Wow … December is upon us and now we gear up for the new year. Are you ready for 2020?
Whether we like it or not, we cannot deny Father Time, right? It's amazing how often I'll hear people say "How time flies" and this will instantly cause us to reflect on the past year and evaluate the good, the bad, and the ugly. With great optimism and intentions, new year resolutions are created to ensure we make it an even better year in 2020!
As you start charting the direction of achieving these goals, ask yourself this very important question … What is the ONE thing WE should not FAIL in?
It's LIFE!
While there’s no wrong answer since each and every one of us have different priorities and perspectives, I believe we need to be thinking at the highest level of awareness and intentionally take a broader approach.
Living in Silicon Valley, it's amazing to meet diverse, driven, and talented people from various walks of life. Often unfortunately, the pursuit of success comes at a high price. Most unconsciously lose sight of the most important things in their lives because of being too busy and focused with career success. On a coaching session, a successful Apple Director was very proud of achieving career and financial success. She had a great relationship with her spouse but then she used the word "regret". At age 41, she revealed her dream of having a child and experience motherhood not yet realized.
We should not fail in LIFE and when I say life, let’s put it in these 3 major areas: Health, Wealth, & Relationships. Each is not exclusive of each other.
Health – with three categories: Mental, Physical, & Spiritual. "The greatest battles occur in our mind". Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Diana Nyad are just a few examples on those who overcame adversity and conquered challenges. In 2013 with Diana Nyad who at 64 years old broke the world record to swim over 110 miles from Cuba to Florida. Without the power of your mind, you cannot achieve the goals you set for yourself.
Got fitness goals? Healthy eating goals? Weight management goals? Personal and professional growth goals? Or perhaps looking to define your purpose and identifying a spiritual connection? If you're relying primarily on your 5 senses in defining yourself and finding joy in your life, it is a journey to nowhere and fruitless. My wife Malou and I always reinforce to our children to have faith and believe in a higher power. Because in the valleys of life and when we're at a very low point, the physical world and people will sometimes disappoint and betray our trust.
Tap into your 6th sense in deeply discovering yourself.
Wealth – In a culture of consumerism, we don't have to look far to understand where our buying behaviors come from. So many cool stuff to spend money on: new tech gadgets from cell phones, UHD/OLED TVs, electric cars, fashion clothing/accessories, beauty products, novelty items, etc. Don't get me wrong ... there's nothing wrong with spending. However, are we spending money believing that the ownership of expensive things will bring happiness? I hope not! And at what cost?
Are you saving for retirement? If you are, is it enough? Do you have an emergency savings fund? Will your family be cared for financially if something were to happen to you? What does your legacy look like?
In a financial coaching session about a couple's saving strategy, they revealed their lifestyle need of making purchases on expensive name brand items. The ironic part is they do not have any retirement savings because as they put it, "We don't earn enough money". Spending behavior like this is deeply rooted from a person's past and their programming. They don't believe in their capacity to control their fate. They also don't believe in the quote, "It's not what you earn, it's what you save". And unless a deliberate effort is made to understand the reasons of their choices, spending behaviors will not change. A question to ask ourselves is, "What is my relationship with money?". As John Beckley stated, "People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan".
Lastly, Health is also Wealth.
Relationships – How do you get along with your family? Parents, siblings, in-laws, friends, co-workers? Do you have meaningful and deep relationships? If not, what can be done to develop it?
I consider one of my greatest achievements is being married for over 30 years especially since I came from a broken home. What I found as a revelation was the time my wife and I were asked when did our marriage really felt right. My response was 7 years whereas my wife felt it was about 13 years. Such a disparity, I thought! Our mutual lack of awareness could have caused our marriage to fail and fortunately, we have a great family to support us. Looking back, I would choose to do things differently by getting the help we needed to making the unconscious conscious. Why should anyone have to endure or simply survive through life … choosing to do nothing is surrendering as a slave to our circumstances. We have POWER - the CHOICE to muster the courage to get help, grow, and create the life of our heart's desires.
Relationships is the most important area of life. Think about it ... when your health and wealth fails you, who will be around to be at your side? When you have fame and fortune but surround yourself with people whom you don't have deep and meaningful relationships, they will fail you. Create and surround yourself with people that truly care and love you!
Creating a Life you'd Admire
According to Business Insider … 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by February.
In a Psychology Today article written by Ray Williams, an Executive Coach stated that "Making resolutions work is essentially changing behaviors and in order to do that, you have to change your thinking and 'rewire' your brain."
Carl Jung, Founder of Analytical Psychology stated, “Until you make the Unconscious Conscious, it will direct your Life and call it Fate”. This quote is about the POWER of the subconscious mind and how most people unintentionally create a life they never intended.
According to research from The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton, a renowned Biologist, the subconscious mind can process 20M bits of information per second. The conscious mind can only process 40 bits of info/sec. So the subconscious mind can process 500K times more what the conscious mind is able to!
The point of this is that our subconscious mind is where all meaningful decisions are made! We need to make our Unconscious Conscious by increasing our Self-Awareness.
Awareness is so important because people lacking awareness do not understand the reasons of their actions that is guided by emotions and instincts, and in most cases through the programming received since childbirth. And when we don’t understand ourselves, we create limitations in our personal and professional lives.
If you truly do not wish to fail in LIFE – your Health, Wealth, and Relationships … change need to occur in two areas: Mindset & Environment. Most importantly, everything begins with YOU through increased Self-Awareness and Self-Leadership.
Life is truly what you make out of it and it's up to you to make a conscious choice to create transformational change.
Wishing you all the best life offers and a fantastic journey of personal growth as we welcome 2020. Discover the leader within you!
“Are you living a life that you’d admire?” ~ Diana Nyad
“Mastering others is strength; Mastering yourself is true power.” ~ Lao Tzu, Chinese Taoist Philosopher