Posted on by Raj Daniels

Highs and Lows

Imagine listening to a piece of music that only has high notes. What would it sound like?

The beauty of high notes is clearer when they are contrasted with low notes and this same phenomenon applies to life too.

In every aspect of life, your career, finances, health and relationships you will continuously experience highs and lows and just like music it’s the constant wave that that makes life enjoyable.

You may not see it but everyone is experiencing highs and lows on a continuous basis. The ones that don’t seem to be affected by the lows are the ones that have learned to handle them or not show when they are experiencing them.

Just like music, the tempo of the highs and lows will constantly change, sometimes from minute to minute and other times it can be days. Enjoying and appreciating the highs when you are experiencing them, even if momentarily, will help you gain perspective when you experience the lows.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Your Days

This is your day.

It’s the one you’ve been waiting for your whole life. It’s the day you commit yourself to achieving everything you want to.

Or maybe it’s not your day. Perhaps it’s the day you decide to give away? It’s the day you decide to give to all the other distractions vying for your attention. It’s the day that will disappear like all the other days.

I know, you’re busy and you can’t commit an entire day for yourself.

What about the next five minutes? Can they be yours? Or will those too become part of another lost day?

Carving out small chunks of time just for you doesn’t have to be an all or none proposition. As little as 30 minutes of uninterrupted time will make a huge difference in your life.

Don’t let all your days slip away with the misguided notion that you don’t have time. Find your time, make your time, fight for your time. These are your days.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Heroes

Who do you think of when you hear the word hero, movie stars, athletes, musicians? What about everyday people that walk among you?

Last week I met someone that I would consider a hero.  I met an individual whose spirit, determination and attitude that I admire and seek to emulate.

As we started our conversation we exchanged the usual, how are you? And I responded with ‘any morning I wake up is a good day because above ground is always better than the alternative.’ He responded with a similar answer but ended it with “especially since I’ve experienced almost dying.” So I asked him to elaborate.

He shared that he was in the second Gulf War and was shot 5 times. As if that wasn’t’ shocking enough he then went on to share that he was shot as he jumped out of a plane attempting to parachute in to enemy territory and that they also shot his parachute, causing him to fall 800 feet to the ground as his parachute spiraled out of control. He hit the ground bounced a couple of times and then lay there for several hours before being rescued. It was a miracle that he survived.

Fast forward 20 years and he’s earned 7 degrees and is working on his 8th. One degree being in ballroom dancing, against all odds because he had been shot in his knees and was told he would never walk again. He’s also started several businesses and now he is giving his time back by mentoring business owners.

I was inspired by him and this post is dedicated to all the other everyday heroes that that we encounter in our lives. The ones that have endured more than most could ever imagine and have now found pursuits bigger than themselves. The ones we should all aspire to be like.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

The Wall

What will you do when you hit a wall? Not a physical wall, but a metaphorical wall?

When you hit a wall in your relationship will your first thought be, how can I get out of this?

When hit you hit a wall in your career will your first instinct be submission?

When you hit a wall in your health will you give up on yourself?

The wall in any aspect of your life is inevitable. Think of the wall as the fall before you learn to walk. Imagine if you had given up on your first attempt.

The size of the wall will be relative to size of what you are trying to accomplish. Almost anyone can hop over a single brick but only some have the skills and resourcefulness to overcome the big daunting walls.

How you think about the wall will determine your approach. If you see it as a dead end then that’s what it will be. However, if you see it as part of your journey to a worthwhile destination then your approach will be different and you’ll find a way to overcome it.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

A little more

When was the last time you pushed yourself just a little more, physically or intellectually?

Pushing yourself to do a little more is your key to personal growth because it gives you confidence that you control your mind and that you can reach beyond your current capacity.

Doing a little more can be a simple as adding an extra minute to your exercise routine, reading an additional page of a book or spending a few minutes researching or learning about something that you’re working on.

The power behind a little more is that your efforts compound over time and your ability to control your mindset of being able to do a little more is a transferable skill.

Make an effort today to do just a little more than you think you can and notice how you feel a sense of pride as you realize just how much power you actually have over yourself.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Getting Even

What do you do when someone treats you poorly? Do you spend your time and energy thinking of ways to return the sentiment? Do you say things like, if that’s’ how they behave then I’m going to respond in a similar manner? Do you become more like them?

If you have a set of guiding principles that you believe in for your own life then why would you compromise them based on someone else’s actions. Yes, it can be easy in the moment to react with a, I’m going to show them attitude, but where does that get you.

Not responding when you feel attacked or slighted is difficult because your ego jumps in to protect your identity. But if you’re confident in your identity then why does it matter what someone else says to or about you?

Don’t spend your precious life dwelling on or thinking about what people have said and done that has hurt or offended you. Instead, refocus and think about all the people that have been kind and thoughtful towards you, and you’ll see that your life will be much brighter.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Empty Space

How often do you leave space in your life for magic to happen, to experience serendipitous interactions and opportunities?

Living with your days crammed with activities and things to do leave you with little or no room for ‘by chance encounters.’

You don’t have to schedule hours of empty space but you do have to make an effort to make time for opportunity. You can do something as simple as go to a coffee shop and talk to a stranger with no agenda or outcome in mind. You can take a walk without listening to music or talking on phone, just looking and absorbing your environment.

There are numerous examples in history, such as Newton and his apple or Archimedes and his bathtub where inspiration for a new idea struck when least expected because of empty space.

Make it a practice to add, or perhaps better said, to remove constant activity and input to your life. Leave some empty space for yourself and see what magic you experience.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

No Blueprint

Are you trying to follow a blueprint of someone else’s life to fix or improve your own life? The problem with blueprints, templates and other such mechanical terms is that they only work for mechanical objects.

Take a diet for example. A 100 people could be on the same diet down to the last calorie counted and measured, and yet there would be 100 different results because no two individuals are the same.

When you find yourself saying, but it worked for her or that’s how he did it, you are inviting yourself down a slippery road. You are making the error of assuming you are the same as the other person.

Now there are guidelines you can use to direct your life and they can help you move in the general direction towards what you want to accomplish but guidelines don’t guarantee ‘success.’

Someone else’s life blueprint can be a good starting point for you, but only as learning tool for you to continue to conduct your own life experiment and find a way to a unique to you.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Permission to Play

Do you give yourself permission to play; to lose yourself in an activity that you enjoy so much that time disappears?

It’s been said that play is essential to creativity. Playing enables your imagination to express itself in ways that you wouldn’t normally do in your everyday routines.

Playing is different for everyone and there are no set guidelines for the correct way to play. Playing for you could mean participating in sporting activities, wrestling with children or just watching movies.

As an adult you will always have ‘adult’ responsibilities as part of life and they will never go away. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give yourself permission to play. Indulge yourself occasionally in guilt free play time and don’t worry about all the other adult stuff, it’ll still be there when you’re done playing.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

How can I help you?

How can I help you?

How may I serve you?

What can I do for you?

These questions have magic within them. They have the power to transform your life if you ask them with a sincere desire to serve others.

These questions also require you to have an abundance mindset because you have to know and believe that you have enough time, energy and mental capacity in order to make time to do things for other people.

Research shows that when that when you help others you’ll receive the added benefit of feeling good about yourself too. So make helping others part of your daily routine.  Add these questions to your vocabulary, make a habit of using them often, and experience how your life changes when you commit to helping others.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Why am I trying?

Have you ever asked yourself, why am I even trying? Why am I even trying to be happy, lose weight, earn more money, be in a relationship, build a business or any other endeavor?

The why am I trying question usually arises when whatever you’re attempting to do seems impossible. Or when you think it’s just way too hard to continue.  And it can be a very valid question. And in the question lies the answer. It’s in the ‘why?’

What is your motivation for trying? What will you gain, what will you become if you succeed and will you be strong enough and willing enough to pay the price?

Defining your reasons for why to start and also re-examining your why while you’re on your journey will help you decide if you should continue. The majority of people that quit going after what they want is because they stop asking why.

Keep your why in front of you. Read it or see in on a regular basis so that when things do get difficult you will know why you are trying.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Practice makes You

What do you think of when you hear the word practice? Do you think of athletes, musicians, perhaps religion or some other activity that requires repeated attention in order to improve? And you would be correct, but what about you? What do you practice?

When you see an athlete or performer practicing they are engaging in an intentional activity to improve their ability to perform. The same applies to you except you’re usually thinking or doing without being intentional, because it’s just how you are. Or is it?

When an athlete sees that something is no longer working for them they work to change to it, they practice something new. What about you?

Every behavior you perform on a regular basis regardless of it being positive or negative is a practice. It’s just that you don’t view it as practice or re-affirming, you just see it as who you are. The reason the athlete is motivated to change their behavior and practice something new is because their livelihood depends on it. The same should apply to you too, because ultimately your life depends on it.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Wish others happiness

Do you spend any of your time consciously wishing others well? Wishing them happiness and sending them good thoughts? Or are you so focused inward that the well-being, happiness and success of others never crosses your mind?

Wishing others happiness is not a natural behavior for everyone, but it can be learned with practice. I know you might be thinking ‘what if someone has done something to hurt or betray you, how can you wish them happiness?’ And this is a valid question. But how much time and energy can you spend being upset with them and what was your role in the situation?

Wishing others happiness can actually improve how feel about yourself because it shifts your mind, even if temporarily from thinking about your own problems and challenges.  Practice today to send thoughts of happiness to people you know and random strangers and experience how it changes your day.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Unlimited Resources

 

If you had unlimited time, money and energy what would you do with your life? Would you really be motivated to do anything productive?

Working within resource constraints naturally forces you to be more creative. It pushes your mind to find new and unique ways to produce results. Nature itself is designed to work and produce against constrained conditions and the strongest of any species are those that learn to adapt and thrive with limited resources.

Nothing you need to or want to start doing requires unlimited resources; in fact having limited resources forces you to be more resourceful.  Whatever you want to do, start today and remember, the only place you need to have unlimited resources is in your mind.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Superpower

What is your super power? The thing that you are so good at that you always feel confident when you do it? The skill that when you look back on your life you know you could always rely on?

If you don’t know, or are not sure what your super power is then think of a time when someone asked you ‘how do you that? You’re so good at that? Or, ‘that comes so easily to you? These are all clues to what your super power is. You can also think about activities that you really enjoy doing, productive activities that you would do for free.

Once you identify your super power then you can learn to nurture and grow it. You can design your life around it. You can find roles or jobs that leverage your inherent talent and when you do you will ultimately do and feel better.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Break your routine

Break one of your routines today. Choose one thing you do every day and change it just for today. It doesn’t have to be huge change; in fact it can be a small as using a different cup for coffee, using the opposite hand to brush your teeth or sitting somewhere else at work. Just something that feels a little different.

Making a small change to a routine will engage a different part of your brain and spark new connections. You’ll see the world differently and experience different emotions.

Breaking a routine can be a great gateway for creating new habits. It can give you the courage to eventually make bigger more drastic changes because you learn to get comfortable with change. Try it today, because you have nothing to lose. If you don’t like the change you can always go back to your routine.