BE FEARFUL OF MEDIOCRITY

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The only thing that can stop you..is you.

There is a battle that resides inside you no matter what you are trying to do. Start a business, Go for a run, keep to a diet, fix the broken door or any number of the things we tend to procrastinate or delay in our busy schedules. Let’s take jogging to stay fit as an example of how this defines every decision you make in your life.

You wake up knowing that if you go for a run you will feel great for the whole day, not only on a physical level but on a psychological one as well. But as soon as you put the thought in motion a negative force is immediately jumps into action. Why today? Maybe later, It looks like rain, you’ve just got over a cold so should you go now? The list of excuses comes at you like a flood. It really is relentless and you have to just take one step at a time to overcome this. The initial step will undoubtedly be the hardest.

So you go and get changed. Then the excuses from within continue to come. Go later, just do a small run today, don’t you have work you need to do? But you have to focus on one thing and one thing only…get out of the house. The walk down the path to the gate is not as difficult as getting changed, but it still is a monumental effort. Out of the gate the mind games continue, but you feel a slight change in how you are dealing with them.

As you start to run you leave behind the majority of the negative thoughts that pray on you, but beware they will still sit on your shoulder waiting for you to start feeling tired, but you will have the momentum and the confidence at this point to know you are going to complete your run, beat your negative thoughts and be closer to your goals. This example could be about anything as everything we do in our lives is faced with the same doubts and negativity, and this is from us!

We can be our own worst enemies. But understand one thing no doubts and fears from anyone else will ever be as damaging or powerful as the ones that come from within. If you can overcome this then you can overcome anything in your life. As I have mentioned before focus on the little goals to help you keep building momentum and very soon you will be taking on bigger challenges that you have always dreamed you could do.

Keep in mind that everyone has excuses why they shouldn’t, couldn’t or dare not do the difference between those that don’t and those that do, is only in the fact that they tried. Never be afraid to fail, out of failure always comes lessons that help us in the future, but at least give yourself the chance to succeed by trying.

2 Comments

Posted by afirmin on January 22, 2012 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: challenge, excuses, fail, initial step, life, mind games, monumental effort, negative thoughts, negativity, step at a time, succeed, try

Setting smaller goals will help you achieve the big ones

10 Jan

Sometimes when you look at what you achieve in life the distance is so great that it is quite deflating. Many people are put of chasing their dreams purely because the goal they set is so big and so far away that they lose sight of it after a short time. Having a big goal is fantastic and everyone should have goals in their life if they want to live a life regret free. So go ahead set the big goals, but here is an idea that will help your journey be more enjoyable and achievable.

No matter what you big goal may be, a new job, a new life, an adventure getting rid of a debt that is weighing you down like an anchor in the sea, set some smaller goals that will help you focus on what you need to do to achieve the big goal. Think of it this way, if an olympic hurdler set off on a race and only focused on the finish line they may not get over each hurdle the way they have trained to do for years. But if every focus is 100% on the next hurdle they will nail every single hurdle perfectly and before they realizes it will be at the finish line with a great chance of winning. That is how you need to plan your big goals, with smaller and closer hurdles that you can focus on along the way.

The important thing to do when you do reach these smaller, closer goals is to celebrate them. Give yourself a small reward that will motivate you to keep going or start moving towards the next hurdle or goal. It doesn’t need to be big but the acknowledgement that you are getting closer to your bigger goals will do absolute wonders for your self esteem and confidence in what you are trying to achieve.I have found that no matter what your end goal is that you can set smaller goals, write a list or plan of things you need or need to do if you are to reach your goals, it will help you more than you could imagine. Good luck!

3 Comments

Posted by afirmin on January 10, 2012 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: achieve, acknowledgement, dreams, goals, help, hurdle, idea, journey, motivation, new job

I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.

02 Jan

Has anything you have ever achieved in life been easy? Did you have to work, learn and sweat to make it happen? If not you are very lucky and I salute you. But if you are like most of us anything worth doing in life comes with real dedication and passion. Will it be easy, probably not. The path ahead will be full of twists and turns, potholes and dead ends. But once you reach your destination you will realize that every single bump and stumble you faced was all part and parcel of becoming the person you now are, A different person who grew without you even noticing, a person who looks at the world differently and who values the journey now more than the destination.

If you take a look over your shoulder and see the path you have taken until now you will notice many things. Life moments that defined who you are today, walls of which when you were on the other side seemed like mountains that couldn’t be climbed, but you did and you even broke through a few of them once you gained momentum. Every single one of those moments were hard and took every ounce of the person you are to overcome, but the important thing is you did overcome them and that is what you must take with you on the next part of your journey.

A new year spreads out before you. You know how quickly time passes so where do you see yourself this time next year? Do you see a year that you continued to worry about the ‘what if’s?’ Or, was it a year that you took your life by the scruff of the neck and said this will be my year, this will be the year I change my life, this will be the year that even if the destination I want to reach is beyond my current capabilities I will start moving one step at a time, because nothing worth doing is easy and nothing anyone ever accomplished was ever achieved without the decision to try. Happy New Year, I hope it is one you look back on with a smile.

2 Comments

Posted by afirmin on January 2, 2012 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: challenges, happy new year, journey, life moments, look over your shoulder, motivation, motivational, smile gallery, twists and turns, worries

The only thing a comfort zone is good for, is sleeping.

21 Dec

If you want to live the life you’ve always wanted it will never happen unless you push yourself into areas that are out of your comfort zone. We all get stuck in moments in our life where we are faced with a fork in the road. The fork has two directions which are made up of a) Continuing on the same path that we can see clearly ahead as being much the same as we have right now. And then there is b) A road that is less assured and will mean you pushing yourself into doing things that are not comfortable to you now. But you have to ask, “What is it in life that you want?”

For anyone who says they are happy and content where they are I applaud you and think you are very lucky. I honestly couldn’t be happier for you. If however, you have ambition, dreams and desires to have a different life then you have to make the changes that will create that new reality. I do not mean the dream where everyone is rich, as I honestly don’t think that is a true test of happiness anyway. I mean if there is something in your life you have always wanted to do like traveling, learn a language, learn an instrument, a new skill or a change in career you have to ask yourself when are you going to make it happen?

Unfortunately life rarely comes knocking on our door with a gift-wrapped life where you will have all you have ever wanted. You have to get dressed and forge out into the world, where things are uncertain and will not always go your way. In order to make those dreams a reality you have to push yourself in places that make you uncomfortable. It is in these moments, the difficult ones, where we truly find out who we are and what we truly do want out of life. Maybe once you start something you will realize that this is not what you wanted anyway.

That’s good, as it means you will not sit awake at night and wonder that horrible ‘what if?’ It means you are now ahead of the curve on knowing what you do not want. You are now in a different place in your life, a self confidence growing within you and the knowledge knowing you are closer to doing what it is in life you want, even if you don’t know what that is yet. Leave the comfort zone for sleeping and enjoy exploring the amazing person you are by realizing your potential. You at least owe it yourself to try.

2 Comments

Posted by afirmin on December 21, 2011 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: comfort zone, different life, dreams, dreams and desires, happy, journey, life, new reality, potential, self confidence, true test

Don’t be ordinary, be extraordinary.

18 Dec

So you are different, so what? So growing up you felt alienated from people around you, a square peg in a round hole, a misfit and a weirdo. These feelings growing up are the main cause of people becoming introverts, hermits and shy shells of the promise youth once held. So it’s time to turn back the clocks.

You see, if it wasn’t for the misfits, the weirdo’s or the square pegs in our world we would live in a boring, grey and uninteresting place that didn’t illuminate the imagination, encourage people to be better and keep pushing the world to be more creative, inspiring and entertaining. So celebrate your differences!

Take a long hard look at your differences. Things you think make you different, because it is those that make you unique. It is those aspects that are not hurdles, but springboards to be whatever you want to be. Because the world is full of people with insecurities about the way they feel, look and act. But if the world doesn’t accept you for the way you are, move and start another world where you can be a silly, funny, odd, interesting and as happy as you were when you were a child.

As a child it was a time when you thought everything was possible, because it still is, it is only you listening to the wrong opinions. Close your mind from every stereotype you have ever heard about beauty, education, creativity and life so that you can start living the life you were destined to live. The world tries to make you ‘normal’ when the people we celebrate are the ones that said NO! I will not conform, I will not accept that preconception, and I will change the world because I am different, I am unique and nothing will change that unless I decide to change it myself. Stop listening to what the world says about you and start listening to what you want to do, to be and to achieve.

2 Comments

Posted by afirmin on December 18, 2011 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: belief, challenge, life, opinion, preconception, self confidence, stereotypes, weirdo

Are you magicle?

11 Dec

My seven-year-old daughter used this as the headline to her letter to Santa that she spent her evening working on yesterday. The spelling mistake of ‘magical’ was secondary to a wonderful insight into a child’s mind that became clear in the way she progressed through her letter. In an almost apologetic manner she asked for, “What ever you can bring me.” before cleverly listing ‘things I would like’ in hope more than pressure of what she wanted for Christmas. But this lovely little message was just one of many that decorated her hand written letter to Santa.

Another question brought a smile to my face as you realize the thoughts that must go through a child’s mind. The question was “How old are you?” followed beautifully by the line ‘I believe you’ (meant to be I believe in you) This letter took me back to all those wonderful memories I have of being a child that seem to grow more and more distant as I grow older. It seems to take little moments like this that transport you back to those times that were just, well, magical!

Of course the list on the back of the letter, just in case you need help Santa! Is filled with what children all over the world must be looking for, an iphone, bike, scooter and my favorite, a small doll of you Santa! Today we are mailing the letter to Santa in the North Pole, but I have a sneaky feeling that, for the most part, she will be happy with what Santa brings her this year! I wish you all a wonderful lead up to Christmas. May it bring you all you want and give you the greatest start to the year 2012, which I hope is everything you wish for and more.

5 Comments

Posted by afirmin on December 11, 2011 in Blog, Miscellaneous

Tags: child, Children, christmas, list, Santa

It is the courage to continue that counts

25 Nov

Sometimes in life things can look very bleak indeed. Whether it is on the macro level of global politics, war, famine and so on; or it is on the micro level about what we are facing as individuals like financial, career and love they are all obstacles that could very easily give us an excuse to stop.

Well that would be the easy option for sure, but like the famous quote from Winston Churchill says, “Success in not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” Because, there is not a single person on this world that doesn’t have at least one, of the above issues, facing them at any one point in life. It all comes down to how we manage that horrible feeling of despair when we do.

Yes it can be a dark and frightening road when the lights suddenly go out on a relationship or your bank account seems to look like a speedometer in a car rapidly going the wrong way. But retreating back into your comfort zone is not going to change the situation. It would be nice to be able to hide from a problem so it goes away, but the truth is it is going to be waiting for you once you open your eyes as we can all vouch for in our lives.

Try not to be too hard on yourself when you face an issue in your life, most experiences in life, in the long run, will make you a better and stronger person so focus on what has happened, what this means to you in the long run and then see the way out by taking the single first step towards the answer. It may take a hundred steps to get there, but at least you will be moving and that is the ultimate difference between someone who is lost and someone who is on the journey of life, faced a bump or two and is making the best out of their life, regardless what happens along the way. Having that courage to take the fist step is what will bring you success and happiness in everything you do.

1 Comment

Posted by afirmin on November 25, 2011 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: failure, journey, life, quotes, strength, winston churchill

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try

16 Nov

We’ve all been there. Standing on the edge of a decision that frightens us. Poised to leap into the unknown with fear and responsibility holding you back like an anchor on a ship rooted to the seabed. It’s easy to stay where you are, or even go backwards. But to stay where you are safe. It’s comfortable, warm and the lights are bright around you ensuring you can see everything in your near vicinity. But is that all you want in life?

It takes every effort to move that one-foot forward into the shadows of the unknown. It takes even more to leave the bright lights of certainty behind and forge a new path for others to follow. But if you are stood in that place right now, or you face a decision that is unclear, then you must ask yourself a simple question of who you are and where you see your life in the next one, two or five years. If you are happy where you are then I congratulate you on achieving something very few people have achieved. But if not, you must try.

For every accomplishment that anyone has ever made was not done because the outcome was certain or guaranteed. It was achieved because they tried and tried again if it didn’t work. Nothing in life worth achieving was ever given away free, it was always achieved by someone making a decision to try. Whether that is simply buying a lottery ticket or changing the course of your entire life it still comes down to one thing, you must try.

1 Comment

Posted by afirmin on November 16, 2011 in Blog, Miscellaneous, motivation

Tags: achievement, decision, journey, law of attraction, life, motivation

Has the world lost its ability to wait for anything?

20 Oct

I have always prided myself on my level of patience in anything I do. I personally do not mind waiting for another person, be it at work or at home. But in comparison the thought that I am late for another person or someone is waiting for me just fills me with all kinds of negative feelings of guilt, concern and almost panic. I detest being late! It makes me feel physically ill!

But recently I have found my need for immediate responses on things has begun to border on the excessive. I started to wonder why after sending an email my inbox fails to immediately pop up with a response. The time I face during the sending and receiving has become quite a stressful time. But why is this?

I still remember writing letters to pen pals where days would turn to weeks and then the letter would arrive, as it should. But now in a world of immediate responses to every action we make is beginning to border on excessive compulsive disorder. We send a tweet and ten people re-tweet and a few ask you a question or comment on what you tweeted. We post an update on Facebook and immediately, although everyone is supposedly at work, it’s liked, disliked or commented on from all corners of the globe. God forbid a Google plus update takes more than a few seconds to be +1’d or shared again!

Instant communication the world has brought to our fingertips is a joy to behold. Where news stories are discussed amongst real people before the headlines hit CNN or the BBC, I personally think this is a positive thing. It’s away from corporate judgment and political sway so that real people can discuss the facts of a case first, before they are told how they should think.

Social media has created a window of honesty in the world and needs to be protected, but we, and I say that hoping I am not alone, need to hold on to the values of patience and let things take their natural course. Not everything should be immediate and we have all responded a little too quickly sometimes and wished we had paused for that one moment more.

So try and take your time on what you are doing today, after you LIKE and comment on this post this second that is!

2 Comments

Posted by afirmin on October 20, 2011 in Blog, Facebook, Miscellaneous, social media, twitter

Tags: Facebook, google, technology, time, Twitter

Technology can remove the clutter from our world

15 Oct

People talk about how technology is getting in the way of social contact, when in fact I personally feel it is opening doors to people who have spent a lifetime in the shadows. I don’t agree with people on phones and blackberry’s in clubs or bars, as I witness every time I go out, but it is bringing the world closer every single day.

Recently on Google Plus I have a conversation with someone who believed Augmented Reality was something of a fad and would soon be left behind with the likes of virtual reality. I disagreed and I mentioned that if Augmented Reality was to be used properly in our world then it could be a much more beautiful place. Imagine a world where the streets are not plastered at every corner with advertising messages, where a few signs are visible just in unique and specific places. But when you hold up your smartphone the place comes alive with the messages you want to see.

You should be able to have a little more control over the messages you see. I work in the advertising world but it still infuriates me when you see awful work that juts makes the city look ugly. I have long believed that advertising, when done right, is the art of the city. It shows the character, personality and style of a city, but it should inspire individuals not only to buy things but also to do better in their day or life.

Augmented Reality can really bring the power to the consumer where they can select the messages they want to see when they hold up their smartphones. whether it’s fashion, information about the city or whatever it is your world to have fun in. Yet the real world remains a beautiful place for everyone to enjoy. That is a reality that I can see catching on.

Take a look at this course that is currently being run. Augmented Reality