The secret to success is aligning your mission with your nature. Your nature is your “go to” disposition; it’s the skin that you are most comfortable in.

We tend to categorize ourselves as being either introverted or extroverted. In many ways, our fast-paced, social world was designed for extroverts to thrive, leaving introverts, who prefer solitude and quiet introspection, to fend for themselves.

In her book, The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World, Marti Olsen Laney points out, “What's an introvert to do in such a hostile environment?”

What is your nature? One is not better than the other. It all comes down to your unique personality type. When you know where your strengths lie, aligning your mission with your nature is easy.

Watch the video below:

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The reality is that few of us fit into either of these personality types. Yes, it is possible to be express qualities of both types, otherwise known as “ambiverts.”

Personality psychologist Brian Little, author of Me, Myself and Us: The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being argues that ambiverts are able to draw from the strengths of both personality types, and in doing so, have more freedom to shape their lives.

Each personality type has skills that anyone can learn. For example, by nature, I am an introvert, but I have learned extrovert skills.

However, if you take someone whose nature is not aligned with their mission, the likelihood of them sticking with it long-term is unlikely. Why? Because they will never be fulfilled in life.

For example, can an introvert be successful in a sales position? Of course. Anyone can do anything that they set their mind to, however, will they excel at it over the long-term? Probably not.

When it comes to a personal mission, some people are born knowing what it is that they are meant to do, while others figure it out over time. What is my mission in life? This is a question that we ask of ourselves in the process of discovering our ‘why’.

The first step in discovering your mission in life is to have an awareness of the characteristics that define your unique nature.

Each of us is different, based on our individual personalities. In order to thrive in your life and work, you need to tap into your strengths and find environments that allow you to leverage them.

Your strengths are the things that you do effortlessly. If money didn’t matter, what would you do with your time? When you know what you excel at, it can help you create the most effective path to aligning your mission with your nature.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with the question, “Who am I?”, ask yourself, “Which environments bring out my best qualities?”

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if you’re an introvert, extrovert, or someone in-between. All that matters is that you are aligning your mission with your nature. In the words of Oprah Winfrey, “Align your personality with your purpose, and no one can touch you.”

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My girlfriend Tatiana and I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Udo Erasmus on the importance of healthy oils for optimal health & well-being. He is the author of the best-selling book, Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill, and is the founder of the company, Udo’s Choice. Dr. Udo is recognized as a guru on digestive health, and is a pioneer in the use of fats and oils for optimal health.

I take Udo's Oil every day, and I've been doing so for the past 10 years.  It’s a certified organic blend of fresh omega 3, 6, and 9 oils, from flax, sesame, and sunflower seeds, coconut, and evening primrose.  This oil delivers all the ‘good’ fats we need in the ideal ratio of 2:1:1 in order to optimize health, beauty, and fitness, while receiving all the benefits that omega offers.

I am a big believer that your health is your wealth.  If you want optimal health, you need to ensure that your diet contains all of the essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and essential fatty acids that your body needs.  In the words of Jim Rohn, “Take care of your body.  It's the only place you have to live.”

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

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Do you want to learn more about Dr. Udo's healthy oil and supplement products? CLICK HERE to visit his website!

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!

Do you want to learn which fats heal and which fats kill? CLICK HERE to purchase Dr. Udo's book!

I would like to share with you some of the dialogue from our interview with Dr. Udo Erasmus on the importance of healthy oils for optimal health & well-being:

Do you want to share with us a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you got into this field?

In 1980, pesticides poisoned me. My marriage was dissolving, I was in a dark place, and I wanted to kill something, so I took a job as a pesticide sprayer. When I got poisoned I asked the doctor, “What do you have for pesticide poisoning”, and he said, “Nothing.” That was the day that I realized that my health was my responsibility, and if I didn’t care about my health, nobody would. Because they had nothing to help me, I was left to my own devices in order to try and figure it out.

My background is in the field of sciences, biosciences, and then I went into psychology, and eventually self-knowledge, because I needed to know how I work. I read the journals and figured out that the body is made up of food, air, water, and light. I realized that if the body is made out of food and something goes wrong, the first thing that you should do is fix your food and raise the standard of your food. Ninety-eight percent of the atoms in your body are removed and replaced every year. So, if you raise your standards for food in one year, 98% of your body will have been re-built to a higher standard. That is called healing.

We have to eat because we need new building blocks, because the old ones are being discarded. The biggest area that I discovered in my research is the area of fats. It turns out that with all the DNA and RNA proteins, you get more problems from fats in health than in any part of nutrition. Why? Because oils are our most sensitive nutrients, especially Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s, which are 5x more sensitive because they are damaged by light, heat, and oxygen. They should get the most care of any of our nutrients, and we give them the least care.

More health problems come from damaged oils than any other part of nutrition. I developed a method where, when oils are being made, pressed, filtered, and filled. Then they are protected from light, oxygen, and heat from the time that they are in the seed and closed to the time that they are in a bottle. That was the invention that started a new industry, making oils with health in mind. In 1981, it was established by researchers that Omega 3’s were essential. I thought that we could help so many people if we were able to prove this to be true, so I started making flaxseed oil, which is very high in Omega 3’s and low in Omega 6’s. We were broke, but we were on fire. In two years, flax oil became the 2^nd highest selling oil in the health food industry. We started that movement.

What is in your product?

The blend consists of nine organic ingredients. Flaxseed oil for the Omega 3’s, sunflower seeds in order to balance the Omega 6’s, evening primrose oil for the antioxidants, and it also has coconut oil, rice/oat germ oil, GMO-free lecithin, and Vitamin E. When you are talking about something that has so much value to health, you have to keep it to a high standard.

Some people think that every fat is equal, and that there is no difference between mono-saturated or trans-fats. What is the good fat versus the bad fat?

If you want to tell the story of fats, you have to understand that, from fats and only from fats, there are two nutrients that you have to get, and that your body can’t make – Omega 6’s and 3’s. They are both essential, meaning that you can’t make it in your body, but you’ve got to have it in order to live and be healthy. It has to come from the outside. If you don’t get enough, your health goes down and you get deficiency systems that get worse with time.

As cruel as life is, if you don’t give it the building blocks needed in order to make the body work, it can’t do it. There are two essential fatty acids, 8-11 essential amino acids that come from protein, 13 essential vitamins, and 18 essential minerals. If you cut out any one of them, it will kill you, over time. The most important thing to understand is that you have to optimize those two, they have to be in the right balance, and they need to be made with health in mind.

What are the symptoms of someone that is deficient in Omega 3’s and 6’s?

Every cell needs Omega 3’s and 6’s. In the membranes there are channels that allow things in or take things out. The essential fatty acids improve the functions of those channels. They increase energy, especially the Omega 3’s.   Studies in athletes show a 40-60% increase in stamina within 30 days of taking our blend. There is not a training program on this planet that gives you that kind of benefit. Again, I think a lot of it has to do with energy levels, oxygen, and metabolic rate. Everything that every cell does requires energy. If you give it more energy, it does a better job.

Does fat make you fat?

No, that has never been true. In 1979, The McGovern Report bamboozled us. They told us to eat less fat and eat more carbs. From 20 years of following that advice, obesity went from 25-65% of the population. When you eat carbs, they turn into sugar, and you absorb the sugar. If you absorb the sugar faster than your body burns it, you get high blood sugar, which is toxic. Carbs and sugars turn on the gene for fat production, called fatty acid synthesize, which turns a molecule of sugar into a molecule of fat.

Carbs turn on and off that gene for fat production. When it comes to oils, fats don’t turn on fat production. It’s illogical for the body to do that. However, Omega 3’s actively turn on fat burning and they actively turn off fat production. When it comes to stamina and endurance sports, fat is what you need, whereas when you are running short distances, carbs is what you need.

When you are talking about carbs, are you talking about processed carbs versus whole food carbs?

When I’m talking about carbs, I’m talking about foods high in carbs like grains, corn, potatoes, etc. There is a difference between whole food carbs and refined carbs, and there is a difference between starch in a whole grain and starch in white flour, and a difference between starch and sugar. If you eat more than you burn, you will get fat. There is research that shows that carb addiction is 8x stronger than cocaine addiction because when you eat carbs, your blood sugar goes up and it turns into fat. Insulin is very good at doing that. By the time insulin is done, you have low blood sugar and are hungry. You get cravings and then you gorge. It takes time to digest the carbs and by the time they have absorbed, you’ve eaten more than you need to. The cycle starts again and again.

Are there certain oils that are safe to cook with?

There are some oils that are less toxic, but none that are good to fry with. If you use hard fats, they are the most stable (butter, coconut oil, palm oil), which are saturated fats, so they are not sensitive to light, oxygen, and heat. The people who want to sell you oils tell you that these oils are good for cooking. It’s a marketing tool. Always cook with water. If you want to be healthy, eat as much raw food as you can, take probiotics, and if you are going to cook, leave the fats out of it.

In Western society, we don’t have issues with famine, yet a big part of the population suffers from malnutrition. How is it possible that we can have so much food, yet suffer from so much malnutrition?

The distinction is between essential nutrients that we are not getting enough of them. We are getting too much fuel and not enough nutrients. The fuel is what makes you fat. When you eat too much fat, it suppresses your appetite. Your liver has to process it, and when it is full, it lets you know. That is why we say to spread out your intake throughout the course of the day.

A lot of people suffer from high cholesterol and may not know the difference between LDL and HDL cholesterol. Can high saturated fats help these people?

Medicine is only about disease, not health. I made the choice to explore biological sciences, because that is where you study how health works, when it’s working. It wasn’t disease-based. Cholesterol is so important in the body. Your body makes it, because you need it in the cell membranes in order to regulate the fluidity of them. Steroid hormones, stress hormones, and vitamin D are also made from it. You need LDL because that’s the vehicle that transports cholesterol from your liver to the rest of your body, and you need HDL to bring it back.

If you go on a plant-based diet, your cholesterol will go down to below 150, and only under 150 is there complete freedom from cardiovascular disease. Even the current research that is being done is not making that clear. The best diet is a plant-based, whole food diet, but you need B12 with that, because we aren’t 100% plant-based creatures. What is not clear is how much damage animal products do, with regards to how they are mass-produced with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. Eating meat once every 3 months would be enough in order to keep us healthy.

One of the top recommendations for people that have high cholesterol is to decrease their fat intake. What is your opinion on that?

If your cholesterol is high, and you eat a lot of saturated fats, that might have an effect. If you eat carbs that turn into fat, that seems to have a correlation with cholesterol, because cholesterol fats are also made from the same building blocks. But cholesterol is NOT your enemy. Eat more herbs and spices, eat more plants, eat more whole foods, eat less animal-based foods, and leave the stress outside. Be more present in your life.

What is the difference between taking your product in oil form versus soft gel capsules?

When you take a soft gel, it's like a supplement.  I take 2-4 tablespoons each day of the oil, which is 28-56 grams/day. I would have to take 56 capsules in order to achieve the same health benefits, which are 3x more expensive than the oil. It just doesn’t make sense. When people travel, it’s better to take capsules, but when you are home, use the oil and mix it in food. It enhances flavors and improves absorption. The oil is not a supplement. You can’t be healthy if you don’t live in alignment with nature.

Can you give us three tips of how best to age without disease?

The single most important issue in the planet is disconnection from the core of our own being. In that place is where our peace resides, and peace is amazing for health. When you have that, everything else comes easier. The most important thing you can do is to take the time to be alone and feel what it feels like to be alive. Do what you can to be more present.

Secondly, get comfortable living in a wild world, which is easy to do when you are fully present.

Thirdly, in terms of nutrition, make sure that your water is alkaline, that your oils are made with health in mind, and that you are taking Omega 3’s and 6’s in the right order, that they come in glass bottles, are refrigerated, and are never used for frying.

My mission in life is to find out how people can live in harmony. I sought to find out how, through science, bioscience, psychology, and self-knowledge. My first step was to make sense of fats, and my two other missions are to turn health into a systematically organized, teachable, consumer-friendly field, and to do the same thing with human nature. We are the only problem on the planet. We have to ask ourselves, “What is it about us that makes it such a problem?” When it comes down to it, it’s about disconnection.

My next book will be called, Total Sexy Health. Everything affects health. If you want to be fully healthy and present, give all parts of your nature its due. There are 8 billion people on this planet and the light is already within all of them, if they would only allow it to be seen. If we did, we would be taken care of by life, because life takes perfect care of us. We could then live in harmony, and if we lived in harmony, everybody’s basic needs could be taken care of without any sacrifice. It’s built into our nature to be able to do it, but we have to get present. It’s about time that we got smart and woke up.

I’m so grateful that Tatiana and I were able to interview Dr. Udo Erasmus on the importance of healthy oils for optimal health & well-being.  Dr. Udo is a pioneer in the use of fats and oils for optimal health.  His healthy oils have changed my life for the better.  I highly recommend that you read his book and buy his products!

Do you want to learn more about Dr. Udo's healthy oil and supplement products? CLICK HERE to visit his website!

Do you want to learn which fats heal and which fats kill? CLICK HERE to purchase Dr. Udo's book!

Goals give you a sense of purpose in life. Do your goals excite you?

If your goals don’t excite you, it’s unlikely that you won't follow through and make them a reality. In the words of Joe Vitale, “A goal should scare you a little, and excite you A LOT.”

When you set big goals that are outside of your comfort zone, it raises the bar and motivates you to work hard to achieve them. Unfortunately we live in a world that has programmed us to expect instant gratification.

People who ascribe to this style way of thinking are known as dabblers; they only focus on the short-term, and want immediate results without putting in the hard work.

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In short, they are not invested or committed to their goals. This is a recipe for disaster. If you want to achieve anything of value in your life you need to focus on the long-term. Long-term goals give you a sense of direction and purpose in life. In the words of Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

In a psychological study conducted by Alberta School of Business, researchers made the discovery that once we set a long-term goal, our subconscious mind will never “erase” it (Nikitina, 2012). In essence, we become programmed for success, however it's up to us to do the hard work and achieve our goals.

Compelling goals excite you so that when you visualize them, they provide you with fuel for the fire. You need to have a strong ‘why’. What are the reasons why you want to achieve your goals? Do your goals excite you? I get excited about any opportunity that allows me to grow and give.

Research shows that “80 percent of success is due to psychology—mindset, beliefs, and emotions—and only 20 percent is due to strategy—the specific steps needed to accomplish a result.” Yes, strategy will lead to the accomplishment of your goals.

However, in order to be successful in life and in business, you need to possess a mastery mindset, which will allow you to constantly learn, adapt, take risks, and believe in yourself and your vision. Push motivation is a behaviour that an individual forces themselves to complete in order to satisfy a need or achieve a goal (Spacey, 2016).

Alternatively, pull motivation is a behaviour that an individual feels drawn towards. When you push yourself to do something you expend a lot of willpower and energy. You can only do this for so long. Eventually you get burnt-out.

You need pull motivation; something that excites you so much that you feel drawn towards it, so that it almost becomes effortless. There will always be setbacks and challenges in life. That is a guarantee. How you deal with failure determines your level of success in life. I know that failure is part of the process of my personal growth and development. I use it as fuel to propel me forward towards my goals.

Do your goals excite you? Set goals that make you want to get out of bed every morning and take massive action. Robin Sharma said it best – “Clarity precedes mastery. Craft clear and precise goals and then block out everything else.”  Be consistent, work hard, and create the life you have always dreamed of.

Do you want to discover how to create a morning ritual that will motivate you to achieve your goals? CLICK HERE to join my course, Morning Ritual Mastery!

All human beings share an innate drive to experience happiness.

People don’t wake up in the morning and think, “How can I be miserable today?”  We all want to be happy, but some of us lose sight how to achieve it.

This is where the power of daily rituals are come into play. The small things that you do each day create the biggest results. Happiness is not only hard to measure, but it is difficult to define, because everyone ascribes their own meaning to it. What makes you happy? Have you ever wondered what determines happiness?

The Oxford dictionary defines happiness as, “the state of being happy”. The problem with this definition is that the feeling of happiness is subjective, which is why it is important to understand happiness through scientific examination and inquiry.

In contemporary psychology, happiness is simply referred to as ‘pleasure’. Dr. Martin Seligman, a pioneer in the positive psychology movement, took this one step further, and used the scientific method in order to understand why happy people are happy.

He added a second component to the definition of happiness – engagement. He found that the most satisfied people were those who had discovered and used their ‘signature strengths’ in the service of something much larger than themselves.

Stephen Covey once said, “Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice”.   You create our own happiness. You have the power to choose happiness at any given moment. The question remains, if happiness is a choice, than why aren’t more people choosing it?

The reason for this is because many people strive for happiness, instead of choosing to be happy. They wait for the next big thing, instead of being in the present and enjoying the little things, the moments that bring joy. They think that happiness comes when they word hard, make lots of money, and achieve ‘success’.

This is a recipe for disaster. The happiness equation is a lot simpler. It you want a successful life, choose happiness before anything else. Research by psychologist, Ed Diener, shows that the frequency of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the intensity of your positive experiences.

When we think about what would make us happy, we tend to think of intense events—taking a fancy trip, winning the lottery, or buying an expensive car – but Diener and his colleagues have shown that how good your experiences are doesn’t matter nearly as much as how many good experiences you have.

Somebody who has a dozen mildly nice things happen each day is likely to be happier than somebody who has a single truly amazing thing happen. This research is a testament to the importance of being grateful every day, and learning to enjoy the present moment.

Ekhart Tolle once said, “Do I want the present moment to be my friend or my enemy?” The present moment is inseparable from life, so you are really deciding what kind of relationship you want to have with life”.

Making a commitment to be happy can have huge benefits in your daily life.   I believe in the power of daily habits. Follow these 7 daily rituals that will help you live a happier and more fulfilled life:

Practice Meditation

“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” ~Lao Tzu. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that meditation is really healthy for the mind, body, and soul. Research shows that meditation can increase your levels of feel-good chemicals, like endorphins and serotonin.

Studies also indicate it may increase your capacity for happiness and reduce your propensity towards negativity. At first, meditation can seem challenging, but like any habit, with practice, you get better at it over time. You may be wondering, how does this happen?

In his book,  The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg describes the “habit loop,” which explains how habits form and are maintained.

There’s a cue that triggers a behavior, for which we are rewarded, making it likely we will continue the behavior. Keep in mind that meditation doesn’t mean that you have to sit in silence for 4 hours every day. The purpose of meditation is to gain a greater awareness and appreciation of the present moment.

Start each day with a simple 5-minute meditation. Focus on your breath, calm your thoughts, enjoy the silence, and watch the benefits unfold before your eyes!

Be Grateful

In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness – it allows people to feel more positive emotions, cope with challenges, and build strong and long-lasting relationships.

Its easy to take gratitude for granted. Have you ever caught yourself complaining that your computer wont turn on fast enough or that the barista didn’t make your coffee hot enough? We all do it. The very thing that you have is that which someone else would only dream of having.

When you consciously cultivate an attitude of gratitude, everything in your life changes for the better. It shifts your focus from what you lack, to what you already have. Start each day with writing down five things that you are grateful for. Give thanks and appreciate life’s gifts – your ability to breathe, see/hear, walk, etc. The simple things.

As Tony Robbins says, “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears”.

Nurture Your Physical Wellbeing

Most of us are aware of the physiological benefits that exercise can bring, but there is evidence to suggest that it can also improve one’s mood and increase feelings of happiness. It is so important to nurture your body by eating a well-balanced diet and doing some form of physical activity every day.

I am a big believer that your health is your wealth. It is the best investment that you can make. Jim Rohn said it best – “Take care of your body. Its the only place you have to live”.

Do What You Love

Are you living on autopilot? Do you wake up every morning wanting to hit the snooze button because you dread going to work? If you are not living your passion or making strides to do so, you need to ask yourself why, because life is too short no to. Perhaps its time to make a change.

By stepping out of your comfort zone and finding what it is that makes you come alive, you will experience more joy, happiness, and fulfillment. When you live your truth, everything in your life changes for the better. Keep in mind that there will always be someone that has an opinion of how they think you should live your life, whether that’s a colleague, a family member, or a friend.

The only opinion that matters is yours. Everyone has a special gift, and its your job to discover, nurture, and share that gift with the world. Take the advice of Steve Job – “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it, keep looking. Don’t settle”.

Spend Money on Experiences, Not Things

It’s nice to buy nice things for yourself once in a while, especially when you have worked so hard to achieve success. It’s important to reward ourselves. However, money doesn’t buy happiness. Recent research from San Francisco State University found that people who spent money on experiences rather than material items were happier and felt the money was better spent.

Like I’ve said before, it’s the little things in life that mean the most.  Invest in yourself. Engage in activities and experiences that expand your mind. When I was 17 years old, I found the world of personal development and I never looked back.  Investing in yourself may be the most profitable investment you ever make.

Warren Buffett once said, “Invest in as much of yourself as you can. You are your own biggest asset by far”.

Surround Yourself with Happy People

Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, and motivational speaker, once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” It is important to realize that you become who you surround yourself with. Step back and look at your circle of friends. Do you seem to be drawn to happy people?

Do you surround yourself with people that support, inspire, and elevate you? Do you admire and respect them? If not, it may be time to rethink your friendships. Make a commitment to spend more time with positive, happy people. In turn, you will feel the same.

Find Your Flow

Can you think of the last time when you were so hyper-focused that hours went by without you even noticing? In positive psychology, flow, also known as ‘the zone’, is the mental state of operation, in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, involvement, and enjoyment in the process.

Research has linked this flow state to leading a life of happiness and purpose. The question remains, how do you enter into this flow state? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the term ‘Flow Psychology’ suggests five ways through which you are able to enter into a flow state:

• Set goals that have clear and immediate feedback
• Become immersed in a particular activity
• Pay attention to what is happening at the moment
• Learn to enjoy immediate experience
• Proportion one’s skills to the challenge at hand

When you are in this flow zone, it will bring you a level of focus and clarity to your work that indescribable; something that should all strive for on a daily basis.

Do you want to learn more about how to create daily rituals? CLICK HERE to check out my Morning Ritual Mastery course!