I find myself saying this line over and over to myself and other people.

“Things will get better”

I’m not saying it just to make you smile or brightening up your day. I’m speaking the truth. Things in your life will get better, whatever they may be. You truly have to tell yourself this and believe in it. And believe in yourself.

Well that’s step one. Step 2 is the part that I don’t really say, but I guess I should start. Step 2 is. You are the one that can make it better. You are in control of your own destiny. Things will get better, because of the choices that you decide to make. Like they say “the choice is yours”.

Come on people. Can you really expect things to change if you haven’t done much to make that change. Did you start with that “man in the mirror”. Or are you waiting for someone to give you a handout. Are you out there pushing yourself and striving for ones self improvement. Or waiting for someone to tell you to get up and do something. Now don’t get me wrong. I always enjoy when someone can motivate me and get me starting and going. But I know I cant continue the movement and full-fill the goal without my own passion fueling it.

So my suggestion is, if you really want something bad enough. Go get it yourself. Someone can be there to ignite your flame, but you are the only one that can keep it going. You will be surprised on what you can do, when you have that passion for it. I even bet you can give yourself an example of when you didn’t want to do something, even though you knew it would benefit you in the end. And someone had to push/encourage you. So you did it. Somewhere down the line while you were doing it, you added your own passion. Low and behold you met your goal, and probably succeeded your own vision of completion.

Yes Yes Yes. Life is tough. or is it. Change your mindset. Change your attitude. Change your thoughts. And if you dont like change. Call it an “upgrade”. What I’m saying is. If you dont like the way things are going. Do something about it. Do it with passion and do it until you get the results you wanted.

You know what? I challenge you to not wait until tomorrow to make a change or upgrade. I challenge you to something about it right now. Tell yourself “Things will get better…because of me”. Motivate. Add Passion. Succeed

“Begin with the end in mind.”

Everytime I set a new goal or want, this quote always appears in my head. When you first hear this as a kid like I did, your first reaction is “what the hell does that mean?”. It took me a long time to figure out exactly what that meant and how to use it.

I thought that just setting a goal was good enough, I didnt know I needed to take action. I think that is a reason why most goals arent acomplished. They are set, but no follow through. Could it be because most people know what they want, but dont know how to get it or where to start?

Ive noticed with me that every goal I have achieved started the same way. I visualized accomplishing it. I imagined the emotions, the feelings, how life would be once the journey was completed. Each and everytime I did this, the next step was to ask myself a question. “How are you going to get this?”. Then it clicked. I have to think backwards in order to go forward. I need to break down the goal into smaller ones  and achieve those along the way. In most cases this requires a little bit more knowledge on goal and gives more of a realistic feel. By doing this, I was able to build a timeline on when these smaller ones can be obtained. Now things were starting to make sense. Whats funny is that during this process I was able to filter out some of the ambitoutius dreams. Not because I saw them as impossible. I just saw them as silly and do I really want to put my efforts in that particular direction.

I guess what I’m saying is that if you have a dream and you want it in life. If in your heart you know this will make you happier. Then make it a goal. Begin with the end in mind. Break it down into smaller goals. Find out what its going to take for you to get it. Follow through and achieve the smaller ones one step at a time. Then you will soon find yourself completing that dream that you sought out to accomplish. ”Anything worth having, is worth working for.”  Just remember to enjoy the process. Thats the best part.

In times like this where everyday seems to be a struggle, I cant help but think about giving up. I’l sit there and just reminess about when times where great. Past events filled with what seemed like everyday consisted of happiness. Money was good, so it made everything else better. Constantly sourrounding myself around positive people. basically feeling like I was on top of the world.

What happened??

I changed carreers. At the time it felt like it was the right thing to do. I wanted to do something else in my life. I wanted a new challenge. Ever since that. It has been a challenge. I noticed my demeanor had changed along with my outlook on life. During the transition, finances dropped, friends that I saw daily and trusted now became distant aquiantances. It felt like I had hit rock bottom and I did. Mentally I lost confidence in myself. I no longer wanted to be who I was. I wanted to just be the guy in the shadows in the corner. The guy just in the background with no name. There were passions in my life that I ignored and attempted to close the door on. I began to distance myself from those who cared. Pushed them away to the point where they were now pissed at me. What was I thinking? I guess I wanted to start over with my life. A New Begining.

After months and years of this depression, it dawned on me. I’m getting exactly what I wanted. This is my new begining. This is my chance to prove to myself that I can be successful (again). It will be a challenge, there will be obstacles that I will have to overcome. The biggest obstacle is the past. Its hard to ignore those images of how life used to be. How things felt easy. I was happy. But I need to use those images as fuel and not look at them in the negative. Recreate those images. Maybe not with the same people. But with new memories.

I have also brought powerful quotes, and thoughts back to the forfront of my mind. I grew up with these “messages or words of the week”. As a kid, it was a way of life. They were dubbed as the keys to success. So everyday/week. I write one of those messages down and give explanation and examples of them. I know, it seems like 3rd grade vocabulary homework. But there is no use to a message that you cant define and make it your own.

Ever since i started to re-think and re train my emotions. life has been positive. i understand that it wont happen overnight. But its the progress I’m enjoying. Those that know me, may not ever had thought of me being depressed. But I was, still am in ways. But thats human. I know now that I have a choice in the matter. I can choose not to fester over it. Not to dwell. I can choose to let it go and move on. I have that choice.

In times like this I feel its imparative that those that are depressed, or down. Please find what it takes to lift yourself up. Disregard society saying “the future will get worse”. The future has not been written yet. It will be hard work and take alot of dedication. But the outcome will be GREAT.

Set goals, get empowered, feel inspired, take action, accomplish, and live.

_CALI