What do you wish for the most? More money or success? A better career? Building your own business? A great love relationship?
To have your desires fulfilled you have to be responsible for making them happen. You can’t live life at the mercy of chance and expect it to bring the life of your dreams. It doesn’t work like that.
If you keep putting off doing that one thing that will lead you in the direction of the things you want more of, stop right now!
Don’t neglect what’s really important…the things that make a difference to your future happiness and success in favour of something that seems to be ‘urgent’ simply because it’s right there in your face.
Don’t be one of the many who don’t get to live their dreams because they kept stopping along the way, tempted by distractions and the noise of the world.
Don’t waste your precious life and purpose.
Stand up and say I’m getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter and putting my goals and dreams on the front burner.
[tweetthis]Living a successful, happy, productive life is all about focusing on what truly matters. [/tweetthis]
This is the secret of successful, productive people and here’s five simple ways to help you follow in their footsteps.
1. Burn bridges
If you want to experience more of life’s magic you have to be committed. Develop a ‘no matter what’ attitude. Like brushing your teeth before bedtime. You’re committed to it, no exceptions.
In life the most successful productive people have a ‘no matter what’ attitude. Don’t be the person who gets up every day and uses valuable mental energy debating whether or not to do something that you know will get you closer to living your dream.
Make a ‘no exceptions rule’ and stick to it. Close the door to procrastination. Burn those bridges.
A 100% commitment is easier to keep than a decision that can be rationalized and explained away when you don’t do it. Exercise your strength of purpose and you will get stronger every day. (Read Getting Things Done).
2. Reset your mind
Make up your mind to practice looking for joy or love or fulfillment in every moment, in every task. Whatever challenges you face right now, remember a negative outlook on life never brings a positive outcome.
This doesn’t mean you ignore the negative issues that show up, it does mean not allowing them to run the show. Manage them and move on.
Stop allowing your mind to focus on negativity, it’s not helpful and serves no useful purpose.
Starting today reset your thinking towards the idea that something wonderful is about to happen and be ready to learn something new, be ready for an opportunity, and be ready for that experience that might just change your life forever.
3. Don’t settle
You don’t have to be the best at everything. It’s not possible, there’ll always be someone who does something more successfully than you. What you can do is never again settle for less than you can be.
You are here to contribute something unique to life. You have been blessed with some gift or talent that the rest of us don’t have, or you have in a different way. To tap into the bit of genius that is yours requires focus.
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never direct our power.
You have to be willing to close the door on how things were, or how hard it’s been and never let the reality of what was get in the way of the possibilities that await you today.
Make an effort to spend less time worrying about life and more time living it, then you can start to look forward and focus on your dreams with joyful anticipation. You’ll be amazed at where you end up.
4. Say no
To be successful in getting things done and achieving your dreams or creating your desired lifestyle you have to get really good at saying no. Learning to ignore certain people and distractions that would consume you, without feeling guilty, is one of the best paths to peaceful productivity and joy.
Life gets easier when you delete the unimportant, but first you must:
Decide what’s important to you.
Ask yourself “Is what I’m doing contributing to my happiness and the happiness of people I care about”?
Decide if the task you’re about to start is truly important, or just something that happens to be right in front of you.If it is important, accept that it needs to be finished!
Decide to say ‘no’ to anything else until it’s done. Dump all the distractions you know of, turn off e-mail, your phone and focus!
5. Spiritually speaking
Who do you believe yourself to be? Your answer will create the experiences you have in life.
Your true self isn’t interested in who you’d like to be, or wish you were, it’s only interested in who you believe yourself to be.
If you want to be the one who lives successfully, happily and purposefully you must begin to believe this about yourself.
Don’t worry about the current reality. Persist in seeing yourself as the one you’ve decided to be and the divine self within, will cause your conception of yourself to become visible in the world and you will experience a new reality.
It’s time to stop accepting less than you deserve, and live life at its highest level.
Do you have tips and techniques for getting things done and being happy whilst you do it? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Your insights are valuable to us all.
If you enjoyed this article please share with your peeps. I’m so appreciative for how you help to share encouragement and support from our little corner of the internet. We can all be someone who helps others get through life’s challenges and become more successful and productive and still be happy.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
16 Comments
Hi, another motivating post from you. I love this words ” It’s time to stop accepting less than you deserve, and live life at its highest level”, we only have one life to live, we should always be grateful and learn to live a happy, peaceful and satisfied life. Great Read, 🙂
So true Sherill, we do only have this one life and it is precious and we should live all out! I’m happy you enjoyed it and grateful you took the time to share your point of view. Thank you. 🙂
This is such a bold post, Elle! The funny thing is that I no longer wish for those regular things like success or a career although I’m happy to have enough. I long for more time to focus on the spiritual side of life. Your message is clear. Cut out the distractions and get on with it!
I absolutely am with you 100% Sandra. None of it matters without expanding our awareness of our spirituality (imho) and for myself success in any way shape or form is always about spiritual development. Who we become as a result of what we do is the whole point. And being committed 100% to maintaining a focus on the spiritual side of life certainly makes everything else in life flow so much more easily wouldn’t you say? 🙂
How positive this is! Really enjoyed your article – it is looking at productivity from a different angle to mine 🙂
Just read your article TM and think it’s great that we have different angles on being productive, given that our world is filled with unique people who equally see the world in their own unique way. And here we are, great examples of different ways of showing up in the world. Don’t you just love it? 🙂
Hi Elle – excellent, inspiring post. I love the idea of burning bridges – where we are going is always so much more interesting than where we’ve been:)
Hello Mark, lovely to ‘see’ you again. I’m happy you enjoyed the image of burning those bridges! You’re so right that where we’ve been is so much less interesting than where we’re going and I would add, what we’re up to! 🙂
Elle, you have such a wonderful way of saying so much in one line alone: ‘Whatever challenges you face right now, remember a negative outlook on life never brings a positive outcome’ – that’s now right on the inner side cover of my journal. Thank you. x
Hello Laura, how nice to see you back here. Coming from such a gifted writer as yourself I’m honoured that you’d keep a note of a phrase I wrote. I hope we see you back here with another article soon. You have much to share with our community that’s uplifting and encouraging. 🙂
Great points you have here. I’ve been guilty of procastination, and have had a hard time saying no. Your words are another reminder that our true nature is spiritual — and we must really believe in the divine gift of being able to shape our own reality.
What I’d like to add is that we must be wary of mindless consumerism — too much TV, social media, and unnecessary material possessions can get in the way of exploring our potential. Seeking more of knowledge and wisdom, on the other hand, is a truly fulfilling experience. So let’s watch what we consume!
Hello Joey and welcome. You speak the truth about our addiction to the media. It’s far to easy to forget that whatever we’re immersing ourselves in is being impressed on our subconscious mind, ready to be turned into our very own reality. I’m in favour of keeping the immersion uplifting and evolving as the spiritual beings we truly are. 🙂
Great Article Elle. It resonates with me and you have always been an inspiration and testament of what following your dream is all about.
A great article and one that i will be using to be inspired in my pursue of happiness and success along the road of life.
Hi Rose…I’m so grateful for your kind, encouraging words. It makes such a difference in life when someone takes the time to say to another, ‘I like what you did here.’ And I’m imagining your life being filled with all the success and fulfillment that you desire my friend. 🙂
So true! Because in the very end, all we need is peace in the world. Thanks so much, pretty writer!
Thank you Mary. 🙂