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.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

The idea of

Do you like the idea of being happy?

Do you like the idea of being healthy or the idea of being wealthy?

The idea of being in a relationship or any other endeavor?

I was taking a walk yesterday morning and saw a man walking a large black and white Old English sheepdog. Now if you’ve ever seen one of these dogs you know that they are beautiful and for a quick minute my mind wandered to the idea of owning such a dog. But very quickly I realized that I liked the idea, but not the work and maintenance that’s required in owning one.

Falling in to the trap of liking the idea of something is very easy to do because your mind rushes to the end product, the picture of how your life would look. And there’s nothing wrong with imagining how you want your life to look. In fact it’s the starting point of all great journeys.

The key is to realize that every end product, every idea and dream realized is going to take a lot of work and very often more work than you realized. It’s going to take work to start, to continue and to maintain and just liking the ‘idea of’ will not get you there

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Commit to Yourself

This is a very special blog post for a couple of specific reasons.

First is that it will be my last entry for 2016 and second is that it is a ‘makeup’ post.

What I mean by a makeup post is that on January 4th 2016 I committed myself to writing a minimum of 100 words 3 times a week. And the result of my commitment is that over the course of the year I have written 155 blog posts and 34,000 words. However, I have a confession to make.

On Monday July 4th I did not write a post because I was travelling. And the fact that I didn’t has been nagging me all year.

Now you may say that, it’s only one post and perhaps I should focus on the accomplishment and I would agree with you. However, I also know that this kind of thinking is a slippery slope. It’s like a cheat day when on a diet that turns into a cheat week and eventually… well you get the idea.

So in the spirit of my make up, I now ask you. What did you commit to but didn’t’ stick with that is still nagging at you? Why did you stop? And if it’s still nagging at you, how can you start again?

Let’s both take an oath together to stick to our commitments. Not only the commitments we make in public but to the ones we make to ourselves.  To see our commitments through and, if stuck then reach out for help. And if we falter or slip, not quit but forgive ourselves, do a makeup and re-commit.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

You don’t have to

Do you believe that you have to behave the way you do?

That you have to respond and react the way you do? And that there’s no other way for you?

Do you have to yell at your spouse or children when you are upset?

Do you have to eat the unhealthy food because it’s there in front of you?

Do you have to check your email or social media one more time just in case you miss something?

Do you have to have wander aimlessly through life being the victim of your circumstances?

Do you have to…fill in your own have to.

If you believe that you have to do any of the items above then you fallen in to a trap. Because everything you see listed there is something you learned to do. At some point in your life you adopted a mindset or a behavior because you thought this is how I need to behave. But you don’t have to. You choose to.

If you want to act a certain way then at least own the behavior and don’t blame it on have to. And when you do step up and own your behavior is when you have the opportunity to change it… if you choose to, but you don’t have to.

Posted on by Raj Daniels

Time for You

Do you schedule time with yourself to do the things are important to you?

Or do you rely on an ad hoc; I’ll just get to me when I can system?

Giving all your time to your work and family might seem noble at first, however it will cause you to feel out of control and over time build up feelings of resentment for both.

Prioritizing a little of your time for yourself lets you know that you too are important and that you’re not just living a reactive life. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, even a few minutes a day can make a big difference to how you feel.

Look at your calendar today and schedule a few minutes for yourself tomorrow and treat that time just as you would any other appointment.