponge until I got to the turn-off and then leave the best part of me in those hills until the end of the day when I’d pick up my essence on the way home. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.

I was fooling myself into thinking everything was ok when in reality I hated the job and would rather be anywhere but there. My mind was protecting me from the dreary monotony of the work, and the crazy behaviour of my boss, the best way it knew how, by not really being there. I was essentially on autopilot until I finished work.

One day, after the boss had an outburst that was even more insane and confusing than usual, I took back my power. I stood up and gave my notice and went home. I was upset but I knew I was better than that and no one should waste their precious time in a demeaning job doing something they hate.

The funny part was the next day she asked me if I was feeling better and if I’d changed my mind. Oh yeah, I was feeling better but had I changed my mind? Hell no! This was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. And the drive home on my last day was a sweet ride indeed.

For the next few months I would wake up in the morning and reassure myself that I never had to go back there. It was a wonderful feeling and I was going to keep it.

The thing is, time is finite. We only have so much of it and once used it can never be regained. You never know when your time will run out so you must use what you have wisely.

Killing time is one of the most appalling expressions I’ve ever heard. Never squander your time (or kill it). Use it to do what you feel is right for you, don’t waste it working for lunatics and control-freaks.

No one can give their best if they’re not happy but happiness is a choice. You can be happy in horrible conditions but you also have the power to change those conditions.

We can make our own future; it doesn’t have to be defined by the past. Learn from your mistakes and not only demand a better future but go out and get it. Choose to be happy now. Never let a bad or unhappy past be responsible for creating an unhappy future.

Remember that if you keep doing the same things you’ll keep getting the same results. We get what we expect so expect greatness; expect only good things to happen. Instead of dwelling on the past change it up and build yourself a better future.  None of us are getting any younger. It’s time to take back your power and take control of your life.

Keep the Faith