Here's my list:

Life is too short for…

1. Spending more time coming up with excuses than coming up with a plan to change
2. Being controlled by others (financially, emotionally, physically…)
3. Making a living doing something you don't LOVE!
4. Giving your time to people who bring you down rather than help life you up
5. Not getting in touch with your true inner beliefs and emotions
6. Waiting for change to happen instead of making it happen
7. Being around other people who don't care about themselves
8. Holding grudges – move on
9. Hanging on to the past when it's gone
10. Staying in one place when there is so much to learn and experience

This is fun, but make sure you have your own list of "Life is too short for…" and review them daily such that they become principles you live by.  You can even turn each of these statements into affirmations and really ramp up the changes in your life.

See, personal growth really can be fun and powerful at the same time.

With 14-16 hours available, you should be able to get that done right?

That's where self motivation comes in…the BIG question is how do you motivate yourself so that you can overcome procrastination, take action and actually achieve what you know needs to be done?

Here are 3 Self Motivation Tips That Really Work:

1. Use music to motivate yourself.  Have you ever found that listening to rock or hard-driving R&B music gets you going whereas classical or soft music can help you relax and reduce stress in your day?  In fact, researches are increasingly finding that music frequencies DO have direct impacts on our internal brain function resulting in mood changes – and yes, you can motivate yourself using music.  If you haven't read "Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: 10 Proven Ways Your Favorite Music Can Revolutionize Your Health, Memory, Organization, Alertness and More" based on scientific research, pick up a copy now. 

2. Be Driven By A BIG Why! Self motivation depends highly on you being 110% sub-consciously convinced that you are on the path to something exciting and in line with your personal values and beliefs.  A wonderful book titled Attracting Greatness outlines the 5 Pillars of Greatness based on studies of highly successful and happy achievers with the ultimate foundation being a series of techniques used to develop a highly effective purpose to drive you toward natural self motivation

3. Staying On Track.  One of the toughest things for human beings to accomplish is consistency.  It's easy to be motivated for "bursts" of time, but then we experience the valleys and it can seem much harder to escape a valley or rut in your life than to reach a highly motivated level.  Self motivation depends heavily on recognizing your own personal signs of losing focus and becoming stagnent and then having specific exercises that can quickly bring you out of a funk.  For example, breathing exercises, listening to music, physical exercise, meditation, talking with a friend, being creative can all be ways that you can quickly bring yourself out of a valley and back up to a high level of motivation. 

We all hear (and know) that we need to take action to get things done, but if we really want to dig in an understand why we do or do not take action, the answer typically comes down to self motivation.  With these 3 methods you can finally be in control of your motivation levels and become a much happier, fulfilled and productive person.  Give it a try!

Think about it, what is more frustrating than knowing you want something, are capable of having it but because you doubt your own ability to handle the journey toward achieving your goals (because it most likely contains pot holes of setbacks, negativity and perhaps even rejection) you are trapped into the reality that you can't actually pursue what you want.

Even more frustrating is the fact that those things you want MOST are surrounded by the highest self doubt – what if you can't do it? 

So, yes we have to work on our self confidence and learn to recognize when we do have a strong and healthy self confidence.

Here are 3 tests to tell if you have strong self belief and confidence:

1. You trust your own INITIAL feeling on something instead of following others you listen to or convincing yourself otherwise after letting self doubt enter your mind.  These are typically people who are willing to try anything, who tust their initial gut instinct about things before they begin to create excuses based on subjective fears that are reinforced by negative self-talk

2. You consistently see yourself as equal to those around you, especially those you look up to…and equally do not put yourself below or above others.  A healthy self confidence starts with convincing yourself you are as capable, worthy, reliable and resistent to things that may happen to you as the next person.  On the one had you understand we all have our challenges and insecurities (you do not gloss over negative feelings) and yet know and trust that you can overcome anything that happens to you – a confidence that you will come out ok no matter what life throws at you. 

3. Know that your source of strength comes from inside of you, that you control it and can nurture and dip into that inner strength whenever you need to and that outside opinions and manipulation cannot overcome your inner strength.  So many people lack self confidence bcause they are really scared to death that their inner strength is not strong enough to deal with what the outside world may throw at them…so they recoil and ironically DO allow the outside world to control them, the exact opposite of what is really true. 

How do you rate on these questions?  Are you low, medium or strong in terms of self confidence using these measuring sticks? 

If you see a need to improve your confidence, learn to trust your internal strength and move ahead in your life, check out Attract Greatness - a terrific set of steps to guide you toward strong, internally focused self confidence. 

Let us know where you ranked by leaving us a comment or question, we always enjoy hearing from you.

Then again, if you are stuck in a rut and haven't been happy with your life for a while, isn't it going to take something different to get unstuck?

If you are trapped in a dark dungeon and have been trying for weeks to get out by breaking down the door, eventually you will lose the will to escape, whither up and die

On the other hand, if you try a window, try to dig a tunnel in the dirt floor, look for a weakness in the walls and work to convince your guard to let you go…eventually you will find a way to get out AND you survive much longer.

The same thing goes for life, if you are stuck in your life then you want to challenge yourself in new ways to make progress and grow as a person.

Here are some examples:

1. If you are not meditating then spend 20-minutes first thing today in meditation (don't know how, then get hold of Attracting Greatness and follow these highly effective techniques)

2. Come up with 1 new goal in each area of health, finances and career

3. Think of 1 person you want to get closer to that will help you be more positive, forward looking and successful.  Then, think of 1 person you want to spend LESS time with because they are toxic, continually bring you down and do not offer inspiration.    Then set out a plan for how you will spend more time with the positive person and less time with the negative person

4. Make 1 positive move toward each of the 3 goals you have set as part of #2.  For health, eat healthier for one day, exercise for 30-minutes.  For your finances, take one step toward making additional income and limiting expenses.   And in your career, make one step toward the change in career or level you want…it could be learning a new skill, talking to a new manager or networking with a new person who will help you get the role you want

Make this week different than all of the weeks that have passed.  Challenge yourself (you can handle it believe me) and you will be amazed at how quickly you can get unstuck in your life. 

Finally, share your plans and actions with us by commenting on this post – this will not only help give each other ideas but will help you make progress in your own life with accountability and directing positive energy your way.

Here are some common situations that people struggle with…or may avoid altogether if self confidence is low:

1. Saying no to going out with friends even though you really want to go…just because you are afraid you won't look good, act like they want you to or say the right things
2. Settle for the status quo (or what you have now) because you may not be able to handle what happens if you ask for more
3. You can't seem to attract people even though you try very hard…this is often because they see you are uncomfortable which leads to awkwardness for them
4. Paralyzing fear keeps you from speaking in front of groups, so you had that over to someone else who gets all of the credit
5. Everyone thinks you are too serious because you won't let go and show them the "real" you for fear of being rejected
6. You often avoid helping others even though you want to because it may put you in a risky situation
7. You have trouble saying "No", especially to those who intimidate you (and there are lots of those in your life)
8. Sometimes you can't stand yourself, so you escape using video games, sleeping, alcohol or other defense mechanisms
9. You spend more and more time alone even though you would rather be around other people
10. Everyone else always seems to get picked over you…even when you would have done better than them

Any of these sound familiar?

Look, self-confidence has everything to do with self -belief and if you have reached a point in your life where you feel you can't even count on yourself, then daily life becomes filled with stress, frustration and eventually anger as well as negative behaviors.

So what can you do about it?

1. Recognize that you (as we all must) work on your self belief and self confidence daily – more good things will come from this than spending time on anything else in life
2. You must balance and then enhance the negative self-talk that is going on in your head with positive self-talk.  Visualize you as IF YOU ALREADY are confident, such that others around you treat you the way you wish to be treated and continually run this movie through your mind.  At first this will take tremendous conscious effort, but eventually it will become a habit just as the negative self-talk is a habit today
3. Learn to manage your fear and uncertainty by first facing it and then second, putting them into perspective by looking at them objectively using techniques like meditation and relaxation where you can see that most of your fears are overblown
4. Take action…even in the face of fear, or low confidence you MUST jump in with both feet and understand that failure is not absolute – but rather a temporary outcome designed to teach us more about how we improve the next time around

Are you ready to design your life with optimal self confidence, enhance your self belief and experience less frustration in your life?  Give these tips a try…and check out Attract Greatness, a terrific roadmap guide for those who want to turn their life around and quickly get Unstuck moving toward greatness in their lives.

Or maybe it's just you that notice everyone seems to be talking or involved in a conversation except you?

We all have situations where we feel out of place, like the entire room is looking at us saying…"look at that poor person over there, they have nobody to talk to!"

Certainly we all have different personalities, some of us are quieter and some seem to talk on the drop of a dime.

But what happens if you are constantly feeling like you are introverted, shy or unable to start or carry on conversations…and that it is really bothering you to always be the one that is left out of social situations…is there something you can do?

10 Ways to Be More Extroverted If Your Tendancy is Introvert

1. Appear Interested.  What makes many people notice someone quiet is not that they are quiet, but that they appear not interested in what is going on.  So, make an extra effort to listen, make eye contact, nod and appear interested in what is going on around you.  Extroverts seek acknowledgement, if you give them some, you will appear less out of place

2. Focus on something other than yourself.  Thinking everyone else is focused on you only makes you more nervous, so put the focus elsewhere

3. Find something interesting about someone (by listening) and then turn the conversation that way so you can be a more active part of the social situation

4. If you are left alone or there is silence for a time, don't get nervous, just ride it out knowing their are gaps in any social situation and it will change soon

5. Learn to ask questions.  If you have trouble starting conversations, the best method is to ask someone a question like "Did you watch XYZ on TV last night?  Or Did you hear about…" 

6. Don't look afraid or mad…the two most common looks projected by people when they are uncomfortable is fear or anger.  Get used to smiling or looking happy even if you are uncomfortable inside

7. Be a part of the group, don't isolate yourself.  If everyone is sitting in one room and talking, don't feel that just because you are quiet you need to go to another room, instead be a part of the main room and you will find places to enter the conversation

8. Positive self talk…before you become part of a social situation keep telling yourself "I am going to be comfortable, happy and involved in tonight's event" , "People will like what I have to say and I will like what they have to say" 

9.  Make fun of yourself.  Only comfortable people make fun of themselves, so by making a joke about something you did or something that happened to you will show others that you are comfortable in your own skin

10.  Work on your self confidence, practice meditation and affirmations to strengthen your character to the point where you can handle the most uncomfortable of situations. 

Very few people are true extroverts, and those that are may appear to be the life of the party but are typically quite unbalanced themselves.  So with these tips you can transition from thinking of yourself as an uncomfortable introvert to a comfortable, happy and fun to be around social communicator.

• find it hard to feel any emotion other than being flat
• grow increasingly isolated, people just don't seem to want to be around you or vice versa
• lower energy, can't seem to get up the motivation to take action
• grow quieter and less self-confident around others
• constantly get passed up for promotions, friendships, relationships and such
• a fear or panic about where you are in life
• lack of hope or direction
• frequent use of escapes such as alcohol, watching TV, video games, etc…

Feeling empty is no way to go through life.  You may be able to mask those feelings for a while (sometimes many years), but eventually everyone must deal with these emotions.

The good news is that there are ways to escape this rut, add purpose to your life, boost your self confidence and live a fulfilling life.

1. Work on improving your self-confidence.  In many situations we are holding ourselves back.  We are supressing our true purpose, desires and abilities due to fear, stress and/or toxic bodies.  One of the most useful books on this topic is Attracting Greatness outlining the 5 Pillars of Greatness outlining a roadmap and techniques to help recognize and neutralize fear, manage stress and anxiety and understand how toxicity builds in all of our systems holding us down.   Through painless, rewarding techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, affirmations, you can immediately begin to see improvements in your self-confidence that provides the foundation for further feelings of fulfillment.

2. Trust yourself, stop looking outside for purpose and motivation and begin letting your true potential emerge.  Linked closely to self-confidence are the active techniques you can use to begin to direct your energy inward-out versus letting others energy impact you outward-in.  Control of your energy and projecting that energy outward is one of the most powerful improvements you can make in your life

3. Taking action.  Having self-confidence and a plan in line with your internal purpose is great, but to really keep momentum, make progress and feel great about yourself and those around you each day, you must take action. Fortunately, working on steps 1 & 2 make taking action much easier than it may be for you today. 

You can stop that empty feeling in your life…you have the ability to control your path, with these tips it's now up to you to change your life.  Leave us a comment and tell us how this has helped you or if you have questions.

• Bring more clarity into your life
• Control negative thoughts and emotions
• Balance your emotional state (lessening the high's and low's)
• Help manage feelings such as "loss of control" or utter "frustration"
• Set the foundation for greater self awareness, finding one's purpose and living a happier, more fulfilling life
• Bring calmness and peace to an otherwise stressful life
• Lower blood pressure, help control pain and improve one's overall state of being

Tall order right? 

So many people have tried and have given up on meditation because they just haven't found a way to make it work for them.

Correct…if meditation is frustrating, too hard or too complicated then you will not get the benefit and certainly will quit.

So, how can we make meditation easier?

1. Manage Expectations.

Many people begin meditation thinking that they should be able to immediately calm their mind and slip into some wonderful peaceful space within minutes of starting.  The reality however is that meditation is more a state where you have unconditional acceptance of your thoughts (and you should expect to have many racing through your mind in the beginning).  So instead of fighting those thoughts, accept them unconditionally (as if you are watching someone else's brain) without judgement – this will actually result in a calming of the mind.   The techniques outlined in Attracting Greatness take you through exercises that guarantee a meditative state – no matter what your current frame of mind. 

2. Know What Relaxes You

For meditation, there is no one size fits all.  For some, listening to a soothing voice helps them achieve different levels of meditation whereas I prefer sounds that bring me peace such as ocean waves or birds singing.  Whatever stimulus you decide to use, it should be somewhat repetitive.  Even a ticking clock can provide a terrific stimulus for meditation. 

3. Have Faith

Your first few weeks of meditation should be without expectation.  Just do it! What I found with meditation is that your first few weeks give you moderate satisfaction, but it is really after that first few weeks when you begin to see the real differences.  Differences in your emotional state, differences in how easy it is to enter a meditative state and an ability to better control the depth of meditation you enter.  It takes faith until you reach this point.

4. Rinse and Repeat

Like anything we want to master in life, practice makes perfect.  With meditation, whatever you do – be consistent.  I like to meditate for 15-20 minutes twice a day – once when I am first up and once in the early evening (when you finish work or after dinner).  If you miss too many sessions you will need to begin again.  If you can maintain continuity, you will find meditation so much easier and more effective. 

5. You Deserve This Time

When I really mastered meditation some 15-years ago, I convinced myself that above all else I deserved this 15-20 minutes each day.  This was MY time and if I was to be an effective, happy and fun person, then this time is more important than anything else in life.  If you do not feel you deserve the time, then you will let that time be impacted by other things in your life and soon you will have quit.  So commit to this 15-20 minutes of meditation as being SACRED time for you…then sit back and enjoy your experience.

If you are finding it challenging to meditate, study these 5 tips…after all, these 5 tips are the basis for us turning around years of frustration trying to meditate into a wonderful, simple practice that is now as normal as breathing for us.  Best of all, the longer you stick with meditation, the easier it will get and the more benefit you will see in your life.

Have a tip on meditation or a question?  Leave us a comment.

But what does being "passionate" mean when it comes to improving your life and living each day?

For many people, passion is a general term that conuses them.  If you are stuck in a rut, bored in life or just not motivated, it's very tough to know what our how to find that passion in your life that we all know needs to be there for us to live a more fulfilling life.

So, let's try and de-mystify passion…

1. Something that you almost always WANT to be doing – almot an obsession

2. It just feels right.  Because it aligns well with your belief structure at that time, you feel the most comfortable when you do something you are passionate about

3. When you are doing something you are passionate about, nothing else matters – including time.  For example, when I play my guitar, an hour can pass just like it was a minute

4. Internally driven versus something that seems cool because someone else you know says so or appears to have fun doing it. 

 Can you think of 1 thing that you would consider yourself passionate about?  Share it by leaving a comment.

Many of these people started from very challenging backgrounds (abuse, depression, financial ruin, extreme shyness or being very introverted…) going on to achieve great accomplishments and happiness in their lives.

I've also worked in the prison system where I see the opposite – people who have had everything in the world going for them take the wrong road and fall deeper into the darkness despite having many opportunities to bring themselves out.

What is the difference?

What makes one person driven and the next defeated?

I Just HAD To…

We can wonder if they were lucky, blessed, exceptionally smart or talented, had extra outside help and so on…but the only consistency I observed is the unifying difference between I Just HAD to versus something less like "I WANT to…" or "I am TRYING to…"

Without exception, everyone I have ever known accomplish amazing things in their life started with a belief system based on I HAVE to…very different from "I will try" or "I want to" isn't it?

When you make it "HAVE to", that means you WILL achieve your desired outcome.  In your mind you have already achieved your objective and the journey is simply the price you have to pay to get to this pre-determined outcome.

Sure, you must overcome obstacles, get out of your own way, learn the skills and knowledge to succeed, deal with your own fear and insecurities and take action/execute on your plan, but…

It all starts with a belief that You WILL because you HAVE to. 

I have never yet met someone with a firm, unrelenting belief that they HAVE to that has not achieved their desired outcome.

Yet I have met many people who wish, dream or want to succeed, but can't

What do you think…can you remember an example where you HAD to have a desired outcome and that made the difference?