Category: motivation how to

Your Ever-Ready Survival Pack – Day 255 of 365 Days to a Better You

Life, I think you’d agree, is not a straight line from here to there, from poverty to riches, from ignorance to enlightenment. It’s a gnarly, windy road that can lead you astray, if you let it. Being human, we often let it.

One of my all-tine favorite quotes is a simple piece of profound wisdom that can instantly act as a survival pack on that road you and I are walking. When all has gone off track, this quote gives you all you need to get restarted.

As with most useful quotes, it’s often changed and misattributed. It’s normally attributed to President Teddy Roosevelt or tennis great Arthur Ashe. The Roosevelt attribution is a little closer as the quote comes from his 1913 autobiography. However, he uses it quoting Squire Billy Widener.

Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.

Eleven words of sheer genius.

    It begins with do what you can. You don’t have pull off a miracle or make up 20 points on one play or change the world in an instant. Just do what you can.
    Next do it with what you’ve got. You don’t need obtain a Master’s degree or someone else’s approval or have more money in the bank to begin. You can begin with what you’ve got.
    Finally, do it where you are. You don’t need to wait for the perfect moment. You don’t need to undo what’s been done. You don’t need to move to a new city. You can start right where you are.

It all seems very simple, but how often do you and I place all kinds of conditions on beginning a change? We’re always looking for a better time, a better place, a better situation. Those are myths. They don’t exist or, if they do, you’ll wait your life away in the hope they might one day arrive.

You don’t need them. You have your ever-ready survival pack in this quote – Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are. You have permission to use it without orders from headquarters.

The journey of a thousand miles does begin with the first step, but the first step begins by beginning.

In case no one else has told you today, YOU are amazing! Rock on!

Ray

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Affirmations: Your Personal Ad Campaign

Today’s affirmation is:

“Today I am reasserting my control of my thoughts and my actions.”

That’s Allstate’s stand. Are you in good hands?You’re a member of the “Pepsi Generation,” right? Do you, “Think outside the bun?” By the way, “What’s in your wallet?” And, of course, you know where to go if you want, “Always low prices. Always.”

The thoughts that you think have a huge impact on the quality of life you lead. Where do your thoughts come from? Are they truly your own? Do your thoughts on an average day support your goals or do they stand in the way of you achieving the things you really want in life?

In 2015, advertisers will spent $600 billion globally on direct advertising to mold your thinking about yourself and the world around you. It’s not unusual for political campaigns to spend millions of dollars to sway you to vote for a candidate.

That does not even include the news media, talk radio, your family, your church, and your friend at the water cooler at work; all of whom are constantly feeding your mind a steady diet of thoughts that counter and even undermine thinking that positively supports your desired direction in life. These professional marketers are extremely good at what they do. They often drive what’s hot and what’s not. Who’s in and who’s out.

They do it using a simple equation:

well-defined message + repetition = reshaped thinking.

Why do they want to reshape your thinking? Is it for some questionable purpose? Not usually. They are trying to reshape your thinking because your thoughts and opinions about something (their product, their message, their beliefs) influence your actions. Actions are the advertiser’s or the politician’s, or your mother’s real target. The reason they target your thoughts with repetitious ad campaigns (or, in the case of your mother, repetitious reminders) is that they know your thoughts eventually control behavior.

As human beings, we are susceptible to some very simple principles. One is that our thoughts lead to action and repeated actions become habits. Habits become your life.

their thoughts>their actions>their habits>their vision of your life

As habits become ingrained, our thoughts tend to reinforce and even justify the habits. In extreme cases, this thought, action, habit nexus survives even in the face of very negative consequences the actions create in our lives (i.e. addiction).

The good news is that you can take control of your own thinking by launching your own targeted media campaign. Looked at in one way, that’s what affirmations truly are. They are a targeted media campaign of your choosing designed to reassert your own thoughts on top of those drilled into you all day. You put the equation to work for you:

your well-defined message + repetition = thinking reshaped to your goals

You counter the message others are paying so much to place into your mind with thoughts of your choosing. So that your life becomes:

your thoughts>your actions>your habits>your vision of your life!

Am I suggesting you use affirmations to break your Taco Bell habit? No, but you could. The reason these marketers use this principle is because it works. I’m suggesting you can put the same power to work for you in your life.

You have thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back. Why not launch your own ad campaign to counter them?

It’s never too late start. Today is the day to begin shaping your own life, your own beliefs, and your own dreams again. After all, the real question is not, “What’s in your wallet?” The real question is who has control of your thoughts?

Empower your mind!

Ray Davis is the founder of The Affirmation Spot. He’s spent more than 25 years studying personal development and especially writing, recording, and using affirmations to achieve his goals. His eBook – The Power to Be You – offers 416 life-changing and original quotes, ideas, and affirmations to take you to new levels of achievement and reflection.

anunnaki_cover_full_colorAnunnaki Awakening: Revelation, Ray’s first novel,  is turning heads and opening minds. Humanity’s past is checkered, secret, and dangerous.

White House Correspondent Maria Love is on to the story of her life and with the help of an Anunnaki leader seeks to unravel and reveal history’s biggest conspiracy. The Awakening has begun!