Part 2: This blog is divided into 4 parts
Overcome the negative forces within you that are holding you back. The Navajo people have a fable that they tell their children. It goes like this:
Inside us all, there are two wolves in a constant struggle with one another. One of the wolves is a jealous and malicious creature that only sees evil in the world. The other is filled with love and compassion; it believes it can achieve anything it puts its mind to.
Which of these wolves wins the struggle? Whichever one you decide to feed. Overcome the negative forces within you that are holding you back.
Just like the malicious wolf in the fable, we all have a little voice within us that sows self-doubt and feeds off our self-esteem. This voice robs enjoyment from life and discourages us from moving our lives forward. If we want to be successful, we need to learn how to shut off this voice – and that means being mindful of the bad habits that feed it.
One example of this is when we invest time in attempting to correct our weaknesses. For instance, you might have experienced that in response to a bad grade in calculus, your parents or teachers forced you to spend more time on it than on subjects you actually enjoyed. This is very common – and very harmful – advice. That’s because when you focus on your weaknesses, you spend most of your time struggling to produce average results at best, which only serves to make you feel inferior.
So, here’s some advice: Screw your weaknesses! Do what you love! When you work on what you’re great at, you’ll be more fulfilled, more confident, and more productive. Remember, it’s more important to be a master at a few core skills than it is to be average at a lot.
Another bad habit that we’re all guilty of is putting too much stock in the advice of unqualified people. People who dream big are often given stultifying advice. They’re told they don’t have the right experience, the right education, or the right amount of money to get a business off the ground. Worst of all is the voice that encourages us to “play it safe.” This type of dream-stealing advice only encourages us to settle for mediocrity.
Being able to successfully repel this bad advice means adopting these two practices: First, only accept advice from people who are successful in the area you’re seeking guidance. Second, always trust your own instincts. Once the negative voices within you are muted, you can’t even begin to imagine how much more you’ll achieve in your personal and professional life! Adopt practices that help the best version of yourself to shine.
Thankfully, the negative forces within you are tempered by another force: your inner hero. Your inner hero is you at your very best – confident, motivated, and passionate about life. When you let your inner hero shine through, there’s really nothing you can’t do. Let’s look at three success habits to cultivate your inner hero.
- The first habit is to carry yourself like a winner.
Imagine two men sitting at different tables in a restaurant. One is sullen, has poor posture, and mumbles to the waiter. The other is sitting straight up and is smiling and joking with the waiter. Which of these men is enjoying life more do you think? Who’s better at their job? Who’s the better lover? Intuitively, we conclude that the first man seems depressed and overwhelmed by life’s challenges. By contrast, the second man seems full of energy and vibrancy – or, in other words, seems more like a winner.
But, you know what? Maybe you don’t feel like a winner. So then, you might wonder, what’s the point in acting?
Well, how you act is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Countless studies have shown that smiling actually makes you feel better, and adopting power poses makes you feel more powerful. You should carry yourself like a winner because, even if you’re acting at first, pretty soon it’ll just be who you are. This is true for how you talk about yourself too.
2. The second success habit is to always use positive language when you talk about yourself.
When you say things like “I feel pissed off,” or “I feel stressed,” it tends to lock you into these emotions. Instead, try speaking positively, and catch negative words before they come out of your mouth. If they do slip out, then calmly stop and restate. For example, if you said “I feel stressed,” restate this as “I’m pushing myself and learning a lot.”
3. The third success habit is to cultivate your social circle.
You might not be aware of it, but you emulate the people around you. We all do. We pick up other people’s habits and thought patterns. If you want to be physically fit, for example, it helps to make friends with people who are into fitness. The same can be said of financial success. If you want to be financially successful, then make friends with people who are financially successful themselves.
Surrounding yourself with positive, solution-focused people is the best way to pick up even more success habits and thought patterns.
In the next part, we will explain, how to maximize the return on your time.
Love, Marietta
