Raj Daniels

What can you do to make the world a better place?

If the idea of making the world a better place sounds too daunting then start a little smaller.

You could start with…

Your country.

Your state.

Your city.

Your neighborhood.

Your home.

Just imagine the difference it would all make if each one of us collectively made an effort to leave places better than we found them.

How much effort would it really take to take on such an endeavor?

Probably not as much as you might think.

What it would take is conscious behavior. It would take a shift in focus and a bias towards action.

You could start with something as small as picking up a piece of litter and disposing of it correctly. Or, if you feel so inclined, you could run for public office because you’re willing to commit energy and time to making things better on a larger scale.

The choice is yours.

If you’re really stuck and don’t know where or how to start making things better, then start with thinking about it. Once you decide and commit to the fact that you’re going to work towards making the world a better place, I can almost guarantee you’ll encounter endless opportunities to do so.

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I think you’re amazing.

I think you’re beautiful.

I think you’re brilliant.

I think you’re charming.

I think you’re…

Enough about what I think you are.

What matters more is what you think you are.

Because what you think you are is and should be way more important than what I or anyone else thinks you are.

What you think you are will determine how you act and behave; it will also determine how you show up for yourself and others.

If you’re constantly thinking about how others think you should be then you’ll have to develop multiple versions of yourself because everyone you meet might want you to be something different. However, if you build yourself around the person you think and believe you are, then you will be consistent and more important, congruent with yourself.

The sooner you realize that you’ll never please or earn the admiration of every person you encounter, the better off you’ll be. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be kind, pleasant or respectful to those you meet, it just means that there will be people that like you and people that don’t, and that’s okay.

So instead of thinking about what I or anyone else thinks you are, focus on thinking about the kind of person you think you are. Once you do you’ll develop an inner sense of confidence that won’t be relying on, or looking for validation about what other people think you are.

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If you don’t invest in yourself then who will?

Investing in yourself is a signal to your own self that you have self-worth and that you value yourself.

When an investor reviews and investment opportunity, it’s with the expectation that the opportunity has a certain value and will return even greater value in the future, therefore increasing the value of the initial investment.

You should consider yourself your own investment opportunity.

There are many ways to invest in yourself but ultimately they all boil down to two common denominators, money and time.

You have to believe that you’re worth both.

How much money and time you invest in yourself is up to you and should correlate with you your own personal goals and lifestyle. And you don’t need to spend unreasonable amounts of either one to get started.

Allocate a small amount of money and time towards improving the areas of life that are important to you. For you it might be education or health, whatever it is, invest in it.

It’s easy to get caught up in the cycles of every day routines and de-prioritizing yourself, but when you do, you’re also indicating to your subconscious that you’re not worth the time. And when you de-value yourself, how can you expect anyone else to value you?

So refrain from using all your resources on others and start to invest in yourself. Because when you do, you’ll begin to see and experience exponential returns on your investment.

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When you hear the word perfect, what comes to mind?

Do you think about a perfect object, a perfect life, a perfect person?

What about you?

Do you believe you’re perfect?

I think you should.

Now before we cross wires and get in to a debate about perfect, let me explain.

I’m not saying that you’re perfect in sense that you never say or do the wrong thing, or that you’re always right. Nor am I saying that you always look your best or any other image of perfect that you might have in mind. Nope, when I say I think you should believe that you’re perfect, what I mean is that you believe that you’re complete, you’re enough; you’re whole and have nothing missing.

Why is this important?

Well, if you believe that you’re not complete or whole within yourself, then you must believe that some part of you is missing or even worse, lacking. And this belief will show up in everything you do, especially in your relationships. You’ll always be searching for objects or people to fill what you think you’re lacking. And your search will be never ending, leaving you with a constant feeling of being unfulfilled.

So when I say you’re perfect, it’s not to inflate your ego, telling you can’t do any wrong. It’s for you to know that you can and should love yourself as you are today. And yes, if you choose to, you can build upon and improve who and what you are, but not because you feel as though you’re not good enough. You do it because you want to add to build on the perfect person you already are.

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You’ll work with people.

You’ll have relationships with people.

You’ll live with people.

You’ll co-exist with people.

Then why not study people?

Learn what moves them, motivates them, what makes them tick.

You’ll probably go through your entire primary and secondary education without ever taking a class about the nature of people. And depending on your career choice, you might even go through graduate and post-graduate school and still never take a class that teaches you about people.

And then, you’ll step in to your job or career and you’ll have to work with, collaborate with, negotiate with, people. And as you move further through your career you’ll be exposed to books and other material about leadership training, and management training, which mostly focus on teaching you, how to work with and motivate, yup, you guessed it, people.

So why not get a head start?

No matter where you are in your personal or professional journey, start studying people now. Take interest, learn how to live with them, how to work with them, what motivates them.

And guess what?

You’re a person too.

So one of the best benefits you’ll get from learning about and studying people is that you’ll get insight in to yourself too.

Look, you don’t have become an expert on people, but since you’re probably going to spend the majority of your life around them, doesn’t it make sense to learn more about them?

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“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

Read it again.

Memorize it, and repeat it to yourself, and never forget it.

Being yourself, scratch that. Being true to your real self is going to be one of the hardest things you’ll ever encounter in your life.

The quote I started with wasn’t written by me, it was written by the brilliant poet E.E. Cummings.

To some this quote might seem unreasonable, and the truth is, that it is.

Why is it unreasonable?

Because it’s dangerous.

It’s filled with all the perils, the consequences, of being yourself.

But at its core, it boils down to, what will they think of me? And although some of this is tied to emotion, a great portion is directly associated with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The core need for love and belonging drives many to mask who they really are in order to achieve social acceptance.

The awful irony is that when elderly are asked to list their lessons and regrets from their lives, one of their top regrets is that they wish they had been brave enough to have expressed their true selves. And that’s why you’ll often hear that old people don’t have filters. It’s because they’ve realized that their time is limited, and so they’re going to act, say and do whatever they want to.

Now, I’m not suggesting you don’t take other people’s feelings in to account or condoning behavior that’s damaging to you or society. What I am suggesting is that you really starts asking yourself, who you are and what do you want?

Do it now and do it often.

Look, you’re always going to encounter people that don’t agree with you, but the more you’re aligned with yourself, the more you’ll attract people that resonate with you. It might be difficult at first, but that’s the continuous battle.

Start now. Don’t wait to be the old person with regrets and without a filter.

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Airplane door.

Back door.

Bedroom door.

Bus door.

Car door.

Classroom door.

Elevator door.

Front door.

Garage door.

Kitchen door.

Office door.

Revolving door.

Store door.

Study door.

Train door.

Life is a series of doors.

Some doors will be more important to you than others. The reason is because how you show up once you cross the threshold of these doors will determine the tenor of your relationships, which in turn will have a direct impact on your life.

When possible, stand a little straighter and put a smile on your face when you walk through a door. If you do this, it’ll change what you see on the other side and, if there are people on the other side, it’ll change how they see you.

Doors might seem like an insignificant part of your life. But if you view them as transition points, to change your attitude, change your mood, revisit your views, you can begin to leverage them as opportunities to your advantage.

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Who paved the way for you?

Which brave souls set out in to the world, sometimes by choice and at other times, victims of their own circumstances, to create all that you see around you today?

You’ll never know.

Yes, your point of reference might be your parents, or other ancestors that you can trace, but there were others. Others that perhaps your ancestors leaned on, or even followed, that eventually led you to be where you are today.

All that came before you were pioneers in their own way. Some left greater marks on the world than others, but all of them, if the given the opportunity, would share their stories of trials and tribulations that they had to endure in order for you to be here today.

So now I ask you?

Who will you be a pioneer for?

The truth is that you’ll probably never be able to really know the real impact you’ll have on any one person’s life. But as you move forward in your own daily endeavors, realize that everything you do does and will have a future consequence. You too in your own way are a pioneer.

So today, take a minute to be grateful for all those that came before you, irrespective of whether you think you know them or not. And then set out on your day, doing things and taking actions, while all along knowing that, whether you’re remembered or not, you are a pioneer and will be impacting those that will live on after you.

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Tag you’re it!

If you ever walk up to a playground full of children you’ll probably see at least a few of them engaged in a game of tag. Apparently the game of tag is a global phenomenon. Children around the world instinctively engage in their own local version of the game.

Why is this?

Well, researchers say it that tag has a primal effect to it. The running around, laughing out loud and even screaming with joy all while expending energy is something we’re built to do.

So why stop?

When do you become too old to run around laughing or screaming with joy?

When is child’s play relegated only to young children?

Millions of dollars are spent each year on sporting events. Fans and spectators flock in droves to watch adults essentially at play. So often when a professional athlete is interviewed you’ll hear them say phrases like, ‘I can believe I get paid to play,’ or ‘I feel just like I was when I was a kid.’

Why should they be the only ones having all the fun, playing like children?

Why not you too?

Find ways to evoke your inner child. Actively engage in child’s play. If the mature version of you is pushing back and saying that you’re too old to do so, then know this. Studies also show that play increases creativity. So there, now you have a great reason to find a way to play.

Try it today. Tap a friend or co-worker on the shoulder and whisper, tag you’re it.

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Do you accept or decline?

I’m guessing that you’re asking accept or decline what?

And that’s a great question.

You see, you’re constantly accepting or declining requests for your time and energy. However, many of these requests don’t come with big obvious buttons that ask you to accept or decline. In fact many or even most of them are subtle, to the point of insidious, working their way under your conscious radar and stealing tiny bits of your time and energy on a daily basis.

Actually, stealing might be too strong of a word since you’re complicit, and you do agree to your time and energy being eroded by a constant stream of requests.

And since these requests never stop, how do you find or more important, take any time for yourself?

How do you prioritize your energy and time so that it allows you accomplish things that are important to you?

You might not have any large goals that require lots of time and energy, such as climb Mount Everest on your things to accomplish list and that’s okay. But if you’re like most people you probably have a few small goals that you’d like to achieve.  And in order to achieve them, you’re going to have to apply some degree of selfishness. You’re going to have to decide whether you accept or decline requests for your time.

And, at times, declining requests might make you unpopular. But this is the tradeoff you’ll have to be willing to make. You’re going to need to draw some hard lines in the sand if you’re ever going to carve out some ‘you time.’

Whether it’s the people around you or the device in your hand, they all want a piece of your time. And ultimately, your time is all you have. It’s your one non-renewable resource. It’s the one you have to protect the most, so be very careful when a request is made for your time, and decide wisely whether you’ll accept or decline.

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How do you feel when you think you made all the right choices, but it still didn’t work out for you?

Do you begin to doubt yourself?

Do you start sliding in to the ‘why me?’

Do you become bitter, not only with yourself, but also towards those who seem to ‘have it all?’

These are normal feelings, but if not addressed while still fresh will begin to lead you down a vicious cycle. You’ll begin to slip into what is known as a negative feedback loop, and you will begin to reaffirm all your feelings of self-doubt and ideas about failure.

So how do you prevent yourself from entering the cycle?

Well, you start by disaggregating events. That’s just a fancy way of saying; view each event as separate from the other. If you listen to people complaining you’ll often hear them saying, then this happened and then that happened, very often making the proverbial mountain out of a molehill.

Once you begin to view events as separate, then allow yourself some honesty and grace as you ask yourself, what role you played; what was your contribution to the event. This might take some real deep introspection, but keep in mind; this is to prevent you from entering the downward spiral, so well worth the effort.

Now here’s the hardest part, don’t let the event define you because if you do, then you have affirmed that this is the person you are. And like it or not, your mind will begin to look for evidence to support your claim.

Breaking out of or preventing yourself from entering cycles is difficult, but ultimately you have a choice. Cycles are ultimately feedback loops. So if you stop giving yourself negative feedback, and begin to find ways to give yourself positive feedback, even incremental, you’ll begin to see changes.

Ultimately, it’s your life and whether you agree or not, you do have a choice of when to intervene and say stop. And make the decision, if you’re going to allow yourself to enter vicious or virtuous cycles.

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I wonder.

Do you wonder?

Do you ever just let your mind wander in wonder?

Letting your mind wander in wonder might not seem like the best use of your time, and I agree if you do for hours or days at time, but a few minutes a day can be refreshing and rewarding.

Right now, in this moment, there are so many things around you that would leave you awestruck if you just paid a little bit of attention.

If you just allowed yourself to wonder.

If you allowed yourself to marvel at the magnificence of your immediate surroundings and beyond.

The sheer beauty, not only in the aesthetic sense, but also the utilitarian sense of all that is around you is easy to take for granted. For example, you might be reading this on an electronic device that is capturing the information from right out of the air around you.

Now if that doesn’t inspire a feeling of wonder-ful, then I would venture to say that you’re not looking hard enough. And you’ve become numb to all the miracles around, because you take them for granted.

Step away for a moment or two throughout your day and allow yourself to wonder, to marvel. To look below your feet and imagine the millions of life forms sharing the planet with you, and then look up at the sky and think about infinite number of planets and stars that you’re a part of.

If you take the time to break the monotony of your days with speed bumps of awe and wonder, then soon enough you’ll begin to realize the magnificence of your existence.

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What do you think you deserve?

Why is this an important question?

Because, you’ll act accordingly.

If you don’t feel worthy, or as though you deserve, then you will behave that way. Even though deep down you might think that you deserve certain things or situations in your life, if you don’t act in congruence with those thoughts then in essence, you will sabotage your own self.

The gap between what you think you deserve and what you get is usually filled with fear.

Why fear?

Because in order for you to get what you think you deserve you have to change, and change is scary. In fact, for some it’s so scary that they’d rather stay where they are, longing for what they want, rather than commit to changing.

Are you going to be one of those people?

The kind of person that knows they deserve better or different, but will not change because it’s safer to stay where you’re at and dream rather than do. If you are, then that’s okay, but be prepared to continuously feel unfulfilled.

Be prepared to live with the hollow feeling of knowing that you deserve so much more, but are not willing to leave the safety of who you are in order to get what you want.

On the other hand, if you decide that you are going to pursue what you believe you deserve, then I congratulate you and I should warn you.

Yes, warn you.

It’s not going to be easy. And it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get exactly what you think you deserve.

Now you might be asking, then why go through all the trouble?

Because deep down inside you’ll be and feel more fulfilled knowing that at least you tried. You’ll know that you lived with the courage of pursuing the things that you believed you deserved.

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What do you need to move on from?

What have you done in your past that is holding you back?

Perhaps even more important, what has someone else done to you that is holding you back?

What are you still holding on to that is not serving you?

What has happened to you has already happened, it’s over.

How long are you going to carry it with you?

Easier said than done?

Yes. Absolutely!

But you still have a choice.

You can either let your past bad experiences, failures and heartaches dictate your future, or you can wipe the slate clean and move on.

You can continue to ask, why did this happen to me?

Or you can move on.

One way to think of what happened to you in your past is like an invisible net that’s been cast over you and is now holding you back. And each time you revisit those negative events in your mind, the net gets just a little tighter, until eventually you just can’t move any more. You’re just stuck replaying your past.

I’ll repeat, this is not easy and moving on takes work, sometimes more than you think it will, but it’s not impossible.

So, if you feel yourself being held back by things from your past, work at leaving them behind and move on. Your future self will thank you for do so.

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Picture an apple in your mind.

A beautiful shiny apple that looks delicious and is ready to eat.

Did you do it?

I’ll trust that you did.

Now tell me, are you that apple?

The obvious answer is that you’re not the apple. You’re only thinking about the apple.

So why the apple exercise?

Well, this is a great example of a conscious thought. However, it’s also an example that illustrates that you are not your thoughts.

Why is this important?

It’s important because your mind is not always your friend. Your mind has a mind of its own. If you’ve ever caught yourself asking yourself, ‘why am I thinking of that?’ Well, that’s your mind churning away in the background just doing its own thinking.

This is neither good nor bad, it just is.

Your mind is an amazing storyteller and concocts images and stories in a blink of an eye, many of which are highly steeped in fiction. Yes, most of the time your mind just makes stuff up. Now how much of the stuff you want to believe is up to you.

Oh, and by the way, it’ll also make up a lot of stuff about you that isn’t true. And the worst part is that it’s not always good stuff.

So how do you know what to believe?

Well you don’t.

But you do have a choice.

You can choose to believe all, none or some of the thoughts your mind generates.

So how do you filter which ones?

Well, what if you categorized them in disempowering and empowering thoughts?

What if you ignored the self-critical thoughts and started to lean heavily into the thoughts that give you self-confidence?

Some might argue that this is not realistic approach to life and that too much self-confidence is not a good a thing. And I would agree with them. But, I’d rather you go out in to world and fail after attempting to do something rather than tell yourself you can’t do it before you even try.

So the next time you find your mind telling you all the things you can’t do or being self-critical, remember the apple. Just because you’re thinking it doesn’t mean that you’re it.

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Colour or color?

Neighbour or neighbor?

Centre or center?

Apologise or apologize?

There are many more examples.

So, what is the correct spelling of these words?

Well, it depends where you’re from.

They are all correct in their own parts of the world.

Why am I using spelling as an example?

Well, because it’s easy to do so.

You see, there’s a tendency to think that the way you were taught and brought up is the only right way to be and do. So when you encounter people that are different, you begin to judge based on what you know.

However, if you judge a person by their physical appearance or words they use before you learn who they really are, you are doing them and yourself a huge injustice.

More often than not, how you judge a person says more about you then about them. But this is not really your fault. The reason you do so is because it’s easy. That’s right, it’s easy.

It’s easier and takes less energy for your brain to go into its existing data base and retrieve information, rather than input and save new information, even if the information isn’t true.

What do I mean by not even true?

Well, if as a child you were shown a picture of someone with tattoos and told that only criminals have tattoos, well that’s now stored in your mental database.

So the next time you find yourself quickly judging someone by their accent, how they look or the words they use, pause for a moment and recall the examples of words I spelled. For them, they are 100% correct and you are wrong.  But, if you’re able to slow down or even suspend your judgement, you’ll open yourself to an opportunity to learn and perhaps even appreciate your differences.

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Right now.

As you read this.

You are at a crossroads.

Should you continue reading?

Or.

Should you stop?

For selfish reasons I hope you continue.

But.

I also hope you do what’s best for you.

This go, no go decision is entirely up to you.

And according to research, the average adult makes about 35,000 decisions per day.

So about 35,000 times per day you are at a crossroads.

Actually, I’m using crossroads as a simple illustration. But a crossroads only gives you limited options. Whereas in life, your options in any given moment can range from two, which is the binary, go, no go, to in some cases almost unlimited.

So how do you learn to make the best decisions for yourself?

Well, that’s a great question and I’m glad you asked.

The reality is that it’s impossible to evaluate every decision, because you really don’t have the time to do so. And not all decisions carry the same weight. Some are obviously more important than others.

For example, what you have for breakfast can be automated. The big decision here is, if you decide you want to eat for health reasons, then your nutritional options are limited, which actually works in you favor. Now you have fewer options to decide from, and you can eliminate the ones that don’t lead towards health.

You can take similar steps in other areas of your life too. Once you’ve made the big decisions, then you can eliminate choices that don’t allow you to accomplish them. However, in order for you to achieve this, you have to have a level of introspection and self-awareness.

This means taking time to ask yourself what you really want to do with and in your life.

It means stopping, getting away from being on autopilot and really self-reflecting. This is one of those big decisions. In fact, I dare to say that this is the biggest decision you will ever make. Because, if you don’t, then as you come to the crossroads 35,000 times per day, you’ll just take the first road you see.

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A doctor becomes an artist.

An engineer becomes an elementary school teacher.

A sociologist becomes an entrepreneur.

A mathematician becomes an astronaut.

The career track you start out on doesn’t have to be the track you finish on.

In fact the world is full of examples of people that studied one thing and ended up doing something totally different. Sometimes it happens by accident, and other times they realize it wasn’t what they thought it was going to be, so they made the change.

It takes courage to make such changes because the world has already categorized you as one thing, and now you’re going to be something totally different.

And you’re going to have to answer the question.

Why did you change careers?

What will you say?

Do you have the courage to answer the question?

Or will the fear of the question prevent you from changing?

You might think not, but there are people all around you today that are extremely dissatisfied with their careers, but will not change because they are afraid of the question.

They will let the question hold them hostage for their entire lives, only to realize, and sometimes too late, that they could have answered the question with a simple answer of, ‘I no longer enjoyed it and wanted to do something different.’

Yes, there will be follow up questions, especially in the form of the, what if’s?

But if you’re resolute in your actions you can power through and also learn to deflect such questions. Because deep down you’ll know this is ultimately your life and only you get to decide what you’re going to do with it.

So if you have an opportunity to change careers, or learn about a career that you’ve never heard of, or never previously existed and you want to explore, don’t let what you’re already doing hold you back. Take measured steps, be wise about it, but don’t be afraid to change.

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Mirror mirror on the wall…

Well perhaps not quite like mirror mirror on the wall, but more along the lines of mirror mirror in the world.

You see, life has a tendency to reflect back to you how you see the world. It will confirm your inner most thoughts and beliefs.

Now you don’t have to believe me, but what if it is true?

Well, you can give it a simple test.

Start thinking about something today and see just how many times that particular thing shows for you in the next few days.  Your mind has a way of confirming your beliefs and will provide you with evidence to support them.

Just imagine for a moment that you really could learn to shape your deepest thoughts and beliefs to create a life that works best for you.

Why wouldn’t you give it a shot?

What have you got to lose?

Look, the simple truth is that the life you’re currently living will always be here waiting for you if you decide to come back to it. The events and things you are experiencing and seeing aren’t going anywhere.

If it doesn’t work then you can always go back to your previous way of thinking. But if it does work, well now you can use it to your advantage.

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