In upcoming articles, I plan on writing about some well-known themes in personal development circles and showing how to truly apply them and benefit from them. Starting today, with the notion of seizing the day.
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” – Voltaire
How often do you just accept what life throws at you?
Live another day, another week, another year waiting for your ultimate life to present itself?
When was the last time you challenged a fundamental assumption about the way you live?
It’s pretty natural to just do what everyone else is doing, especially when we’re led to believe there is a standard path to success. Many of us are on auto-pilot.
But doing what everyone else is doing rarely leads to creating our ultimate lives.
We end up competing in an endless cycle, with the hope that our ultimate life will eventually reveal itself like a bright yellow brick road that we can calmly take.
You probably have heard the words “Carpe Diem”. I first became aware of it (as did many others, I suspect) as a result of watching the film ‘The Dead Poet’s Society’ starring Robin Williams. It was taken from a Latin phrase that says: “Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero” meaning “seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.”
Here are some strategies you can follow to seize the day.
1. Prioritise yourself – You have the power to control where to spend your time – working out how you can focus on the one thing that needs to get done can be hard – the first thing to do is at least understand (truly) where you spend your time. Keep a daily timesheet out of interest.
Don’t give up your golden hours! These are the times when you are functioning at your best. For me it tends to be 9am to midday each day. Don’t use these times in the mundane and banal. Fight for them with every action of your day. It will give you that creativity, the work boost, and that sense of accomplishment that will carry over into the rest of the day. Set up conditions so that your golden hours will be the best-uninterrupted work it can be. Also, don’t give it all just to your work. Spend some time working on some personal goals and investing in yourself.
2. Dare to be different. Experience. Try out new things. Don´t care too much about the opinions of others. Trust in yourself and your judgement where appropriate. Be brave enough to question and change.
The only obstacles to success are the ones you put in front of you, as cliched as that sounds! Go for it because failures are the stepping-stone to success. Leave yesterday’s bad memories behind, learn from them and choose to only take the good ones forward with the lessons.
3. Speak truth to be powerful – It’s not easy and sometimes requires a touch of diplomacy. But being constantly truthful and speaking up at the correct time will win you respect.
If you make a mistake – admit it but think of what you will do to correct it. You are not weak if you admit it but smart if you correct it.
4. Be a leader. People follow a leader because they want to, while they follow a boss because they have to. Set an example worthy of emulation and people will follow.
Listen more. The best ideas come to those that listen the hardest… and have time to be creative. It is important to create an environment of listening. Listeners are far more likely to seize opportunities when they arrive.
5. Have fun every day. You won’t succeed unless you find fun in what you are doing. It relieves stress and makes you more productive.
Go surfing,
sing karaoke, take up a new sport or hobby, explore new foods, or anything you
may be remotely interested in. Just say yes to fun and joyful stimulation.
These articles will help you with this one:
– Ways to Be More Fun Person.
https://www.adam-eason.com/ways-to-be-fun-more-person/
– The Science of Laughter: Why Laughing is Really Good for Your Health.
https://www.adam-eason.com/science-laughter-laughing-really-good-health/
– Ways To Find More Fun in Life. https://www.adam-eason.com/ways-find-fun-life/
6. Every day use your imagination. As Albert Einstein said, Logic will get you from A to B but imagination will take you everywhere. Throw logic out of the window on occasion and try imagination. Bring your logic to life by combining more imagination with it! You may surprise yourself.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts” –Winston Churchill
7. Release the inner kid – jump in a puddle of mud while wearing your Sunday best. Sure it’s crazy but a lot of fun.
Be hungry to learn and to discover new things. Even completely unknown and “silly“ things. Risk and enjoy to fail. That stimulates your growth and transformation.
Read this article for more on this: How and Why You Need To Be More Playful and Childlike. https://www.adam-eason.com/how-and-why-you-need-to-be-more-playful-and-childlike/
8. Be with nature – Getting outside does wonder for the heart, soul, mind and body. There are endless activities to take advantage of that you can do just to be with nature.
Say yes to a back-yard bonfire, camping (or ‘glamping’), stargazing, a visit to the beach, a walk in the forest and making snow angels.
9. Earthen yourself. Don´t lose contact with others and your inner soul. Treat people and yourself with respect. Show feelings and be human.
Try mindfulness meditation. There is a huge body of research-backed by scientific findings on the benefits of mindfulness mediation. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon found that mindfulness can help us seize the day by making your body markedly less stressed.
10. Last but not least, get out of your comfort zone from Day 1 or even the Day 459. It doesn’t matter when, but you must do it. Do it without having second thoughts. It is the only way to help yourself gain a competitive advantage in the future. Challenge yourself to see how far you can get. At the end of the day, you will feel the satisfaction of accomplishment and you will have learnt more things about the real you.
Read this article for more on this topic: 7 Steps To Leave Your Comfort Zone. https://www.adam-eason.com/7-steps-leave-your-comfort-zone/
There is a price you pay for being constantly in motion. If you are always on to the next thing and not mastering what you have then this could be exhausting – if you are exhausted it is hard to see the real opportunity when you create it. All bright shiny things are not necessarily worth seizing.
The carpe diem approach will allow you to enjoy life more, as the carpe diem strategy forces you to get into action; to be the creator of your own life(style) – instead of being a passive victim of your circumstances. The carpe diem philosophy believes that YOU and your actions are responsible for your future and (quality of) life.
Living the carpe diem approach will also make you less dependent on other people, decisions etc., which in my opinion – in the long-term – results in more freedom. More peace of mind. More happiness.
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Have some of these themes here resonated with you? Then have a read of these pages:
1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others? Are you a hypnotherapist looking for stimulating and career enhancing continued professional development and advanced studies?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist who is looking to fulfil your ambitions or advance your career?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.
Likewise, if you’d like to learn more about self-hypnosis, understand the evidence based principles of it from a scientific perspective and learn how to apply it to many areas of your life while having fun and in a safe environment and have the opportunity to test everything you learn, then come and join me for my one day seminar which does all that and more, have a read here: The Science of Self-Hypnosis Seminar. Alternatively, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book, it’ll help you live with integrity!
