It’s the start of another week. A chance to take action, be more productive, accomplish more, sleep more, eat better, exercise more, love yourself …whew! Such incredible opportunities—if you see them that way.
Life is a series of perspectives, like changing from your sunglasses, to your reading glasses, to your contacts, to removing your glasses. We all have different vantage points and perspectives on how life is going. Some people are happy with the actions of the latest president—others, not so much. But regardless, what you see and how you process what you see is a result of the filters, beliefs and generalizations you’ve created, and subscribed to over time.
Where are you most comfortable during the day? Are you more comfortable at home with the family, or at work? If you’re struggling with your marriage or relationship, work may feel better right now. If you have a teenager at home—work may be less stressful. If you have a controlling or clueless boss—you may feel more comfortable the minute you step outside the office.
But what if you viewed every situation and evaluated it for what is working? There is someone I encountered over the weekend that I don’t see that often, and it’s for a reason. When you say “Hello, how’s it going?” this person starts a non-stop verbal essay on how everyone on the planet is screwing them over. It’s incredible painful to listen to, it hurts my ears and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Everyone that hears this barrage of negativity quickly looks for an escape from the conversation.
And the sad thing is, this is a choice that’s being made, to see the world as such a horrible place. Yes, happiness is a choice! Positivity is a choice, looking for solutions instead of problems—a choice. That doesn’t mean everything is peachy every day, but it does mean you can take every situation and evaluate it to see what you can learn from it and celebrate the successes when they come, big or small.
So what’s your perspective been since the start of 2017? Are you celebrating the progress you’ve made? Do you acknowledge yourself for stepping out of your comfort zone and breaking through a barrier you had? Are you ready to accept a new challenge this week?
- Three times a day stop and write down what is working.
- If you note something that wasn’t your best effort or the result you wanted, evaluate what you could do to improve it.
- Remember that when you take full responsibility for what’s happening in your life and leave behind the blaming, complaining and defending, you’ll create a clear path to the results you want.
Take one second, hit reply and say “Yes, I accept your challenge.”
