How to Land an Internship: The Ultimate Guide

While the college landscape has changed this year, what you make of it doesn’t have to. Over the last few months, companies may be starting to notice the positive impacts working remotely has made on their teams. As the new school year approaches, you may be thinking how you can go the extra mile.

Even though some businesses may be working more remotely, that doesn’t mean your chances of getting an internship are hindered. To test the waters of your career before you graduate, put yourself out there, and land an internship that could build your career, and your budget. 

Start the Internship Search

First things first, search for the internship you’d like to hold. While you may have an idea of what you’d like to do after college, keep your internship choices broad. Cast your applications far and wide — you may find a passion for something other than you ever thought you would. 

Build Your Resume and Cover Letter to Impress

Second, start prepping for the perfect first “virtual” impression. Tailor your resume to the job your applying to and double-check that there aren’t any mistakes in your resume. Along with that, prep a stellar cover letter that will knock them out of the park. Make sure to showcase your genuine interest in their company. 

Impress From Day One

Now you may have landed an interview, make it the best interview yet. Research the company you’re interviewing with. Find out how they got started, how far they’ve come, and who the key players of the industry are. If the interviewers release their name before the interview, research each individual and their impacts on the company. 

You Got the Job — Now Showcase Your Skills 

Now you’ve landed the job and your ready to make the most of this experience. Start by impressing your team the first day on the job, and grow your network. During the first week, go around the office and introduce yourself to everyone you can. Over time, you may grow professional connections that form into career mentors. Ensure to keep these relationships as you grow your career. 

Check out our infographic below for more tips and tricks to land your dream internship that actually pays:

 

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-to-land-an-internship-the-ultimate-guide/

How Much Sleep Do You Need? The Sleep Routines of 50 Ultra Successful People

How much sleep do high-achieving CEOs, entrepreneurs, and artists need to fuel their ambitions? It’s well known that a good night’s sleep has lots of benefits, from lower stress and better emotional resilience, to healthy immune systems and lower risk of certain diseases. Uninterrupted sleep usually makes for sharper focus and concentration, too. Surely that means that getting a good nights’ sleep should be high on the agenda of anyone aiming at success. 

When it comes to highly successful people, it seems that some don’t value sleep as highly as the doctors recommend. Online Mattress Review have created a new infographic, The Sleep Routines of Successful People, which shares the sleeping hours and evening activities of famous achievers. From artists, entertainers, and sportspeople, to leaders in business and politics, it seems that, like the rest of us, priorities can differ when it comes to how time is best spent.

Some of the most famous and powerful people seem to get by on very little sleep. America’s 45th President, Donald Trump works until after midnight, and gets only 3 hours of sleep. Also in the 3-hours club is the famously grumpy celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, who works until 2am. Lack of sleep certainly hasn’t stopped either from being incredibly successful and well-known. 

“Sleep is the best meditation.” – Dalai Lama

At the other extreme, actress Kim Kardashian and environmental activist Greta Thunberg make unlikely bedfellows, with each getting a refreshing 9 hours of sleep per night. Their evening activities differ though, with Kardashian working until late and Thunberg relaxing with friends and good books. Highly successful people are able to find the routine that works best for them.

Check out the infographic below to see the sleep routines of 50 highly successful people:

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-much-sleep-do-you-need-the-sleep-routines-of-50-ultra-successful-people/

How to Create Thriving Opportunities During Unfortunate Times

If you’d like to learn how to thrive during uncertain times so you can always find ways to be successful, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

The current situation we are all dealing with in the world has had an unprecedented impact on businesses, both new and established, across every industry imaginable. From tourism and travel to retail and even e-commerce, business is down and there is an uncomfortable sense of uncertainty across the world.

There are always going to be unfortunate world events that we have to deal with head-on, but a global pandemic like we are currently experiencing is unchartered waters for most business owners and entrepreneurs.

One of my companies creates direct-to-consumer beauty brands and we launched a new brand amid the global pandemic. Many said that launching a new brand during the pandemic was very risky.

Guess what happened? It took off. It exploded out of the gate and scaled faster than other brands that launched in what many experts would say, were more stable economic times. We made sure to check-off several boxes — ones that I knew would lead to the success we experienced.

This formula doesn’t only apply to e-commerce brands. It actually applies to any new business. While most are playing it safe and laying low, there is a huge opportunity to introduce new products or services to the market. 

Here are a few things to consider if you decide to take the leap:

1. Identify a Need, Want, or Desire with High Demand

The brand we launched was an at-home kit that allows consumers to get salon-quality nails at home. One of the most complained about topics across social media was nails — or lack of options since most salons were ordered to close.

As it became clear that salons wouldn’t be opening for some time, we decided to launch a home-kit. There was a clear need, want, and desire. All you had to do was look on social media and it was very obvious that if we brought a solution to the market, we would have willing and able buyers.

The demand was there and the price-point was more affordable than the salon. We created a win-win situation for the consumer. They were able to do their nails and save money. There are always going to be needs and wants during unforeseen times. Identify them and you will face opportunity directly in the face.

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

2. Find a Way to Place Your Offer Directly in Front of Your Target Audience

There is one aspect of the global pandemic that gave many businesses a major advantage. They could easily market to their ideal customer through online marketing.

From email marketing to paid social media and influencer marketing — consumers were at home and a large percentage of them were on their computer or had their mobile device glued to their hands.

With our brand, we knew that we could run highly targeted social media campaigns and place our offer right in front of those that were craving a solution for their nail problem. The same logical thinking was utilized by many businesses.

Let’s take the restaurant industry for example. Many were forced to stop serving and sitting guests, so they had to convert to take-out and delivery only. Many that didn’t focus on this prior immediately turned on social media ads and pushed local consumers to download their own app or encouraged them to order via platforms like Uber Eats and Postmates.

3. Show Empathy in Your Marketing Message

In our situation, we more than likely could have just run straight ads with the message of, “Get your nails done” and received some interest. But we decided to focus on showing empathy while also presenting the consumer with a solution.

The pandemic impacted people differently — from losing loved ones to the virus to being laid off — it required a softer message for that initial touch-point. I am constantly analyzing D2C marketing and messaging and some of the most successful campaigns I have seen during this crisis displayed some level of empathy in the message.

I feel that a lot of brands assumed that consumers would simply stop spending money during the pandemic, which wasn’t the case at all. Some brands did slow down advertising, which created another opportunity — lower ad costs and media buys.

It honestly couldn’t be easier. A simple approach along the lines of, “Hey, we know times are crazy and there is a worldwide sense of uncertainty, and we also know you miss the little things like getting your nails done…”

Brands, especially new ones, were presented with an opportunity to make a strong connection with consumers. Life was slowed down a bit. People weren’t in such a rush because they literally had nowhere to go.

This was an opportunity to let them know you care and establish that relationship. This actually relates directly to my final point below.

“There is only one boss. The customer―and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton

4. Operate and Build with Post-Tragedy Scale in Mind

I’ve seen a lot of brands surface during the pandemic, and I am willing to bet when I check on them a couple of months down the line they will be long gone. Why? Because they are only focused on the “now” and have zero vision for the future.

This is the wrong way to approach launching a new opportunity — pandemic or not. One of the reasons I stressed building a strong initial relationship with the consumer is because of long-term scale and growth.

If you connect with a consumer during a difficult time and build a meaningful relationship by providing them with a product or service that helps them — solving a problem or taking their mind off the current situation — they are going to be very brand-loyal moving forward.

With our brand, we are solving a problem caused by the pandemic and shutdown, but we are also providing convenience and a product that has the potential to thrive in a “normal” world. Someone that is introduced to the brand during these times and has a pleasant experience is likely to be a repeat customer.

The brands that are only focused on making a quick buck will be scrambling when things settle down and consumers return to their normal activities and routines. Those that had post-pandemic scale in mind will continue to grow and thrive in the future.

How do you create opportunities during uncertain times? Share your thoughts with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-to-create-thriving-opportunities-during-unfortunate-times/

It’s Time to Stop Abdicating and Own Your Amazement

If you’d like to learn how to stop playing small so you can get anything you want out of life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

My favorite pastime is to sit outside a cafe, coffee in hand, watching people move, interact, and be with themselves. It is also what I do for a living. I am a listener, watcher, and instigator. My children know that I can easily strike up a deep conversation with a complete stranger and know the person’s full life story in less than 20 minutes. My children marvel at how I know a waitress at a favorite restaurant or barista at a local coffee shop. 

I have a lot of pet peeves, and one of them is when people play small. I could tell you dozens of stories of witnessing kids as young as 5 and humans as old as 92 who abdicate the brilliance, beauty, and amazement of their own beings. I’ve taken up the cause and dedicate my life to breaking that pattern.

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela

The truth about humility

Decades ago, I heard the best definition of humility. True humility is to be no more and no less than that which you are in your own right. Whether it is instinctive or learned, most of us know how to exist being “no more.” Whether it is based on the need for safety, security, or one million other reasons, playing small or playing it safe is woven into the fabric of most of our beings. Being “no less” is where the juicy parts flow. 

Take a moment, and let’s do a personal assessment together. Find a quiet space where you can be in a comfortable position. Bring intentionality into your body. If you are sitting, place the soles of your feet on the floor about hips distance apart. Feel the soles of your feet underneath you and feel the ground underneath the soles of your feet. 

Lift through the top of your head, not creating strain but intentionally stretch. Bring the palms of your hands to your knees or thighs and close your eyes or leave them open. If you leave them open, allow them to gaze softly down the bridge of your nose about three feet in front of you. Afterwards, make sure to breathe. Matter of fact, take a few breath cycles of breathing in and breathing out, as you do that say to yourself, “Breathing in I know that I am breathing in, Breathing out I know that I am breathing out.” 

Repeat those words with each cycle, perhaps making them shorter as you keep on with the breathing, “Breathing in, Breathing out,” or even “In, Out.” 

Notice your body. Allow yourself to be aware of how your body feels when you’re breathing. When you begin feeling more present in the moment, take an even deeper breath and ask yourself, “How do I want to show up in life?” It is okay if thoughts and your mental being want to answer. Also listen for deeper wisdom coming from your heart and body.

If you have extra time, reflect on where you have abdicated, sold yourself short, and played small. My hope for you in these moments is that those critical inner spaces don’t override just allowing yourself to be informed, try to hold off judgement and criticism. Take some longer breaths if you feel those sensations creeping into your being.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Van Gogh 

For example, I abdicated several spaces in my life. Professionally, I allowed others to always be the “expert.” When I stepped into the space of owning my own strengths, I allowed myself to be no less. I set my sights on what I wanted to accomplish, took the necessary steps, and I’m reaching high for my own dreams and goals. 

What’s the very next step you can take? What is one thing you could do today, this week, or this quarter? Let yourself be no less than who you really are. Be more intentional about feeling present in your body and in the now. Release regret, acknowledge if there is any fear or doubt, and step forward.

Lastly, take a seat. Bring the backs of your hands to the tops of your knees. I want you to say “I am an AMAZEMENT,” two times in a regular voice, two times in a whisper, one time quietly to yourself, and one time as loud as you want. Bring your thumb across the pad of each finger as you speak the words and press down. Thumb to index finger, “I.” Thumb to middle finger, “AM.” Thumb to ring finger, “AN.” Thumb to pinky finger, “AMAZEMENT.” And repeat. Do this for the next couple weeks, notice the difference. Live and thrive in the knowledge of your own competency, your own amazement, be no less!

Let us know in the comments what you think once you try the technique described above!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/its-time-to-stop-abdicating-and-own-your-amazement/

Women Trailblazers: The Most Successful Female Founder in Every Country

If you are a female entrepreneur, it’s natural to feel like the odds are against you. After all, there continues to be a significant bias towards a male-leadership model, and investors still tend to be more cautious in their response to pitches from women.

You shouldn’t be put off by nay-sayers, though. If you’ve got a great business idea, it’s really worth persevering to make it happen. Despite the fact that only 15% of venture capital is invested in them, women-led businesses consistently offer a better return on that investment.

Women entrepreneurs out-perform their male counterparts in terms of revenue, in part because their motivations tend to be less profit-driven. With a more meaningful, customer led approach, greater interest in corporate social responsibility, and collaborative working culture, they are primed for greater overall success.

To celebrate the impressive achievements of women who are world leaders in startup business, BusinessFinancing have gathered data on the top female founders from country to country around the world. 

Top 5 Women Startup Founders Around the World

The data shows that startup success is possible across a wide range of industries, with particular success in fintech and e-commerce. The self-made women with the highest levels of finance are spread across the continents. Lucy Peng’s online finance company Ant, which is based in China, has achieved a massive $22 billion in funding. No wonder she was named Forbes’ 35th most-powerful woman in 2016.

Hot on Peng’s heels is Rebekah Neumann, whose US-based real-estate company The We Company, which specialises in establishing collaborative work spaces, achieved a significant $19.5 billion. With the third highest funding of $9.9 billion, Singapore’s Tan Hooi Ling has revolutionised transportation with her Grab app, which connects drivers and passengers. 

Innovating fintech to offer more personal finance services to smaller businesses, and creating a fairer personal lending platform, Kate Keenan (Judo Bank – Australia) and Victoria van Lennep (Lendable – UK) achieved similar funding levels of $1.4 and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Top Women Founders in Europe

In addition to Victoria van Lennep’s huge success in fintech with Lendable, the biotech and health industry is a thriving field for startups in Europe. Switzerland’s Ilise Lombardo has raised a $278 million fortune for the biopharmaceutical company Arvelle Therapeutics, specialising in treatments for  disorders of the Central Nervous System (CNS). In Sweden also, Josefin Langerd got $348 million for KRY’s healthcare and digital health services.

Lifestyle systems and wellness are flourishing fields for women entrepreneurs in eastern europe. Anja Varnicic raised an impressive $127,054 for her mini indoor garden enterprise in Serbia, and Belarussians Luba Pahkovskaya and Natalia Bahar each raised $265,000 each for their wellness and fitness app, Verv. 

Top Women Founders in North America

Women are making it big with e-commerce and business software in North AMerica. After Rebekah Neuman, Canada’s Michelle Romanov has raised $119.2 million for Clearbanc. The data also shows that community-focused startups are financially viable, with $100,000 raised by Marwa Alhaj in Panama for her security and communications software company, and $130,00 by Morgan Babbs, who is making a difference to low income houses with her solar solutions company, Colibri, in Nicaragua.

Top Women Founders in South America

Brazil’s Cristina Junqueira is pretty inspirational. Not only did she raise $1.1 billion for her finance company, Nubank, but she is also a vocal advocate for gender equality and inclusion in the world of business and finance. She clearly understands the benefit of being forward-thinking and how embracing diversity will attract new talent. No wonder she was listed twice as one of Forbes’ most powerful women!

Top Women Founders in the Middle East & Central Asia

There’s a lot going on for women entrepreneurs in this part of the world, with start up founders doing well in the fields of education (Lamia Tabbaa and Rami Kayyali at Little Thinking Minds in Jordan) and gaming (Rina Onur Sirinoglu at Peak Games in Turkey), as well as the usual finance and e-commerce. 

Making a significant difference to the field of biotech and health, Miri Ratner has raised $188M as co-founder of Yayar. Yayar developed a sensor that was initially intended as an early detection system for breast cancer, but has since found applications in robotics, intelligent vehicles, and security systems. 

Top Women Founders in the Rest of Asia & Oceania

Of the top ten financial successes in this region, half were in the fields of fintech and e-commerce. As well as frontrunners Lucy Peng (China) and Kate Keenen (Australia), Japan’s Miku Hirano has made great waves with her AI company, Cinnamon. Hirano was inspired to create innovative solutions to improve working culture after the birth of her child. She envisioned how AI assistance in cumbersome tasks could facilitate a healthier future for future generations.

Top Women Founders in Africa

Of the 15 African countries included in the study, women have made strides across a wide range of industries. As well as the usual fintech and e-commerce, various services are focused on helping people in the community access health care, energy, and resources.

Audrey Desiderato has achieved great success, raising $81.3 million for her solar-energy Kenyan company, SunFunder, while Alima Bawah’s Cowtribe made $1.7 million to provide farmers with animal vaccines in Ghana, and Brenda Katwesigye raised $800,000 for WaziVision to provide recycled glasses to people in Uganda.

From finance to farming, there’s more to building a successful startup than money. Women entrepreneurs have a talent for seeing how business affects people, and that makes a big difference.

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/women-trailblazers-the-most-successful-female-founder-in-every-country/

What You Give and Receive Through Mentoring

I’ve always believed that the relationships and lasting connections formed while mentoring are the ultimate reward. On one hand, a mentee gets the direct benefit of advice from a seasoned professional and can make career strides that might not have otherwise been possible without guidance. The pride of watching a junior grow and thrive is incredibly fulfilling; after all, it’s been well-established that it’s better to give than to receive.

However, this doesn’t mean mentees are the only ones rewarded for being part of a mentoring relationship. Mentors find that the more they give to their protégés, the more they get back as well. Mentoring is a two-way street, and being an effective teacher to a younger colleague will allow you to receive just as much as you give.

What You Give: Better Communication Skills

Mentors can do no better than to help their students develop strong communication skills. The world is driven by interpersonal relationships, and knowing how to connect and engage meaningfully with others is an ability that benefits everyone, no matter where they are in their career.

Good communication is consistently ranked as one of the most important skills an employee can have. It’s at the core of everything they do. Even if they sit at their cubicle all day long, they still spend the majority of their time talking to people over the phone or by email. 

Ideal mentorships provide judgment-free zones for mentees to work on these essential traits. While mentors should certainly take the lead in guiding and teaching their students, it’s important to recognize their progress and eventually treat them more as equals than pupils. This encourages students to have more confidence in their interactions, leading to improved networking skills and an overall greater initiative in their work. 

As such, they’re more likely to form a bond with your company, which will result in less turnover. Since the cost of replacing an employee is, according to Employee Benefit News, approximately $15,000 each, this is critical.

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

What You Receive: New Perspectives 

Generational gaps naturally lead to significant divergences in thinking. This is especially true for recent generations who grew up surrounded by the constant advancements in technology. Compared to generations who grew up before computers, they have a different perspective. 

Whatever the case may be, both you and your mentee are unique people with a variety of experiences that have shaped who you are and how you work. Even though you’re the one teaching, there’s plenty you can learn from mentoring a junior employee. In particular, the act of mentoring can reveal bad habits or outdated methods of thinking that you might be unwittingly carrying around. They say it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but mentoring younger workers challenges traditional structures and ushers in innovation.  

Engaging with a mentee means that you have to think critically and be mindful of what you’re saying. Does the advice that you’ve followed in your career still apply, or has the landscape changed so much that it’s no longer relevant? Can your advice be adjusted, or do you have to approach it from a totally new angle? Listening to your younger mentee can help you gain a new perspective on the insights you’ve picked up throughout the years.

What You Give: Support in Times of Stress and Anxiety

While efforts in recent years have been deeply focused on removing the stigma of discussing mental health in the workplace, it remains a subject that is uncomfortable for some to broach. As a result, one in five workers who suffer from mental health issues can end up suffering in silence, according to Kaiser Permanente.

Mentorships are special relationships that circumvent the typical authority dynamic. It’s not uncommon for a mentor and mentee to become close friends to the point where both parties feel completely comfortable sharing personal information and expressing fears and doubts. 

With this in mind, mentors should strive to be a source of support and encouragement. 

As someone with years or even decades more experience than a mentee, you can assuage the worries of younger workers. Failures or missteps can feel devastating to them, but you can provide a long-term perspective that will help them realize it’s not the end of the world.

Mentoring a colleague can also relieve stress and anxiety for the mentor. Studies have demonstrated that mentors find their interactions with their juniors to be therapeutic, showing that these kinds of bonds can help destigmatize stress and anxiety for everyone involved.

“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” – Bob Proctor

What You Receive: Greater Success Throughout Your Career

When all is said and done, the benefits of mentoring are quite tangible for both you and your mentee. According to a study by Forbes, mentors were six times more likely to earn promotions than those who did not mentor; likewise, mentees were five times more likely to earn promotions than non-mentees. This just goes to show how vital strong, interpersonal relationships can be in a person’s growth and improvement, especially in their careers.

I’m always inclined to say that my own growth is a byproduct of mentorship, but the personal and professional development it gives you, even as you get further into your career, is nothing to scoff at. By focusing on giving your time and energy to others as a mentor, you’ll not only discover the joy of being a part of a person’s development, but also fully realize your own growth as a worker, leader, and person.

Have you ever had/been a mentor? If so, share your thoughts on mentorship with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/what-you-give-and-receive-through-mentoring/

Create Your Happiness, Don’t Pursue It!

If you’d like to learn how to stop worrying about things you cannot control so you can create your own happiness, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

2020 has been quite the year so far. It’s easy to slip and let our minds wander over what the next six months will look like. The last ones have been an emotional roller coaster full of national disasters, political uprising, overt racism, and a massive pandemic that has completely flipped the world on its head. It’s easy to be overwhelmed with all of this going around, so what can we do about it? More importantly, how will we be able to move forward with our lives? 

The answer: Create your own happiness. 

Over the last 15 years, the emerging field of positive psychology has taken the world by storm, creating a completely different dialogue about positive emotions and happiness. Chasing the “Pursuit of Happiness” sounds great in theory, but as neuroscience has shown, it’s flawed and outdated for multiple reasons. 

“Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” – Dale Carnegie

Create Your Happiness, Don’t Wait For It To Come To You

If we genuinely want to be happy, we have to create it. Why? Because we can’t wait around for a specific event, date, or object to come into our lives. If it doesn’t happen, our happiness will never occur. More importantly, studies continue to show this concept is backward, as happiness fuels long-term success and fulfillment, not the other way around. 

Barbara Erickson is one of the leading researchers at the forefront of positive psychology. She coined the “Broaden and Build” theory, which states that positive emotions (i.e., joy, love, contentment, interest) can broaden our ability to process information. These positive emotions facilitate the creation of more thoughtful, creative, and open-minded answers to questions compared to individuals who are under stress or fear. And those who become “primed” with positive emotions before answering questions can generate a broader and more extensive set of thoughts and ideas compared to those who have been prefaced with negative emotions. 

Scientists have also found that positive emotions can even change how our visual cortex processes information, allowing greater expansion of our peripheral lines of vision. Let that one sink in for a minute! 

While this may sound great, it has essential applications in the real world. According to Shawn Achor in his book The Happiness Project, doctors who are placed into a positive mood before seeing patients show almost three times more intelligence and creativity than colleagues in a neutral state, making accurate diagnoses 19% faster than their counterparts. Even more convincing is the fact that sales individuals who possess optimistic traits outsell their negative-minded sales counterparts by 56%. 

Companies are finally starting to find out how powerful our mindset and beliefs can be for hiring and onboarding new employees. One study even looked at 112 entry-level accountants and asked them about their potential abilities to accomplish critical tasks before being hired. Those who merely believed they could achieve the tasks scored the best job performance ratings from their superiors compared to their peers. The best part about these findings is the fact that the beliefs in their abilities were a more reliable predictor of performance than the actual skillset or previous training they had in previous jobs. 

With 95% of HR leaders stating that employee burnout is “sabotaging workforce retention,” creating happiness should be our number one priority because it can provide significant change and necessary improvements in our personal and professional lives. 

So what is the best way to facilitate happiness? 

Keep It Simple: Happiness is What You Make It

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you need to wait to make a million dollars or find the love of your life for you to be happy. We’ve all been stuck in that thought process at some point in our lives. The problem with this type of thinking is that it doesn’t make sense because we’re putting the cart way before the horse. 

In 1978, researchers at Northwestern University and University of Massachusetts created a gound-breaking study that focused on assessing the overall happiness between 2 vastly different groups of people: Those who had recently won lottery prizes ranging from $50,000 to $1 million and those who have recently experienced a catastrophic accident, causing paraplegia or quadriplegia. 

Over time, when asked about simple interactions like chatting with friends, laughing at a joke, eating breakfast, and watching TV, they found that the recent accident victims experienced greater happiness than the lottery winners. Why? Because they realized that their happiness wasn’t as a result of their external circumstances. It was a result of their unique perspective on life, even though it was vastly different from where they were before their accident. 

Now, I would never wish paralysis or disability upon anyone, but this study brings some crucial points to the conversation. 

Money can improve your overall quality and life and sense of security, but it doesn’t mean you will inherently be happier. Stop wasting your time focusing on external factors that may or may not be under your control. As the research shows, happiness in the present can bring greater success in the future. Use it to your advantage. 

External factors, such as paralysis or disability, don’t have as much of a negative influence as one would expect. We can attribute this change in perspective to “affective forecasting,” a classic psychological theory describing the process of overestimating how much we will enjoy or hate a specific event in the future. While this may seem trivial, it can have significant consequences on our physical and mental health. 

If we don’t receive the expected outcome we were hoping for, we will always be let down and left unsatisfied. 

“The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go.” – Dodinsky

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

The best part about these cognitive processes is that these “expectation” effects wear off relatively quickly, meaning that no matter how bad or good the outcome was, we all possess the ability to bounce back and find happiness, regardless of the circumstances we are placed in. 

Pro Tip: If you genuinely want to find greater happiness in your life, start by listing three things that make you happy throughout the day. Write it down, post it on your LinkedIn, or share it with a loved one. The more happiness you perceive, the more your brain believes it occurred, which creates more feelings and experiences of happiness around you. 

Happiness is a choice, not an event or circumstance. And it will always be up to you to create your own happiness, so what are you waiting for? 

What makes you happy? Share your thoughts with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/create-your-happiness-dont-pursue-it/

7 Simple Reasons You Are Unhappy in Life

If you’d like to learn how to create positive energy every single day so you can live your best life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

Even as a post-pandemic world is slowly, but surely becoming a reality, the global trend indicates a new pandemic bubbling beneath the surface. Don’t worry, the effects of this particular pandemic will not (measurably) kill hundreds of thousands. It will not instigate a lockdown nor will it devastate economies. But the consequences of the ‘unhappiness pandemic’, even though subtle, will leave a lasting impact on individuals and families.

In a recent survey by the NORC (National Opinion Research Centre) at the University of Chicago, just 14 % of American adults indicated they are very happy – ‘a 17 percent drop from 2018 and the lowest number since the survey began in 1972. 

These numbers are consistent with the World Happiness Report trend – a ranking of countries based on their life satisfaction in the Gallup poll – which has shown a steady and alarming increase in unhappiness in some countries.  The most likely explanation being that, increasing digitization has heightened certain attitudes that contribute to unhappiness.

The good news however is that your happiness remains within your control. Nothing can make you unhappy without your permission and no one else can determine the bounds of your happiness. Even today, in this very moment, you can take effective actions to lead the happy and fulfilled life you were always meant to have.   

To take action in the right direction, however, you must first know the reason(s) why you are unhappy. Here are 7 root causes of unhappiness:

1. You don’t do more of the things you love

Remember when you were young, care-free and the whole concept of time seemed absurd to you? If you wanted to enjoy a game, you did. If you wanted to dance, you danced. And you felt happy doing so. You didn’t have to worry about a client call, an angry boss, or a family of 7 to cater for. Now you are much older, and well, life has happened.

But despite the hectic, energy-zapping, and sometimes mundane nature of everyday adult life, creating time for your hobbies is still necessary.

This grown-up you may not have the luxury of getting paid to play and dance. But, you can still create time to play and dance; to have fun and revel in the joy of it all. This will insert a jolt of positive energy into your life!

2. You are competing with others

Contrary to the perceptions of many, life is not really a competition. It’s a marathon against yourself and a competition with the person you were yesterday. No one else is running on your track.

When we treat life like some race to the top, happiness will remain elusive. There will always be someone wiser, smarter, richer, and cuter. So what? Are you going to be unhappy because someone else is seemingly better? They may be better than you in one area, but that doesn’t hold true for every area. Your responsibility is to recognize, cherish, and nurture your unique gifts and strengths.

 “Competition is the thief of joy” –  Theodore Roosevelt

3. You don’t love yourself

Don’t be so busy neglecting your body and mind. A good diet and exercise routine will not only improve your overall health, it will also make you look and feel good!

Furthermore, take care of your mind. It’s your most important asset, with unlimited abilities and potential. Some of the world’s most valuable brands have yearly revenue more than the GDP of certain nations. But these brands were conjured up from the mind. They started as a mere figment of someone’s imagination.

Invest in your mind and marvel us with your brand. Read books, learn, and continually add value to your mind. Not only will this increase your perception and understanding, but you’ll feel happier and more confident.

4. You don’t spend time with happy people

Ever heard the maxim: ‘laughter is contagious’? Well, so is happiness. Your friendships and associations have been shown to affect your emotional state.

Studies show that individuals who spent time with happy people were more likely to be happier and have an improved sense of well-being.

So, spend time with positive, inspiring people and have a rub-off of their happiness. Don’t be with people who are all doom and gloom, as though the world’s problems are on their shoulders. 

5. You don’t express gratitude

Are you finding it difficult to express gratitude because your life isn’t going according to plan? Or you’ve gone through some terrible experience in the past that you’d rather be resentful and bitter. Well, don’t be. There is still a lot to be grateful for.

You have your family who, despite the occasional squabble, they love and value you. Your friends, some of whom will go through walls for you; and your job, which may not be perfect, but continues to get you up in the morning. Heck, you even have your enemies who, through their actions have taught you how to love in the face of hate along with making you stronger and wiser. And then, there’s you!

You’ve made it this far, alive and strong. And the fact you’re reading this means you haven’t given up on the potential for growth. Despite the challenges, the disappointments, the sadness, the countless faux pas, you’re better off than you were yesterday and have in fact made progress. Be grateful for the fact that you survived, because not everyone has.

6. You hold onto the past

Everyone has had some difficult and painful past experiences, but great achievers recognize that the past does not define them. They draw valuable insight from these experiences and use them as motivation for greater success.

By holding on to grudges, you incite negative feelings – regret, resentment, and bitterness – and plunge yourself more into the mire of unhappiness.  As a consequence, your productivity and work may be affected.

And, for what? An experience that, in the great scheme of things, doesn’t amount to a blip in your life’s journey? Let go! Continue to move on towards greater levels of happiness, productivity, and success.

“Holding on to the past means you can never be open to having a future.” – Laurann Dohner

7. You don’t want to get help

Are the reasons for your unhappiness outside your control? Perhaps you are struggling with habits or addictions? For your sake, and the countless others who’d profit from your happiness, productivity, and success, get help!

Your inner circle may be more valuable than you think, in this regard. Simply talking to a family member, a friend or a close relative could be all the help you need.

For long term and deep-rooted problems, seeing a professional will be necessary. By going out wholeheartedly for counseling, therapy, or even rehabilitation, you’d begin the necessary process of taking back control of your life, and happiness.

Remember, nobody gets a gold star for struggling.

Do any of these reasons resonate with you? If so, what are you going to do about it? Head over to the comment section and let’s talk!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/7-simple-reasons-you-are-unhappy-in-life/

4 Tips for Turning Your Passion Into Freedom

Have you ever had the fantasy of just dropping all your s*** at work, walking out and going as far as humanly possible from all the BS in your life? I know I certainly did. Two years ago, I thought it would be crazy to be doing what I loved while living and traveling on the other side of the world.

It was always a dream of mine, but how many people do we know that actually get to live their dream? My dream was freedom – freedom to travel, freedom to work when and how I wanted to, and freedom to create every detail of my life the way I wanted it to be. I’ve been able to do that and live that – and you can too.

People often say they’re unable to accomplish their dream because of kids, lack of time, lack of money, lack of skill /experience, but all of these are false – it’s just programming that doesn’t let our minds find a way to a solution. If we can open up our minds and see clearly, there are so many ways to what you really want. While it’s true that our responsibilities will create a different road for all of us, freedom is still an option for anyone willing to put the time into investing in themselves.

“People are chasing cash, not happiness. When you chase money, you’re going to lose. You are just going to. Even if you do get the money, you are not going to be happy.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

It starts with being able to see it as a possibility – this starts the shift in focus from can’t happen to at least maybe it could. Often behind our excuses are fear, insecurity, lack of self-worth, and blame but at the end of the day, our life is our own creation. You owe it to yourself not to let past hurts hold you back from the life you dream of living.

You have to put yourself, your happiness, and your dream before your job. I get it, we all need money and enjoy the safety of a paycheck. Some of us really love our career for the validation of a job well done. But even if you love your career, creating something of your own is always more gratifying. This is your time on this earth to experience your life as you and nothing is more fulfilling than that.

Here are 4 great ways to overcome the roadblocks to your freedom:

1. Spend one hour a day on yourself

If you can give eight hours a day to your job, then you can give one hour per day to yourself living the way you want to. If you can spend an hour a day building the life you want, you’ll make tremendous progress. One hour per day is 365 hours per year. And the cool thing is, once you get going, it gets easier and easier and you don’t want to stop! If you’re short on time, just take 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there. There is always a way. 

One hour a day is what created the freedom for me starting out. I was working a normal job and my mentor forced me to spend one hour per day doing something – anything – toward my goal. After two weeks, I was pretty shocked by how much progress I had made by that time. My first sixty dollars I made for myself felt like a thousand compared to working for someone else. 

2. Find a mentor

Find five people who have done what you’re setting out to do (or the closest thing to it) and contact them. When you do, remember to give value first before asking for anything. Mentors have a funny way of pushing you to do five times more than you would do on your own.

3. Reaffirm daily what your objective is

Write down your goals and read them every day. Burn your goals into your mind. Filling your brain with thoughts of where you want to be, will get you there faster. Plus, the more you’re thinking about your goals, the more solutions can occur to you. The clearer the essence of your goals, the clearer the solution. 

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do… Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

4. Get help

Whether you need a cheerleading squad or a therapist, getting help is a great idea. It ranges from finding people to help with your mindset and letting go of doubt or insecurity to someone to bounce ideas off of. Personal assistants that help out for a few hours a week can surprisingly be a lot of help! (This can be as little as two hundred dollars a month).

It’s so easy to read this and think we will passively apply these but most people will just forget it tomorrow. You can be the person who takes these steps and lives the kind of life that most people will never experience. And I hope you do. Go and live your best life ever!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/4-tips-for-turning-your-passion-into-freedom/

Follow These 5 Steps to Find Your Inspiration When You Feel Lost

Life can come at us really fast sometimes. When you expect things to go smoothly, they might not. Things might even be smooth at some point, and in the twinkling of an eye, you are moving against the tide and battling the raging storm. Life can be complicated.

We all have a point in our lives when we are enthusiastic about something. But years down the line, you realize that you’ve lost that enthusiasm and you even know it. Bit by bit, one at a time, life can beat your inspiration and motivation out of you. At this point, you lose the drive to pursue your goals.

When you go through this stage in life, you must stay inspired. At those times, when you feel lost, down, and low, giving up shouldn’t be an option in any circumstance. Inspiration brings out the innovation and creativity in you and might be what keeps you going. So, how do you find inspiration when you are lost?

These five steps will help you find your inspiration and motivation:

1. Be calm

This might not be the ‘big’ tip that you are expecting, but it’s certainly what you need. It is simple, perhaps too simple for you to consider at this point. But it’s the most important thing that you should do. Instinctively, people tend to panic when they feel lost or find themselves in situations that feel beyond them. But fear only worsens the slight issue on the ground and makes it more prominent in our eyes.

You are able to see the bigger picture more clearly with a calm head. The truth is, we can’t have it all figured out. Even among the deluge of ‘evidence’ on social media that makes it look like others have their lives sorted, all of those things are faux.

In reality, our life is always moving and molded into the conditions we find ourselves in. These present conditions also mold us for future ones. So, you must handle every situation with a clear and calm head to make the right decisions.

“It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.” – Amelia Barr

2. Focus on your passion

You once had a goal that you were pursuing, but life beat it out of you. Now you are lost and do not know what to do. You should know that you are not the first person in that situation and you won’t be last either. The best way to come out of this condition is to focus on your passion. You lost your drive and motivation, but your love didn’t change.

Give yourself a new goal and vision. Pursue your passion. As long as you continue to seek the things that you love, you will find your way again.

3. Have a healthy outlet

We all must have that outlet where we can pour out our pains, worries, and sadness. It is essential for our mental and emotional growth. Rather than sulk up in the situation that you find yourself, speak to someone or people that you can trust to help you through that period. They should also be able to motivate you and ensure that you have the right mindset.

You must remain positive even if you are feeling lost. However, you won’t do this if you are stuck with yourself in your thoughts. You should channel that energy somewhere, especially if you have no one to talk to. You can pick up a pen and write about your experience and what you expect from yourself within a timeframe. You can also express yourself in music, dancing, or playing sport. Whatever it is, have a healthy outlet and do what makes you happy.

4. Discover yourself

In one sentence, you are feeling lost because you haven’t found or discovered yourself. It means that you are on your way to discovering yourself. Everyone’s journey is different. It would be best if you didn’t put yourself under unnecessary pressure by trying to compare it with others.

Knowing yourself is a different kind of knowledge. It is vital as it helps you to connect to what inspires you. It also steers your life in the right direction and gives the needed guidance.

Knowing yourself is beyond the knowledge of your favorite food or color. It means knowing your purpose, finding your inner strength, emotional capacity, etc. This will help you make the right decisions to move you forward. It works the same way physically, you hate to eat burgers; so you can’t be a customer at Mc Donalds.

“There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” – Brian Tracy

5. Face the moment

You have to face what’s in front of you to find the inspiration to move forward. If you can’t tackle your problems head-on, you will only be moving around in cycles of anxiety and stress. In the end, it leads to depression. You have to find ways to combat your thoughts. And the best, most natural way to do this is through exercises such as meditation and yoga.

These practices help to move your attention away from the worries and thoughts distracting you. And it helps you find calmness amid concern.

We all have moments that when we feel down and out. It’s important that you can look through the chaos and find inspiration to move forward. Being calm, focusing on your passion, having a healthy outlet, discovering yourself, and facing the storm are ways to find inspiration to move forward.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/follow-these-5-steps-to-find-your-inspiration-when-you-feel-lost/

28 Inspirational Movie Quotes That Will Teach You the Most Valuable Life Lessons

Inspiration may come from everywhere, and the more it encourages us to act, the better. Movies are a common source of inspiration in the modern world, with hundreds of masterpieces created over the years. Often, there’s more than just the plot that we should pay attention to.

Most movies, whether it’s an adaption or an original story told by the director or screenwriter, always reflect a tiny part of the mastermind’s inner world. This usually comes from characters and their thoughts about the lives they have. And once we hear and memorize them, we can actually change various aspects of our own lives. 

Here’s the list of some of the most inspiring movie quotes ever, which relate to work, love, family, perseverance, and friendship. Once some of them catch your attention, give that movie a try, as it’s always better to hear the entire story than a single quote from it.

1. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs, Jobs

2. “It’s not about the paycheck; it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day.” – Dave Kovic, Dave

3. “My mind rebels at stagnation! Give me problems, give me work!” – Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes

4. “If I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.” – Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane

5. “You are who you choose to be.” – Hogarth Hughes, The Iron Giant

6. “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.” – Jimmy Dugan, A League of Their Own

7. “Love is putting someone else’s need before yours.” – Olaf, Frozen

8. “You will never age for me, nor fade, nor die.” – Will, Shakespeare in Love

9. “I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” – Harry, When Harry Met Sally

10. “But the heart’s not like a box that gets filled up. It expands in size the more you love.” – Samantha, Her

11. “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind…. or forgotten.” Stitch, Lilo & Stitch

12. “I’ve led thousands of warriors into battle, but I fear being a father. Does that make me a leader, or a coward?” Durotan, Warcraft

13. “I have a very large family. 42 million!” – Nelson Mandela, Invictus

14. “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” Don Corleone, The Godfather

15. “There’s no place like home” – Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

16. “From where I’m standing, the sun is shining all over the place” – Don Lockwood, Singing in the Rain

17. “Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” – Alfred, Batman Begins

18. “It’s not until you lose everything that you truly appreciate everything” – Belle, Beauty and the Beast 

19. “Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something.” Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happiness

20. “Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.” – Charles Xavier, X-Men: Days of Future Past

21. “I have to believe that when things are bad, I can change them.” – Jim Braddock, The Cinderella Man

22. “While there’s life, there is hope.” – Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything

23. “We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.” – T’Challa, Black Panther

24. “Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends.” – Clarence Odbody, It’s A Wonderful Life

25. “Only a true friend would be that truly honest.” – Donkey, Shrek

26. “It’s an insane world, but in it, there is one sanity, the loyalty of old friends.” – Judah Ben-Hur, Ben Hur

27. “I have a dream too, but it’s about singing and dancing and making people happy. It’s the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with. And I found a whole group of friends who have the same dream, and that makes us sort of like a family.” Kermit the Frog, The Muppet Movie

28. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.” – Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Which one of these movie quotes is your favorite? Share it with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/quotes/28-inspirational-movie-quotes-that-will-teach-you-the-most-valuable-life-lessons/

Here’s What’s Really Holding You Back in Life and How to Get Past It

If you’d like to learn how to let go of pain from your past so you can find bliss in your present life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

Can forgiveness bring healing into your life? What do you think? Are you finding positive experiences hard to come by in your life? Maybe good things do happen to you, but you’re so absorbed in negative emotions, you barely get the time to absorb in the beautiful moments that pass you by.

Your partner tells you they love you, yet you disregard it because you’re completely lost in anger at the person that gave you the finger in traffic two hours back. Then you wonder why your relationship lacks connection.

Don’t worry, we all get absorbed up in negative emotions. The problem is that most of us hang on to them for dear life. Every experience in your life, whether good or bad, produces an emotion in the body. The emotions you feel as a result of experiences then get stored as memories in your mind.

As a result, the collections of memories in your mind go on to create the mental movie by which you live your life. If the majority of your memories are positive, you’ll likely experience a romantic movie. Yet, when negative emotions get stored in abundance your mind movie can quickly turn into a thriller.

Given our mind’s negative bias, you are more likely to subconsciously experience the latter. Anger, fear, sadness and guilt are the main negative emotions by which most of us live our lives. This is because as memories get triggered day to day, you subconsciously relive the same feelings of a past experience, often trapping negative emotions in the body.

Given our tendency to avoid discomfort, when negative emotions become trapped in the body, the resistance creates stress and can strain all our bodily functions. This is why it is absolutely possible for trapped emotions to lead to health complications.

“Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.” – Tim Ferriss

Clinging to the past

Imagine you were bullied as a child, years have gone by since your ordeal, and you may now be vibrant and full of confidence. Yet, if you were to bump into one of your past bullies in the street, chances are your confidence would take a dip and you’d relive the fear and trauma tied to that past experience, even if the bully is now a really nice guy.

Your confidence after that encounter is then likely to take a while to build back up. This happens because you have clung onto, hidden and trapped the past negative emotions linked to being bullied.

The above situation will keep happening to you over and over again unless you address your emotions. You risk hampering all future positive moments in your life with unaddressed past emotions, for whatever reason they arise.

It’s the reason why unfortunately anxiety and depression are amongst the most common mental health disorders worldwide. People are always caught up and relive or anticipate past negative emotions.

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

Forgiveness the path to healing

Your way out is confronting these emotions face to face, rather than suppressing them to forget. When you face your emotions, it’s then that you can begin to forgive and move on. Can forgiveness bring healing? Absolutely!

Forgiveness allows you to remove the shield of emotional pain you have stocked up over the years. When you can find it within you to forgive others and situations for any harm caused to you, you’ll find it within you to forgive yourself for feeling the emotions you are feeling.

Approaching your negative emotions with compassion and love while engaging in the act of forgiveness results in those emotions losing power over you. Given you’ve been suppressing your whole life, you will most likely have to forgive someone, a situation or yourself countless times in your mind until you notice a change.

Remember that each time you forgive, you are removing a layer of pain and rebalancing your emotional chemistry in the process. You will come to realize you have truly forgiven someone or yourself when you no longer feel any emotional reaction to the painful memory that crosses your mind.

The more you forgive and let go of all fear, anger, guilt, shame, and sadness the lighter and the more whole you will feel as a human being. The more you let go and vibrate positive energy, the more you will be able to attract and enjoy the positive experiences in your life.

So forgive the guy that gave you the finger in the morning traffic and let it go. Go tell your partner you love them instead of fighting or being angry. You’ll come to realise that your lucky night was within your control all along.

Do you have any suggestions on ways to let go of things from the past? If so, please share some of your advice with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/heres-whats-really-holding-you-back-in-life-and-how-to-get-past-it/

16 Things I’d Tell My 20 Year Old Self Today

If you’d like to learn how to elevate your mind and amplify your influence so you can live your best life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

When I was 20, I used to think that I knew everything about life. I lived with the same delusion when I became 22, and even 27. High expectations from everyone around me and self-flagellation caused me many problems. Some remain even now. 

In this letter to myself, I want to speak to every 20-year-old.  Don’t think that it’s just another motivational letter to myself. It’s the lessons I wish I knew ten years ago. 

My Letter to 20 Year Old Self

Hello, dear! I know you would probably be skeptical about what I would say. But I hope you will listen at least to some advice from the lessons I learned through my experience..

1. You Won’t Always Get Things Done Your Way

Even though it’s hard to admit, you have to engrave this in your brain: “Things don’t always work according to your plan”. Sometimes, deviations are minor, sometimes life-changing. You must always have plan B.

2. Don’t Burn Bridges

You never know who you are going to need in the future. It might be your lecturer, the first boss, a cashier in a coffee-shop near your house. Always remember we live in a small world.

3. Choose the People You Surround Yourself with

Those surrounding you shape you. If you don’t want to act like someone from your inner circle, cross him/her out.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too can become great.” – Mark Twain

4. Learning Is an Everlasting Process

This isn’t just to do with career advice. The more you live, the more you wish you knew more. Keep evolving.

5. Never Postpone Life

Don’t wait until you finish college or start a new job. Time is passing faster than you can imagine. If you don’t learn how to live in the moment, you will never live at all.

6. Care about Your Mind and Body

You are your most precious asset. Don’t ignore red flags. Many problems don’t disappear on their own, no matter how much we wish they did.

7. You Can Say No

You can say “no” to everything. If something provokes stress and anxiety, cut it out from your life. Even if it seems hard, you will thank yourself later. 

8. Trust Your Gut

Your gut is your invisible guide through making decisions. You don’t always have to push yourself in a particular direction if it feels wrong. Advice to myself – say “No” to whatever you want to.

9. Don’t Bottle Up

You deserve to experience life in all its fullness. Emotions – even negative ones – are a part of it. In this letter to myself, I want to highlight that bad emotions aren’t always bad. Without them, we won’t feel the pleasure of good feelings.

10. Forgive

Holding grudges will hardly make your life better, and usually, the only one to suffer is you. Others won’t haul around this weight inside themselves. 

11. You Are Your Greatest Ally and Opponent

You are your best support, and you are your toughest challenge. Overpowering yourself is hard. There is no need to compare your results with others. Be better than you used to be. 

12. Always Stand Up

You will fall down. Unfortunately, this will happen many times. Sometimes these falls will seem fatal. And that’s normal. What you have to learn is to pull yourself together. 

“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up.” – Les Brown

13. Stay Passionate about What You Do

Whether you are going to open a printing shop or a café, remain passionate. Your inner power will lead to success. You are the only one who can light this flame.

14. Perceive Challenges as an Opportunity

Even a study from Kings College in London proved that positive thinking reduces worry and anxiety. As this letter to myself states, life will hit you hard. You will face many challenges. If you embrace them as an opportunity for improvement, they will be easier to overcome.

15. Acknowledge Your Freedom to Shape Your Life

You are the master of your life. Although you don’t have the power to control the circumstances, you take responsibility for your own response. 

16. Develop Self-Love

This is one of the most crucial things I would say. Love yourself. This way, you won’t need anyone to give you love. This is an unchanging principle of life.

P.S. Note to myself: Even if you don’t follow any of it, you are still wonderful!

Which of the 16 things I shared resonated with you the most and why? Share it in the comments!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/16-things-id-tell-my-20-year-old-self-today/

4 Ways to Reclaim Your Sleep From Pandemic-Related Anxiety

If you’d like to learn how to be effective during the hours you’re awake so you can accomplish everything you desire, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

---

This pandemic has done more than simply create a blanket of uncertainty. According to a study by Sleep Standards, it has also negatively affected the sleep patterns of more than 50% of Americans over the past few months. If my math is correct, that works out to a minimum of 164 million people — so it’s no wonder we’re feeling a sort of collective exhaustion.

Most of this has to do with the brain. When you spend the day thinking about COVID-19 — even if it’s only periodically — you’re asking it to process much more than usual during sleep. Add stress into the mix, and it’s near impossible to get some shut-eye. After all, stress causes the body to release cortisol, a hormone known to affect sleeping patterns.

From my personal experience, the current state of things hasn’t been conducive to sleep. It’s like you’re living in a feedback loop where increased anxiety impacts the quality of your sleep, sleep deprivation adds to your anxiety level, and you face even more sleepless nights. 

The goal is to find ways to prioritize self-care, and one method that seems beneficial is something called passive recovery.

The Power of Passivity

Long story short, passive recovery is all about looking for opportunities to recharge the body without extra effort or work. If you create more time for passive recovery, it’s going to help reduce your stress load — and interestingly enough, sleep is an ideal passive recovery method.

Some experts will tell you it’s the “greatest performance-enhancing drug” that too few people use, especially in the entrepreneurial space. However, I can’t even count how many entrepreneurs have bragged about how little sleep they get at night.

You obviously can’t make stress magically disappear, nor can you change what’s happening with COVID-19. What you can do is control your response to the situation and try to put things into a better perspective. Examine how stress is affecting your body, find ways to coexist with this new state of being, and help others do the same.

If you don’t, you might as well count your business as one of the American organizations that lose a collective $411 billion annually due to sleep-deprived employees, according to researchers from Rand Corporation. At the same time, research shows that entrepreneurs who fail to prioritize sleep are actually less effective at weighing business opportunities (and more likely to make mistakes during that process).

“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” – Thomas Dekker

Although managing stress and making room for sleep can be difficult right now, there are some factors within your power. Here are some ways you can regain control of your sleep patterns:

1. Minimize your stress load

Sleep can become almost an afterthought when you let your itinerary take on a life of its own. Still write down tasks for a later date, of course. But with only so many hours in the day, you need to spend less time on mundane work. Otherwise, you’ll just keep yourself in that vicious cycle of borrowing an hour or two from those forty winks.

As you add each task to your schedule, determine whether it’s something that could wait until tomorrow — or the next day, for that matter. This should give you the room to prioritize sleep so it can grow into a sacred activity.

2. Reframe your perception of wakefulness

Consider an ideal 24-hour day where you’re awake 16 hours and asleep for eight: That’s a 2-to-1 wakefulness versus sleep ratio.

Let’s say you actually get seven hours of slumber, though. On the surface, that’s one less hour at bedtime. But it’s more than that: You’ve added an extra hour of burden to the wakeful brain. Your delta — or difference between two values — is no longer eight. It’s now 10, with 17 hours awake and seven hours of sleep. That extra hour being awake is actually costing you two hours of restfulness.

Now, let’s say you receive just six hours of sleep per night and spend 18 hours awake. Your wakefulness versus sleep ratio is 3-to-1. That’s 50% more stress on your body just by getting two fewer hours of sleep per night — but it’s only a 25% difference from the ideal eight-hour sleep block.

Given enough time, that’ll tap your reserves. Allow your brain the necessary hours to be idle so you can wake energized each day.

“Happiness consists of getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.” – Robert A. Heinlein

3. Optimize bedtime habits

If you’re not getting a good night’s sleep, the first thing to examine is your bedtime routine. I’m a strong proponent of unplugging well before bed. After all, wrapping up a two-hour call before climbing into bed simply isn’t a good recipe for a restful night. Make time to unwind instead. Likewise, put that charging station in another room so you’re not tempted to pick up your phone at night when it’s left on the bedside table.

Overall, blurring the line between spaces for work and rest can make it difficult to switch off at the end of the day and can eventually affect your circadian rhythms. Medical professionals recommend setting clear boundaries to give you a chance to wind down before bedtime.

4. Talk to others in your household

You need some level of communication around sleep with those in your household. If someone is more of a night owl but their partner needs to get up early, for example, sleeping arrangements should be negotiated. The same applies to snoring, tossing and turning, middle-of-the-night snacking, and so on.

When the plan is to prioritize sleep — and you have a sleeping partner — make sure you understand and are respectful of each other’s needs. Whenever I have my 5-year-old with me, for instance, rest is an entirely different experience.

Sleep is like the foundation of your home: Build it on a sandlot, and it’ll quickly sink. Instead, be sure to understand the context of your individual sleep situation. Examine your sleep-related behaviors holistically to find long-term solutions that support a healthy lifestyle.

Do you have any tips for getting a good night’s sleep? If so, share them with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/4-ways-to-reclaim-your-sleep-from-pandemic-related-anxiety/