Inspiraelevation

Commitment is integral to achievement.

Commitment is a tie that binds you to your goals. Commitment is not always easy, but it is absolutely necessary.

How does one become fully committed?

To maintain your vigor and tenacity in achieving goals you must tie your commitment to the right things.

True and pure commitment is often born when one is authentically inspired.

Superficial desires or goals are often not strong enough to bear the tenuous journey on the way to excellence.  One’s success is often more solidified when individual commitment is driven by something stronger and deeper. This assures the translation of goals to reality.

In a book entitled The Mindset of Achievement by Scott Abel, this is summed up beautifully

 

Success can be elusive.

It can be baffling when it seems that no matter how hard you try you can’t seem to hang in there long enough to see your goals to fruition.

The truth is, often what we use as our muse is not strong enough to maintain our commitment. The pull is not strong enough to inspire us to continue to push.

I heard someone say recently your goal should be enough to inspire you to push, to commit, to follow through.

Fundamentally, one has to be inspired on a much deeper level.

I challenge you to dig deep and find a strong reason for wanting to achieve the particular goal you have chosen. Choose a muse that will continue to inspire you long after the ethereal feeling of starting something new has worn off and you are in the trenches getting down and dirty.

 

Often times in life it seems as if some things are certain. Things such as our breathing, mobility,  and heartbeat.

We move about and plan with an assurance that there will be a tomorrow and that all the factors will align permitting us to do what is necessary to carry out our goals.

It is almost safe to say that many of us walk about a great deal of time feeling invincible, immortal, and untouchable. And often our actions reflect this type of thinking, lending us to act below a certain threshold and perform below a certain standard.

Thus, we achieve much less than we could.

There is an evident lack, a gap in the level of passion we exhibit as opposed to that we would assume if we kept in mind our mortality.

Consider if we planned and acted as if we understood that time is limited, life is short, and we are merely mortal.

Imagine the outcome, if we moved and performed as if all we had was today, perhaps the level of our achievement would rise beyond all that we have ever expected or could fathom possible.

As Author Robin Sharma suggests ” Connect with your mortality. Understand that your days are numbered. Keep the shortness of life at the forefront of your focus. Don’t put off your happiness until you have more time, or you get the promotion, or you have more money in the bank. Tomorrow is a promise, not a fact. Enjoy every morning and appreciate each day you have on earth. (297)

 

Sharma Robin. (2018).  The 5Am Club: Own Your Morning Elevate Your Life. Harper Collins.

Treasures are things that we hold dear to us and close to our hearts.  They are things that we as individuals place extreme value on. But they don’t necessarily carry the same valuation to others.

Wise men are careful with their treasures.  They know not everyone has mutual respect for the treasures of others. So they guard those things most valuable with extreme care.

There are many treasures that an individual may have, some material and other immaterial. However, the most valuable treasures are the immaterial ones, the ones that can’t be held with the hand but are held in the heart. Treasures, such as your dreams and goals, they are irreplaceable.

Goals and dreams are distinct treasures. They are extremely valuable because they represent your most intimate desires and are outflows of the heart and soul. Those goals and dreams represent who you are and intend to be. It will take some of your most intense energy and a wealth of resources to fulfill them. You pour all of yourself into making your dreams a reality.

Treat your dreams as invaluable. Recognize the value of your dreams and goals, and choose wisely who to share them with.

Only share your goals and dreams with people that you are sure will share in and help you reach your highest potential.

By all means, don’t expect everyone to value your dreams and goals.

Don’t expect everyone to get it or to get you.

Guard your goals and your success as you would the most valuable of jewels.

Don’t let anyone destroy them. In destroying them they are seeking to destroy you.

 

Light is important to achievement

Light illuminates and makes everything a little bit clearer.

The right light provides the clarity needed to make the changes necessary to improve and grow to newer levels

Sometimes people go through life not ever really knowing why they are not excelling beyond a certain point.

To them, everything appears clear.

They have checked off all the checklists.

They have executed plans perfectly.

Yet, still, there is no progress

From every angle, it seems as if there is nothing that has been left out.

This is not the case

Sometimes we simply are not seeing as clearly as we think

 

Our vision is actually clouded and the light from which we are looking at things is simply too dim.

The sad thing is, sometimes we don’t even realize that our vision is dimmed

And, even when it seems that we are seeing things clearly, we are not seeing them as clearly as we should.

We need different lighting to ensure that we are on the right track, and this may require a change.

You may have to go to another place, talk to different people, change your patterns of behavior. Whatever the case you have to get a new perspective.

Often a change in light (perspective) is what you need to get you to the next level to elevate your progress.

Seeing things in a new light changes things,  it is transformative.

This was a lesson that I have recently learned.

Not too long ago, I underwent a change in my life. This change brought a new light that helped me to see things with more clarity. When my eyes were open by this new light I was astonished. All at once I felt as if I could finally see things clearly as I had been deprived of actual, real, illuminating light for quite some time.

Before the change, I was convinced that I was doing a great job, convinced what I was doing was working. I was convinced that my outputs were brilliant. I was proud of all my efforts.

From that current perspective, I had every right to be proud.

After the change, I saw more. I had a clearer vision. I saw that from that point of change my outputs were subpar at best. In the new light what I had done before was simply not good enough.

I felt sad that from my past perspective I could not see the flaws, that the light that I was using to look at things was so dim, that I took pride in things that were subpar.

What I really needed was a new perspective a new way to see things so that I could rise beyond where I was.

Now that I see different, I know different, I am challenged to do different and be better.

So I challenge you to take time to inspect your goals and accomplishments in a different light so that you can live up to your full potential.

One of the most celebrated holidays is upon us, which is referred to as the day of love or more commonly “Valentine’s day.”

It is one of the holidays where people tend to invest the most money in bequeathing gifts to the ones they love.

It was predicted that about $19.6 billion would be spent in 2018 alone on Valentine’s gifts (Roberts, CNN).

That can be seen as a very beautiful thing.

All of those gifts given because of love paints a lovely picture of love and selflessness.

While that is beautiful, there is something that is even more beautiful, that only pureness and genuineness can spring forth, that is demonstrating love for yourself.

Before one even considers investing in others, one should first invest in truly loving themselves.

The purest form of love springs forth from the person who has learned to love him or herself fully.  It is he or she that has an abundance of love leftover to give.

When he or she finally invests in self-nourishment and refreshment then he or she will understand the power behind the words, “Treat others as you would like to be treated”

How can one know how to treat and care for others if he or she does not take proper care of him or herself first.

A person can only truly give what they have developed within themselves.

“Often, unhappy people say they are sacrificing their own happiness so they can make others happy. But the rule is, ‘You cannot give away what you don’t have. You cannot make other people happy if you are unhappy yourself’ ” (Brian).

This Valentine’s day when giving out gifts to the one you love, do not forget to give to and invest in yourself.

Develop within you those things you most wish to give and receive from others.

Loving yourself is where a truly successful life begins!

Works Cited

Brian, Tracy. 2017. Million Dollar Habits. Entrepreneur Press.

Roberts, Amy. 2018. “A by-the Numbers Look at Valentine’s Day”. Web.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/valentines-by-the-numbers-trnd/index.html