Whose Life are You Living?

I have met too many people that are only going through the motions, only existing, living like zombies doing the same things day after day without really living. They mask their emotions with motions of busyness only to wake up one day wishing things were different. They find themselves saying I guess this is the way life really is and they settle. They settle in unsatisfying relationships, unsatisfying careers and in unhealthy bodies. What if they didn’t have to?

What if you discovered that you settled for a life that someone else gave you instead of the life God wanted you to have?

What if you found out that you had gifts and talents trying to burst out of you but you kept pushing them down by conforming to the standards and desires of others?

What if you found yourself silently selling your happiness for a relationship that was less than loving, joyful and full of abundance?

What if you were allowing your days to turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and months turn into years, all adding up to a lifetime of waiting for “Someday” to arrive?

What if you knew that there was so much more that life to offer, but you just sat on the sidelines instead of going after it.

What if you knew there was a person inside of you that wasn’t afraid of judgment and condemnation but you wouldn’t let them out.

Finally; What if you found out you had the keys to the life you have always wanted all along but failed to use them?

The good news is that you do have the keys; the ability to change your life from one of settling to one of joy and abundance. The bad news is that YOU have keys; the ability to change your life from one of settling to one of abundance. Its bad news for some of you because you keep trying, hoping and crying out to God for something to happen; but you don’t do anything different.

Think about this: Most people would rather get a divorce than seek counseling; they would rather deny their children and themselves of a prosperous life than seek financial help and they would rather die in an unhealthy body than find someone to help them break their bad habits.

Please take this to heart: If you could have done it yourself, you would have done it already; seek help!

You have the keys; you are in charge of your life and the direction it heads. You are making the choices that are directing your life and out of those choices, you are where you are and have what you have. Joy, abundance, happiness, sadness, low self esteem, debt, relationship struggles, weight and whatever else your life has or doesn’t have is all because of the choices you have made in the past. The really good news is that the choices you make today can change your future!

Now how about you? Where are you settling? What are you holding back? What kind of person and life are you keeping locked inside? Just as a beach ball fights to get to the surface when you hold it underwater, so is that person inside of you fighting to break free.

Why not make today the day when you say; I have had enough of low living, going through the motions and settling for a life of lack?

I am going to start a series of Simplified Success posts that will help you to break free from a life of settling. Free from mediocre relationships and free from cheap living. Between now and then I want you to sit down without distractions, invite your spouse if you have one and think about where your life is currently and where you would like it to be. Dream; don’t worry about money, skills or time at this point. Just pretend that they are not an issue and dream and write out your future. Then……

Get ready because you are about to set yourself Free!

Oh Yeah! Don’t say that you will start after the holidays either because that mentality is one of the reasons you are where you are to begin with. Start today.

 

If you enjoyed this post or know of anyone that should be joining us during the next few weeks, please pass it on!

If you aren’t receiving updates automatically;Subscribe to Simplified Success Tips here!

Cut the Fat From Your Budget, Not the Fun!

Here are a few ideas to help you trim the fat and not the fun from your budget.

Get a gas reward card. Many gas stations offer reward cards that accumulate discounts on purchases of groceries, coffee and gas. Wal-Mart offers a .03 per gallon discount if you use their gift cards at their gas stations and some grocery chains offer discounts on gas when you purchase your groceries there. My wife and I try to use Sheetz for our fuel purchases and very often get a .20 per gallon discount off our gas and free cups of coffee.

Food Rewards Cards. Most grocery stores offer discounts to customers who join their programs. Harris Teeter for example has an e-program where they email you weekly specials; some are as attractive as buy 2 get 3 free!

7 Steps to a Better Relationship

1. Understand that most people don’t intentionally want to upset you. Your loved ones don’t stay awake at night thinking of ways to tick you off. They are human and therefore will say things they don’t mean, not phrase their words properly, forget to do things you’ve asked and even act selfishly from time to time. It doesn’t mean they WANT to give you headache. Sometimes it is our responsibility to understand their weaknesses and help them by holding them accountable, reminding them, improving our communication skills and more importantly forgiving them.

The 80/20 rule! Which side are you on?

My last post was about making sure we take responsibility for our life and the direction it heads. Today I want to share the Pareto Principle with you. You may know this as the 80/20 rule. 8o% of the world’s wealth is held by 20% of the population. It can also be applied in this manner; 80% of the joy and success in our life comes from only 20% of our efforts. Think about the amount of time you put into your relationships, your joyful activities, hobbies and service to others; the things that make your life significant and meaningful. Then think about how much time you put into cleaning, finding things, playing games when you have work to do, non profitable discussions, TV shows and the like. Most people will see Pareto’s principle applied here as well.

12 Steps for the Workaholic (part2)

If you haven’t read Steps 1-6 Read this first.

Step 7: Become an expert at managing your time. Always do the most important tasks first; these are the ones that would make you stay late if you didn’t get them done. Getting them out of the way first will improve your chances of being able to leave on time.
Step 8: Become a master at delegating your work and training others. You WANT to make sure you are not the only one with the skills and knowledge or you will be the only one that gets called upon to handle those things. Also, know when to keep your mouth shut. The more people know what you can do, the more they will call on you. A know-it-all can quickly become a do it all.

12 Steps for the Workaholic (part1)

Before I begin sharing steps to help workaholics let’s define what a workaholic is.

If you stay late finishing up a task because you want to, not because you have to and in doing so you miss your child’s birthday party; You might be a workaholic

If you go on vacation and can’t enjoy the sunset without checking your blackberry. You might be a workaholic.

If you check your email during your child’s ball game, in the middle of the night or during meals. You might be a workaholic.

If you take your cell phone, PDA and Laptop on vacation; You might be a workaholic.

If you call the office even though you left your number for emergencies just to see if everything is OK on your days off; You might be a workaholic.

The Power of Thank-You!

I know the power of a single Thank-You all to well. I write a lot and have been doing so for a number of years. I don’t do it for the money and I certainly don’t do it because I am good at it. I also don’t do it to boost my ego; only heaven knows how many of you hit the delete button without even reading my posts. Every once in a while I think about stopping. Am I wasting my time? Am I making a difference? Is anybody even out there? Do they even care? Because I value my time and only want to do things that contribute to life I ask myself these questions often; especially when I don’t hear from anyone. But God is faithful and it is usually just when I want to close my laptop and stop writing that one of you sends me an email like this one I received;

I felt led to drop you a line telling you that last year my husband and son were both killed by a drunk driver. I want you to know that some of what you wrote helped me get through the year. I for one want to say; Thank-you. You made a difference in my life!

WOW! Let me tell you, even though I never met that person, that one paragraph is one of the reasons I still write.

Things that make me say Duh!

I know this has nothing to do with Simplified Success but I wanted to get it off my chest.

The longer I live the more I learn and the more learn, the more I see things that make me say Duh! As a matter of fact, I have been gathering information to one day write a book called; What else? ; “Things that make me say Duh!” It will be filled with things like:

When people push an elevator button that is already lit. Wasn’t my push good enough for them?

Signs that say, “Bear or Deer Crossing”. Be honest, do you ever look at how fast you are going and suddenly say, Oh! I better slow down, or do you even look for bear or deer? I have been driving for over 32 years and have NEVER seen a deer come out near the signs, including the ones I hit! Why not make signs that say, Warning! There are pot holes ahead because we spent our money putting up ridiculous signs instead of fixing them.