Life is constantly about change, it is forever moving. As I get older it seems time is passing by at fast break speed. The days, weeks, months and years appear to pass by at a record pace. But, when I really think about it, time is moving at the same pace it has always moved.
Each of us has the same twenty-four hours a day and one-hundred, sixty-eight hours a week. The key question you should ask yourself is ‘what am I doing with my time’. If you are not using your time to progress towards your life’s vision then you are stuck.
If you feel stuck where you are, you must choose to move. You can’t afford to forfeit any more time stuck where you are. Time is too valuable and precious. If you desire to come out of a stuck situation and maximize your life, here are five poisons you must avoid.
1.Playing the blame game. Too many people have a habit of blaming others for their circumstances. Their parents did not support them, the company did not treat them fairly, the government was at fault, the economy was down and the list goes on and on.
You can spend too much time blaming others instead of looking in the mirror at the real culprit, you. You may have to admit that your situation is a direct result of the choices you made.
If you want to grow to your full potential, you must learn to take responsibility for your life. Accept where you are, take ownership, learn from your errors, make any necessary changes and move forward.
2. Allowing fear to dictate your life. If you are ready to live your dreams then it is time to make your move. You can’t afford to let nothing or no one stop you. One of the greatest enemies to living out your dreams is fear.
Fear will tell you that you are not capable or worthy to live a productive life. Fear will make you feel uncomfortable and uneasy about living your dreams.
Fear’s job is to discourage and dissuade you to walk away from doing what you are capable of doing. You must take an immediate stand. Tell fear to get out your way because you have dreams to live out.
3. Ignoring your purpose. You were designed to fulfill your purpose. If you ignore your purpose, you ultimately disqualify who you are. You say to yourself and the world, “that living your purpose is not worth the effort”.
Your purpose is bigger than you. When you ignore your purpose, not only do you lose, but those connected to you lose. Whether you realize or not, when you choose to live your purpose, you come alive and impact those around you.
Your purpose anchors you and keeps you focusing forward, regardless of what is happening in your life. It is better to live your purpose imperfectly than to ignore your purpose and not live it at all.
4. Allowing negativity to infiltrate your mind. We live in a very negative world. We are bombarded at every turn with some kind of negativity. Turn on the news and the first seven stories are about murders, robberies, diseases and disasters.
Listen to a majority of people conversations and it is about how bad things are. If you look at your situation, you can easily find something negative to talk about. Negativity is everywhere. It can be hard to escape.
Negativity is like weeds, if you don’t kill it from the roots, it will keep coming back. It wants to grasp your mind and rule your thoughts. It wants to block your focus so you can’t see today’s possibilities. Negativity will leave you frustrated and discouraged about life.
You must make it a priority to avoid negative people, places, things and habits. Don’t give in to consuming the garbage these negative sources try to pour into your life. Choose to feed your mind a more balance meal of positivity, optimism and hopefulness.
5. Exhausting valuable time reliving yesterday. Yesterday is a part of your life that you will never get back. It is gone. The only thing you can do about yesterday is to use it to help you improve your today so you can live a better tomorrow.
You can’t maximize living your today if you are stuck on what happened yesterday. What you should or could have done yesterday is a fleeting memory. You can’t rewind time and get a redo. What’s done is done.
Your moment is right now. Don’t miss doing what you need to do today because you are still focused on what didn’t happen yesterday. Change your focus to the present, live your best today and tomorrow will take care of itself.
These five poisons are not an exhaustive list, but I found these to be critical in my life and the life of many people I encounter. You can break free from these poisons crippling grip if you desire. The choice is yours.
“Life’s problems wouldn’t be called “hurdles” if there wasn’t a way to get over them” Author Unknown
Question: What can you do to avoid or overcome
any one of these five poisons to live your best life? Leave a comment below.