(Sharing with you from Dr. Jason Selk’s book, Executive Toughness)

Part of mental toughness is understanding that the only true obstacles in life are self-imposed. You always have the choice to stay down or rise above. In truth the only real obstacles to your ultimate success will come from within yourself and fall into one of three categories:
Apathy, or the lack of passion.
Laziness, or the lack of motivation.
Fear, or the lack of confidence.

Apathy
Going with the flow and remaining in a holding pattern equates to a miserable and passionless life. You must decide where you want to go if you want to get anywhere in life. Don’t allow yourself to get into a holding pattern while you try to figure out who you are or what you’re supposed to do. Instead, decide who you want to be and what you want to do.
Identify one thing you would really like to do with or in your life, and list the first three steps needed to make that a reality. Then schedule in your calendar when you will take action and complete the first step.

Laziness
Laziness is not a personality disorder! Laziness is a habit, and just like any other habit, it can be broken. Just as you learned to be lazy, you can teach yourself to be industrious. Laziness breeds more laziness.
When the alarm goes off, get up and get cranking on your daily to-do list. Only after you have checked off all of your daily need-to-get-completed tasks do you reward yourself by lying on the couch, turning on the TV, or browsing the Internet.

Fear
You may experience a fear of failure to live up to your own goals and expectations. You may hold yourself back from giving your all in life because the thought of trying your hardest and still coming up short seems to be more painful than holding back a bit and always having an excuse. Or you may live with the fear of failing to live up to others’ expectations. Some people are so fearful of losing others’ approval that they have no clue what they really want in life. The truth is when you let fear hold you back, you are guaranteed to fail.

The reality is we have control over how we approach each and every day. We control whether apathy, laziness or fear keep us from reaching our goals. The power lies within each of us to live each day with purpose.

~Evolution of Self
#motivation #focus #success #purpose #mentaltoughness #passion #confidence