I am not going to lie. My current challenge to write 500 words per day is hard. I have ran into many mental blocks that make getting the words for the day written nothing short from a true challenge. I am sitting in my office nook at day nine after just making it through the mental barriers that were telling me I could write later this evening, I did not have to write, this challenge is stupid and the list goes on. I find it easier to stay motivated through these times when I can answer one simple question with good logic. Why do I even do these challenges in the first place? It is certainly not to prove something to anyone but myself. I take on a new 30 day challenge each month. In the case of February my challenge was 28 days, but I have continued meditating each day for at least a few minutes, because of the positive result I got. I guess that is just it. I really never know if something will have a positive impact on my life until I give it a try. Testing something in your life for more than a day will give you an actual result, which is why I have opted to really commit to doing these challenges for a prolonged period of time. Doing something once is relatively easy when compared to doing it everyday for a whole month. And, a single day does not really produce a visible result. So how do I stay motivated to continue? With each challenge I know that I am investing in myself. I am proving to myself that I have the courage and perseverance to work through challenging tasks. I am investing my knowledge, wisdom and ability to push through challenging times. Also, I have a commitment to reach my full potential. By doing the same thing day in and day out I am not going to come even close to that potential. I may find a glimmering light through trying a new thing here and there, but nothing like what I have experienced through these challenges. The ROI on these challenges is huge and I would not stick with them not knowing that. I have learned more about myself as a result of sticking to a commitment that I set at the beginning of each month than I did in some college classes that lasted three months. If you are looking for change in your life then start with something small, commit to doing it for an entire month and write about it. Write about why you are doing the challenge at the beginning so when things get hard you can look back and remind yourself of what you are striving toward. Write about how you honestly feel at the beginning and throughout the experience. Is the challenge serving you or are you serving it? I chose to write 500 words per day out of a desire to get better at writing and speaking. Ten days and 5000 words into this challenge I can honestly say the results are coming to light. I can crank out these articles in 15-20 minutes, add some pretty good flow to them and speak about them in the future. For some ideas and a framework for your thirty day challenge check out my article called Creating New Opportunities for Your Life.
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Freedom to create my own work hours is part of the vision I have in life. I have a passion for delivering excellent work that helps people, but not at the expense of a huge percentage of my life. I believe life is meant to be lived and not worked. Don’t get me wrong here - I have an amazing job, working for a great employer, but I am striving for something more. I am working to build a business that allows me the freedom to work when and where I want. It will allow me to help more people in more ways than one and have a greater positive impact on the world at large. It will allow me to create my own work schedule and maximize the positive activities I involve myself in. How will I know that I have achieved this passion? I will have the freedom to take several months off from the daily grind. During this time I would spend time becoming more connected with who I am, strengthening relationships, traveling the world and experiencing some truly amazing adventures. I would use this time as a rebalancing and refocusing period in my life in order to become more successful and create even greater impact. Another work : off days ratio I have in mind is the freedom to a 3 : 4 work : off days lifestyle. This will provide me the freedom to spend more quality time with my family, focus on other aspects of life and again help more people. This does not mean that I would be vacationing four days a week, rather I will have a greater amount of time to become spiritually, financially and physically sound. I know to many this may sound unachievable or perplexing. I want you to understand the goal is to create work blocks that are more focused and productive not to get less work done. I believe this is one way in which I can provide a greater service to my community, family and customers in the future. The freedom to create my own work schedule has been own my mind for the last several years. I am grateful for the flexible schedule that I currently work. Perhaps my current freedom is what has driven the desire to create the true work life balance that I seek. I see far too many people live a life of work rather than actually live life. I want to spread this message. Life is meant to be lived. We are here for such a short time and so much of it is spent at the office, away from our loved ones, away from our passions and we forfeit our health, spirit, finances and so much more as a result. My solution is to follow through on the vision of my successful business. What is yours? Have you ever dreamt of having the freedom to create your own hours, work when you want, on projects you want and where you want? Today, I challenge you to honestly answer these questions yourself. Writing is truly a transformative tool. It provides us with an experience that cannot really be attained through any other act. There is something magical about putting words to paper, or in this case a document. Your thoughts are shared outside of your mind and ideas become reality. With these words we have the ability to inspire action, transform lives and learn a little more about ourselves. There is a certain state of mind that one must be in to write truly killer content. I find this head space by focusing in on the single task at hand. In the case of this article my goal is to write 500 words, publish my work and move forward with my day. Focusing in on the directions that my writing could go causes a head spin domino like effect that becomes uncontrollable. This is why I start with a simple list of points I want to hit on in my article and then begin writing. I will create a book with my work one day. A book that is full of good words. Words that inspire positive action, educate people and make things easier that are seemingly impossible to achieve. I have not yet evolved into the writer that will publish this book, however through constant and never ending improvement I will gain the skills necessary. My book will break things into easy to follow informative guides for changing your habits, controlling emotions, choosing your own physical destiny, improving your finances, looking at your overall health and so much more. Maybe it will be several books. The book will not be an abundance of words, but rather something that people can cruise through and apply almost immediately. While I love words, I have come to realize that big books take a lot longer to read and digest than small ones. I will also use this book as a platform to share some of my stories. The stories I choose to share will be about my own life experiences in overcoming unhealthy habits, becoming physically, mentally and spiritually strong, running marathons, rock climbing and adventuring in the outdoors. You may not have guessed, but not long ago I could hardly write an article to save my life. I disliked reading and the two really go hand in hand. One day I decided that I really wanted to share my life story through words. I wanted to begin learning more about myself than ever before. I wanted to become the best I could be. I set out to do this shortly after the Portland Marathon in 2012. Since that time I have written quite a few articles about all sorts of different topics on my personal blog. I have learned an abundance of things about myself, shared some really personal stories and really improved as a writer. If you want to get better at writing there are two simple things you need to make time for each day. Read. Write. I write to share my adventure. To share my story. To inspire positive change in other peoples live. To inspire positive change in my life. This is why I continue to write. I am getting clear on what my passions are in life. Through this quest I have found that physical, mental and spiritual strength fall at the top of my list of passions that allow me to create the ideal life. My life is ideal when I am Physically, Mentally and Spiritually Strong. So what the heck does that really mean to me? Physical strength is a state of being. It does not mean that I can just go to the gym and lift a lot of weight. It means that I have the strength to endure long runs, enjoy yoga classes, ski without pain and seek activities that are physically challenging. Physical strength is something I strive for each and every day. Through a daily exercise routine I am able to achieve this and so can you. My physical strength is not something that was just given to me and was not acquired overnight. It took and will continue to take dedication to a daily practice. A practice that will continue to challenge my mind and body. A practice that makes me stronger. Mental strength to me is my ability to remain at peace in stressful situations, make the right choice in the face of the wrong one and control my emotions in the face of anger, fear, pain, doubt and all other negative feelings. I will always be striving to strengthen my mind in some ways that are not even explainable. I do know that meditation allows me to quiet my mind so that I can think more clearly and this is a form of peaceful strength. Mental strength is found by caring for the mind and body through mindful practices such as yoga, meditation, reading and writing. I will continue to dedicate large portions of my life to these activities, because the results are amazing. I am truly grateful for my mental strength. Spirituality is something that is still very new to me. I was never religious growing up and still struggle with the word “god”. It was just weird for me to think of something that has more power than myself or is a godly like being. My spiritual mentor told me that my god can be anything and it most certainly does not have to be one from a form of organized religion. So I have come to call “nature” my god. I pray to it every day, spend time with it and strengthen this relationship. Why? Because I know that nature will always be there. I find a state of peace in nature that I do not achieve anywhere else and my mind body connection is stronger as a result of this. I am spiritually strong when I am praying daily, meditating and showing respect to my mind and body. I highly suggest you taking the time to find your passions in life. Here are some questions to get you started, but better yet - I suggest reading The Passion Test by: Janet and Chris Attwood
I have achieved this or something better....... Summit as friends! Scott c Success is a funny thing. Many of us including myself find a certain level of success and contentment through the way things are. We have achieved a certain job, finished a marathon, climbed a mountain. Through all this have we ever taken the time out to look at what we have failed to do or what we have failed at doing along the way? I believe only after taking this time out can we find what our true success and purpose is. I got the job, finished the marathon, climbed the mountain however still feel there is a piece of me that has not reached the success I strive for. I have not reached the top of the highest mountain in the NW. I have not finished a marathon over 50K. I have not started my own business again out of fear of failure. As a result of a clear mind, reflection and passion seeking I have popped out of the fear sucking bubble my head was stuck in for years. I am not afraid to say that I got complacent. I started drinking too much. Partying too much! Doing too many things that were dragging my life down. I was failing at the test of life and did not really know what to do about it. Until one day I had an epiphany that changed the course of my life. I realized that everything was beginning to fail at a faster rate than ever before in my life. Relationships were breaking, my finances were upside down, work was beginning to suck. And, this was all the result of my perception that things were ok. After deep reflection I realized that my part in all of this was quite simple. I became a complacent addict who was so self absorbed in the way my life was that I failed to connect with the reality of everything. Through this reflection I found many lessons to be learned about becoming humble, letting go, finding a higher meaning and purpose in life, running marathons, and living simply. Reflection is now something I do at the beginning and end of each day. During this simple reflection I ask myself some questions to help keep my life on track. 1) Are my tasks today going to bring me closer to achieving my short term and long term goals? 2) What did I spend time doing today that did not really matter? 3) Did I do something new that I need to repeat in my life? 4) What are my current roadblocks? 5) What did I learn? While I am still in the process failing, reflecting and succeeding I no longer feel stuck. I feel as though each day I am moving forward. Testing and retesting different things in my life is allowing me to be the change I want to be. You can do the same thing with a little bit of effort. Set some goals, create some milestones in achieving those goals and enjoy the process. Fail your way to success. Summit as friends! Scott Life balance is something many of us strive for on a daily basis. How can I get more out of my day? How can I make the most of this life? How can I be of service to my family, those I care most for and people I do not even know? How can I feel happy, peaceful and fulfilled? What does it mean to have a balanced life? To me, life is in balance when I can be fully present in what I am currently working on. I know that all other aspects of my life will get taken care of when the time is right. "You will find a balance in the mountains that exists in no other place." So, why the imbalance? The fact is life gets busy, often times overwhelming and everything feels out of alignment. We stop living according to what we most value, taking time to help others and enjoying each moment. We begin racing through each day and the speed seems to cascade out of control until some life event pulls the emergency brake. It does not have to be this way. I have recognized imbalance happen in many lives including my own. “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold.” - Bob Marley We need to stop overworking our mind and bodies spending time doing things we do not really value. We need to start aligning our lives and values with each other and start living in accordance to them. By establishing healthy habits we can flow through a day of complete peace, balance and happiness. Are you in tune with your values? Take some time to either write down or review your values now. Check in with yourself and see if you are in alignment at this time. What needs to change? If you are unclear with what your values are then I highly suggest working through the “What Are Your Values?” article by MindTools. Too many of us live a different life than what we would if we were fully tuned into our values. I recently had to take a big step back from the way I was coasting through life to really realize where I was heading. My mind, body and spirit were broken, relationships were failing and all other aspects of life that I value were not matching up to where I thought they should. I was simply not reaching my full potential nor living in balance. Here are my top 5 value buckets and some recent changes I made to live in better alignment with them. I am still yet to get everything together, but by taking action everyday I am happily living in balance.
Tips For Living a Balanced Life Everyone of us will have values and an idea of life balance that is slightly different and I fully respect that. These 10 things I work on each day to keep my life balanced.
Consistently checking in with yourself will help you be at your best every day. Remember investing in you is worth your time. “A balanced life is peaceful, happy and abundant.” Summit as friends! Scott Rowley Get this awesome content delivered to your inbox for free - Subscribe Here Life sometimes gets too routine. We get stuck in patterns of habit that are sometimes not so healthy for us. This is why I have actively cut out several bad things from my lifestyle and inserted more than a handful of good things. There truly is nothing more powerful and magical in our lives then transforming them. This is why I started to create 30 day opportunities. A 30 day opportunity is as simple as something you are or are not going to be doing in your life for the next 30 days. The best way to look at this is a tool that will change your life, create new experiences and allow for amazing opportunities. "The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act." - Orison Swett Marden I suggest starting with one new lifestyle change at a time. After 30 days if you feel like the new ritual is simply not of value in your life then throw it out. If you do experience positive change, feel happier and have more energy then why not make this a lifetime habit? Steps To Creating New Opportunities
My 30 Day Challenges For November:
Ideas For Future
Again, have fun with this. Attach a positive feeling to each of your challenges and they will not seem so hard and daunting. If you are going to make a commitment to creating a positive opportunity in the next 30 days then please do share it in a comment below. Summit As Friends! Scott |
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