What would you do if you could not fail? Imagine in detail where, in five years from now, you would like to be living. What would your home look like? What would you look like? What will you be doing? What areas of your life are you grateful for? Most times people will focus on what they don't have, what they want, and forget what resources they already have that they can work with. Many people believe their brain works their actions but, in fact, you control what your brain does.

If you think of your brain like a muscle in the body, if you want it to be the best it can possibly be, you have to commit to exercising it, not just once, but on a continual basis. The same is true for your brain. You can control it. Your brain will only do what you tell it to do. Like a jukebox. There are many records on that jukebox, ones that can put you in a happy state or a depressed one. You can choose which song you want to play by the words you say to yourself. ‘I am going to have a rubbish day’. ‘Things never work out for me’.  People use the words always and never, without considering the negative impact it has on you achieving your goals. 

Let us look at that question again. Why can I never succeed? First, this statement is not true, you must have succeeded if your family love you, if you have friends, if you were successful in getting a job? Second, the brain cannot deal with non-specific questions as it will just give you the quickest answer. Now let's ask a more specific question. What is taking all of the free time I have and is preventing me from completing the first draft of my novel? 

You must be honest in your answer. Do not blame others for situations that first you are accountable for and second, you can control. Blame is hard to get rid of because it puts the focus on you, and it makes you in control of moving forward. It's not what happens to you that is important, it's how you react to it, how you deal with it by what you say to yourself, and how quickly you can move forward using goal setting techniques and effective time management. Remember you’re accountable. Blame is hard to give up because it shifts the focus from others to you. By shifting the blame you will take action, and not make excuses. It’s not what happens to us that is important, but how we can deal with it and move forward. Always move forward making notes, mental or otherwise, about what has been learned from your past behaviour and experience. What you have right now is what you have attracted by your negative inner talk, destructive rituals, and low expectations.  

The person you have become is the person you have worked hard to become. Negative or positive, you have put time and effort into developing who you are and where you are today. To have more you have to demand more of yourself. Human nature is to avoid pain. If you feel a goal or challenge will be painful, you will do anything to avoid it by making excuses or blaming others. But negative self-talk will add more limitations. Have you ever had a dream, goal or idea and talked yourself out of it before you had even started because of fear of failure or fear of being judged by others? From today, make sure you spend just 5% of your time thinking about the problem, then 95% of your time focusing on a solution. What goals are you going to set yourself today?