MENTAL DIET

POSITIONING YOURSELF FOR CONSISTENT SUCCESS (PART 5)

Until you exercise your ability to direct your life you will be displaced from the positioning for consistent success.The inability to direct your life makes you lose control of your life and lose the position for consistent success.

THE LAW OF CONTROL states, “You feel positive about yourself to the degree to which you feel that you are in control of your own life, and you feel negative about yourself to the degree to which you feel that you are not in control or that you are controlled by some external force or influence”.

When you feel that you are in charge of your own life, positively influencing its direction then you have an internal sense of control; the stress of living fades away and your performance becomes elevated as well as the quality of your well-being. People with an internal sense of control look inward to trace the cause of the outward events of their lives. They take responsibility for the outcome of their lives; good or bad. This category of people perceives life as a “do it yourself project”. Their emotional life is not determined by the behavior of others. They do not depend on their spouse to change, the economy to change etc for their lives to change. They believe that if their lives must change it’s up to them.

An external sense of control is when you feel that someone or something out there in the environment is running your life and that you are helpless in directing your life, attached with its attendant consequences of high stress and low performance. An external sense of control pre-supposes that your life is determined by an external force such as Genetics-your DNA or inheritable tendencies. Another external force is that your upbringing; childhood experiences have shaped the way you are and the direction of your life and there is nothing you can do about it. You may feel that your boss, spouse, teenage kid, economic situation or national policies, someone or something in your environment is in control of your own life. It is the abdicating of the responsibility of your life to someone or something in the environment. These categories of people feel victimized and helpless throughout life.

When we feel that our lives are being controlled by the behavior of others, it implies that we have lost grip over our minds to negative emotions which require negative thoughts to fuel the negative feelings. Do you take ownership of your life? The law of control determines the way you interpret and respond to the events or outcomes in your life. It is how you perceive the happenings in your life.

The journey of taking charge of your own life and directing it begins with taking charge of your own mind and directing your thoughts.Taking control of your life is becoming responsible for every aspect of your life.It is controlling your thoughts, feelings, words, and behavior to produce the results you desire. It is worthy to note that you cannot control the behavior or attitude of others towards you and some happenings in life. The main point is the control of self; you are the only person you can control.  When you control self you influence people and the events of your life positively.

When you gain mastery of your thoughts you gain mastery of your life. You can take immediate control of your life by identifying the cause and effect of the area of your life you want to change and then take appropriate action to change your beliefs, behavior, actions and even inaction to produce the desired result. You can simply leave a situation that is running your life negatively if it is appropriate or you can focus your attention on something positive.

Having a clear vision for your life and a goals program enables you to take charge of your life. Initiating changes in your life through goal-setting and goals-reaching enables you direct your life rather than to be directed by external factors.

Taking charge of your life could be likened to charging the battery that powers your mind to light up happiness and success in your life.

Success must be consistently created if it must last for a lifetime and become a lifestyle. And for success to be created, creativity must be activated and maximized. THE LAW OF CREATIVITY states, “Every advance in human life begins with an idea in the mind of a single person.”

Creative thinking is the wheel behind all progressive societies. The word creativity means creative ability. The ability to create what has never existed before or combining ideas that have existed in a whole different way to create a new result or outcome.

Ideas are the language that conveys creativity and imagination is the “potter’s house” where ideas are fashioned. Ideas are the most expensive and valuable asset in the world. Everything in the world was first conceived as an idea in the imagination.

Without ideas, creation ceases. Ideas outlive its possessor.Ideas unlock the joy of the present and the fortune of the future.Ideas shape the quality of our lives. Victor Hugo reveals, “Nothing in this world is as powerful as an idea whose time has come”.  Your destiny is designed according to the quality of the idea you uphold in your mind. The value you create in the world corresponds to the value of your ideas.

To generate ideas from your mind, you must be open and receptive to it. Ideas flow in a mind where positivity and possibility abounds. Ideas are a product of soul searching for answers when the right questions are asked. It is Life’s response to the one who seeks to create and add value to the lives of humanity.

Ideas are a gift from Life to the individual who craves to make a fortune in order to help the unfortunate. Ideas are attracted to those with a sense of purpose or mission in life. Ideas are the reserve of the dreamers in the world; those who explore the imagination-the most powerful nation.