Be honest, do you talk to yourself? Here are some things to talk to yourself about:

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself. - Plato

Thinking can be incredibly hard work, which is why most people probably don't spend a lot of time doing it. Yet proper thinking can launch you in all sorts of directions, if you are willing to sit down first and decide which things are the most important things for you to do. So what should you be "talking to yourself" about?

Prioritizing

Most things in life can be properly accomplished if we simply take the time to figure out which stuff is really the most important things to be doing. Normally, we live in a reactive state, and simply react to situations and emergencies around us. But by thinking about priorities, you can line everything up proactively. While this will not completely eliminate unexpected events, you will be surprised at the amount of accomplishments that become attainable.

Goal setting

Yuk, sounds awful, doesn't it? But setting goals are extremely important to achieving anything, otherwise, what is there to achieve? You should have several long term goals (2-5 years), several mid-range goals (6 months-2 years), and several more immediate goals (now to 6 months). By reviewing these goals on a regular basis, you will begin crafting your life in the direction you would like to see it go.

Ways to positively impact others

If you haven't already heard, the things that really matter involve others in your life, whether that's family relationships, friends, co-workers, customers. (But of course you already knew that because you just spent time getting your priorities straight). What are some ways you can positively impact others? If you try to think of ways ahead of time, you're more likely to do it. Can you give advice? Share inspiration? Help around the house? Volunteer a night once a month? Mentor/teach others on specific skills you have? These are things that have lasting value, and lasting impact on those who are most important to you.

So how does it feel to talk to yourself? (Your own voice sounds weird, doesn't it?) Well, I think you'll find that if you take the time to listen to the voice of your thinking, you have the potential to become very good friends with yourself, and be much more productive.

#adventurebolt living: Do what fits you. Use your own style, be unique; you will be rewarded by having no regrets.

How do you find clothes that fit you? Well, if you're like me, you need to try them on. Life is kind of like that...you probably need to try a bunch of different things before you know what fits you.

My daughter wanted to play a lot of sports this year in school, so she picked volleyball, basketball and swimming. She learned last year she didn't like track, and this year she found out basketball involves a lot of...running. Now she knows that volleyball and swimming "fit" her the best for future sports efforts.

What about you? What things fit you the best? What are you good at, or what do you like to do? The more you try, the more you narrow down the field, and pretty soon you're finding that you're spending more and more time on the things that really matter to you.

Then, the more you are doing what you want to do, you will start to find unique ways of accomplishing things and expressing yourself. The challenge is to continue to build your confidence in expressing your unique style in the accomplishment of your passion, even if you're working hard at it.

Remember, you will have the biggest impact on that which is most important to you, and you will find your greatest reward and the least amount of regret in doing that which you have always wanted to.

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."-- Theodore Roosevelt

How to wrestle with your inner two-year-old: keep your focus to attack your challenges

Accomplishment is a great adventurebolt experience. It feels good to
get some things done that have been kicking around for awhile at work
until good, focused time could be spent on them. The cool thing is
that when you purposely set aside the time to attack a project, even
the dreaded things can get done more quickly than expected because
you're focused.

It's easy to be distracted when you're not interested in completing
the task at hand, but if you block out everything else but what you
have to do, it goes much more easily. Set aside all distractions:
turn of the phone, the email notification, the radio, and go attack
whatever project needs to get done. Stare it down; it will wither and
fall under your persistent gaze.

I look at it as the equivalent of forcing your inner two-year old to
eat their vegetables; your ITYO (inner two-year old) doesn't like it,
but it's good for them, and makes them stronger for the next
challenge. Make them eat that spinach. Once it goes down, they'll feel
much better. And so will you.

Success is not so much a matter of knowledge, but of action. You must simply do what you need to do, and keep doing it, to succeed.

How to renew your strengths and advantages and position yourself to experience adventurebolts

If you have ever made a list of things you would like to do, re-visit that list and see what may have changed in your life to make some of those things doable now when they may have seemed implausible in the past. It's important to revise your "life-list" at least every three to six months.

If you have never made a list like this, then try the following exercise: answer one question in as many ways as possible: "What would I do if money were no object?" Write down everything that comes to mind; don't worry if it seems crazy, just try to get everything down that you feel would be a) cool; b) fun; or c) beneficial to others. Allow your imagination to roam a bit and capture as much of it as possible in one scatter-shot list.

Then start to assign timelines to these goals by putting them into these terms: long-term, (5 years); mid-term (1-4) years; and short-term (now to 1 year). Pretty soon you can begin to piece together a rough outline of some things you would like to accomplish, and you will begin defining what an adventurebolt lifestyle looks like to you.

Next, you can start putting some action steps to those things. For example, maybe one of your passions is to "ride on a Hobie Cat catamaran" next summer. Some action steps might look like: a) locate boat rentals in your vicinity; b) inquire about costs/insurance; and c) sign up for lessons in 4 months. Then put dates to each of those action steps, and before you know it, you will have positioned yourself to accomplish this goal.

Maybe you think it would be awesome to help underprivileged tribes in Africa. Define the need, the area, and the agencies you would need to contact. How much money would you need? How long would you be gone? Plug all of the "what-ifs" into your list, and assign timelines to complete each of these action steps. If you don't have the money to spend an extended time in Africa right now, how long would it take to save what you need? How else can you earn extra money? If you're serious enough about your goal, you will find a way to make it happen, and you will stop making excuses not to.

If you follow these types of steps with other goals, your life begins to become more geared toward your passions. When you are living more passionately, your exposure to - and your ability to experience - adventurebolts exponentially increases.

Filed under: action