As you are reading this post, you might be thinking that you only have a few precious seconds to read this, then need to get on with your crazy, busy day. I get it. But I am going to ask you to really read this post. Why am I asking you to ‘really’ read this post today? Because I want to make sure that you are not letting your life dwindle away; that you are doing the things in life that are really important to you.
There are 86,400 seconds in a day. How are you spending those precious moments in the day? Are you focusing in on what’s important in life, doing things that are the real important stuff in life, or are you wasting time on activities and people that are really contributing absolutely nothing to your life? This may seem blunt to you and it is meant to be. I think you know when you feel like you are wasting time in life. The feeling that life seems to be passing by and you’re not feeling like you are satisfied with your life.
I’ve been there, we’ve ALL been there. We get into a rut or are staying too much in our comfort zone. Or we are doing SO much for others, we forget about ourselves.
I ask you to take a second in a quiet place and think of someone, that perhaps had their life cut way too short, or perhaps someone you know that never went for it in life and had tons of regrets in life. A shame isn’t it?
Perhaps that is you right now…. not taking any action on what you really want to do in life. Well, I am telling you right now, that’s it not too late. But you got to get up and make the commitment to make the necessary changes in your life.
So where do start? I believe you first have to look at everything you are doing in your day and find out what you need to remove, in order to make room for the great things in life!
Initial Action Steps to Take -To Make Room for the Great Things In Life
- Activity/Schedule Review: Write down everything you do in a day. Work on a plan to eliminate what is draining you. Delegate what others can do and focus on what fuels you!
- Support Network Review: List the people that surround you. Are they inspiring, supportive and there for you? Work towards having only positive, great people around you.
- Self-Love Review: Be truthful to yourself. Are you really taking care of yourself? A great life starts within. It all starts with you. Make the commitment to take care of YOU.
- Ownership Review: Are you making excuses for your life or truly taking responsibility for your life? When you take ownership for your life, you are much better to create your destiny in life. Stop making excuses today and commit to taking control of your life today.
It’s blunt but it’s true, today is the only promised to me and you. Are you taking advantage of every second of the day given to you? I beg you to claim your life, take responsibility for it and do something extraordinary with it!
Have you recently removed some things in your life, to make room for the greater things in life? Do you have any specific challenges that you need to work better on in your life, in order to make room for the great things in life? I would love to hear from you!
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Being on this journey of ours has really shown me how being stuck in a stagnant environment can drag you down. Normally our life ruts are of our own making, but this time it’s been inflicted upon us! Powerless to do anything to move forward I was forced to let go of precious family heirlooms. It turns out they weren’t worth as much as I believed, but it was just enough to climb out of the doldrums that had held us captive for so long. Forget their physical worth, what hurt the most is the memories connected to these pieces, and I paid the ransom just to move forward in our goal! So here’s my life’s lesson. Sometimes the things we have to shead may be the things we hold dear to us, but if the impasse is so great and the dreams are worth your trouble nothing should be aloud to clip your wings. So I’m telling everyone who reads my thoughts to fly, fly and own the dreams of your desire.
Thank you Anthony for sharing your personal story. You and Jeanne are stronger than any of the challenges that have been thrown your way. Your dreams and goals WILL be a reality and I am here to support you both every step of the way. I am SO proud to know both of you!
One of the biggest issues I have had in my life is saying YES to everything. I have always been a natural leader and one that is pretty good at organizing events, committees, organizations, etc. Over the years I have been asked to serve on many different boards and committees. I have also been asked to lead many of these organizations. While I feel very honored to serve in this capacity and while I do enjoy being involved, I have learned that saying YES to everything definitely has drained me mentally and physically. About 2 years ago I began to concentrate on those organizations that I am truly passionate about. I have learned to say NO, even though it is still hard for me to do so. Once I really focused in on what is most important to me, my life became much happier and my stress level dropped. Now, I still feel like there are things that I need to remove from my life; those things that are draining me and eating up my precious time. This is going to be a life-long challenge but one that I am taking head on. As Cynthia mentioned, surrounding myself with “bucket fillers” rather than “bucket drainers” has been a huge benefit to me. Having inspiring and supportive people surrounding me each day is a huge boost for me both mentally and physically. It’s time to go make things happen……….
Thank you so much Adam for sharing your personal experiences. I am so glad that you have removed some things that were not working for you my friend and just know as you go further into the process, I am here for you always! If you need anything, I am one phone call away. Honored to be connected with you and I am proud of you!
I think the one thing I have removed in my life is anger and worry. Especially the small stuff. Do I get angry? Sure, but usually it passes after at most a few hours because #1: Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it and #2 It’s not worth stressing over. Quite honestly the only things I tend to worry about are things related to my family or close friends.
The biggest thing I have focused on since my move/new job over 2 months ago is constantly trying to learn new things. I have already done that some so far. I’ve had my eyes wide open to be sensitive to think “how is what I am doing now gonna benefit me in the future of the unknown?”
Thank you Geoff for sharing your thoughts and your personal experiences. I am so glad that you have removed anger and worry as much as you can from your life. So much of that is not productive, because it doesn’t help us to move forward. I am honored to be connected with you and thank you for always being so supportive!
Somewhere, someone is lying in a hospital bed who would give ANYTHING for the opportunity we have right now. But, do we take it or do we ignore it? Do we ignore it because we know another opportunity will be along in a moment?
How right you are Cindy to say it’s a shame, because it is.
The definition of a procrastinator I use is: ‘someone who will not take NOW for an answer!’
Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with £86,400. Wow, how great would that be? But, it carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every penny of course!
Well…
Each of us has a bank. Its name is: TIME
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost whatever you have failed to invest to a good purpose, idea or endeavour. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. It allows no loan. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night, at midnight, it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present on today’s balance and deposits. Invest it wisely so that you get the maximum return on your investment in health, happiness, business, relationships and success.
The clock is ticking…make the most of today!
Great and insightful post my dear friend…
I appreciate you immensely
Dave
Thank you SO much Dave for sharing your wisdom! I hope everyone is reading your comments that you posted, because everything you say is so true. Today is the only day promised to me and you and we must do what makes us happy! Thanks again Dave… I appreciate YOU!
This is a fantastic post Cynthia. A lot people go through life without truly living it to their full potential. I learned this valuable lesson when my autistic son was born. Every little milestone was a blessing. Every breath was a gift. We concentrated on the important things and lived every moment fully. We still do. When you focus on the beauty of life and live it with gratitude, you feel that you can do almost anything! Thank you for your continued inspirational guidance. I appreciate you!
Thank you so much Linda for sharing your wisdom. You are so right…. that when you focus on the beauty of life and live with gratitude, you can do almost anything. I am so proud of everything you are doing Linda. I am grateful for our connection!
Most often it takes years before we realize and understand that happiness truly comes to us, when we put ourselves first. I’m a true believer that we need to love ourselves before we can love anyone else.
Core Foundation: *Believe in Yourself*
Find your voice.
Stand up for what you believe in.
I personally have moved past “Doubting myself all the time” It’s taken years but I have learned not to allow doubt and fear to be the constant obstacles that held me hostage for so long.
I believe writing in my journal has helped me to focus more, find trust in others, helped me find my inner strength to move past a very traumatic childhood. It is a life long process, facing many challenges,setting attainable goals, and leading a productive adulthood. Hold strong when it comes to your own morals and values!!
My priorities have always been Happiness comes first. Surrounding myself with inspiring, supportive, positive, caring and compassionate people. I have learned to let go of the people who have a draining affect on me, both physically & emotionally. FAMILY is of great importance to me and has always been my #1 priority above all else.
I always tell people, NEVER give up on your dreams. Find joy in your life. I found mine. My career as a preschool and kindergarten teacher over 25 years has given me every opportunity to fulfill my dreams. My world revolves around Child Honouring. A vision that all children should and must be at the Centre of our global agenda. I am an advocate and Steward for our most vulnerable children. I advocate on behalf of victims of tragedy,and child abuse. I have found my passion to help protect and support our precious children. I am an active volunteer in my own community for many great causes. I realized many years ago that this was my life’s work.
I love speaking to parents and educators from every walk of life, near and far. Together educate each other, we learn, we discuss, listen, support each other. Together we form strong, loving families, and compassionate communities.
So all I can say to any one reading this message, find your passion. We are all meant to have a purpose in life, find it!! Most importantly,TIME is VALUABLE, spend it wisely!!!And spend it with the people who mean the world to you. Love your children, teach about empathy, guide, support and protect them. The early years are so important. Help facilitate their health,happiness, growth and well being. Encourage kindness within your families……………. 🙂 ………………………………
Jackie, I am absolutely blown away with your comments you have shared. I am so proud of you and everything that you are doing in your life. I must repeat what you said for EVERYONE to hear. “Find your passion. We are all meant to have a purpose in life, find it!! Most importantly, TIME is VALUABLE, spend it wisely!!!And spend it with the people who mean the world to you. Love your children, teach about empathy, guide, support and protect them. The early years are so important. Help facilitate their health,happiness, growth and well being. Encourage kindness within your families”. Thank you Jackie for being YOU!!
Cynthia,
I applaud you for writing another wonderful blog. You are such a blessing to me and so many others. There is no doubt as to the extent of your desire to help others improve and succeed.
At some point, each of us must step up and take personal responsibility of our lives. This not only includes becoming responsible for mistakes and failures, but also becoming responsible for our goals. Of all the self improvement ideas out there, taking ownership of our goals and responsibilities is the most important.
When we take ownership, we can achieve almost anything that we go after. The very nature of ownership brings about a mind-set focused on providing the best possible performance, care, and protection of our goals.
If you never stop learning, the world will never stop teaching. After 40 years in leadership, I still evaluate, learn, and try to improve every single day.
Cheers,
Brad
Thank you so much Brad for your comments. I very much appreciate your wisdom each and every day. What most resonated with me was when you said “When we take ownership, we can achieve almost anything that we go after. The very nature of ownership brings about a mind-set focused on providing the best possible performance, care, and protection of our goals”. PERFECTLY said my friend!
Cynthia,thanks for inviting me to view your blog. I love it! Your words are a great reminder (and motivator) to accelerate from good to great by taking personal inventory of how I (we) spend our time and with who or what!
Change for many people is a very difficult thing. It is hard for many to embrace change within an organization, culture, or relationship; yet, when it comes to actually having to change ourselves, it is often even more difficult because it is hard (or we resist)stepping out of ourselves and look back to see who and what we are, or have become. Your post is a great motivator to stop, pause, take inventory, smell the roses we want to smell, and discard the ones full of the thorns of ‘time-suckingness’, wastefulness, and even those people or things that take advantage of us in one way or another for their own edification. In addition, your five action steps are “point on” Cynthia, and creates a simple roadmap to follow.
What is most impressive, is that (from my personal observation) what you are writing about, and what you are recommending, is in fact, the subscription for how you authentically live your own life. Because of this, your advice is solid gold! Thank you for your instruction of how building one’s confidence along with smart decision-making can be a transformational “game changer” in one’s life! In closing, as you have said many times…. “Let’s do this”!
Wow Dale! Thank you SO much for your powerful comments. I really appreciate your wisdom…..I always write from personal experiences, so I appreciate you seeing that what I am writing comes from me, how I live my life. I appreciate you and am so grateful for our connection. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Great blog…and not at all too blunt! People need to hear this especially points 2…3…4! As usual you are being ‘real’ TY Keep up the great work Cynthia! It is sounds like you who make a huge positive difference in this world! Much love 🙂 Sincerely and respectfully Dr. John Reed
Thank you so much John for your comments on the blog. I am always keeping it real! And very much appreciate your support!
This is a great post, Cynthia, and many of these things have been running through my mind lately. We had a goal of getting rid of our storage unit and organizing our garage this past summer, something we have put off for over 8 years, as soon as we did, so many wonderful things started happening and opportunities opening up, no matter how simple it seems, getting rid of the clutter was helpful. Regarding who we allow into our lives, I learned years ago that you are a combination of the 5 people that you spend the most time with, so make good choices and whenever we have someone who is discouraging or mean, “consider the source”…is this someone we want to emulate? Do they live a life we admire and have traits we aspire to? If they don’t, let it go and don’t worry about what they said. And, the biggest thing I have learned lately is just to live in gratitude, be thankful everyday for what you already have. Thank you for posting this and reminding us of what is precious in life.
Thank you Nicole for sharing. I love how so many great things started happening in your life, once you cleared the clutter from your life! I appreciate you very much Nicole!
Cynthia, once again, you nailed it Girl!! Prior to reading your blog I was just about to post this thought on my Twitter Feed: “Assess what truly matters & give yourself wholeheartedly to that.” Funny that I was just reflecting on the very thing you wrote about. Thank you for challenging us to focus in on what we want outta life & truly go for it!! I am encouraged & strengthened each day to keep pressing on, and am committed & focused to get through each day better, stronger and with my faith in tact! Thank you for your wisdom Friend, I cherish You!! 🙂
Thank you so much Carla for your comments. You are absolutely awesome and you are appreciated. Always keep that positive attitude and do what makes you happy in life!
While this is a huge problem for a lot of people, I think as women we fall into this rut far more often than men do. Be it through nature or nurture, we are fundamentally programmed to put the needs of others ahead of our own needs. While trying to do everything for everybody is a lofty goal, more often we simply succeed in burning ourselves out and short-changing the one person who should come before all other…ourselves. It may be hard to come to terms with the fact that we really can’t “do it all”, but once we do we can experience a freedom and contentment like no other. And THAT will make us all better at enjoying our lives, plus we do a much better job of taking care of others once we have taken care of ourselves!
What an excellent blog. Cynthia is spot on. We all just get on with our lives and don’t really take time to think plan and fully organize. I couldn’t agree more with her. Knowing where you are what you’re doing where you want to get to is important. Without planning it can’t and won’t be achieved. We all have dreams. They can be realized. Take her advice seriously and good luck. Make it happen!
Thank you for posting such an inspiring post, Cynthia!
In the mid-nineties, I started public speaking part-time while running and developing a successful financial services business. Four years ago, I decided to sell my business to make room for my passions: public speaking, coaching & training. The last four years were sometimes challenging as I had to let go of old routines and familiar environments but I’ve never had any regrets.
Two years ago, with our children grown up and moving out, my wife & I decided to sell our house and move into a smaller space. Of course, we had to sort out the great things we wanted to keep from the rest and figure out what we wanted to sell, give or recycle. The process inevitably cleared out internal clutter as well. It made me more aware of what mattered to me and what I wanted to focus on. Like everyone else, I can get lured away by distractions and have to remind myself what’s really important. And I’m very lucky and grateful to be surrounded with supportive people!
As I’m writing this, I remember our son telling us that he wasn’t going to buy a whole bunch of house stuff that he was going to keep for later… only use… eventually… on very rare and special occasions. Don’t we all have a tendency to do that: keep the best for last? Well, I don’t anymore and I encourage everyone to use their best stuff, put forward their best attitude & best talents…and be their best self NOW!