Are you living your best life? Do you wake up each day ready to encounter new opportunities, ready to conquer daily challenges and determine ways to be a better version of yourself? Or do you get depressed every Sunday night, dread waking up each Monday, and live for the weekend only to start the cycle all over again on Sunday evenings? If the last sentence sounds like you, guess what? You are not alone! According to a Forbes article, only 13% of working people are satisfied with their jobs. Which means 87% of employees “are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less likely to be productive.”
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So, if you do not like your job, your finances, or your overall life, what can you do? Change! And not just change as in give up or quit, but as in do something about it. Many of us consistently complain about our current situation and that is all we do…complain! Complaining will not change our situation. It only allows us to focus on the negatives of our situation and not the positives.
Want to begin to create your best life? Start here…
#1 Determine what you want your life to look like
Do you remember what you use to dream of as a child? The career you wanted to have? What you wanted to do or become? Because life happened, meaning we had children, we got married, we bought a house, we maxed out our credit cards, we took out too many student loans, and now our lives revolve around “maintaining” instead of “creating”.
Think about what you would do if you did not have to worry about staying at the job you hate because you have to “maintain” your current lifestyle. What do you do out of love and passion that no one has to pay you to do because you just love doing it? Do you love painting? Decorating? Speaking? Writing? Teaching? Cooking? Gardening? What do you get lost in doing?
#2 Take baby steps towards creating that life
Many of us are fearful of creating the life we want because (1) we do not want to get out of the comfort zone (2) we fear the unknown (3) we have a fear of failing or (4) it is just easier to complain. So, instead of doing something, like working towards “creating” a new life, we just stay where we are hoping and waiting for our situations to change. Guess what? Our lives will not change until we take deliberate steps to change it.
Because of fear—fear of change, fear of the unknown and fear of failure, we get stuck or feel like we have to do “all or nothing”. Understand that life is not an “all or nothing” ordeal. We can take baby steps towards living out our dreams. If you want to write a book, start a blog first. If you have always had a dream of having your own restaurant, start selling dinners on the weekends. If you want to get out of debt, tackle the smallest debt first. Take baby steps! Yes, we may fall, stumble or have to begin again, but just as babies do, pick yourself off, dust yourself off, lean in and step!
#3 Be grateful
When our current situations are grim and dim, it is very difficult to focus on something other than ourselves; however, I am learning to search for the bright spots even in the midst of my frustrations. For example, instead of consistently complaining about my job(s), I had to replace the thought with “at least I can use this paycheck to pay off debt”. If I did not win the contract, I had to think “at least I have three other contracts to rely on”. When life is not happening as planned, search for the bright spots and be grateful! There is always something, no matter how small, to be grateful for.
Once we overcome fear, become uncomfortable with the comfortable, start changing our current situations, stop waiting for circumstances to be “perfect” before we begin and continue to be grateful for the little things, we can begin living our best life!
Are you living your best life? Or are you fearful of starting a new career, moving to a new city or starting your own business? What can you do today to ensure you live with no regrets? Take baby steps and being creating your best life! It’s never too late to START!
