Focus On What You Can Control
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” — Maya Angelou
Focus on what you can control. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. It can also change your life.
There are a lot of variables in life, most of which you have no control over. The weather? Gossipping coworkers? Losing a sale? Donald Trump’s next tweet? Who knows.
But there are some things in life that you can control.
Mindset
Be positive, be persistent and be someone that other people look forward to seeing.
Here’s a trick: try being the most enthusiastic person you know. Just for a day. You’ll notice yourself smiling more than ever and other’s will notice.
Work ethic
Nobody has ever become an overnight success. It takes years and years of grinding away until you get there.
Think about it like chopping down a tree. You won’t knock it down in one swing, but if you chop ferociously over time, it will go down.
The way you treat others
We all know the Golden Rule.
Go out of your way once a day for a stranger: hold the door open, give them a compliment, ask them how their day’s going.
Wellness
Eat clean foods.
Get 7+ hours of sleep.
Drink water.
Get active every day.
Read books.
Listen to uplifting music and podcasts.
Avoid the 9 o’clock news and other media outlets that will only put you down.
Meditate.
Your body and mind is the best investment you can make.
Language
A mentor of mine told me to be precise with my verbal and body language.
Until then, I’ve never thought about how many words I waste and how often my body language is misleading to how I actually feel.
Every word is worth a million dollars and every action is worth 5 million.
Be precise.
It’s funny, when you focus on these variables, things start to fall in place. You build momentum. You feel better, more confident.
Focus on what you can control and take your game to the next level.
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it” — Charles Swindoll
Want To Bring Your Game To The Next Level?
About the Author
Tom Alaimo (@TomAlaimo_TTGT) is the co-host of the TR Talk Podcast, where he and Ryan Warner interview leaders in their respective fields to learn how millennials can fast track their personal development. Tom is also an Account Executive at TechTarget and lives in San Francisco.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 293,189+ people.
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