ARE YOU EXTREMELY HARD ON YOURSELF? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 149

Do you set goals for yourself which are much too aggressive?  Do you challenge yourself harder than anyone else challenges you?  Do you expect too much of yourself?  Or are you too easy on yourself?  Somewhere there is a happy medium so find it for yourself.  Set goals for yourself which are realistic and achievable. Have high standards for yourself,  but don't expect more from yourself than is reasonable?  When you set a challenge for yourself

CHALLENGE EASY.

ARE YOUR SIGHTS TOO LOW FOR WHO YOU REALLY ARE? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 63

Too often in life for a variety of reasons parents, teachers, supervisors, and even we set our expectations too low.  A physically handicapped person may not be expected to achieve his highest level of performance because the persons setting the expectations think the handicap will prevent success.  A child with an un-diagnosed learning disability or health condition may be treated as if she does not have the potential for success and is viewed as a problem child. As people age and lose strength it does not mean for many that they are no longer intelligent or interested in life around them, but family members or paid caregivers can start to treat them as if their mental acuity has been lost.  If we ourselves have had too many disappointments in life or if we have not had the nurturing and encouragement so important to all of us, it is very easy to lower the bar for ourselves in terms of grades, standards, achievements, behaviors, goals, performance, health, and so we never know to what heights we might have risen.

Today's message is to encourage you to raise the bar in your own life, and you may just surprise everyone when you:

DEFY EXPECTATIONS!

CHANGING LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 6

In order for our lives to change we have to stop doing everything the way we have always done it. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said, "The true definition of insanity is doing everything the same way and expecting different results."

Being myself a devout creature of habit, I know change can be difficult to accept until you face the fact that you do not like your life the way it is.  Begin writing down how you want your life to be:

• What things do you want to do?
• What things do you want to have?
• What places do you want to go?
• What things do you NOT want to do?
• What things do you NOT want to have?
• What places do you NOT want to go?
• What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

When you are writing don't worry about what is possible or not or how you will make things happen or when.  Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, prioritizing, or legibility.  Just write.  Continue to add to this list, and removing items is also an option as your wants change.   I know this process works because I started doing it years ago, and here are just a few of the things I wrote on my lists:

• I want to have a boy and a girl whose names will be Scott and Susie.
• I want to be able to put my children through college.
• I want to be as philanthropic as I am able.
• I want to be Vice President of a company.
• I want to have a Cadillac.
• I want to renovate an historic house.
• I want to convert the historic house to a bed & breakfast inn.
• I want to own my own business.

At the time I wrote them I had no way of knowing how or when these things would happen, but in time they all came to pass.  I never stopped making plans and expecting the plans to become reality so today's message is:

Make Plans