CHOICE CREATES CHANGE#AtoZChallenge

C is for CHOICE

Many a time many of us attribute our failure to destiny, luck or fate without realising that these are nothing more than red herring and the real reason for our failure lies very much within our ambit. Each one of us have the power to design our best possible life and this power comes in the form of CHOICE which refers to the ability to CHOOSE. The power of CHOICE is a key determinant of our success in life. Growth or Redundancy; Forward or Backward; Positive or Negative; Success or Failure is all a matter of CHOICES we make. During every moment of our life we have the option to CHOOSE – either to make our life or break our life ! Nothing can demonstrate this power of CHOICE better than the story of Viktor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist/ psychiatrist who founded Logotherapy after surviving 3 years as a captive in Nazi concentration camp. More about Viktor Frankl here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl 

Why CHOICE is important ?

• The power to CHOOSE is very empowering and enabling
• CHOICE gives us control over our life
• CHOICE presents us with an opportunity to change our life and create out best life
• CHOICE provides freedom to choose our own path
• CHOICE prepares us to be a decision-maker in life

How better CHOICES can be made ?

• The realisation that we are the makers of our destiny will propel us to make positive and progressive choices
• Setting goals (short-term/ medium-term/ long-term) will ensure that we make better choices that push us closer to our ultimate goal(s) in life
• At times certain choices may not act in our favour but treating them as feedback would lead us to make better choices next time
• Not getting overwhelmed with the circumstances/ situations and focusing purely on our response will lead to better choice.

Whether you want to CREATE your best life or CHANGE for better, utilise the power of CHOICE.

Summing it up with a link to this short video on you tube. Hope you like it !  

  

Video link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4XmrSkFnKI

BELIEF for a BETTER YOU#AtoZChallenge

B is for BELIEF

Challenges and Obstacles are an integral part of our existence and to be successful one needs to over-ride them. Coming out triumphant is not as much to do with the size of the problem (big or small) but

our ability to address the problem appropriately and to our advantage. This ability could very well be termed as BELIEF, a characteristic that determines whether we are a winner or loser in life. Simply defined, Self-Belief is the opinion we have of our self – whether we hold our self in high esteem or otherwise; whether we see our self as a capable being or otherwise.  Each one of us possess immense potential and capability but in the absence of self-belief all our assets are a waste.

Why Self-Belief is important ?

• Develops our attitude for life - the way we perceive things, people and circumstances.
• Builds confidence in us to face any adversity in life
• Helps us realise our strength areas
• Enable us to achieve our goals
• Gives us better control over our life
• Provides an opportunity to assess our life and take corrective action wherever and whenever needed
• Helps develop better relationships as our attitude breeds positivity and optimism

How to build/ ensure (positive) Self-Belief ?

• Positive self-talk – talking to self plays a crucial role in developing self-belief. So, the pep talk delivered to self should be positive and progressive. Repeat affirmations that help build confidence and esteem. A few examples are , “I am capable of achieving my goals”, “Every day I achieve more and get better”.  
• Visualise success regularly as it will help stay focused on goals
• Celebrate small successes as it will keep the confidence intact  
• Develop your strengths further as that is your USP to success but also be mindful of weak areas

To sum it up, Self-Belief is a tool to assess our self and a catalyst which spurs us for action and takes us closer to our goals and objectives in life. 

ACTION determines Accomplishment #AtoZChallenge

A is for ACTION

Life is a continuous and consistent series of events/ situations and our success or failure in life is determined by one of the following 2 states we deal with it, either active or passive. Let’s briefly explore each of the 2 mentioned states – Passive and Active

·        

      Passive state is a state of inertia where we just let the events happen to us and impact us. It is a stationary state which doesn’t yield much related to our growth in life whereas Active state is a state of motion where we seize control of the event/ situation and enable us to make things happen as we want them to. 

Each one of us seek success in life and want to achieve the most in our lives. To a large extent, our success in life is determined by our accomplishments which are characterised by our goals and dreams. Considering the fact that each one of us have immense potential lying dormant and waiting to be harnessed, what possibly could lead us to achieve our goals and dreams and do justice to our potential ? One of key ingredients that possibly would enable us to be more successful in life is “ACTION”. To achieve anything in life, both Planning and Doing are important but planning alone may not suffice unless appropriate ACTION supplements it and completes the success cycle. 

WHY taking ACTION is important ?

• ACTION is foundational key to all success
• ACTION always yields something  more and better
• ACTION turns Vision into Reality
• ACTION shows the way to get started
• ACTION puts you on path to greatness
• ACTION helps build skills like decision-making, self-esteem, confidence, focus, result oriented
• ACTION helps us step out of our comfort zone and move towards a better life

HOW to start taking ACTION ?

• Adopt Kaizen style - Begin small and take one step at a time
• Focus on one thing at a time as this will help being specific and let us concentrate all our energies on that specific task/ thing.
• Always have a GOAL to act towards as it will provide the direction to work towards. Additionally, pick up an attainable GOAL, something that can be reached/ achieved
• Always imbibe a positive and progressive intent towards what we want to achieve as this will always trigger the right kind of motivation in us.
• Making commitment to achieve our goals will help us own the task completely and also make us accountable for the same.   
• Visualise being successful as the law of attraction would ensure that even our ACTIONS start  aligning with our thoughts and beliefs

So, let’s start taking ACTION and assume control of our lives.  

#AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal

Background

It's nice to be back blogging after what turned out to be an extended hiatus (if i may call it so !) and what better way than to start with this A to Z Challenge. This challenge is an annual event where interested bloggers are expected to write one blog on each day during April (leaving aside Sundays) and the blogs should be in alphabetical order which implies that the topics for each day should be the next alphabet from the previous. That's why the it's termed as A to Z. More info at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Theme 

Being a Life Coach and a Trainer my focus has always been on helping and enabling people to be their best self. Therefore my theme would also be aligned with my passion and objective that is "Being Your Best" . Under this theme i will share my thoughts and insights on various skills that would help bring the best in us. I strongly believe in the philosophy that each one of us has immense potential lying dormant and developing certain skills could help us harness our potential to the hilt.

My attempt through my posts would be to create your best and make you capable to achieve all your goals and fulfill all your dreams in life :)

Happy and Useful reading to all ! 

The "Why" Trap !

“Why does this happen to me always ?

Why am I singled out everytime ?

Why did he/ she do that to me ?

Why did he/ she say that to me ?

Why did he/ she/ they treat me like that ?

Why don’t I get what I deserve ?

Why do I have to struggle for everything in life ?"

If you relate to any of the above statements, it’s clearly an indication that you have fallen prey to the “Why” Trap – a trap that leaves you with no option but to question every “not so favourable” thing that happens in your life. This leaves you with no energy and enthusiasm to move forward and enjoy life. This “stuck” condition can have dire consequences on our mental and physical well-being as it manifests negativity in us by generating feelings of sadness, depression and anger. These feelings make us feel “victimized” and start the downward spiral resulting in low self-esteem and loss of self-confidence.

The sooner we realize the “Why” syndrome in us, the better prepared we can be to check it becoming an epidemic and engulfing our personality and well-being (physical, mental and emotional). Some of the ways to move out of “Why” trap are as mentioned below :

• ·         Accepting life as it (status quo) and “experiencing” it rather than “judging” it – As life unfolds it brings along “surprises”  and “shocks” both and we cannot be always prepared for what life brings to us. At times we are left wondering as to what struck us and are unable to cope with what happens. The mere realization that life is unpredictable and would unfold as it has to will help us a deal in building more acceptance towards what happens and being more patient towards letting it happen. 
• ·         Replace “victimized” feeling with the power to choose your “response” to various difficult situations – The fact that we do not have much control over most situations that occur in our life leaves us feeling like a “victim” and defensive in our approach. This can be easily counteracted with the mere realization that all of us have been endowed with the power to choose our own response to situation and we can choose how we would like to feel (sad or glad) based on how we respond to the situation. A response of positively reacting to situation could help open up many more opportunities for us to grow and move forward.
• ·         Focusing on “Action” as action generates solutions – Given that the “Why” syndrome leaves us “stuck”, so it becomes imperative that we resort to taking “actions”, even though it could be some baby steps/ micro steps to be still in motion and on the road to growth.
• ·         Focus on “Self” for your capabilities – The “Why” syndrome results in low self-esteem which leads us to focus on our weaknesses and incapabilities as we are filled with self doubt. If we start focusing on our strengths and past successes, it will provide us with the right impetus to break the “Why” trap and move ahead positively and progressively. 
• ·         Replace “Why” mindset with “How” and “When” – To move out of the stuck state that “Why” syndrome lands us in it’s imperative to change the mindset to a more active state. A mindset change to “How” and “When” helps bring in action and purpose in our approach. The focus shifts to solutions and goals.

So, get started now and turn your life around from “Why” to “Wow” !

N.B. - The above post is inspired by article from Lauren E. Miller

The Complicated World of Emotions !

In this article I am using few key learnings from the movie “Inside Out” to share about the complicated world of Emotions.

The world of emotions is very delicate but quite complicated. It can capsize our lives if not catered to appropriately at its different stages through sufficient awareness and proper management. All said and done, there’s no escape from emotions – we would have to undergo them (at any cost) as they occur (and they occur all the time) and the best we can do is to gather an understanding of how they work inside us. This understanding would help us act in accordance with the productive/ constructive outcomes that we may envisage or hope for in these emotional  turbulence.

The movie “Inside Out” is an excellent depiction of how emotions work in us. From the plenty of learnings that I derived from the movie, I am sharing here few of those key learnings

·    Negative Emotions create a dominoes effect if fostered. One negative emotion sets in motion a multitude of similar ones and gives rise to a whole bunch of negative emotions ready to take control of our mind and body. This results in breaking of all the castles (family, friends, relationships, etc.) that we hold dear in our life. To save us from the emotional disturbance that may occur and leave us mentally and physically crippled (inactive), we need to rein-in the horses of negative emotions by not feeding  them with more or allowing them to grow in magnitude so that they do not set in a chain reaction which will be harmful for us.  The mantra for diminishing Negative Emotions is “Make it as small as possible”.

·   Positive Emotions breed slow initially when we have been hit by a spate of negative emotions but once positive emotions set in we need to reinforce them regularly with more supplementary and complementary pieces/ portions. These emotions need to be sustained with daily doses of positivity (thoughts and actions) whether big or small to avoid negative emotions taking control over us.  The best way to break the  shackles of negative emotions is through a  lockpin of strong positive mind-body combination. The mantra for Positive Emotions is “Make it as big as possible” because accentuating the positive help build strong defense mechanism against negative emotions

· Communication with others at an Emotional Level – Every human is an embodiment of emotions that we undergo regularly. So, the best form of communication is to connect with other at an emotional level.  Getting adept at understanding emotions helps us gauge the emotional state of the other person in that particular situation/ circumstance  and provide us with an opportunity to make the interaction positive, constructive and productive.

Let‘s be emotionally healthy through better awareness of their impact on us so that emotions do not act as a deterrent towards our living a happy and satisfied life !

Say "Yes" to Life !

Life’s a matter of choice and we make a choice daily when we wake up –either to perceive life as an opportunity not to be missed and to be lived fully and completely or to let life drift past us without a whisper. Life is all about growing, moving forward, becoming our best and making a difference in the world.

Don’t wait for Life to Happen to you, Say “YES” to the following and Make Life Happen !

Positivity – Positivity in thoughts and actions spur an optimistic and healthy outlook towards 
life and this enables us to get the best out of any difficult situation, circumstance or person by equipping us with an attitude to turn negative into positive, convert challenges into opportunities, perceive solutions instead of problems, transform adversity into advantage. Just remember “Every cloud has a silver lining” and say “YES” to Positivity.

Action – As the famous American businessman Arnold Glasow said “An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied” which clearly suggests that Action is the key to achievement. We need to take the first step to move from “Ideation to Execution” and then keep taking small steps to get us closer to our defined goals. Without action, our dreams remain unfulfilled wishes. So, say “YES” to Action today !

Goal – “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” said Lewis Carroll, the famous English author. The quote so clearly underlines the importance of goals in our lives. Life is a journey and goal is the destination that gives direction to our actions. A “goal-less” life is a wastage of our talent, potential and energy. So, let our life not be like a rudderless boat but be purposeful with the presence of realistic, achievable and time-specific goals in our lives. So, say “YES “ to Goals and be and Achiever !

Dreams – To achieve Big in life, one needs to dream and dream BIG. Dreams are the thoughts that we hold in our subconscious mind and most of the times these thoughts are our aspirations in life. To make our aspirations a reality, the simplest formula is – “Dream it, Believe it, Achieve it”.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American poet puts “Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true” which implies that we should say “YES” to Dreams and put in the necessary effort to make it a reality !

Focus –  Being focused is the mantra to succeed in this age of distraction, mutli-tasking and information overload. Learning the art of filtering out the trivial and attending to what matters most would pave the way for a more abundant and productive life. So, say “YES” to Focus !

Above all, learn to say “YES” to “yourself” as there lies all the resources to make Life Happen !