Rise Above Your Circumstances

By Mohnish M Nair

HAVE you been in that phase of life where everything around you seems so wrong? Many times, in the rush of life we tend to lose track of our progress and end up where we never imagined ourselves to be. The early years start with a lot of zest, dreams and goals and as we pursue our dreams we may sometimes get carried away and fail to notice the direction of our progress.

A deviation of a few inches from our chosen path may lead us miles away from our destination. I feel many of us today have somewhere lost the way in pursuit of the goals. Ambition is a double-edged sword - it can make us if we channel it with discipline and it can break us if we allow it to go to our heads. Many have lost the enthusiasm and cheerfulness they once possessed. Many have become cynical about themselves and the world around them and there are many who have given up.

If you feel that your life looks like one train wreck and you feel lost and sad about yourself and the way your life has turned out to be..... breathe, there is hope. Don't become all judgemental about the way you conducted your life. Life isn't over yet. Your story isn't over until you breathe your last and it takes just one moment to change your life upside down, trust me, I have experienced this time and again.

Every time I feel that I have screwed up and there is no hope, I go back to my dreams, I revisit my old self, I analyze the reason why I am where I am and then I thank god for giving me the power to introspect. Self introspection is a privilege and a blessing. There are many who find themselves ill-equipped to do so. People like to be in a place where they see others and circumstances as the cause of all the tribulations in their life.

They readily blame their friends, family, outsiders for their situation and this is a self-defeating tendency. Nobody but you has the control over your life and if you have allowed others to control your life, it's your fault - stop blaming them. Take charge and decide to change things for the better.

You must stop whining, complaining, comparing and envying those around you. I strongly believe that each one of us is sent on this planet in the form of a human for some specific reason. We are here for a cause; we must utilize this limited time with complete enthusiasm, honesty, gratitude and perseverance.

I have a philosophy where I believe we are born as humans after thousands of births as reptiles, crawling creatures and pests. For having overcome a multitude of troubles, god gives us the gift of being born as human as a souvenir for our hard work. We must cherish and value this gift and make the best use of whatever it is that is left of it.

You can get back on track by doing the following things:

1. Find out where you went wrong and become aware of it. Remember to engrain "your" mistakes into your mind so that the next time you tend to do it, you become alert before hand.

2. Forgive yourself for your mistakes. You must first unburden yourself of the guilt of not doing what you were supposed to do. Emptying your soul makes way for fresh exuberance.

3. Be grateful for what you have. Gratitude has magnetic powers that can heal and attract. It can help you become aware about your strengths and also attract opportunities from the available resources.

4. Write down fresh goals with deadlines. Things that you must achieve before you die. Break it down into short term - 1 to 3 years, mid term - 5 years and long term - 10 plus years.

5. Make a detailed action plan to achieve those goals. Take one goal at a time. Don't make your action plan too overwhelming and demanding. Neither should you make it so easy that it doesn't disrupt your comfort zone. You must be motivated to follow the action plan at the same time. It must also take account of your weaknesses.

6. Take help from people who can help you stick to your plans. Take help from those who can help you achieve your goals faster. Don't try to be the Lone Ranger.

7. Visually surround yourself with your goals and written action plan in the form of motivational charts, vision boards, mobile/computer wallpapers, self-affirmations and meditation-cum-workouts that can help you stay focused and remind you throughout the day.

8. STICK TO YOUR GOALS NO MATTER WHAT! Stay disciplined - it's the most difficult part, but consistency is the key to grand success. A consistently flowing stream has the power to erode a mountain.

9. The key to achieving goals is to mix consistent action with unidirectional focus. For this you must train your mind and body on a daily basis to remain enthused. You must take time everyday to plan, meditate and reprogram your mind to overcome negative thoughts and incidents.

10. Introspect and keep upgrading yourself. Keep learning new things that will help you achieve your goals faster. Be ready to make course corrections if needed and above all stay cheerful irrespective of the circumstances.

Remember, as much as we have the right to dream, we also have the responsibility to fulfill and achieve those dreams, irrespective of the hurdles, challenges and problems.

The pursuit of dreams isn't easy, no one said it would be, but it is those who succumb to their weaknesses and fall prey to self-pity that bring shame to the humankind.

Rise and let your inner strengths shine through the darkness of pain and anguish. Let your dreams light up your life and inspire many others to chase their dreams. Become an icon of victory and not a victim of self-defeat.

This article is written by Mohnish Nair. Mohnish is a business coach specialized in small and medium size enterprise coaching in India.

A young, dynamic motivational speaker, creative designer and a strategic coach, Mohnish has helped hundreds of business owners transform their world creatively.

That's Mohnish's motto in life, to transform the world creatively. Contact Mohnish by visiting his blogsite - http://www.mapledreamsindia.com or write to him at mapledreams22@yahoo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mohnish_M_Nair

Failing Forward

Courtesy of Bob Proctor's 'Insight of the Day' service and  Michael Josephson

THE best way to teach our children to succeed is to teach them to fail.

After all, if getting everything you want on the first try is success, and everything else is failure, we all fail much more often than we succeed.

People who learn how to grow from unsuccessful efforts succeed more often and at higher levels because they become wiser and tougher.

Two great American inventors, Thomas Edison and Charles Kettering mastered the art of building success on a foundation of what others might call failure.

Edison, 'failed his way to success'.

Edison liked to say he “failed his way to success,” noting that every time he tried something that didn’t work he moved closer to what did.

“Now I know one more thing that doesn’t work,” he would say.

The lesser known Kettering (head of research for General Motors from 1920-1947) talked about “failing forward,” calling every wrong attempt a “practice shot.”

The strength of both men was that their creativity and confidence was undiminished by setbacks and unsuccessful efforts.

They accepted that trial and error is an essential strategy for breakthrough innovation and simply rejected the notion of failure.

Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, cautioned his leaders from being so careful that they never failed. He went so far as to say, ‎”The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”

Of course, failure is never desirable, but it is inevitable and, with a proper attitude, can be quite useful.
The only way to avoid failure is to avoid the risks and challenges and that probably is a case of real failure.

The great hockey player Wayne Gretzky used to say, “You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.”

Whatever your goal, whether it’s to get something, do something, or improve yourself as a person or professional, the secret of success is learning to transform unsuccessful experiences from stumbling blocks to stepping stones.

Three qualities can turn adversity into advantage: a positive perspective, reflection, and perseverance.

First, learn from the inventors. Don’t allow yourself to think of any failure as final, and never allow unsuccessful efforts to discourage you or cause you to give up.

Remember, failure is an event, not a person. Even failing repeatedly can’t defeat you unless you start thinking of yourself as a failure.

The way you think about your experiences shapes the experience in ways that either stimulate or stymie further efforts.

Second, don’t waste the experience. Unsuccessful efforts are wasted and debilitating only if you don’t learn from them.

Reflect on your actions, attitudes and the results to discover the lesson within the experience and use that knowledge to guide future efforts.

Third, persevere. Try and try again. Just be smarter each time.

Finally, learn to enjoy the process. Simply being absorbed in the pursuit of any change that will improve your life or the lives of others is a blessing.

Remember, character counts.

Michael Josephson - www.whatwillmatter.com