Reflecting Back…

As 2011 winds its way down to the last few hours, I take this time to reflect back on what, for me, was a very fulfilling year in many ways.  A perfect year?  Not by a long shot, but one loaded with enough action and accomplishments to fill a…well, a blog post.

This is a necessary, and important, exercise to do, by the way.  Most of us, if you are like me, don’t take the time to look back and bask in our accomplishments.  As a constantly driven person, someone who is always looking for the next big opportunity (I get bored easily) and challenge, I tend to push myself to the point, at times, of exhaustion.  Taking a few moments (hopefully a few days) to go back and put a few asterisks next to your completed “to-do” list is an excellent way to end the year.

Before I twist my arm out of socket from so much back-patting, I must add that this post on reflection will be followed by a post on looking ahead: embracing another arduous list of things I’d like to accomplish in 2012.

2011 was a year of travel—personal and business. I was fortunate enough to have visited several new cities this year (Dublin), as well as returning to some of my favorites (Maui).  All in all, I logged over 30,000 air miles—wow, that’s a lot of recycled air, stale pretzels, and cramped leg space!

I traversed across this great country six times!  Over two Oceans!  With stops along the way at:

·         Las Vegas

·         Tampa

·         Phoenix

·         Boston

·         Newport, Rhode Island

·         Narragansett, Rhode Island

·         NYC!

·         Maui

·         Dublin

·         Letterkenny

·         Atlanta

·         Sacramento

·         Reno

I began the year not knowing my future with my current “day job,” and am ending this year with the hope of soon getting my second promotion.  It has been a very rewarding year career-wise—a good thing!

I am blessed to work at a job where I get to interact with and lead and mentor dozens of people each day.  I have creative freedom to use my triad of balance-mind, body, and spirit.

I was able to get my website back up and running (and looking better than ever) after over a year of idleness!  Besides this blog, I also started another called “Mike’sDaily…”

The hits from my YouTube Page, Facebook, Twitter, my blogs and website have resulted in millions of visitors this year.  Thanks to all for the continued and tremendous support!

I published my second book (my first is a young adult novel) this year and while the sales have not gone through the roof, they have been steady.

http://www.livelife365.com/Mike_s_Books.html

I produced another round of interesting and entertaining videos, along with another music video:

Along the way I’ve continued to cultivate a wonderful and solid relationship with my wife of almost twenty years, a son that just turned thirty (man, I’m/he’s OLD!), and my family and friends near by and Back East.

But mostly, I was able to help countless people change their lives for the better, lose weight and eat healthier, become motivated and inspired, and, hopefully, gave a few a good laughs along the way.

Reflecting back on 2011, it has been a pretty good year.  And while it has not all been roses and sunshine, it has been worth looking back on and taking a few moments to enjoy…and give myself a few pats on the back.

You should do the same.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike

 

Building Self-Confidence

What is confidence?  I checked out the definition and one of the reoccurring words used to describe confidence was “belief.”  Think about that.  What is belief but a conviction of one’s ideals?  You can even toss some faith into the mix.

How does one go about improving their self-confidence?  I’m, for the most part, a very self-confident person.  Hey, if I wasn’t then I bet there would be a good chance that no one would bother to watch any of my self-help videos, or read this blog.  But would you believe that, at times, I question my own self-confidence?  You bet I do!

The key to success is not in the questioning of one’s belief or confidence, but in the understanding that it is okay to do so.  And then know what it takes to build that confidence back.

·         SEE YOUR SUCCESS

One of the things I’ve practiced over the years is what I call Life Writing.  Basically this a version of goal setting, or writing down what I’d like to achieve over the course of a few weeks, months, and even years.  A few years ago I was in a rut with my career—I worked at home, telecommuting (which was a good gig for awhile), but only using a fraction of my experience.  I decided that I wanted to head back into the office, pursue a path that would eventually lead me back into managing people, rather than sitting at a desk at home banging on a keyboard by myself.  I literally wrote down what I needed to do to attain this goal, how I was to go about it, what short, mid, and long-terms goals I needed reach in order to succeed.  Now, less than 18 months later, I have moved up two levels into management, successfully realizing what I only dreamed (and wrote) about.  You can too!

·         RELIVE YOUR SUCCESS

We all have had some modicum of success in our lives, right?  Come on, close your eyes and let your imagination roam—see it now?  Of course you do.  Problem with most folks is they tend to remember to failures more than their successes.  Hey, we’re human!  Whenever I feel my confidence waning, I force my mind to remember a time when I was very successful, encouraging those images and sensations to the forefront of my being, and soon I am basking in my own personal love fest.  This is the time to toss the ego out the door.  There is nothing wrong with recalling past success to remind yourself that you not only can do the task before you, but HAVE done it, or something similar, many times over.

·         PRACTICE YOUR SUCCESS

Practice may not make perfect, but it sure goes a long way toward making you successful.  Sweat equity overcomes myriad other weaknesses.  The opposite of success is failure, but failing is not a bad thing.  Through failure you learn, get important feedback, and improve.  But you have to try and fail first, to be successful, leading to that all important self-confidence.  The best athletes are not always those blessed with the best physical gifts.  Often, they are the ones who work harder, practice longer, and want it more than the other person.  Hard work never hurt anyone; in fact, it just may be the key to improving your confidence.

·         BELIEVE IN YOUR SUCCESS

There’s a fine line between being overconfident and arrogant—believe me, I’ve walked that tightrope all my life.  But I’d rather have too much confidence than too little.  My father taught me at a very young age the power of motivation, of positive thinking, of believing that I could do just about anything I put my mind to.  And, being young and one who looked up to my old man, I believed him.  I’ve taken that belief in myself with me throughout my life, a life, by the way, filled with as much failure as success.  Don’t wait for someone else to believe in you, believe in yourself and success may be right around the corner.

Building self-confidence will not happen overnight—hey, most overnight successes struggled years and years before reaching the top.  But it is can be easier than you ever imagined.  All you have to do is See, Relive, Practice, and Believe.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike