You are in control

Control your Thoughts and Achieve the Best version of yourself. Invest in yourself and Control your life.

Reach your Exponential Greatness with these 7 Steps.

Reach your Exponential Greatness with these 7 Steps.

There’s a saying, “The uncommitted life is not worth living.”

I want you to ask yourself, what do you commit it to?

If you can’t think of it offhand, think about how you spend your time because how you spend your time shows your commitment.

Use your commitment to control your destiny.

I woke up today thinking about control and what I’m in control of and what I’m not in control of. Usually around this time of the year we reflect on the year gone by. We think about what we want to do and about what we want to do for the new year. During that time, we do a lot of self-reflection and self-analysis.

I noticed that I stopped doing that about 10 years ago because I stopped doing New Year’s resolutions. I don’t want to wait for a particular time of the year to do better.

If I want to eat better, I start eating better at that moment. Who cares if I just had a double cheeseburger with extra this or extra that? In the evening I’m going to eat a salad, and I’m going to try the next day to eat better.

If I want to start working out more and it’s a Tuesday, I’m not going to wait till Sunday to start my workout routine. I’m going to start that night or that next day.

If I want to start improving my relationship with my friends or my family, I will not wait for some arbitrary day to call them. I’m going to pick up the phone right there when they cross my mind. I’m going to call them.

The next moment is not promised.

When You Think Of Something, Do It Then.

Ask someone who’s lost someone to a heart attack, or aneurysm, or cancer. They will tell you that you need to take advantage of the moment. You need to love the ones you’re with, spend time, and commit yourself to build those relationships. 

Don’t put it off.

You don’t know who’s going to be here tomorrow.

My husband lost his father in a car accident. He went fishing and never came back. You can’t prepare for that. You can’t undo what has happened. You can’t wish you would have called someone. You can’t, should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.

I am not afraid, ashamed, or fearful of becoming the best I can be, and I hope you aren’t either. The best you is independent of anything else. It’s independent of your ability to be a parent, it’s independent of your desire to have children, it’s independent of your position, it’s independent of your job, it’s independent of your salary.

All of those things do not define you, whether you think they do or not.

If you seek outside validation from anyone or anything, you are doomed to live a miserable life. You are in control. You are the most perfect you that you can be at this moment. You need to upgrade your thoughts. Upgrade your beliefs and upgrade the control in your life.

Today, we’re going to hit seven things that you want complete control of and how they will elevate your life and help you reach exponential greatness.

1. Your thoughts and beliefs.

The first is your thoughts and your beliefs.

How you see the world is how you live.

What you focus on is what you see, and most of us have tunnel vision. We can only see the things right in that tunnel, and it’s hard to see the items in the periphery. So, whatever you’re focused on is the only thing you’re seeing.

So, if you’re focusing on the positive, you’re going to see the positive. If you’re focusing on the negative, you’re going to see the negative. Have you ever thought about a yellow car, then all of a sudden when you’re on the highway, you start noticing all these yellow cars that you never saw before?

This is because you put that thought in your head and now you’re seeing the thing that you’re thinking about. Abundance is the same way

If you start thinking about how you’re going to start a business, how you’re going to grow as a person, how you’re going to get into shape, how you’re going to earn more money, how you’re going to increase your side hustles, things will start moving around in your life to give you those things.

You will start meeting people that are business owners. You will begin to meet mentors that can help guide you along your way. You’re going to start running into opportunities to gain more cash or more resources.

Start thinking about how you want to increase your education. You’re then going to start seeing ads on Google about a University or certain programs. A lot of that is SEO, and the Google algorithm reading your mind or hearing you talk on your phone, or hearing you talk to your friend.

But a lot of that is the universe also putting those things in your path. When you phrase a sentence, always think about the abundant side of it and not the lack.

“I can’t.”

“I don’t.”

“I won’t.”

“I don’t have.”

“I can’t have.”

“I don’t know.”

Those are all statements of lack. 

You need to come from a statement of abundance.

“I can.”

“I will.”

“I do.”

“I am.”

Those are all abundant statements, and they have power. 

You control your power by the words you use. A lot of people live in envy and jealousy. They look at pop stars, celebrities or athletes and are envious of them instead of admiring them.

For example, I look at someone like Serena Williams, and she has an amazing amount of talent. Most of us think we could never be that talented.

Maybe not as talented as her, right? But capable, think about it. Think about how you live your life, think about how long you work at your job.

If you could work 8 to 12 hours a day with just one thing, don’t you think you’d get really good at it? Imagine trying to be a pianist, and you have the skills to play the piano. What if you could practice 8 to 12 hours every single day, you’d probably be pretty darn good, right? So, you don’t have to envy that pianist, think about how beautiful they can play, and wish you could do that.

If you want to dedicate the time, the 10,000 hours, it’s going to take to become good at that one thing, then do it. Otherwise admire their talent, and know that if you wanted to be just as talented, you could, because you are in control of it.

You’re probably pretty good at your job. You probably do it well. You probably win awards. You probably get complimented. You probably get people thanking you for all the great things you’re doing. That’s your Serena Williams, that is your pianist. You’re doing that thing really well, and if you don’t like doing that thing anymore, change it.

2. How we treat our bodies.

The second thing we have full control of is how we treat our bodies.

How often we move, how often we exercise, what we eat, the kinds of foods we eat, how often we eat, the language we use when we’re talking to someone, the language we use when we’re talking to ourselves, our environment, all are things that we’re in control of.

If you want to be better and be healthier, do something different. If you’re going to eat better, prioritize what you’re eating. Yes, healthy food can be expensive, I know. We started shopping for mostly organic, mostly whole foods, primarily natural foods, and our grocery bill has doubled. It has doubled, but we find ways to make it cheaper.

We go to the Farmers’ Market. We look for fruits and vegetables on sale. We have menu items through the week to keep our grocery bill constant, so at least we know how much money we’re going to spend. It’s worth it.

You may have to cut out some unhealthy habits. Some things aren’t providing you any value, those you’re committed to you shouldn’t be committed to anymore, that cost money, but it’s worth it because we are what we eat.

As we age, our health is all we have. It’s everything. Putting in that time to stretch every morning and exercise as often as possible, eat well, drink water, and breathe fresh air, is everything. Don’t minimize it.

Don’t let someone think that you don’t have to do those things. You can’t control if you have a heart attack. You can’t control if you have a stroke. But you can do the things necessary to minimize those risks. You can reduce the chances of those things happening to you. Control that.

3. Your effort.

The third thing you’re in full control of is your effort.

Your effort equals your results.

You must put in the work; nothing will happen for you without you putting in the work to get it: your life, your dreams, your goals, your aspirations. If you have those things, you need to create an action plan.

You need to write it down. You need to figure out how you can achieve those goals. If you don’t do that, and you’re not putting any effort towards it, it’s going to continue to be a dream, and your vision board, or your dream book, can just be put away.

The effort you put into a relationship is all on you, and if you’re placing an effort and you’re investing in a relationship and you’re not getting anything back, you’re getting zero percent return, that investment is dead, and you probably need to let it go, and that’s with anything.

If you keep investing in something and you get nothing out of it, move on to something else that’s going to bring you joy. Something that’s going to bring you happiness. It’s going to help you reach exponential greatness.

4. Your pursuit of knowledge.

The fourth thing you’re in full control of is your pursuit of knowledge.

So maybe you’re not me, perhaps you’re not ready to quit your job in a year and completely convert to your side hustle like I am.

You still owe yourself the pursuit of knowledge. You need to be learning. You need to be doing things to better yourself.

If you need certificates to be better at your trade, get those certificates. If you need a degree to be more competitive and appear more knowledgeable to your customer, or your client, decide to get one. If you always wanted to learn a language and travel more post COVID, you need to do that.

Take the time.

I believe Rosetta Stone is offering a lifetime of all the languages for around $149. That’s worth the investment to learn another language and keep learning it. I’ve learned two languages in my life, Arabic and French.

I don’t remember any French now because I learned Arabic, but I have to constantly and continuously practice. I live in Egypt, for goodness sake, and I still have to continually practice my Arabic, or I’ll lose it. I’ve been out of the country for over six months, and I had to re-listen, re- practice, and re-study Arabic because it goes that quick.

It’s not my native language, so I have to keep practicing it. That’s with anything in life. Whatever doesn’t come naturally, what you didn’t grow up being programmed to do, you have to keep at it.

If you want to constantly grow, you need to seek information constantly. I want you to ask yourself, what’s something that you have known to be true since you can remember since you were a child? Something you’ve known to be accurate? Then, I want you to ask yourself,  how do you know it’s true? Then Investigate that.

Maybe you believe something is true that’s not true, or perhaps you believe something is true for an incorrect reason, that’s one of seeking knowledge. Grow your mind, increase your control.

5. Gratitude

The fifth thing we’re in full control of is gratitude.

Being thankful. Being thankful for where you are. Being grateful for the ability to get where you want to be.

I remembered several years ago that a friend of mine was speaking with her sister, and they were asking, “Are people really happy?”, and they couldn’t think of anyone who was truly happy. My girlfriend thought of me, and said, “She’s always happy”, and it’s true.

 

I’ve experienced loss. I have experienced regret. I’ve experienced failure, but I didn’t let those things define me. I use it as a stepping stone to get to the next thing.

Failure is good. Just fail forward. You tried but it didn’t work out. Try again. Who says you can’t keep trying?

In a relationship, sometimes people fail at a relationship, keep trying. Analyze what went wrong, try to be better the next time.

 No moment in our life makes us who we are. You are the most perfect you, you can be at that moment.

Be grateful. Be grateful for the ability to be where you are, and if you want to change it, you can change it.

6. How we treat others.

The sixth thing that we have full control of is how we treat others.

Be kind.

It’s not always the easiest thing to do. Especially when someone is spitting mad negative energy at you, but be positive anyway. If someone is negative, they’re looking for you to feed them with negativity. Give them positive energy, and then get away from them.

It is not your job to change the world. It’s not your job to fix anyone.

Maybe the barista is having a bad day, and he didn’t want to come to work today. Don’t let him ruin your day. 

Every time I give someone the negative energy they give me, I regret it. It turns my spirit. It takes me off balance, and it makes me regretful.

Don’t do it, just be positive. “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I use that one a lot. My mom taught me that one.

7. Who we surround ourselves with.

The seventh thing that we have full control of is who we surround ourselves with.

Are the people you spend most of your time with encouraging you and helping you grow? Can you bounce ideas off them? Can you trust them? Are they helping you be a better person? Are you able to dream big with them? Are you bouncing ideas about businesses off of them?

Are you guys talking about the next investment, the next thing that’s going to make you money, the next thing that’s going to help you live in financial freedom, the best way to grow your business? The best way to leave your current job?

If you’re not around people who are strategizing and synergizing these kinds of thoughts, and that’s what you want to be doing deep down inside, you need to change your surroundings.

If you’re at work and everybody’s a dud, then work on your work, work on yourself. Then when you get home, spend time with those who love you, which will help you be a better person. If you’re always talking to someone in your private time or personal time, and they are negative, stop! That’s not helping you be the best person that you can be.

“Birds of a feather flock together.” “You’re judged by the company you keep.” Those are both phrases my mom used while growing up, and I finally understood it as I became a young adult. You really are.

You’re judged by the company you keep, and birds of a feather flock together. If you’re not riffraff, stop hanging around riffraff. If you’re not a loser, stop hanging around losers. If you’re not lazy and unmotivated, then stop hanging around people that are.

They’re not going to get you to where you want to go.

The purpose of this is to encourage you and let you know that you have more control than you think you do, and it’s essential for you to invest in yourself.

As we approach this new year, I want you to find a new you, not like there’s something wrong with the old you, but the new and improved you. The you that knows that you can make anything happen.

You can reach your goals. You can invest in yourself, and you can change or not change something in your life, but it’s because you want to, not because it’s some outward force keeping you from doing it.

I want you to empower yourself. I want you to reach your exponential greatness. I want you to invest in yourself one percent every day and have an unbelievable return on investment at the end of the year.

You are that important. You are worth it. You are what you put your mind to. You are in control of your life. You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.