Focus on the solution, not the problem.
"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?" - Jack Sparrow (attributed). You can spend your entire life pondering over your problems, difficulties you are facing and why you, personally, just can’t do what you always wanted because of this or because of that. There is something that is stopping you, isn’t there? Are you sure, though? Everything, absolutely everything can be overcome one way or another, if you start looking for the solution instead of mentally walking away from that wall of an issue separating you from your goals and dreams. Stop thinking about it as a problem, but instead approach it as a challenge and work with it and around it.
Complain less.
Sure, you can sit and fume over this and that, how someone is letting you down or this hasn’t worked out the way you wanted or you can forgo the entire thing and concentrate on moving forward with what you have and the environment you operate in, as is. Can you change anything by complaining? If not, just flow with it. By complaining you only add weight to the issue magnifying it in your head. You will achieve a lot more if you will come up with a constructive solution to what’s bothering you instead of just putting it out there. Subsequently, by constantly complaining about stuff you get into the habit of doing it more often than not, getting less and less satisfaction out of life. Everything can’t be wrong, logically, surely there are things that are good and right around you – appreciate that, look for that.
Do your best, every time.
A “this will do” attitude will eventually take you to a mediocre life. Doing just what is required of you, the absolute minimum, eventually affects how you do everything, including the things you do for yourself. It affects your self-esteem, your self-image and the quality of your life. Always ask yourself, is there a point in doing it at all if I don’t care how it will turn out? It doesn’t have to be perfect, not at all, but after you are done you should feel that you have done your absolute best in doing it right. If you feel stuck and you know you can do better, walk away, give yourself time to think on it and come back to it later. You’ll be happier for it knowing that you didn’t settle and if things don’t turn out as you hoped after all the effort you put in, at least you’ll know it’s not because you didn’t try hard enough and you “could have”, “should have” and things “might have been” different.
Value your time and the time of others.
That’s the most precious thing you have, time. No one can give it back to you, you can’t cheat it and you can’t get any more of it so make sure you respect it, spend it wisely and get the most out of it. The time of others, just like yours, is just as valuable so keep that in mind when taking it.
Understand your WHYs.
Sometimes we do things. And very often we don’t even understand why we do them, very often they are done because, well, they have always been done and not for any other reason. Question everything. That’s the best advice there is on life. Question why you do what you do and why you do it the way you do. Without a clear understanding of what you want to achieve with your actions, what it is you want to get as a result and why this is the result you want – you can’t really get these results now, can you? There isn’t really anything completely definite in life except for the fact that it does end for everyone and everything so make sure you understand at least what drives you instead of just going blindly forward, where ever the hell that forward is. Make sure you have a clear idea why you are doing what you are doing and keep questioning it every opportunity you get, just in case these answers happen to change.
