How does it happen? You wake up one morning and you discover that you’re in a place you didn’t expect to find yourself.  I’m not talking about any of those movie scenes where the character wakes up in a strange bed after a wild bachelor party, even though it’s happened to some in real life. What I’m talking about waking up one morning (or sitting in an office or doing some particular chore or job) and having a minor epiphany of your life. You discover, or rather yet remember that when you were younger you imagined yourself living another kind of lifestyle or doing something completely different than what you’re doing now. What happened? Why did you end up where you are right now and not where you thought you’d be?

Where Did the Time Go?

They say that the older you get, the quicker the day becomes. Everyone I’ve spoken with on the subject concedes about this. Just last week, I was having dinner in Bar Harbor, Maine, with my girlfriend and we had a great time.  We spent the afternoon walking around the town, going through the shops, and then looking out over the ocean and seeing the white water of the waves hitting the rocky islands just off the shore. Oh! That wasn’t last week! That was back in March of this year!  Wow, how time flies. That felt like yesterday. Has that ever happened to you? The feeling that you did something recently, but in fact it was further back than you thought initially?

So many parts of a person’s life can and do turn out that way. You say that you’ll plan for the future but keep putting it off. Putting off your planning and the next thing you know, its 5 years later or worse 10 to 15 years later! (No joke, I’ve met quite a few people in many areas of life that have said this to me.)

Don’t Put Off What You Want to Plan For

I recently had an old colleague of mine ask me a very interesting question. I wrote about it in another article. He asked me what I did to get to where I was in my career. Without repeating the specifics described in the other post, I mentioned that a large part of it was having some sort of plan. Without that plan, I may have gotten to where I currently was in my career. But that is a strong may!

What would you rather do? Have a goal of where you want to be and create some sort of plan in order to help increase the odds of getting there or not do anything and just see what happens?

Whatever your answer to the above question is, you’ll see the results of it. If you’re a person that chooses to go through life and just seeing what happens in it, then I say “good for you!” I’d also say, “don’t complain about what you permit” if you’re not happy with whatever outcome occurs.

What Can a Person Do to Help Influence What Happens in Their Life?

There are many things that a person can do to help influence what happens in their life. There are so many in fact that I simply can’t list them all here. But I will list some things to help get a person started. Below are some of those. As you’re reading this, think about how you can influence what happens to you in your life or how you may be able to influence the life of someone else:

• Write Your Goal or Desire Down — It is really amazing the difference in a person’s mindset when they simple “write down” what they want to do, or what they want to have happen. When a person write’s a goal or desire down, the mind has a funny way of reacting. Once a desire or goal is written down, the human mind starts to think of ways to get to that desire. By writing it down, the mind begins to dwell on it subconsciously. It begins to think about ways to make that goal or desire occur. Many times soon after writing it down, ideas that you never thought of before begin to come to mind. Also, because the mind begins to dwell on it subconsciously, you begin to take notice of things that you didn’t realize before. Things that you notice may lead to a step that helps you get closer to what you want.
• Choose to Be a More Optimistic - This one is a tricky one for many people. I say this because the easiest thing to do is complain and focus on the negative. After all, are we all born complaining? The first thing a person always hears from a new born baby is the crying. The new born is telling everyone in earshot that it’s unhappy that it got pulled away from where it was comfortable.  As an adult, we have the benefit of (hopefullyJ) knowing more than a new born. We have the ability to choose the way we react to the things that happen to us and not just automatically complain and get upset. Choose to do something constructive if something doesn’t go the way you wanted it to go. You just may be surprised at how an opportunity may appear out of nowhere when you choose to be more optimistic. More often than not.
• Stay Away from the “Nay Sayers” - You will find on your journey to the success people who will take comfort in you getting lost on your way. There is a truth to the saying that misery likes company. Some people would rather diminish your chances of reaching your goals and desires, than to do what it take in order for them to reach their goals. The simplest thing to do is just avoid these types of people where you can.
• Whatever Your Goal or Desire, Do Your Research on It –If you want to achieve something, be somewhere in your career, or work in a particular field, do your homework on it. Find out what others who do what you want or have what you want have done.  Finding this out will help you determine what steps you may need to take in order for you to have the same things.
• Create Some Good Habits – They say the secret of your future is hid­den in your daily rou­tine and this I believe to be very true. This is probably one of the simplest and most powerful ways to help influence what happens to you.  Let’s say you want to be better at a particular subject in school or at work. If that is the case make it a habit to read 15 to 20 minutes each day on that particular subject. If you do that for 30 days, that’s 450 to 600 minutes (7.5 to 10 hours) of reading you would have done on that particular subject. Do you know of any good habits that you’ve been doing for a while? Do you know of any bad habits that you wish you would stop doing? Either way, the habits you do will have a direct effect on what happens in your life. The good thing is that anything that you do repeatedly for 21 days, it will become a habit.

The above are just some ways that a person can have an influence on what happens to them in life. There are many other things a person can do as well.  The below articles and websites list outline many of them:

How to Reach Your Goals — Experts describe strategies for setting goals and making sure you achieve them.

Reach Your Goals Automatically with Positive Habits – Habit: An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

The Thing About Goals – Seth Godin and his view of goals.

How Rumination Affects Your Life — Here’s how rumination exacerbates your stress levels.

Your Attitude and How it Affects Your Career – by Karl Staib — Superpower Coach

How to Change Your Life in 30 Seconds or Less – from Dumb Little Man Tips for Life

Sometimes It’s The Smallest Decisions That Can Change Your Life Forever

Seven Weird Habits That Will Change Your Life — Some habits will help you live a better life. They’ll help you improve what’s already working or help you fix what’s not working very well.

Change Your Thoughts — Change Your Life — End Negative Thought Patterns

Douglas Adams on Creativity and Inspiration

Your Subconscious and How it Works

Where do you want to go in your life?

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They say the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine and the below addresses it very well. Although many have claimed fame to it, the official author is anonymous. I came across this a number of years back and it struck a strong cord with me then as it does now. I printed it out and I have it hanging on my wall in my office so that I can be reminded of the important lesson it reminds us of.

This has made such a strong impact on my life that I wanted to share it with you!

The secret for you is hidden in the poem’s message…enjoy!

Habit

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,

And I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done,

And after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men

And, alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great.

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine,

though I work with all the precision of a machine

Plus the intelligence of a man.

You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin;

It makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me

And I will put the world at your feet.

Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am HABIT!

What has habit given you? What has habit taken away from you? Can you think of anything that habit may be of use to you or someone else?

What are your thoughts on the power of HABIT?

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