Admit it.
You want to live creatively, do the things you’re passionate about and get established in them.
But somewhere along the road, things go wrong.
Life gets busy and even while you try to muster up enough energy to get through those busy exhausting days, it doesn’t feel like it’s working.
Knowing this, you try to figure out what’s slowing you down, you do some research, set new goals, fill your daily planner and soon, you’re back to the first step trying to walk through every process again.
If this is happening to you, You’re not alone!
The Way Out
Sometimes it’s appealing just to stop amid all the craziness, to take a pause and ask yourself one question: How excited do you feel about your current reality? Do you feel engaged, energetic, and enthusiastic about your current position?
If you answered no, then this post is for you.
Chances are, you want to double your productivity and use your time effectively and the following steps will help you strategically.
Ready for that? Let’s dive in.
1. Be the one in charge
Here is the ugly truth.
Most people live a caged life. They’ve never ventured into the unknown or sought to break free from the boundaries others set for them. Why?
Because they simply let others define them, determine what is possible for them, restrict their thoughts and behavior, follow the rules and ask no questions.
These people live by the results of yesterday, feeling that the world has cornered them into a way of being, and there is no escape. Moreover this might be happening to you,
You see, from birth we were enticed by a carrot and stick into doing what other wanted us to do, feeling scared to go after our dreams, coaxed into behaving the way others wanted either by threats or withholding of love.
Soon it becomes a habit, and we learn to live our life trying to fit in and not ask questions.
However, those who are willing to take back their lives. To take charge often live an inspired life, engaged in challenges and a willingness to try something new.
[Tweet “No matter how dark the tunnel is, we can always find a glimmer of light. “]
When you look for the magic in life you surely will find it.
Taking charge allows you to work your own miracles, as self-made bosses, living a focused, and undistracted life. Productivity can become your norm.
When you discover yourself being in charge, you’ll quickly possess the nature mentioned above.
And even though some people might say that it’s not possible for everyone to be in charge, here is the good news: you’re not everyone, you’re unique and probably the best version of yourself. So are you ready to be in charge?
Here’s some common attributes to help you out.
* Be Open Minded And Observant In The Moment
Live always in the present moment and be engaged in the now. Pay attention to everything happening around you. Be creative in each situation and remember that the journey is as important as the destination.
* Be Future Oriented
Apart from being aware of the present, think of your vision and seek to understand how to make it a reality. Be more optimistic about the future, and see all problems ahead as solvable, then you can take the right step to solve the problems.
* Be Meaning Makers.
Set time to see where you’re now and what you could do to improve, think of how you would create a meaningful moment and eliminate things that slow you down. Invest your time striving to achieve worthy goals and be confident in your decisions.
2. Be ready to fail until you succeed.
My lesson has been: “The people who fail the most win.”
The people who lose are the ones who don’t fail at all.
Most people find it hard to figure out what’s going wrong. They think that if it doesn’t work now it won’t ever work, at least not for them, and they find it hard to get past the seeming edge that their competitors have. So what happens? They simple give up.
Is this happening to you?
Think about the projects you’ve abandoned, how often the capital issues have weighed you down, how often you’ve refused to try new methods, to look for a way out of your current mess.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Am I taking appropriate risks that keep me in the game? If your answer to this is no, what can you do to fix this.
Am I willing to try things in different ways?
For example:
Do you use different methods to achieve the same goals? If no, what can you do to improve?
How much time do you devote to your current project? And what can you do to make it faster?
Do you reward and care for yourself each time you achieve new goals? If no, what can you do to improve?
Pick up your pen now and answer these questions. Consider how you can improve. If you try things in different ways, you will be surprised at the rate of success you’ll get.
3. Clear the noise out of your life
If you often get distracted your chance of being successful and being productive is tiny.
Maybe you decided to be focused and get things done, but you still get distracted by a call or an email and once you give it your attention, you lose track and disengage.
The good news is that you can eliminate distraction and get more done, and the following list will help you out.
* Schedule your life: for example just planning your time can help you get more done, I use Google Calendar in planning my day, I put all my daily activity into the calendar and get a reminder notification once its time. Doing this can also help you get more done and be productive.
* Be devoted to it: most people often have daily planner and an alarm that reminds them of their plans for the day, but the truth is that they skip off their schedule in the hope of getting it done the next day.
Being devoted to your plans will help you achieve high rate of success, say to yourself, if I can’t get it done now, there’s no time to do it again, think of what you’ll achieve when it’s done, go for it, remember the time is now.
* Care properly for yourself: Heck! Most people don’t even give a damn about this, but the truth is that the body needs to stay healthy to be productive. Eat healthy meals and find time to do the things you love, you can do a little stretch or go for a walk outside and see how productive you become.
How will you feel:
If you can transform your life?
If you rewrite your success rules and live that life you’ve dreamed of?
To see a fast result, put everything we discussed here into use, try it today, tomorrow and every day. You will be surprised at how fast you can transform your own life.
Over to you…do these steps float your boat? Or do you have tips that work well for you now? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
As always thanks for being here, thanks for sharing and thanks for bringing your bright light to the world.
21 Comments
This is a really good point about being ready to fail until you succeed. I realized recently how much stigma I attach to failure, which makes it difficult to let go of what’s not working and move on to what might. I appreciate this reminder.
So true Sandra…Cephas made some points in ways very different from how I would make them. It’s lovely to have different perspectives on life. 🙂
Thanks so much Sandra.
And yeah I totally agree with you, it’s difficult to move on when failure holds us back.
Glad you find the point interesting.
Great post, especially the last point about clearing some space in your life. I find that there is often a lot of noise I have to clear before I can get to the ‘real’ stuff – when actually it’s the real stuff I should be doing all along.
Love the way you put that Ellen. Brilliant. 🙂
Thanks Ellen,
Finding a quiet time to discover who you’re and work on your projects will help you so much on the long run.
You have reminded me to work my plan. There are times when it’s easy to become distracted and not pay attention to my plan. But I know that what I give my attention to will grow in my life and I vote for success. Thank you for always being my gentle but powerful reminder.
Isn’t that the truth Sandy. What’s that old saying where your attention goes your energy flows. It’s so true.
Thank you so much, Sandy.
Yes. I totally agree with Elle.
I love the advice to be ready to fail until you succeed. Failure IS a necessary part of success. Great advice for career and life, in general.
Most definitely Debbie. Let’s all fail our way to success…:-)
Thanks Debbie.
Glad it rang true.
Hi Cephas – really great article – love “The people who fail the most win.”
Thanks Mark.
Much of this post alludes to the discipline required in many areas to accomplish our goals and dreams. I used to think that discipline would limit my freedom. The reality is the exact opposite. Without discipline, it’s hard to have freedom and live the life you truly want. Great ideas here!
Good point Paige…it’s easy to mistake lack of discipline for freedom 🙂
Thanks Paige,
Discipline will help you grow your Self Esteem and make you stand out.
Awesome post, Cephas! 🙂 I love the part about caring for ourselves.. great reminder. Because if our vehicle isn’t functioning properly, then we won’t be able to drive it anyway. Thanks again!
Hello Maria…what a great image of a vehicle not functioning properly. Love that. 🙂
Great article, Cephas! “The people who fail the most win.” – What a great life motto. 🙂
Thanks for coming around Maria,
Rewarding our self should be the first thing to do whenever we hit a milestone.