Visionary Thinking: Deciding to Thrive, Survive, or Nose-Dive

This is a story about three views of vision,

Which one to choose is your decision.

The first one is nose-diving and that isn't good.

But wouldn't people turn that around if they could?

Includes lots of mourning, weeping, and sadness,

No easy solutions to get out of this madness.

The second one is surviving, just keeping afloat.

Who cares how many leaks are in this boat?

Predictable irrationality is to be expected,

But excuses for mediocrity are to be rejected.

The third is thriving with a life of meaning.

This is not all eating, drinking, and laughing.

But with authentic vision, quite the contrary.

Meaningful living can make one weary.

The thriving vision is living a life that matters.

Taking action to help others, not just idle chatter.

"Do or do not, there is no try" says Yoda with the Force.

Nose-dive, survive, or thrive in your vision - decide your course.

Everyday begins with an indication of the status of a person's vision. Whether in thought or vocalized, the following expressions set a course for the day: "Do I have to get out of bed?", "Got up on the wrong side of the bed!", or "It's a brand new day!" The expression that begins the morning usually rules the day.

The seemingly harmless expressions are a mindset that is part of bigger picture. Everyone has a vision for life. Acknowledging it is one thing, but ignoring it becomes a bigger problem failing to realize the power aimless wandering wields.

Nose-diving is filled with ideations of "never good enough", "who am I to think I could ever fill in the blank", or general negative self-talk. People reiterating these phrases or some variation of each more than likely think they have no vision, but this is a big part of the nose-dive.

Lack of direction is like flying with vertigo. The pilot has no sense of up, down, or the direction the plane is heading. Failing to follow any course in life at best ends up like an airplane that runs out of fuel, rendered useless. The worst case is a crash that did not have to happen.

Surviving might include phrases like, "don't worry, be happy," "go with the flow", or "you can't have your cake and eat it too." The deceptive part of the surviving is there are times this mindset is appropriate. The problem is embracing mediocrity without ever stepping out of the comfort zone.

Taking time off for recovery might be considered as surviving. The reason for the recovery has a lot to do with surviving or thriving. Many people retire only to take it easy. Without purpose, retirees become sedentary and listless. The shame is that the multiple gifts and talents of these people to help others in a different capacity go to waste.

Thriving visionaries take time to recover knowing a renewed energy is essential to doing meaningful things. They are in a sweet spot that is the right combination of being excited about the task at hand with the capability of performing well in doing it. The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that performance and arousal are directly related. Understanding how the combination is consistently optimized is thriving.

An example of optimization to thrive in accordance with the Yerkes-Dodson Law is in a basketball game down to the final shot to win or lose. The nose-diving person doesn't even want to be on the court for fear of making a mistake. The survivor is on the court, but does not want to touch the ball. The thriving visionary player wants the ball to take the shot and is upset if that isn't the play called.

Can everyone thrive all the time as a visionary Superhero? Of course not. Does an occasional nose-dive or time-of-survival become part of a person's life? Certainly. Hard work, focus, and even suffering is required to maximize time in the sweet spot of thriving. The Yerkes-Dodson Law research identifies the relationship of performance and arousal. Each person has to determine where to live the majority of a visionary life - nose-diving, surviving, or thriving.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Visionary-Thinking:-Deciding-to-Thrive,-Survive,-or-Nose-Dive&id=9967310

Accept, Survive & Thrive

Have you ever thought about how you would feel if you woke up one day and didn't know why you were, wherever you were? I'm not talking about waking up after overindulging in some substance or forgetting where you slept. I'm asking if you've ever been betrayed by your memories. Suddenly, you find that you are unable to do, what you remember you could do. Your life terrifies you; you trust no one and you can't remember needing the assistance that you now require. How do you continue? What do you have to do differently now and in the future? Is doing all you can worth the struggle?

Over forty-five years ago, in November of 1971, I was an active, liberal rebellious college student. I was very social, well organized, goal oriented and fiercely independent with just the right touch of passive aggressive resistance to authority figures. I remember laughing a lot and handling stress without much thought or anxiety. I could manage multiple demands with ease. In the fall of that year, my world collapsed. I was a passenger in a car that was involved in a head-on collision in the Ann Arbor area. In that split second, my career changed from one of a college student to an entry-level position in the field of brain injury recovery.

I got an impressive set of credentials that afternoon. My right wrist was crushed; both of my eyes would never again work together and I sustained a severe closed head/brain stem injury. Fortunately, the driver of the other car was a doctor who immediately began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to restore my breathing. I was rushed to the University Hospital in Ann Arbor, where I was placed on life support.

In 1972, I was concerned with learning to walk without using furniture for support, go up and down stairs, cook my own meals and set my hair. Things that I unconsciously do today, were very difficult and required deliberate efforts. I could only do one thing at a time. I couldn't eat and carry on a conversation at the same time. I used to hesitate between groups of words so often, that I was told I sounded retarded. I didn't like that at all. So, I started listening to how people in the mainstream talked and I copied them. I also had no idea of how to interact with anyone after my injury. So, I watched how others did that wherever I went. I chose role models from the people I like and respected.

I decided to be the kind of person who got treated the way I wanted to be treated. Somehow, I knew that I had to treat others the way I wanted to be treated. I'm not going to talk about my trials returning to school, trying to work and getting fired repeatedly. And I'm not going to discuss my seizure, sleeping and breathing disorders. Those circumstances are simply facts of my life. The important question is what do I do now?

Today, I work as a Trauma Recovery Expert/Disability Life Coach. Quite logically, you might want to ask me how I managed to accomplish all of this. First, I'd have to say that I lead an interdependent life and I'm comfortable asking for assistance when I need it. Then, I'd say that I'm aware of the activities that deplete my energy and I try not to do them very often. I know what I do well and I know when I need to ask for help. Lastly, I would make it crystal clear; that I do all that I can and ask for assistance only when it is necessary.

Now, I will mention some of my difficulties and the success strategies I use to overcome them. The first is a problem I confront daily and that is my fatigue --- so, SUCCESS STRATEGY No. 1 is that I get adequate sleep and remain calm. Mornings are my best times and that's when I try to schedule any appointments or activities.

Another problem I have is with organization of everything. That's a skill that I find to be extremely difficult to master and that brings me to SUCCESS STRATEGY No. 2. I do one thing at a time and what is necessary first. I must finish what I start, before moving on to another project. In other words, I've learned to prioritize.

I also have energy challenges. I have difficulty with stamina and endurance. My stamina is dependent on the time of day, and my interest in the activity in which I'm engaged - so, SUCCESS STRATEGY No. 3 is that I need to be cognizant of how I'm eating, sleeping, exercising, and how I'm taking my medications.

I must address my health issues at least three times each day. It's inconvenient to have to take multiple prescriptions many times a day --- That brings me to SUCCESS STRATEGY #4 and that is; to just do it. I take lots of pills and I use two medication organizers to help me remember when to take, which drugs. I simply empty the designated part of the organizer into my hand and take the prescribed medication. If I want to live as well as I can, be free from pain, not have seizures and get a good night's sleep, I take what my doctors advise.

Earlier I mentioned a success strategy that I use. I spoke of treating other people the way I want to be treated. I call this SUCCESS STRATEGY #5. I get along better with others, when I treat them with respect. That applies to everyone, from doctors, to health care workers, to the people who provide me with services.

The final problem I'm going to speak of is the one I have with my memory. I forget things; I put something somewhere and then, absolutely forget where I put it. I miss appointments or things I know I want to do --- So SUCCESS STRATEGY #6 is to use notepads & calendars. Along with these tools, I leave myself reminder messages in places where I know that I'll see them, like the back of my front door, on my refrigerator or kitchen table.

I've lived with my difficulties for over 45 years and I've learned that I need a plan to win the war with my problems. Just like any war, I need to have a BATTLE PLAN. Mine is;

1. It's best to confront rather than avoid my problems.

2. I think of myself as having a battle with the deficits created by my injury, my disability, my illness and my age. There are some things I just can't do as well as I once did. For instance, I'm not as coordinated as I used to be and I don't move as quickly or manage stress, as well as I did in the past.

3. I cannot allow myself to remain ignorant of my difficulties. When I familiarize myself with the difficulties that might occur, my stress seems to be reduced as well as my fear and anxiety about life with all my problems.

When I no longer need to be afraid of what might happen, I'm able to better prepare for the options, or what the health care professionals choose to call, compensatory strategies that I need to make. I choose to call them, Success Strategies. I have learned that for me to make changes, I need to have goals. Those goals must be realistic and attainable. I recognize my difficulties in the here and now. When bringing about genuine change, I need to make a sustained effort.

My experiences have taught me that it takes determination, effort and time to modify my behavior. While it's important to set reasonable expectations, and be respectful of the reality of my situation, I feel that I must never lose sight of what I hope to achieve.

One statement that I like and helps me to feel good about myself is; RECOVERY IS NOT ONLY MAKING PROGRESS, it is TAKING ONE STEP! It doesn't matter where I start, doing anything to make my life better is making progress.

How do I win the war against the residuals of my problems?

I have learned that I must accept what I absolutely can't do, before I will allow myself to learn the skills necessary to do what I want to do. Then, I need to remember that every day and every task is different. Just because I can do something today, at one time doesn't mean I'll be able to repeat that process on another day or at another time.

After a trauma, an illness or an addiction, life becomes an uphill battle in all situations. Whether it's dealing with doctors, drug companies, mental health and rehabilitation professionals, or any other support staff, living as an independent, self-sufficient human being is simply no longer possible. There are countless adjustments, accommodations and modifications that need to be made, to ensure the possibility that a quality life will be realized.

Now, let's bust some myths about living with challenges. First, true independence is simply no longer a possibility. Total dependence on anything is undesirable. A mixture of both, independence or self-sufficiency and dependence or getting assistance when needed, becomes your new normal. Being interdependent with your environment becomes a new success strategy.

What you believe about yourself defines who you are. Who you believe you are, is who you are. You form your beliefs about yourself early in life. Your core beliefs form the context out of which all else evolves. If you believe yourself to be competent, you will behave in ways that reflect and strengthen competence. Conversely, if you believe yourself to be inadequate, your behavior will reflect inadequacy. If your self-concept is negative, you will probably remain in a state of needing to improve.

People experience a fundamental belief system shift when they face a life-threatening crisis. They suddenly see their priorities in a different order, their values change, their thinking about themselves shifts, and their feelings are modified. Everything seems to change.

Recovery to a person with an injury, a disability or an illness is making progress. Making progress is ACCEPTING your deficits, learning success "strategies to help you with those deficits, and learning to love and value yourself."

Is it Worth the Struggle? I say YES, it is!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Accept,-Survive-and-Thrive&id=9562691

If You Want To Change The World, Start With Yourself First.

Attend To Your Own Personal Development

It was the American author and speaker John C. Maxwell who wrote: "Most people want to change the world to improve their lives, but the world they need to change first is the one inside themselves."

Everyone has an opinion on what is wrong with the world, yet few will do the work to improve their own lives.

It is easy to draw attention to what is wrong because on one level it is frustrating to observe these conditions and stand back while they take place.

I often remind myself and others, the world has existed for 4.54 billion years and is much older and wiser than us.

We have existed for an insignificant extent in that timeline and conditions weren't always ideal, in fact history shows conditions to be less than idyllic.

So, a Utopian paradise needn't exist for us to be happy. We can still thrive despite the unrest in the world because outside conditions aren't as bad as you believe them to be.

If you want to change reality start with yourself first and attend to your own personal development. In doing so, problems give way to solutions and will no longer affect you.

Author Larry Weidel writes in Serial Winner: 5 Actions to Create Your Cycle of Success: "If we all live the richest life possible, it's personally fulfilling, but it also changes the world."

Raise Your Level Of Consciousness

Most people are frustrated or angry with circumstances beyond their control. They believe if they can control these situations they will be happy.

Sometimes it is not possible since there are too many things to control. It requires redesigning your life to suit you, or playing God, neither of which are possible.

It is simpler to attend to your own personal development. So when you feel frustrated, angry or any other disempowering state, become curious and work on that part of you that is at war with reality.

It is futile trying to change conditions out there because life is constantly changing. It is like trying to keep plates spinning on a stick while more plates are added. You cannot keep up and they will eventually come crashing down.

It makes sense to

work on yourself so that outside conditions no longer affect you as they once did. This is the key to enlightenment, raising your level of consciousness so you transcend problems with a higher awareness.

Albert Einstein recognised this principle when he said: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Consider the following example, highlighting why you must attend to your own personal growth if you want to change the world.

Imagine 100 people who constantly complain about the state of the world. One day they collectively decide they've had enough and undertake personal development to change their focus.

Within months, they have stopped whining and are now open to life instead of being mired in their problems. They act from a place of love, peace and joy.

You've heard it said, you are the sum of the five people you most associate with. Therefore, if 100 people can influence five others, we now have 500 people who are now more self-aware than before. If that cycle continues, a tipping point will occur so that anger and fear no longer prevail.

Now I am not naïve and know this Utopian reality will not miraculously emerge overnight if at all within the coming decade. Yet, undertaking personal development will not only help you, but influence those around you.

I have seen evidence of this with my family and friends and those I've coached. You change the world not by pointing out what is wrong with it, but by upgrading your model of reality to coincide with what you wish to see in the world.

It's an inside-out job.

"You don't have to change the world. You just have to change what you pay attention to in the world. And that, it turns out, is hugely powerful," affirms Vishen Lakhiani in The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms.

Upgrade Your Model Of Reality

It was the late Dr Wayne Dyer, a well-known self-help author who said: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." He knew change must take place within and has a ripple effect in the lives of others. If that change is powerful enough, it will gather momentum to affect the whole of humanity.

I admit, it is difficult to focus on what is right in the world when we are governed by our internal state which gets the better of us. The media add to the negativity by reporting bad news to promote fear, and it becomes challenging to break the spell.

I often succumb to these disempowering states at times, so it is remiss of me to offer the advice and claim not to feel this way.

Yet, through my own personal development, I've come to appreciate these are fleeting states and I don't remain stuck in these conditions for long. Awareness has taught me that what I focus on builds momentum and becomes integrated into my reality.

So the advice is clear and simple: be aware when you are pointing the finger outside of you. Go within and attend to that part of you that is inclined to judge outside circumstances are bad.

Heal yourself first by integrating your shadow self and be mindful of your thoughts leading you down a path of negativity. If you do this often, you will break the cycle of incessant thinking that dictates there is something wrong with the world. It is worth the effort to your personal growth.

Eventually, problems that once consumed you will no longer affect you because you have upgraded your model of reality to coincide with a new awareness.

http://ezinearticles.com/?If-You-Want-To-Change-The-World,-Start-With-Yourself-First&id=9865459

Why You Have Everything You Need To Thrive

Being Grateful For What Is

While I know it may not seem apparent at times, you have everything you need to thrive.

It is a mistaken belief that having more will help you advance in life when you meaninglessly want more.

People think that if they had more money, better looks, a better job or lived in a better area of town, they would be happy.

I wish to remind you that everything comes with a price and having more money means being responsible for managing large sums. If you do not have the emotional intelligence to manage money, having lots of it can pose problems.

Thriving then is a state of mind.

"You have everything you need to thrive; you just have to plan for the race of your life. Each person's journey and process is unique," states author Jay Samit in Disrupt Yourself.

Appreciate what is in your life right now by recognising your gifts, talents and genius. It means knowing your life is bountiful as it is.

Though you have wants and needs, do not allow them to overshadow what is present.

This is the basis of this entire piece; being grateful for your goodness instead of focusing on what is lacking.

Why Sometimes It Isn't Enough

I realise it is easy to focus on what is missing when your basic needs are met. For example, if you have a roof over your head, clothes to wear and food on the table, your basic survival needs are catered for. However, millions of people do without these luxuries.

One of the world's leading business thinkers, Daniel H. Pink, states in his book Drive, "I don't think it's a Western thing to really talk about intrinsic motivation and the drive for autonomy, mastery and purpose. You have to not be struggling for survival. For people who don't know where their next meal is coming, notions of finding inner motivation are comical."

Perhaps necessities are not enough because you want more: money, fame, better relationships or a successful career.

History has shown people succeeded with the bare necessities. Several prominent companies nowadays began operations in less than desirable conditions in the garage of their parents' house.

You have all you need to thrive, but you believe it isn't enough compared to those with plentiful.

But if you look behind the scenes of those you consider rich, you will find emptiness and a longing for something deeper than material luxuries.

Whatever is plentiful in one area, will be lacking in other areas of your life.

The root cause of suffering is not appreciating what is apparent in our lives and striving to fill the void.

"Fear causes you to contract rather than open, to protect rather than connect, to resist rather than respond, to survive rather than thrive," affirms author Mary O'Malley in What's in the Way Is the Way: A Practical Guide for Waking Up to Life.

Abundance and Prosperity

Underlying this want for more is the fear that someday your needs will no longer be met. Your partner will fall out of love, you will run out of money and be homeless or forced out of your job or worse still, death.

However, this is an illusion because your thoughts are turned towards fear instead of towards abundance and prosperity.

Abundance and prosperity does not mean being filthy rich, but recognising the abundant nature of your life. Having your basic needs met is abundance. Half the world's population are without access to these luxuries and make do with less than optimal conditions.

One need only look to the current refugee crisis and see people's homes and basic needs taken from them.

For many refugees, not having food, water and shelter constitutes a significant change in circumstances. Yet, for someone living in the United States, this is a basic necessity often overlooked.

Author Linda Graham MFT states in her book Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being: "Survive first, thrive later: that's the motto of the lower brain. The well-documented tendency of our lower brain to encode negative, fear-based memories more readily into our unconscious memory than positive ones is referred to as negativity bias."

You will continue to suffer if you believe the source of your happiness is outside of you.

If you hang your hopes on someone or something to provide for your happiness, you will always long for more.

The moment you move your awareness to what is bountiful, you shift to gratitude to what is available.

This doesn't mean you should not have better things to enjoy. However, if your attention is fixed on what is lacking, you neglect to value if the goodness in your life.

The Source of Your Joy

Happiness must not be subject to constantly having your needs met. I assure you, not everything will go to plan and occasionally you will be disappointed.

This is no less true when a partner leaves a relationship and the other person is left to contemplate why it dissolved.

However, in time, their broken heart heals and they soon find love again. This time, they recognise their partner is not the only source of their happiness, but someone who compliments them.

To appreciate what you have, focus on the source of your joy. Write down or recite what you are grateful for upon waking up or retiring to bed each night.

A warm cup of coffee, shower, bed, family and friends to share a home with, living in a safe neighbourhood, a job that pays well and an employer that appreciates you are the unlikeliest sources of happiness.

These are basic essentials, which when magnified add to your sense of appreciation. From this place of awareness you'll create better circumstances in which to thrive.

The German born spiritual author Eckhart Tolle states: "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."

Appreciation enriches your life as abundance and prosperity, as long as you recognise it is always enough.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-You-Have-Everything-You-Need-To-Thrive&id=9661467

What to Do When Rewards and Incentives Don’t Work

To start, stop beating your people with carrots. Here’s what to do instead.

As a leader, what do you do when:

• a star employee seems to be showing signs of slowing down?
• sales reps are barely making their numbers despite the new product line introduced to jumpstart sales?
• the committee responsible for putting on the company’s 25th anniversary party requested employees to send in self-shot videos telling a personal story about working there—and they’ve only received four entries? (The committee was counting on showing at least 12.)

If you follow conventional practices when it comes to motivation, you incentivize, reward or pressure people to perform. So you:

• offer the star employee a raise, the corner office or a prestigious assignment.
• incentivize the product line, hoping the bribe stimulates sales reps to sell it. As extra incentive, you set up a new condition—if a sales rep makes his numbers but hasn’t sold enough of the new product line, he’s ineligible for the annual sales reward trip.
• announce a contest to encourage video entries with an iPhone 6 as the prize for getting the most likes for your video. You send out one of the entries already received, declaring that it sets the standard to beat.

Now you wonder why the sales reps failed (or succeed this quarter and fail miserably the next), the committee never received any more video entries, and the star employee quit anyway.

What happened? To borrow from the old “carrot and stick approach” of leadership, which provides a combination of rewards and punishment to induce behavior, you beat your people with carrots (the rewards that were supposed to motivate them).

Instead, take advantage of the compelling science of motivation based on this premise: People want to thrive. Contrary to conventional wisdom, no one wants to be bored, disengaged, disconnected, useless, victimized or incompetent. People will take the carrots and yield to the stick, but they yearn to thrive.

What motivates people to thrive in the workplace? It’s not money, power or winning. Not promotions, raises or benefits. Not beauty, image or status. Those are recipes for suboptimal motivation and long-term disengagement.

The best motivation comes from the three basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness and competence, or ARC. These three needs are as essential as the “big three biological needs” for water, food and sex. When psychological needs are satisfied, people flourish. When these needs are undermined, people languish. 

When the reason for motivation is suboptimal such as the promise of a reward, the hope of gaining power or status, or acquiescing to pressure, there is no way people can experience the positive energy, sustained vitality and sense of well-being that comes from satisfying ARC.

You can wean your employees off carrots and hang up your stick by adapting motivation best practices that support people’s autonomy, relatedness and competence:

1. Encourage autonomy.

Frame deadlines as useful information critical for achieving important goals rather than sticks for applying pressure.

2. Deepen relatedness.

Reframe metrics that have no emotional meaning. Conduct motivational outlook conversations with employees to help them attribute their own sense of meaning to critical organizational goals and outcomes. You cannot impose your values or feelings on others, but you can guide their exploration of values and sense of purpose they find compelling.

3. Develop people's competence.

Focus on setting learning goals, not just output goals. Shift your focus from accomplishment to building competence. Instead of just asking, “What did you get done today?” try asking, "What did you learn today?"

4. Promote mindfulness.

Prompt awareness of options a person may not have considered. Ask questions such as "Why is this important to you (or not)?" and "Why are you finding this goal so challenging (or rewarding)?” These simple yet powerful, open-ended questions help individuals rise above patterns of behavior that often sabotage their best intentions.

5. Align with values.

Conduct a values conversation with individuals you lead. They may have succumbed to suboptimal motivation based on money, rewards, incentives, power, status, fear, pressure, guilt or shame because they have not consciously or deliberately aligned their work to meaningful values that generate sustained positive energy, vitality and sense of well-being.

6. Connect to purpose.

Your organization has probably spent enormous resources crafting and socializing its vision, purpose and mission. Now help individuals do the same. Encourage the people you lead to develop their own workplace purpose statements. There are few things in life more powerful than acting from a noble purpose.

http://www.success.com/article/what-to-do-when-rewards-and-incentives-dont-work

To Thrive You Need to Wake Up to These 5 Hard Truths

Entrepreneurship isn’t an easy journey, and we’re in uncertain times for sure. With overwhelming complexity, insurmountable change and big competition, it’s became more important than ever to be strategic and intentional.

I want to share a couple insights that I feel can make a difference in the results you achieve in your life and business, but more importantly help you thrive regardless of the economy. Some might make you mad at first, that’s fine. Sometimes the things you don’t want to hear are the things you need to hear the most. Most blogs you’ll read will try to make you feel good, and tell you exactly what you want to hear. That creates no real change, just a good feeling in the moment. They don’t spark your mind or make you think, they don’t challenge you, and they don’t go against traditional thinking.

This one will. 

1. Do the opposite.

Strange tip for those not familiar, but a real GAME CHANGER. This is a killer strategy for those serious about improving their life. The more people do something, the less valuable it is. 

• Most people over eat and eat based off pleasure vs. health.
• Most people sleep in and have no morning routine.
• Most people make excuses instead of progress.
• Most people focus on the negative vs. the positive.
• Most people spend more money than they make.
• Most people talk about success vs. take action.
• Most people go to college, get in debt and get an unrelated job after college.
• Most people pray for weekends, and hate Mondays.

Don't be like most people! No one wants to be typical. We all want to be special and different, yet most of us do the same things. The majority of us live like one another and then wonder why we continually don’t achieve any real results or success in our lives. We follow each others' lead and rarely break the mold. Life becomes so much more convenient when you really take this seriously.

All the greats in our society live life to their own choosing, not other peoples. One way to be outstanding and valuable is to do what others aren't doing, or what most can't. 

2. The 90-day focus.

What is your #1 goal that you want to accomplish in the next 90 days? What's the #1 skill that you need master that will have the biggest impact on your #1 goal?

There are specific skills you have to master to reach that goal at a fast rate. Skills are weapons in your industry, so figure out the top skill you need right now and master it. Sadly, most people operate on information overload instead of mastery and have too much noise. Or, even worse, they learn just enough to get by and stop learning. Apple said it bluntly....

"We shouldn't be criticized for using Chinese workers, the U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need.” 

Ouch!

3. Destroy your momentum killers.

Write down your top three potential distractions and momentum killers that have held you back in the past. Now create a prevention plan for each. If you don’t have a plan to interrupt your interruptions, your plans will always be interrupted.

Distractions kill productivity, creative expression and income. Either you control your days or your days control you. Learn to concentrate and focus on the most important tasks with no interference or distraction. Prioritize your activities based on importance and then get to work with no distractions! Remember, activities without purpose are the drain to all life, wealth and peace of mind.

4. Analysis vs. emotions.

Base your decisions and actions off intelligence, not emotion. Ask yourself before every choice you make “is this the most intelligent action to take right now, and does this action or decision get me closer or farther away from my 90-day goal?”

When you pass the stage of making decisions based on what others think or current emotion, you will start seeing real success. The best can silence their ego, push away anxieties, and analyze the situation. Don’t judge, don’t overreact, just analyze.

5. Stop the ideas, start the execution. 

“Innovation is  rewarded, execution is worshipped.”          --  Eric Thomas

Hard work trumps IQ seven days of the week. Great accomplishments don't happen overnight or even in a few months. They will take years of consistent action linked by failure, sacrifice and discipline. If you want real changes in your life, expect that your actions need to be substantial. If you truly have the desire to create something you’re proud of, your addiction to ideas and other mindless distractions must be retired and replaced with meaningful action.

I know people who would rather poke their own eye balls out than take action, and I always find them struggling with another challenge followed by another validation or excuse. Execution is the foundational key to success. Once that happens, doors will consistently start opening for you.

Get serious about who you are and where you want to go. Realize the only way to get there is to differentiate yourself, invest in real education and start doing more than your talking.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248839