1. Begin with gratitude.
Always start with thanksgiving; be thankful for what you already have and see the miracles that come from this one simple act.
Next, you’ve got to challenge yourself to produce. Produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. That is called fruitfulness and abundance—it means working on producing more than you need for yourself so you can begin blessing others, blessing your nation and blessing your enterprise. Once abundance starts to come, once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what the numbers turn out to be.
2. Dream it.
Everything begins in the heart and mind. Every great achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream, to believe that it was possible. Take some time to allow yourself to ask, What if? Think big. Don’t let negative thinking discourage you.
You want to be a dreamer. Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family and for others. If you had a dream that you let grow cold, re-ignite the dream. Fan the flames. Life is too short to let it go.
3. Alter your mindset.
Fulfilled people live in a world of abundance. Others live in a world of limitation.
Some people think there’s not enough to go around in the world. They come from a fear-based mindset. Their answers are “either/or,” but never “both.” In that person’s mindset, they go for security above love, safety before self-expression, and protection over possibility.
But you can learn to understand that with a little creativity, a willingness to be unconventional and an open mind, they can have both. When you build your life on the “Both!” mentality, you will see opportunities that you were once blind to.
What about you? Are you a possibility theorist or a fear-based thinker?
4. Construct an empowering reality.
You’re creating your reality right now. But chances are you’re not being very intentional about the reality that you’re creating. Reality is subjective; if you realize that it’s a construct, if you realize that you are choosing to believe something, then you can choose to believe that you can do something about it.
Write down the beliefs that you have about yourself. On one side, list the things that empower you and move you forward. The things that make you more confident, that give you the courage and the audacity to move forward. On the other side, list the things that demotivate or demean you and move you away from your goals.
You can choose to believe things that empower you, and you can choose to ignore the things that move you backward. It’s all a construct.
5. Stop making excuses.
Eliminating excuses is important because your future is important.
If you only get the future that you work for, then what you work on is pretty important, right? You probably don’t want to screw that up. If there is a list of things to not flub, “your future” has to be high on the list.
Your decisions lead to your destiny. Do you believe that? You should. It’s true. Sooner or later, what you do—and who you really are—determines what you ultimately achieve.
6. Realize your potential.
The wonderful thing about potential is that it can build upon itself. If you can just get the snowball rolling, the energy of motion will take over.
Think for a moment about the people you respect. Why do you admire them? You are probably drawn to them because they are full of realized potential. When we see people exerting this kind of energy, it compels us to draw ourselves closer to them and become a part of what they are doing.
So today you have a choice. Will you sit at the top of the hill merely contemplating your capabilities? Or will you give yourself a little shove and barrel down that hill, knocking over obstacles standing in your way?
7. Attract opportunity.
Opportunities and success are not something you go after necessarily but something you attract by becoming an attractive person.
If you can develop your skills, keep refining all the parts of your character and yourself, your health, your relationships so that you become an attractive person—you’ll attract opportunity. Opportunity will probably seek you out.
8. Commit to living your dreams.
Once you commit to living your dreams, the lids blinding your eyes will be lifted. A completely new world will be opened to your view.
You will notice opportunities that have been in your reach all along, ones your conscious mind simply didn’t pay heed to. The fundamental change taking place is your self-identity. This is the point of no return. Once this shift has happened, your whole world changes.
- Nothing becomes impossible to you.
- Your only limitations are your consciousness, which is quickly expanding.
- Whatever you want quickly becomes yours because you see what most people don’t.
- Now that you can see it everywhere, you are sprinting.
9. Never be satisfied.
Even after you achieve a goal, you’re not content. For you, it’s not even about the goal. It’s about the climb to see how far you can push yourself.
Does this make you ungrateful? Absolutely not. You’re entirely humbled and grateful for everything in your life. This is why you will never get complacent or lazy.
10. Add value to others.
When you stand on the beach and watch the waves hit the shore, do you think there’s any end to the water? There is, of course, but we can’t comprehend it, so we think seawater is endlessly abundant. You would never deny a bucketful to a child building a sand castle because you can refill that bucket again and again. That’s how the abundance mindset works. You give away praise, recognition, ideas, knowledge and money because you know there’s plenty to go around. What you give away will come back to you a thousand times over.
11. Make the most of the infinite possibilities ahead of you.
Explore the unique, endless possibilities within you. Remember that when you work on improving yourself, you’re adding to the youth, vitality and beauty of your mind.
This article was published in April 2017 and has been updated. Photo by @Nastyaofly/Twenty20
