AMY HANSEN

When you have too much going on, life can feel really overwhelming.  You may be wondering if you’ll ever catch up.  Even if you take a moment to pause, you’ll be behind.  There is no time to stop.  But, this mentality isn’t allowing you to fully experience life.  You’re not able to be present and see the little moments in life that truly matter.  Focusing on work and all your to do is not what ultimately fills your cup at the end of the day.  It’s being with ones you love and making memories that last a lifetime.  You have to learn to prioritize your time so that you’re fully experiencing life.

Priorities

The first step is to recognize your priorities in life.  When you know what’s most important to you, you’ll make that your priority.  Nothing will get in the way of that time.  Take time to acknowledge what your priorities are in life.  Maybe that’s nonnegotiable time with your family and friends.  Perhaps that’s a quarterly vacation or weekly date night.  It can also be doing...

Sometimes you need to clear your head in order to gain a fresh perspective on things.  Maybe you’re struggling with a difficult decision or a task that is just taking longer than it should.  Achieving your goals is not easy.  You’ll constantly encounter challenges and obstacles.  Sometimes you need to take a break, step away, gather your thoughts, and come back with a clear head to find a solution.  The answer was probably staring at you all along, but you were just too close to it to see.  Mental overload happens.  Especially when you’re feeling the pressure of working to achieve a goal that means so much to you.  Occasionally you need to hit the reset button and the answers will be revealed.  Here are five ways you can take a break to gain a fresh perspective on how to achieve your goal.

Do Something Different

Start by getting out of your normal daily routine.  Do something different and switch tasks.  Do something fun that’s not related to achieving your goal.  Let loose and...

Life doesn’t always unfold the way you would like it go.  Sometimes you encounter unforeseen obstacles and challenges that are put in your path.  You may get frustrated, angry, sad, or upset.  But, these challenges are only meant to teach you something.  Each challenge has been placed before you for a reason.  You’ve made to a point in your life where you can overcome this obstacle.  You have all the tools you need within you.  When you do, you’ll be so much stronger and have more confidence in yourself.  Here’s how to not be afraid of picking a direction in life so that you can achieve your goals and dreams.

Pick A Direction

Each step you take on your life path is moving you in a particular direction.  Each obstacle you encounter sends you off in a new direction.  Think about your past and how your life would look drastically different right now if you would have chosen another direction.  Choosing which direction to take can be extremely difficult.  You don’t want to choose t...

Achieving your goals is not an easy feat.  It takes a lot of hard work and persistence.  Sometimes you’re unsure if you’ll actually achieve your goal and even how you’ll attempt to get there.  But, there’s something that helps you keep moving forward.  That is trust.  Trusting you’ll be able to figure it out and achieve your goal.  You create trust through action.

Challenges

In order to achieve your goal, you would prefer the least amount of challenges and surprises.  No one really wants to sign up for the most challenging, arduous journey in life.  In fact, you’d probably opt out if you knew what it was really going to take to achieve your goals.  If you could see into the future and everything that was going to be required of you to achieve your goal, you might not even attempt to achieve it.  Since you can’t see into the future, surprises and unexpected challenges are to be expected.  However, these unknowns in life bring up a lot of uncertainty.

Take Action

Life is not...

There are many seasons to your life.  Some are more difficult and challenging than others.  While some seasons may be bright and merry, others are dark and full of despair.  No matter what season you’re in, know that it will pass.  Soon enough you’ll be in a completely different season of your life.  The key is to be present and learn from this season before you move into the next.  This will help you to be more prepared for the challenges and obstacles to come in the future.

Changing Seasons

You can look at the changing of seasons a few different ways.  First, you can visually think of it like standing on the beach, watching the ocean waves approach you.  Some of the waves are larger, more violent, and have extreme turmoil.  Then, there are the smaller laps of ocean water that barely kiss your feet.  The waves roll in and out as time moves forward.  You can also view the changing of seasons as climbing a mountain range.  Sometimes there are huge peaks that take a lot of effort...

There are many reasons why your goals do not get achieved.  Sometimes life happens and your goals get pushed to the back burner while you work on other things that have become a priority.  The things that were once important to you are no longer of major concern.  Your focus shifts to other things that need your immediate attention.  Here are how life events can change your goals and what you need to do when this happens.

Life Events

Major life events can happen that throw you for a loop.  Whether that’s tragedy, loss, death, or any life change that causes a disruption in your normal routine.  Your priorities shift and you’re now focused on another area of your life.  Your goals are put on pause while you sort through your emotions and work to get your life back in order.  Sometimes you have to pick up the pieces and figure out where to go from this point forward.  Major life events can send your life in a whole new direction.  You realize what you once thought was important is...

You want to control your desired outcome of achieving your goal.  You also want to control the path in which it takes to get there.  When you want to control the future and you can’t, you have this natural apprehension and tension within yourself.  Worse yet, when things aren’t going in the direction you want, you think you won’t be able to achieve your goal.  This all creates a lot of fear, worry, and doubt.  But, these are actually warning signs telling you to shift your focus.

Your Focus

Your fears, worries, and doubts come from thinking about something that hasn’t happened yet.  You want to control the future outcome and you’re concerned that it won’t turn out the way you’d like.  But, your future is responding to you.  Where you put your attention and what you focus on magnifies.  If you focus on the unwanted outcome, then you’re more likely to make that your reality.  Where your mind is at in the present time is inevitably creating your future.  Stop thinking about creati...

The underlying reason why you’re not achieving your goals is because of fear, worry, and self doubt.  These culprits creep up on you just as you have enough courage to go after your goals.  It’s almost as if three different enemies are conspiring and working against you.  This makes you feel outnumbered and makes you question if have the authoritative power to overcome these obstacles.  But, what if it wasn’t three separate opponents and it actually just boiled down to one enemy that you had to conquer?  Facing one enemy seems much more manageable than trying to combat three.  Here is the one enemy preventing you from achieving your goals.

Worry

First, start by asking yourself if you’re a worrier.  Perhaps you worry what other people will think.  Maybe you worry about the unknown future outcomes, what will happen if things go this way or that way.  You might worry that you don’t have all the information you need to make an informed decision.  Or, that you’re not equipped enough...

Worrying about the future unknowns plagues you from achieving your goals in life.  Often, just as you have the courage to go after your goal, you’re hit with a wave of worry that stops you right in your tracks.  You worry that you’re not good enough, that it won’t work out, that you’ll fail or embarrass yourself, etc.  Ultimately, you worry that you can’t achieve your goal.  It’s time you take back your power to overcome your worry so that you achieve your goal.  Your goals and dreams are meant to be realized.  Not left bottled up inside you.  Here is how to overcome your worry and achieve your goal.

Catch Yourself

The first step is to catch yourself the next time you find yourself worrying.  Ask yourself, what is the benefit of worrying about this.  You’ll quickly realize that worrying will not help you.  Instead, shift yourself into action.  Do one thing that will make you feel like you’re making progress towards a solution.  Perhaps that’s doing some research, asking for hel...

If you think about your life, you probably have a few routines.  Maybe a morning routine to get ready for work and evening routine to wind down before bed.  These routines are end caps to your day.  Routines don’t require much thought which is probably a good thing when you’re not quite awake in the morning or getting ready to sleep at night.  Yet, getting stuck in daily routines can having you living a mediocre life.  Living the same life on repeat day in and day out isn’t very exciting.  You’re not pushing yourself to live life to your full potential or stretching to achieve your goals and dreams in life.  There has to be a balance between a daily routine and finding the excitement that life has to offer.  Here is more about finding the balance in daily routines.

Time Saver

A routine saves you time.  It also eliminates your need for decision making.  You are already inundated with so many decisions throughout the day, a routine takes the guess work out.  You can close your ey...