Create a Good Day
Archive for January, 2010
Self-Criticism is an itch…Scratch It
Jan 12th
Today’s post is a follow up to the New Years post. There, I asked you to look at yourself and evaluate in an honest opinion. The purpose of life is too figure out how to progress in a forward matter. It’s all about becoming better and a lot of that has to do with how you evaluate yourself.
I recently had the chance to look myself in the mirror and truly evaluate my progress in regards to a leadership position I’m in. I concluded that while I feel overall things have been successful, I myself have been a disappointment. In life, success is great, but if the members of a team in which you lead are not fully satisfied, or you are not being an equal team member, there is definite room for improvement.
How hard is it to honestly look at bash yourself? One of the hardest things I had to accept. I got evaluated on my progress in this position, and the hardest thing to do was to hear of all the improvements I needed to make, where I myself felt things were going well. An important part of self evaluation is listening to the opinions and thoughts of others and not using them as a means of hiding and wilting, but overcoming and growing. Remember, if life is a mountain, the self-criticism is the requirement to push yourself over the top.
Self criticism means we have to be honest with our-self. Where is the gain in justifying our actions and problems?. If we can learn to be truthful with ourselves, we will implicitly take positive actions as opposed to regrettable ones. The people who try and find a way of justifying their actions to themselves are the ones in danger of never progressing.
With this honesty, don’t feel bad or become angry for yourself. The self-criticism is about becoming MORE, and feeling sorry or getting mad at yourself will just leave you in the same spot. No room for moving up if you’re feeling down.
The final point you must keep in mind, and something that I regret not realizing originally, is that PRIDE WILL GET INTO THE WAY. You cannot let it. This is all about ACCEPTANCE and GROWTH and if we cannot accept the shortcomings we have, we are never going to be in a position to become future stud muffins. (That’s a good thing.) Bottom line is that you will consistently find yourself doing the wrong things if you feel you are bulletproof.
In conclusion, it is so important to constantly evaluate yourself as it will only lead to moving in a positive manner in life and ultimately hitting that point of happiness. It is also important to remember that YOU ARE ALL AMAZING, YOU ALL HAVE THIS UNBELIEVABLE POTENTIAL THAT YOU ARE ALREADY TAPPING INTO- YOU CAN GO BEYOND THIS…just let yourself.
Good Night!
2010- To Change or Not To Change?
Jan 1st
To quote my favorite book:
“Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to great places! You’re off and away!”
- Dr. Seuss “Oh, The Places You’ll Go”
As we are set to ring in a new year, the question always becomes: To Change or Not To Change? Do I set yet another useless New Year resolution, or am I content with who I am. Well, it doesn’t always have too be a question. You’re very capable of picking both options.
We all look for landmark days to “change ourselves”, and the New Year serves as that perfect day. It’s a day where you can genuinely say, “It’s time for a new start”, because well the whole world is doing it too. The difference though between those who find success in their New Year and those who do not is the ability to take the good and change the bad, or better put both; somethings from the TO CHANGEcolumn and somethings from the NOT TO CHANGE column.
There is a lot of good in all of you and it’s important you bring that good along with you for the ride each and every year. The opposite of course is that there is bad in all of you, but bad is not the word we’re going with. There is always room for improvement no matter how satisfied we are. Take the time to sit and evaluate yourself early this 2010, and set yourself realistic goals.
BUT HOW DO I SET REALISTIC GOALS- I DO THIS EVERY YEAR AND I NEVER KEEP THEM! I’m glad you asked:
- We think too negative, even when forming goals. Example- “I will NOT do _____ this year”, “I DON’T want to do ____ this year.” Instead of forming goals in the negative, rephrase them to sound positive. Example – DO NOT SAY – “I’m going to not eat fast food!” – This gives you little hope to succeed. Instead say “I am going to eat healthy this year.” While you may not think it, the positive reinforcement helps a lot more on the implicit level and when forming goals, it is important to have them inserted in your head even without a conscious effort to do so.
- Write them down. We’ve observed this lesson before, the more you are able to see them, the more step 1. works.
- It’s never too late to start them. Listen, new years may serve as a great day to start fresh, but it is not the ONLY day too do so. If in your year you have to change goals, DO IT. There is no GOAL RULEBOOK that states because something is written down it must be follow through on. We live our lives with mistakes and changes, and goals must change too. The sooner you realize however, that something has to be changed, the sooner you will be able to resolve the task at hand.
- CREATE A GOOD DAY. If I had a goal for all of you, it would be too wake up each day making it better than yesterday. The way to fulfill an entire 365 day schedule, is to dig deep and find it within yourself to not simply HAVE a good day, but CREATE IT. CREATE IT for you, CREATE IT for your roommates, CREATE IT for your family, CREATE IT for your friends, CREATE IT for EVERY SINGLE PERSON AROUND YOU. No list can tell you the reward you’ll get when you do this, but this is something you will feel. It does not matter how hard yesterday was, we have goals to achieve and as Dr. Seuss brilliantly puts it “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that BANG UPS and HANG UP can happen to you.” He also says however “On and on you will hike and I KNOW YOU’LL HIKE FAR and FACE UP TO YOUR PROBLEMS – WHATEVER THEY ARE!”
As I end, I remind you that nothing is perfect. It will be difficult to go through each day with this same positive mentality, but you all owe it to yourselves and those around you to try. You all are already unbelievable people with unbelievable potential, just don’t sell yourself short and live down to those expectations. Wake up each morning knowing that this is the day you check off a goal.
I wish all of you a Happy New Years and a Happy 2010. Don’t say goodbye to 2009 without taking the good and changing the bad.
“You’re off to great places, TODAY IS YOUR DAY! Your Mountain is waiting so…GET ON YOUR WAY!”
