If you can't be patient, you won't ever achieve the things you want in life.

In a world where instant gratification is the norm, impatience has become a way of life, so much so that people don't think they have time to practice patience.

Impatience has been linked to cognitive and social incompetence and an inability to cope with the frustrations of life. Take a step back and think about how you move throughout your days.

If you're finding it hard to be patient, keep reading. Take a deep breath and relax. Everything will come in due time.

Watch the video below where I talk about how to deal with business challenges:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Do you want to learn how you can master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

Patience is the secret to success.

It is an essential requirement for the attainment of any goal. Every successful person in this world got to where they are today because they deployed hard work, energy, and patience. When they encountered a setback, they didn't give up. Instead, they persevered, realizing that there are no shortcuts in the pursuit of success.

Unfortunately, too many people become impatient and throw in the towel when they don't see results fast enough. If they fail, they assume that it's because something isn't worth fighting for. The mind tends to forget that all big successes in life are actually made up of thousands of small milestones.

Whatever it is that you want in life, you've got to be committed and dedicated to following through. I guarantee that you will encounter challenges along your journey to success. All that matters is how you choose to respond to them. You may not want to hear this, but if something is hard, it probably means that it's important.

Let me give you an example. It took years before I started making any money in my business. I had to invest insane amounts of time, patience, energy and emotional labor into the process. Eventually, the results started pouring in, faster and bigger than I could have ever imagined.

This was due, in large part, to the culmination of my efforts. Had I tried to rush the process, the success I have today would have never come about. It's all well and good for me to sit here and preach the importance of patience. Logically, you may understand why patience is important. However, do you grasp this concept on an emotional level? This is where people struggle.

Let's face it, there will be days when your patience is tested.

In his book, The Power of Patience: How This Old-Fashioned Virtue Can Improve Your Life, M.J. Ryan says that impatience is the “fight” component of the fight-or-flight response. This is why we engage in impatient behaviors, like getting angry when a page doesn't load fast enough, honking at cars, or making rash decisions without thinking. 

When things don’t turn out well or as quickly as you would like, it's easy to get reactive. At the end of the day, it all comes down to your expectations. The question remains, “What can you do to stop the act of impatience from causing unnecessary stress and frustration in your life?” 

The good news is that patience is a skill that can be learned. True patience requires a shift in mindset. It's a habit that you can learn and master, with practice. Let's talk about 7 ways that you can cultivate more patience in your life.

1. Recognize Your Triggers

Before you can practice being patient you need to recognize what triggers your impatience. If you try to suppress your impatient feelings it will only cause you to be more reactive. The next time you are triggered, step back and ask yourself, “What is annoying me right now and why do I feel this way?” 

As Paulo Coelho says, “Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention.” Behind every emotion that you experience, there is a story that was imprinted onto you. I encourage you to start tracking your emotional state throughout the day.

This is a great way to identify the situations and people that trigger you to lose your cool. Once you have an awareness of what you feel and why you feel it, you will know how to better manage and diffuse those triggers the next time that they show up.

2. Embrace Discomfort

Once you've identified what triggers your patience, now it's time to sit with your impatience. It's not your negative feelings that are overwhelming. Rather, it's the stories that you tell yourself that are attached to those feelings. A lot of people are so afraid to feel anything, for fear of what is going to come up if they do.

What people don't realize is that when they numb negative emotions, they are also numbing positive ones as well. In actuality, all of your emotions contain lessons that are designed to help you grow. When you allow yourself to fully feel the sensations associated with impatience it allows you to connect to your body intelligence.

This is a huge step towards accepting and surrendering to its presence. What is happening in your mind when something doesn't go your way or when someone frustrates you? How does your body respond? Does your heart beat faster? Do your muscles tighten? By forcing yourself to sit with discomfort, you will eventually feel empowered to try and change your response to it. 

3. Reframe Your Attitude 

When you are frustrated it can feel like life is stacked up against you. In order to change anything in life, you first have to change yourself. Telling yourself that you don't have patience is a story in and of itself. I encourage you to start examining the stories that you are telling yourself around why you are impatient.

Are your thoughts really serving your highest good? You may not realize it, but you have the power to shift your state in an instant. Remember that it's your beliefs that create your emotions, not your experiences. Therefore, if you can reframe your attitude towards a situation or person, you will be empowered to change the meaning that you ascribe to it.

Reframing your approach to life, in general, will allow you to approach life's challenges with more resilience. Choose to be the person who takes control of his or her attention and who actively chooses to think about the best possible outcomes in every situation. When you master your mind, you master your life.

4. Give Up Control

In my experience, patience is one big lesson in being comfortable with having zero control over how things turn out. As I've said many times before, the only thing that you have control over is your inner world. People who need to be in control are usually very impatient.

They may spend their entire lives trying to predict and plan every single outcome. If and when something doesn't go according to their plans, they drop into overwhelm. This obsession with controlling everything usually stems from fear of what will happen if they don't have control.

If you can relate to this way of thinking, I encourage you to let go and trust that no matter what happens in life, you will be okay. By surrendering to the need to control everything and allowing yourself to have faith in the process, you allow life to happen for you, instead of to you. In the words of Steve Maraboli, “You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” 

5. Master Your Emotions

I believe that self-control is one of the most important contributors to your success and happiness in life. Everything else will fall into place once you have done the work on your inner world. Impatient people struggle to control their emotions. They allow frustration, overwhelm and anger to take over their lives.

Most people think that the emotions that they experience and how they feel are dictated by external circumstances, so much so that they become paralyzed by them. It's actually your perception of what is happening to you that dictates how you feel.

Your emotions are fully in your control, even when everything feels like it's working against you. When you change your interpretation of a situation, you are better able to master your emotions. Don't be a victim. Instead, become the creator of your world.

6. Practice Mindfulness

A huge part of being impatient involves wanting to get to the next thing, instead of dropping into the present moment. If you are constantly rushing to get somewhere else, you will never be able to fully arrive wherever you actually are. Developing the skill of being mindful is one of the best ways to cultivate more patience into your daily life.

Mindfulness-based practices, like meditation, allow you to become more aware of the here and now. Studies have shown that people who meditate have larger volumes of gray matter in the areas of the brain that regulate response control. That may be why meditators have a more positive outlook, are more emotionally stable and are more mindful.

Once you start to recognize that this moment is all that matters, you will have a greater sense of appreciation for what is going on around you. Being mindful allows you to deal with stressors more effectively, which in turn, supports your happiness and overall well-being.

7. Slow Down 

The beauty of technology is that it has allowed us to do everything with more speed and efficiency. However, it has also created a culture of impatience. If people don't get things fast enough, they panic. 

Interestingly, research shows that when we are feeling intense emotions such as anxiety, fear or anger, our bodies send more signals to the brain, which then heightens the experience and warps our sense of time. So 1 minute of waiting in serious frustration can feel like 5 minutes.

If you are the type of person who likes to rush through everything and is never able to focus on one thing, pause and slow down. Patience is not about waiting. Rather, it's about learning how to pace yourself so that you don't get overwhelmed. Getting impatient won't make things move along any faster, which is why it's pointless to get all worked up over nothing.

If you want to achieve success in life, be patient.

As the philosopher, George Savile once wrote: “the master of patience is the master of everything else.” The only thing standing in the way between you and success is patience — or lack thereof. I promise that you will get to where you want to go in due time.

In the meantime, do your best to keep calm and be patient. The best things in life usually happen when we least expect them to.

Do you want to learn how you can master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

Emotional intelligence is the best-kept secret of entrepreneurial success.

For many years “being smart” was defined based on one's intellectual intelligence, otherwise referred to as IQ. People didn't think that emotions and business went well together. However that all changed in the '90s when emotional intelligence (EQ) came onto the scene.

First developed by Mayer and Salovey, and later popularized by Ronald Goleman, the concept of emotional intelligence created a huge debate as to what was more important in determining one's success in life – street smarts or book smarts.

Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that differentiates star performers from the rest of the pack. It's no longer a luxury; today's entrepreneur needs emotional intelligence if they want to succeed in business. It has become the new gold standard.

Are you ready to learn 6 reasons why emotional intelligence is a skill that you need to master?

In the video below I talk about how you can master your emotions in 3 easy steps:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Are you ready to learn strategies for how you can accelerate your online business success? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

When you envision a successful entrepreneur, what comes to your mind? For a lot of people, the most important personality traits of an entrepreneur are things like persistence, risk-taking, and resourcefulness. Don't get me wrong… these are important. However, when it comes to creating a business that stands the test of time, developing emotional intelligence is the secret sauce.

What is emotional intelligence?

In the emotional intelligence book, The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success, Steven J. Stein, Ph.D. and Howard E. Book define EQ as “The set of skills that enable us to make our way in a complex world… It has to do with the ability to read the political and social environment, and landscape them; to intuitively grasp what others want and need, what strengths and weaknesses are; to remain unruffled by stress; and to be engaging. The kind of person others want to be around and will follow.” 

In short, EQ is all about effectively identifying and managing your own emotions and the emotions of others.

For an entrepreneur, mastering this skill can be the difference between success and failure. Those entrepreneurs that neglect to develop emotional intelligence tend to get stressed easily make more mistakes, and make reactive decisions.

Not surprisingly, they struggle to experience success.

Gary Vaynerchuck, a successful entrepreneur, author, and speaker, identifies why emotional intelligence is so important to business owners – “If I could sell a formula made up of gratitude, empathy, and self-awareness it would be my billion-dollar coconut water idea.” 

The great news is that emotional intelligence is comprised of a flexible set of skills that can be developed and improved over time. In his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman suggests that there are 5 components of emotional intelligence:

1. Self-Awareness – The ability to understand your own emotions and how they affect the people around you.

2. Self-Regulation – The ability to effectively manage and express your emotions.

3. Intrinsic Motivation – One's personal drive to improve and achieve.

4. Empathy – The ability to understand how others are feeling.

5. Social Skills – The ability to develop a strong rapport with others.

Being an entrepreneur means that you are wearing a lot of different hats, putting out fires, solving problems, fixing mistakes, selling their brand, interacting with team members, clients, and prospective customers; all while trying to understand the never-ending complexities of the business world.

Overwhelming, right? Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. This is why emotional intelligence skills play a critical role in the overall quality of our personal and professional lives.

Unlike IQ, which stays fairly stable over our lifetime, EQ is something that can be improved. It comes down to one's desire to learn and grow. Let's explore 5 ways that you can develop your emotional intelligence.

1. Increase Your Self-Awareness 

Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence. Knowing who you are, including what your strengths and weaknesses are, is critical to your success as an entrepreneur.

Korn Ferry Hay Group research found that among leaders with multiple strengths in Emotional Self-Awareness, 92% had teams with high energy and high performance. In contrast, leaders low in Emotional Self-Awareness created negative climates 78% of the time.

When you are able to express how you feel in a healthy way and have an awareness of how your emotions affect those around you, you will be better able to address problems the moment that they arise.

2. Master Your Emotions

If you are just starting your entrepreneurial journey or are already on it, then you know what I mean when I say that it isn't a walk in the park. Entrepreneurs have to deal with new challenges on a daily basis, whether that's managing team members, learning new skills, or dealing with disgruntled customers.

Sometimes it can feel like you have zero control. This is when learning how to master your emotions becomes very important. The reality is that we don't have control over anything that happens to us. The only thing that we have control over is our inside world.

In the words of John Maxwell, “Life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.”

Instead of reacting when faced with challenges, entrepreneurs that have high emotional intelligence are proactive. They don't make emotional decisions and attack others. Rather, they carefully think about a situation before responding. Triggers are a normal part of life, especially in the world of business. It is up to you how you choose to interpret and respond to difficult situations.

3. Improve Your Communication Skills

You can be the best in your industry, but if you don't know how to effectively communicate with your customers, clients, and colleagues, then you won't be successful. In the business world, communication happens in many different ways, with many different people, whether that's face-to-face or online.

How well do you communicate with others? Studies suggest that our daily communication breakdown is as follows:

• 9 percent writing
• 16 percent reading
• 30 percent speaking
• 45 percent listening

Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle with active listening because they are either talking over someone or are too consumed with what's going on in their own head to pay attention to what the other person is saying. As Peter Drucker says, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.”

Successful entrepreneurs who possess strong emotional intelligence value the importance of listening. They realize that, by allowing others to feel heard, it creates trust with people. Furthermore, it allows them to learn more about who their audience is and what makes them tick.

4. Show Genuine Concern For Others

Demonstrating empathy for others means that you are committed to putting yourself in someone else's shoes. It's about uncovering the deeper meaning behind why people do what they do.

The next time a client or a customer does something that doesn't feel aligned with your beliefs, ask yourself, “Why does this person feel the way he or she does?  How can I show up for him or her from a place of respect and integrity, while still honoring my truth?”

Take the time to look at situations from multiple perspectives and pay close attention to your feelings. You may be surprised what comes up for you.

Entrepreneurs with high emotional intelligence are skilled at creating strong relationships with people because they have a genuine interest and concern for their well-being. As a result, they are master influencers. People want to follow their work because they trust who they are as a person and what they stand for.

5. Create A Stress Reliever Toolkit 

Entrepreneurs know what stress feels like. It comes with the territory. In the business world, if you don't know how to effectively cope with day-to-day-stressors, you will experience burnout fast. I encourage you to create a personal toolkit of stress reliever techniques that you can practice on a daily basis.

This is why I'm such a big fan of a morning ritual. By conditioning my mindset every morning I am able to put myself into a peak mental and emotional state. Highly successful people are consistently calm, composed and focused under pressure because they are always monitoring their emotional state.

How would it feel if you could be happier, healthier and more productive on daily basis? Follow me on my #30daymorningritualchallenge. 

By committing to practicing healthy habits every single day — like meditation, yoga, or reading, — you set yourself up for success.

6. Embrace Lifelong Learning 

Successful entrepreneurs commit to a neverending process of personal growth and development. They welcome and actively seek out constructive feedback from their colleagues, mentors, coaches, peers, and team members because they want to improve themselves. Weaknesses are only seen as opportunities to grow and become more.

By adopting a growth mindset and harnessing the power of emotional intelligence, you will be better able to make your emotions work for you, instead of against you. It's important to remember that emotional intelligence requires constant improvement.

It's not a skill that you develop once and then forget about. As your business grows, you will grow with it, which means that you will have to adapt your style of relating to yourself and others.

Developing emotional intelligence is the best-kept secret for entrepreneurial success.

In the words of Daniel Goleman himself, “If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”

The only way to develop emotional intelligence is by practicing it in action. Just like any skill that you want to master, it will require that you invest time, energy, hard work, and effort into it.

Are you ready to master the art of emotional intelligence? The success of your business depends on it.

Are you ready to learn tools for how you can accelerate your online business success? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!

Hard times are a normal part of life. When you get hit with them, you can either fall down or rise up.

Everyone experiences highs and lows. However, some people cope better than others. In studies of people facing trauma, many describe their experience as a catalyst for profound change and transformation, leading to a phenomenon known as ‘post-traumatic growth.'

The most successful people in this world are those that have known defeat. They have been at rock bottom and have been able to make their way out of the depths of their own despair. These people were not born with this skill. Rather, they developed it over time. In doing so, they developed a greater appreciation for life.

Are you ready to learn how you can boost your resilience during hard times and come back stronger than ever before? As the old Japanese proverb states, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

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Are you ready to learn 21-powerful morning rituals that will take your life to the next level? CLICK HERE to receive instant access to my free cheat sheet!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

Hard times are the key to a happy and healthy life.

This sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? Not according to science. Recent research indicates that psychological flexibility is the key to greater happiness and well-being. For example, being open to emotional experiences and the ability to tolerate periods of discomfort can allow us to move towards a richer, more meaningful existence.

Sure, it's easy to feel like giving up when the world continues to throw you challenges. That being said, it's up to you how you are going to respond to life's setbacks. Struggling is a choice.

One of my favorite quotes about strength in hard times is by Joel Osteen, who said – “When you face difficult times, know that challenges aren't sent to destroy you. They're sent to increase and challenge you.”

If you are going through a difficult time in your life right now, I want you to know that you aren't alone. I've been there. We all have. I know what it feels like when your entire world turns upside down and you don't know where to turn.

I won't begin to claim that I understand your pain, because everyone has a different life story. That being said, I can share with you the knowledge that I have learned from my own experiences. I made it through the hard times in my life and so can you. You are still standing and there is a reason for that. Sometimes we all need a friendly reminder of how strong we really are.

Here are 5 ways that you can thrive through the hard times.

1. Accept That Hard Times Will Happen

Why is it so hard to accept that hard times are a part of life? Well, it's usually because our ego tells us that everything should be perfect. If life doesn't go our way, then we assume that there must be something wrong with us.

In her book, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow, Elizabeth Lesser says that “When we resist change and loss, we bring more pain onto ourselves. We become hardened, angry, resentful.” 

Accepting something doesn't mean that you have to like it. Rather, it simply means that you have made the choice to stop resisting it. Instead of forcing an outcome, you let go of control and embrace what is.

Randy Pausch is a shining example of this idea. Randy was a leading professor at Carnegie Mellon, a husband, and a father of 3. In 2007, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The doctors only gave him a few months to live. Instead of curling in a ball and giving up, he decided to accept his illness and live out his remaining time on earth in a positive and purposeful way.

In the words of Randy himself – “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” 

If you have yet to watch his Last Lecture, I encourage you to do so.

2. Be Proactive 

When hard times hit, it's the proactive people that are able to get through challenges with grace and ease. They don't allow struggles to define who they are because they refuse to be defeated. Nobody said that life would be a walk in the park. However, many of us are ill-prepared from an early age to get through hard times.

I know what rock bottom feels like. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the beginning of me questioning everything that I ever thought was true.  I was faced, head on, with the disempowering belief systems that were keeping me locked away from living my life to the fullest.

Sometimes we need to hit our emotional threshold in order to light a fire under our butts and change our lives for the better. Every struggle in my life has shaped me into the person that I am today. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel, but you've got to find it. Don't you want to become the CEO of your life?

Nobody is going to fix your problems for you. Rather, you need to take action and create the change that you want to see. You can learn about all the strategies in the world for getting through hard times, but none of them will matter unless you actually apply them in your life.

3. Have Faith

Hard times can challenge our faith if we allow them to. Hard times are, in actuality, hard. That being said, how we choose to approach these moments in our lives ends up determining whether or not we merely survive or thrive through life. Having an unshakeable faith in our strength is the answer, and it starts with gratitude.

Numerous studies have proven that when you adopt an attitude of gratitude, you are a happier person. However, when people are trying to get through the hard times, they usually don't reflect upon how grateful they are. Why?

Because challenges don't feel good. I get it. However, if you only rely on your anger and frustration to get you through the bad times, you won't do yourself any good. This mindset will only get you stuck in a negative spiral that will feel impossible to get out of. When we feel sorry for ourselves, we become a victim of our circumstances. This is no way to live.

Have you ever had an experience in life where something didn’t work out, but as a result, something better came from it? When you believe that everything is a blessing in disguise, that's exactly what the Universe gives to you. By adopting this positive perspective on life, it motivates you to view every challenge as an opportunity to grow and become more. Have faith that in yourself and in a better tomorrow. That alone will make the invisible, visible.

Nicole Reed said it best – “Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.”

4. Focus on What You Can Control

If you think that you can control everything in your life, you are setting yourself up for failure. The harsh reality is that you have zero control over many of the things that happen in life. This is where people get into trouble. They think that if they can gain enough control over people or a situation, then they can prevent hard times from happening.

This is far from true.

When you are going through hard times, the natural response is to try and fix whatever it is that feels bad. However, the longer that you linger here, the more helpless that you will feel. We tend to forget that the only thing that we have control over is our inner world. It is your reaction to life that matters most. Two different people could experience the exact same challenge but have a drastically different response to it.

Attitude is everything. Hard times will happen throughout your life, but it is up to you how you will interpret them. You are always in control of your emotions, no matter how difficult the situation may be or feel. When you are able to change your reaction to people and events, don't be surprised if you see a massive shift take place in every area of your life.

5. Develop A Morning Ritual

Ever since I was 17 years old I've committed to a morning ritual. It is the most important part of my entire day because it is the time at which I prime myself for success. By conditioning my mindset, I am prepared to tackle whatever challenges may come my way. You may be wondering, “How is this possible?”

Well, when you take the time to engage in rituals like reciting positive affirmations or doing a meditation practice, you feel more positive and calm. When hard times hit, you are more equipped to handle them because you have done the work to master your emotional state.

Sure, some days I wouldn't mind sleeping in an extra hour, but I have committed to not getting caught up in these moments of pleasure because I know how good I feel when I stick with my routine. It helps to put me into an optimal state of mind. When I'm energized, focused and inspired, I feel unstoppable. It's as simple as that.

I'm not saying that I don't get frustrated when challenges occur. However, every time that I engage in my routine, I am making subtle mental and emotional shifts in how I think about life and hard times. As a result, when the shit hits the fan, I am prepared. Instead of freaking out, I make choices and decisions that serve my highest self.

I hope these words of encouragement for hard times have inspired you to keep moving forward.

We all face hard times. Ultimately, we all become stronger and wiser as a result. It comes down to adopting a positive mindset through every challenge that you face in life. Will it be easy? No. When we face difficulties, it's easy to get sucked into a negativity trap. However, this is the moment at which you need to believe in yourself and search for solutions that will allow you to weather the storm and come out the other side, happier and healthier.

In his final Rocky movie, Sylver Stallone says, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. But it ain’t how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It’s how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

If you want to learn more about how you can become the master of your life, check out my Life Mastery Accelerator program.

Whatever you are going through, never forget that don't hard times don't last. This too shall pass and the skies will shine again. Until then, pull upon your inner strength and trust that you have everything inside of you in order to get through the hard times. You are stronger than you know. 

Are you ready to learn 21-powerful morning rituals that will take your life to the next level? CLICK HERE to receive instant access to my free cheat sheet!

Do you want to learn why my struggle is my strength? CLICK HERE to read the article that I wrote on Medium!

Life is short. Take control of your life RIGHT NOW. The mind is a powerful tool that can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Research shows that, in one day, we think around 70,000 thoughts. Ask yourself, “Are you in charge of these thoughts, or are they in charge of you?”

Many of us spend a lot of time taking care of our bodies, our businesses, and our relationships. However, when it comes to our minds, we fail to pay attention.

If you want to live a happy and successful life, it is imperative that you master your mind. Incredible things happen in your life when you decide to take control of your life.

In the words of Leon Brown, “It begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.”

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

(iTunes Podcast Coming Soon)

Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will empower you to take control of your life? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

It’s a lot easier to be mentally strong when life is easy, however the reality is that we grow the most when we are faced with challenges.

Mental strength is more that just motivation; it requires hard work, commitment, and a sheer determination to succeed.

Making the conscious choice to develop the skills that will increase your mental strength is one of the best ways to prepare you for the obstacles that life will throw at you.

Take control of your life RIGHT NOW.

Mentally strong people understand how important it is to develop healthy habits for their mind, body, and soul. They take ownership and responsibility for everything that happens in their lives.

Alternatively, mentally weak people tend to drop into victim mode and blame the world for their problems. They feel sorry for themselves, which is oftentimes a way of meeting their needs for love and attention from others.

You don’t have control over the external world. All that you have control over is your mind and emotions. There are people in this world that are in the exact same circumstance as you, and yet they may have a totally different emotional experience.

How do you react and interpret the events that occur in your life? Do you use challenges as opportunities for growth, or do you run away, letting your emotions get the best of you? If it’s the latter, it’s time to take control of your life RIGHT NOW.

Neuroscience is showing us that the brain is plastic, endowed with a lifelong capacity to reorganize itself with each new experience. You have the power to reprogram your mind, and develop the mental skills that will allow you to master your life.

Here are 3 ways to take control of your life RIGHT NOW:

1. Develop Self-Awareness

If you want to take control of your life RIGHT NOW, you need to, first and foremost, develop self-awareness. Self-awareness is the foundation of personal growth and success.

You cannot be mentally strong without the ability to understand and effectively manage your emotional state. The good news is that emotional intelligence is a flexible skill, and one that you can develop every day, by living more mindfully.

A great exercise for doing this is creating a daily meditation practice. Research shows that if you bring meditation into your daily life, you will not only become more self-aware, but it will also improve your overall health and well-being

 2. Create A Morning Ritual

I am a big believer in the power of morning rituals.  Recent research demonstrates that rituals can have a causal impact on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. 

Creating a positive daily routine builds up your mental strength, allowing you to optimize your mind for greatness.

In the words of Tony Schwartz, the CEO of The Energy Project, “Build highly-specific behaviors that you do at precise times over and over again until you don’t have to use energy to get yourself to do it anymore.” Developing healthy habits is one of the most effective ways to create lasting change in your life.

3. Focus On The Positive

You can’t be mentally strong and experience negative emotions at the same time. Having a positive mindset means that you focus on what is already in front of you, instead of dwelling on what is not.

By shifting your perspective to a mindset that focuses on possibilities, you expand your opportunities in life. This is supported by research that shows that positive emotions broaden your sense of possibility and open your mind up to more options.

Take control of your life RIGHT NOW. The sooner that you master your mind, the sooner that you will be free to create the life of your dreams. In the words of Lao Tzu, “If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.”

Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will empower you to take control of your life? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

Are you a slave to your emotions? When something doesn't go your way, how do you react? Do you calmly step back and assess the situation, or do you start ruminating and let your emotions get the best of you?

When you allow your emotions to dictate every decision that you make, it can have a negative effect on every area of your life.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to be an emotional person. Rather, it is how you regulate your emotions and navigate your way through challenges, that determines your success in life.

Are you a slave to your emotions? If so, I want to show you how to shift that mindset, so that you feel in control of your life. In the words of Oscar Wilde, “I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”

Do you want to learn how to master every area of your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

In her new book, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests that emotions do not happen to us without our willingness.

Rather, we construct our emotions by making meaning of our life experiences. We choose how you feel. That is something that we have 100% control over, whether you believe it or not. It all starts with your mindset.

Our thoughts create our emotions. Oftentimes, neither our thoughts nor our emotions are an accurate representation of what is really going on. Why? Because we all interpret the world through a different emotional lens.

If you are a slave to your emotions, commit to taking the steps needed in order to ensure that your emotions do not get the best of you. Easier said than done, right? Here are 3 ways to help you not be a slave to your emotions.

1. Take A Deep Breath

When our emotions are running high, short and shallow breathing can take over. If this happens, the best way to master your emotional state is to take a step back and take a deep breath.

I know this sounds simple, but it works.

Research proves that slowing your breath calms the mind. Patricia Gerbarg, a clinical professor in psychiatry at New York Medical School and author of a 2009 study on Pranayama, suggests that “By changing patterns of breathing, we can change our emotional states, and how we think and how we interact with the world.”

By learning how to harness the power of your breath, you are better able to balance your emotions. Are you a slave to your emotions? If so, positive habits like these are great ways to change your emotional state.

2. Take Responsibility

You are the only one that is responsible for your emotional well-being. Take responsibility for your life. You cannot control what other people think, do, or say.

The only thing that you have control over is how you respond to the external world. If you don't like how you feel, own it. When you take ownership for your life, you create the momentum that is required in order to change it.

Research shows that taking personal responsibility for your happiness involves, ultimately, adopting a “surrender mindset”, which refers to the willingness to fully accept the outcomes that you are dealt with in life.

Unlike others, who may ruminate when things don't work out the way they planned, the person with a surrender mindset is able to move on emotionally untouched.

Don't play the blame game. Step up and become the become the master of your mind.

3. Take Note Of Your Thoughts & Beliefs

Our beliefs determine what we end up attracting into our lives. If you dwell on the negative, that is what you will attract. Keep in mind that it isn't our thoughts that become things. Rather, it is our emotions that are triggered by unconscious beliefs.

The next time that you are feeling reactive and emotional, take a step back, be an observer of your own mind, and notice what it is that you are thinking about.

The belief systems that we have about ourselves and the world were created by US. If we can create them, then we can just as easily shift them, in ways that better serve our lives.

Will you be able to shift your belief system overnight? No. It takes time to re-write our stories, but when you do, emotional mastery is yours for the taking.

In the words of the late John Milton, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Choose wisely. When you master your emotions, you master your life. 

Do you want to learn how to master every area of your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

I would like to share with you some reasons why you should meditate every day. This is a practice that has greatly impacted my life. Meditation is one of the most effective ways to cope with stress and find a sense of inner calmness and peace from the daily pressures that life brings.

In AsapScience’s, “The Scientific Power of Meditation,” Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown explain that meditation yields a number of benefits, including the ability to fight (not cure) diseases, increase empathy, and even leads to physical changes in the brain (Borreli, 2015).

How would it feel to start your day feeling calm and grounded? Let the power of meditation help you achieve this peaceful state of being. In the words of Ram Dass, “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” There is no greater reason for why you should meditate every day.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

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Do you want to learn how to make meditation a part of your daily life? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

I am not a master of meditation, but it is something that I have committed to going deeper with over the last six months. Intellectually I always knew that meditation was good for me, but I never did it because I didn’t associate to it on an emotional level.

Once I forced myself to meditate over a period of time and started to notice the benefits that it had on my emotional, mental, and spiritual state, then I believed in its potential to change my life. So much so, that meditation is now a part of my daily morning ritual.

Sometimes in life you need to do something that you don’t necessarily want to do, in order to see the long-term benefits of it. Just like going to the gym every day and committing to exercise your body. When you first start exercising, you may experience discomfort and soreness, and you might think, “What is the benefit of this?”

However, when you start seeing changes in your body and energy levels, you realize why you took the time to exercise in the first place. The same thing goes with meditation. There is nothing better that you can do than to learn how to calm your strongest muscle – your mind. Once you start seeing the benefits of meditation, it will motivate you to go even deeper, because you will start seeing the purpose of it.

The trigger that got me into meditation was a pattern that I started noticing, which was negatively affecting my life. I realized that I had an addiction. Let me be clear that an addiction can be to anything – to shopping, food, video games, pornography, information, etc. It doesn’t have to be something drastic, like drug or alcohol abuse.

Here is the test to know whether or not you have an addiction to something – try taking time away from a pattern of behaviour that you consistently find yourself doing. If you have cravings or temptations to bring it back into your life, that’s when you know it is a problem.

I had an addiction to technology. I found that every time that I felt uncomfortable or experienced a negative emotion, I would take out my phone and look through my social media. I found myself spending way too much time online. All addiction stems from a fear of emptiness and being alone.

Human beings are so terrified of being present and doing NOTHING, that oftentimes uncomfortable feeling emerge within them. They use things in order to distract themselves. What are you distracting yourself from? For a lot of people, it means distracting themselves from something that needs to be healed or resolved internally.

When we feel like we have no control over our lives, we tend to resist or avoid what is going on inside our body, mind, and soul. Through meditation, I learned that the way to overcome my addiction was to practice being present and experience nothing for a short period of time.

Always remember that whatever you resist will persist. If thoughts come up, merely observe them. Let them come into your mind, accept them, and then let them go. Since I started meditating, I feel more empowered and complete on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level. I have more control over my mind and my thoughts.

When you master your mind, you become less reactive. Today, I find that I am more present and in the moment when I am interacting with people, both in my work and in my personal life. I meditate for 20 minutes twice a day, usually in the afternoons and then before bed. I’ve experimented with all kinds of meditation.

I’ve learned that, as with any industry or school of thought, ultimately you need to find what works for you. If you think you are too busy to meditate, think again. Studies have shown that meditating just ten minutes a day reduces stress, lowers cortisol levels, and improves your outlook on life (Sarich, 2015). These are some reasons why you should meditate every day.

We all lead busy lives, but if we want to achieve life mastery, it is important that we feel a sense of balance, in our body, mind, and soul. Take the time to invest in yourself. Go deeper and embrace the power of meditation. You don’t have to be a guru in order to enjoy the benefits that meditation provides.

In the words of Eckhart Tolle, “One conscious breath – in and out – is a meditation.” Your mind will thank you for it.

Do you want to learn how to make meditation a part of your daily life? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

I want to share with you how to master your mind and emotions.

We have been raised in a reactive world.  All of us experience moments in our lives when we are triggered in a negative way.

Triggers are a normal part of life. It is up to you how you choose to interpret and respond to these events. You always have a choice. It comes down to your mindset.

If you want to master your emotions, you need to understand the difference between reactive versus proactive thinking.

Reactive people have little control over their emotions. They adopt a victim mentality, and believe that their lives are run by external factors.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/469491-plm-396-how-to-master-your-mind-and-emotions.mp3″ ]

Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will teach you how to master your mind and emotions? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

Unfortunately a lot of people choose to live in a reactive state.   A life based on reactive decisions only causes pain and suffering. Alternatively, proactive people only concern themselves with what they are able to control and change, which includes the way that they react to events in their lives.

In short, they have learned how to master their emotional state. According to Stephen Covey, proactivity is one of the most important characteristics of successful and personally effective people.

He argues that, “If you’re proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.” You cannot control the outside world. The only thing that you have control over is your mind and emotions.

In the words of John Maxwell, “Life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.” Attitude is everything.  How do you choose to react and interpret the events of your life? Two people can have the same experience, but interpret the meaning of that experience in an entirely different way.

It all comes down to their mindset. Research shows that a proactive personality has been found to be a prime predictor of entrepreneurial success. People who have adopted this personality trait have a mindset that focuses on the belief that they are responsible for creating their environment (Van Rooy, 2014).

The most successful people in the world have adopted a consistent morning ritual. In order to master your mind, you have to develop emotional mastery. A great way to do this is to adopt an empowering morning ritual, which puts you in an optimal state of mind, on a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level.

My course, Morning Ritual Mastery teaches you how to create an empowering ritual that helps you master every aspect of your life. In the words of Hal Elrod, “When you change the way that you wake up in the morning, you change your life.”

My morning ritual helps ground me for the day ahead, so that I feel in control and non-reactive. When I am in this high vibrational state, I am unstoppable.  I am happier, healthier, and more productive. If you build a solid foundation and start your morning this way, you will be able to handle challenges with grace and ease.

Your success in life depends, in part, on your ability to interpret events in a positive and empowering way. Don’t always jump to a negative conclusion. Before you respond, assess a situation first.

What if you took a step back and looked at an experience from a different perspective? How you experience your life depends on the view that you have of yourself and the world around you. The next time you are triggered, ask yourself, “How can this experience benefit me? What can I learn? How can I grow?”

If you adopt this mindset, your life will transform. When you learn how to master your mind and your emotions, you master your life.

Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will teach you how to master your mind and emotions? CLICK HERE to purchase my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

Do you want to know the secret to success?  Fail more.

Yes, you heard me. The most successful people in the world fail, often. They possess a growth mindset, which means that they view failure as an opportunity for growth.  In doing so, they achieve mastery in all areas of their life.

People are so afraid to try new things for fear that they will fail. Why? Because we are taught from an early age that failure is the result of a lack of ability, so we avoid making mistakes for fear of embarrassment.

You need to realize that failure is your greatest asset, because it tells you what works and what doesn’t work.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Do you want to discover how to achieve mastery in every aspect of your life?  CLICK HERE to learn more!

I make mistakes every day in my business.   In doing so, I learn valuable lessons, which ensures that I don’t make the same mistakes again in the future. Why do so many people stay in their comfort zone? Because it's comfortable. Research shows that your comfort zone is a behavioral space where your activities and behaviors fit a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk.

Arnold Shwarzennegger understood that this commitment to excruciating failure wasn't for everyone: “This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack: having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain, no matter what happens.”

You can only grow if you are willing to try new things.  Growth demands that you fail more. There is a sense of accomplishment that comes from pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone. When it comes to failure, don’t play the blame game.   You are the master of your emotions.

You cannot control the outside world, but you can control your inner world. Jonathan Martensson said that, “Emotions are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf”. Fear is a powerful, and sometimes crippling emotion. You need to learn how to use fear to your advantage so that you can achieve your goals.

How do you this?  By turning fear on its head. Instead of letting it destroy you, let it push you forward. Fear can become a powerful motivator, if you allow it to be. The more that you are willing to experiment and try new things in your business, the more successful that you will become.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk and try new things so that you can grow, improve and move forward. In the words of Tony Robbins, “Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear”. If you want to succeed, fail more.

Do you want to discover how to achieve mastery in every aspect of your life?  CLICK HERE to learn more!