There is no end to all the things we have yet to do. There is no final goal. Any accomplishment is usually followed by another door opening another challenge. It’s inevitable. So you think you may have achieved your final goal—like getting engaged or married, or getting a coveted new job or losing 25 pounds—but there is always going to be another challenge ahead. There is no final end point where you can just coast through the rest of your life, with no care or worry.
It is the process of taking life one moment at a time that really counts. It is that ability to be in the present moment that determines how happy you’re going to feel. So often, we self-sabotage by only feeling we’ll be happy when we get to the finish line. Instead, you have to enjoy the journey, every step of the way, not just the outcome.
Discover What You Should Stop Putting Up With
Visualize your morning until your commute. Next, visualize your workday experience or however else you spend your weekdays. Lastly, see your commute home and your typical weekday evening. While you’re visualizing, see what part of this routine could be more inspiring.
We become so habituated in our habits that we typically put up with a toothbrush that clearly needs replacing, breakfast foods that don’t inspire, an often used gadget that needs fixing, the empty wall that needs a picture or, perhaps the absence of a really good book. What element of life completely within your control are you putting up with? What things can you easily eliminate or replace? Yet you haven’t done it because you are so stuck in your routine.
This exercise serves by getting rid of what holds you back or doesn’t foster an optimistic state of mind. It also builds the muscle that you have dominion over your environment and life. You have the power and control to make a change, even if you have been stuck in the old way for years.
Connect With Deservers
As adults who have busy lives and set routines it is not so easy to find a group of peers who will inspire you. I have mentors I speak with every single week. Each one of them is in my life because I’m inspired by the way they are living their lives. And they care enough to guide me—to challenge and inspire me to reach higher. So the time on the phone allows me to be stimulated by their energy and insight.
The people in your life who have their deserving flip switched on likely do not know they do. It’s unconscious and innate. Just by talking to them you’ll be stimulated by their energy. You’ll be influenced by their personality, the ideas and topics they discuss, how they speak about their spouse and family, and by their decision-making process (whether they’re choosing their financial portfolio or making a lifestyle choice). Connecting yourself with like minded people will keep you connected with your self-worth and value.
Be Aware of Your Environment
Always be aware of your personal environment. Everything you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell stimulates your preconditioned thoughts every moment of your day. Because you are primarily in the same fixed environments (your home, car, office, neighborhood), the sensations you experience rarely change.
Address the personal spaces where you spend the most time—your home, office, and property. I love Marie Kondo’s insightful book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. In it, she teaches an extraordinarily simple approach to change your living space by ridding it of anything not bringing you joy. I endorse her methodology 100% as a way to increase your self-deserving muscle. The process she outlines (which when done correctly takes just one day) contributes to freeing you from past regret and fear of the future. Both of these emotions hinder your mind from optimism and joy. Her method also helps you see that you have more control over your life than you may believe.
So by taking inventory of all the physical objects in your environment and consciously removing ones that no longer serve you, you wipe the slate clean. You re-energize your physical environment, creating new space and room for more joy. Doing so starts the snowball effect, not just in your physical surroundings, but in more important decisions and life issues too.
Start implementing these easy steps into your daily routine to protect your self-worth so you can start enjoying your journey.
By Dr. Josh Wagner
To learn more about Dr. Josh Wagner, please visit www.drjoshwagner.com.
DR. JOSH WAGNER is a mindset coach, international speaker and consultant to renowned doctors and their staffs around the world. After building a successful private practice in New York City, Dr. Wagner began to shift his focus to help others achieve their goals to have richer and better lives through his revolutionary Deserving Process.
His new book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or through this link: You Deserve It: The Missing Answer to the Life You Want .
