5 Things You Can Control While Paving Your Path
It can be easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed when your life isn’t going as planned.
We all have this “successful checklist” where we work towards helping us ensure we feel we’re close to accomplishing every achievement in our careers, business, or life and somehow it’s elusive.
Let me say that this isn’t a failure, but we can’t help feeling disappointed and sometimes the emotions are too much to handle.
While some obstacles are deeply rooted in systemic issues and cannot be solved by individual action, there are some things we always have control over.
These powerful actions are essential to help us maintain our mindset while we take a moment to rest and breath while continuing to make our voice heard.
I hope the following will help you change your life by making these small adjustments and choosing to consistently repeat them day after day while you pave your path in growing and accomplishing your goals.
Here are five simple steps to help you control and build your mindset while you pave your path towards your definition of success.
how you react to situations
I’ll be the first to step forward in admitting that I don’t always react in the best way to certain situations.
With that said, I also think I can share some great advice that we actually do have the power over how we react to situations.
And when I react negatively to something, it’s mostly because I’ve been triggered and like the human being that I am, I sometimes don’t give myself the time or space to take pause and breath before reacting.
I also take the situation personally and as a very sentimental person, my emotions can bubble up and come out.
When this arises and after the hurricane has passed, I always go back to the second agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements.
“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally. Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their own minds; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. When we take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what is in our world, and we try to impose our world on their world.”
Without fail, this quote of The Four Agreements grounds me back to reality. We have to remember that whatever happens around us is not because of you. Just as you and I are caught up in our minds, it’s very likely that the other person is as well.
You have the power to control how you react to situations and not explode in hurting yourself or others by your response. This brings me to point number two.
How You Speak to Yourself and to Others
Everyone talks to themselves and the words that we say to ourselves and others have power.
Some of us may find it easy to encourage our friends or partners when it comes to accomplishing their goals, feeling down, or making a mistake.
But what do you say to yourself when you want to start something new or feel pressured?
I’ll be honest, when I make a small mistake like dropping something to the floor I automatically call myself, pendeja.
I can be really unkind to myself and calling myself that is completely uncalled for. It was an accident and negative self-talk like that can grow into much deeper and hurtful words in the long run.
Saying positive self-talk phrases like the following can really help us build up self-confidence.
“I can’t control what other people think, say, or do. I can only control myself.”
“Attempting to do this took courage and I’m proud of myself for trying.”
“Even though it wasn’t the outcome I hoped for, I learned a lot about myself.”
What You Think and Believe
Your mindset is everything.
Having a positive mindset will help you build a strong mindset to be able to know how to react to situations and how you speak to yourself and to others.
Stop worrying about hypotheticals and outcomes. Use that time to grab a book and read, play loteria or take a walk around the park.
Declutter your mindset from all the negativity and remember it’s all about being consistent.
Who You Surround Yourself With
You are the average of the five people closest to you.
When you have positive self-talk, self-assuredness and happiness, people with those same traits will gravitate towards you.
And if you don’t have those traits now, then spend time with people who inspire you to achieve your goals and be a better person.
Look at your closest friends, do they encourage and uplift you when you’re with them? Yes or No?
Whatever the answer is, take the time to create new connections with new people to help you widen your perspective in life!
How You Spend Your Time
The activities we do in our day-to-day life are important and will help shape the previously mentioned tips.
Are you taking the time to exercise, eating healthy, or sleeping enough hours?
Take a moment to analyze how you spend your time and is it really worthwhile?
Some great tips can be going on a run while you listen to Ellas or updating your website to help you land your dream job.
Every action will help you move forward in your path and you’re so fortunate in being able to control all of these things. I hope you found this helpful and will start implementing some in your daily routine while you navigate your journey!