The Olympics is inspiring – watching athletes who have trained, refined, failed, learnt and trained again with only one focus on their mind – Gold. Of course silver or bronze is good, but focussed athletes do not chase anything but the highest standard. Are you chasing the highest standard of Gold in your life?
It is all too easy to be overwhelmed by life – work, kids, family, money, bills, friends, we can work so hard to literally just stay on top of things and to keep ourselves going. I want you to know something very important, your life is so, so incredibly precious that you deserve to demand the very best of yourself. You deserve nothing but Gold in your life.
I want to share with you my top 6 tips to help you ensure that you are going for Gold in your life.
1) If your relationship is not working, change it. I am not suggesting that you end your relationship I am simply stating that you should not accept anything but a standard of Gold. Many people often go through their relationships accepting the way that they are treated, the way they are spoken to and the overall lack of respect they are shown. We simply “put up” with being treated like this and we “make do” because we don’t want to make matters worse. Let me tell you now, you deserve more.
If you are unhappy in your relationship only you can set the boundaries of how you are treated. Make a decision today to only be treated in the very best way. If you are not happy in your relationship request some time with your partner and be honest, not confrontational, but honest. Nine times out of ten your partner has no idea that you are feeling the way that you are feeling and if they did know they would change straight away. If your not happy, ask your partner for a conversation today and make a decision for Gold in both of your lives, together.
2) If you don’t love your job, discover a new passion. Do you know that you will, on average, spend 11 1/2 years of your life at work! If you dread going to work every morning, if you are constantly clock watching and racing to get out of the door and if you dread Monday mornings then you need to stop chasing silver and have the goal of Gold. Again, I am not suggesting that you simply quit your job, life is not that easy, especially in this economic climate. However, I do believe that we were each created with the resources within us to provide an enjoyable means of financially supporting ourselves for our whole life – you simply have to find that passion!
Write a list of your passions, interests and hobbies. What do people tell you you’re good at? What areas of your life get you incredibly excited? My bet is that you could develop one of these interests into something which may, to start with, bring in an extra income. As you focus and develop on your passion you will find it will consume you and, initially, liberate the burden of the working day and, who knows where else it may lead!
3) If you are constantly not feeling your best, you are letting yourself down. Do you have pains and aches? Do you feel lethargic? Do you get headaches and sore eyes? Putting up with it is not being brave, it’s being stupid. So many people go through their life accepting the aches and pains, chucking a pill down their throat and simply getting on with it. This is not accepting Gold for your life. It really, really isn’t. Make a decision today that you are only going to accept the best for your health and make at least these two changes: Drink lots of water every day (I guarantee that you don’t drink enough and the impact that this will have on your health will be dramatic). Exercise once a week – a walk, a job, a swim – it doesn’t matter what, just do it. Just making these two changes in your life will seriously improve how you feel.
4) If you are constantly worrying about cash, something has to give. With a mindset of chasing Gold in your life it is time to give yourself a complete financial overhaul. Make sure, this week, that you work through your finances – what comes in, what goes out. After you have jotted this down write a list of all the money that you spend each month that is not a necessity. Cut the things out of your life that you don’t need. For example, there are so many people who have monthly gym memberships and yet they never use them! Have a look at ways of making extra cash – your “junk” can be other people’s treasure. Go through your house and pull out anything you don’t use or need and sell it on eBay (I promise you it’s exciting when the bids start rolling in!)
Finally, being frugal does not have to mean that you don’t have fun – there are heaps of “discount codes” and “money saving” sites – just Google those search terms which means you can pay less money for the same meals, family activities and even weekends away!
5) Chase your dreams. Remember, as a child, when you had a dream for your life. You may have still had a dream when you were a teenager or student, but as you get older, as life gets in the way your dreams become side-lined as other priorities take hold. Your dream has no longer been kept alive.
In the bible we are told that, “without a vision, the people will perish” (Proverbs 29:18) and it’s true. Our dreams and our visions not only keep us alive but, if we pursue them, we have no idea how our life and our future can unfold. We give up on our dreams because we don’t believe that a dream can come true, for us. Nevertheless, more and more, we are seeing that those who hold fast on to their dream and work towards them see them come true.
To see your dream come true you have to believe it. Did JK Rowling believe that Harry Potter could become as huge as it did? Did E.L James believe that Fifty Shades of Grey would propel her stardom and add a staggering amount of zero’s to her bank balance? Of course they did. They passionately believed it, they could see it, feel it, touch it, which gave them the inner motivation and drive to keep going.
Today, re-discover your dream, write it down and make a decision that you are going to chase that dream. Find a quite space and close your eyes. Now, image what your life will be like having made your dream come true – what does it look like? What does your life sound like? What does it feel like? Now go ahead and magnify those feelings, make them bigger. Imagine that you are one of those ‘lucky people’ who have had their very dream come to life. As you work towards your dream make sure you remind yourself of this feeling every day and keep going. Your dream will happen, I promise.
6) You become like those you are around. It is vital that you only accept Gold in your friendships too. If your friends focus on the negative, if they don’t help your chase your passion, if they don’t support you in chasing Gold in your relationships, in your finances, in your health and in your dreams then they will always hold you back from achieving the very best in your life.
Find people to be around who pursue Gold, who have big dreams and who have a fundamental understanding of how precious life is and chase it with every ounce of their being. Having such people in your life will help you to improve your standards, will help you to aspire for more.
I can’t ever get across how incredible life is, how beautiful and precious your life is. You are beautiful and you have been created not merely to exist, but, for a very special purpose. Pursue Gold and discover your purpose.
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