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48. Be Organized In Everything You Do - Organization makes your life easier. Disorder causes distraction and delay. Why do you think the military is so compulsive about organization? Your workspace, schedule, activities and everything else in your life needs to be as organized as possible so you can stay on task without losing momentum and commitment. Clarity and orderliness lets your mind focus on more important issues because you don’t have to worry about the small stuff.
49. View Your Life as a Movie - Hollywood movies have happy endings because somebody sat down and wrote them that way. Script your own life, giving it the happy ending that you want. Then stick to the script. You may have to rewrite some parts as you go along, but if you follow your life’s screenplay, you can arrive at where you want to be when the credits roll.
50. Smile - Psychological studies have shown that people who make an effort to smile are happier than people who let situations dictate their emotions. Keep a smile on your face as much as possible and other people will be more comfortable with you, will like you more, and will want to help you achieve your goals. Your smile may even be infectious!
51. Practice Self-Discipline - Discipline is the ability to do what needs to be done even when you don’t feel like doing it. Train yourself to separate your feelings and emotions from the job and just do what needs to be done. Soon, it will become second nature and you will always have the self-discipline to keep moving forward toward your goals.
52. Find Inspiration in Other People - Turn to inspirational books, movies, speeches, courses and other resources to keep yourself motivated. There are many successful people who have made it their goal to help other people improve their lives. Take advantage of this generosity by seeking out inspiring personal stories about other people’s accomplishments.
53. Look at Problems from Different Perspectives - When facing challenges, call upon the knowledge and experience you already have accumulated in your life. Ask yourself, “What do I know about this problem that already works?” “What do I know won’t work?” and “What don’t I already know and still need to learn to resolve this issue?” This helps you approach problems from different angles and use your life history to work through them.
54. Calculate Your “Hours of Power” - Different people are more energized at certain times of the day than others. For example, there are “morning people” and “night people”. Keep track of your energy level every hour for a week, writing down on a notepad how energized you are on a scale of 1 to 10. At the end of the week, look for patterns where your energy was the highest each day. Those are the “hours of power” when you can be most productive at working toward your goals.
55. Don’t Get Hung Up on Money - Most people think of money as the way we keep score of success, but this is a flawed viewpoint. There are lots of rich people who aren’t happy and lots of people without money who are successful. Money won’t buy you true happiness or even success. So don’t think that you are going to find contentment once you achieve a certain income level or bank account.
56. Change the Scenery Occasionally - Getting away for a while is a great way to recharge your batteries and get you ready to be more energized so you can keep fighting for what you want when you return. Plan a trip someplace you have never been before and soak in the scenery. Take a relaxing vacation from your worries and ambitions, even if it’s just for a day or even a few hours. You will return refreshed, rested and stronger than ever before.
57. Be an Example for Others - Provide positive support for the people around you and life your life as if you are in a fishbowl and somebody is always watching you. This will prevent you from making stupid mistakes and experiencing unnecessary setbacks. It will also inspire other people to be more like you, which is rewarding on its own.
58. Constantly Seek Ways to Improve - There’s always something you can do to make the outcome better next time. Find it.
59. Build Your Foundation First - Any structure is only as strong as the foundation upon which it is built. Your life is no exception.
Make sure you have a firm sense of values and purpose and you can withstand any difficult times life throws at you.
60. Be an Explainer, Not a Complainer - Avoid the temptation to blame others for mistakes or shirk responsibility. Instead, when you make an error, have the maturity to admit it, figure out what went wrong and move on.
61. Learn from Other People’s Mistakes - When others err, learn from them the same way you learn from your own mistakes. This has the double benefit of providing you with valuable lessons and not having to deal with the “blame game” and the consequences of making errors.
62. Become a Collector of Motivational Quotes - Some people collect stamps. Others collect exotic beer cans or fishing lures. Make your hobby something that will help keep you on track toward achieving your goals. Collect motivational quotes and keep them in a file that you can access whenever you need inspiration.
63. Set Your Alarm 30 Minutes Earlier - People complain that there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything they need to do, but here’s a great way to “find time”. You will be amazed at how productive you can be when you simply get out of bed a half hour earlier than you normally do.
64. Avoid Comparing Yourself to Other People - Everybody is unique. No two people had the exact same experiences, opportunities and choices. While it’s helpful to find inspiration in other successful people, it’s not productive to compare yourself negatively to them.
65. Use Affirmations to Shut Down Negativity - Often, negative thoughts can get in the way of what we want to accomplish. But you can silence that tiny negative voice in your head by shouting over it with affirmations whenever it starts speaking to you.
66. Keep a Journal - Every day, write down what you did to further yourself toward your objectives. This will motivate you throughout the day so that you will have something to add to your journal later.