AMY HANSEN

Everyone has their own unique identity.  An identity is the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.  Through your life experiences you create your identity.  It’s who you are as a human being.  The problem arises when a part of your identity is changed.  Or more consequentially, removed.  This is when you begin to question everything about who you are.  This particular identity has defined you as person for so long.  Now to lose it, you’re forced to figure out who you are on a deeper level.

Job Identity

One of the biggest identities you can have is your job.  If you’re someone who has been doing the same job for many years you’re a proficient professional by now.  You often tease that you could probably do your job in your sleep because it has become so routine for you.

Job Success

A job gives you a certain level of prestige.  After years of hard work you’ve finally made your parents proud by landing your dream job.  It’s a major achievement that you’re prou...

It takes a lot of courage to go after your goals and dreams in life.  Often fear paralyzes you from stepping outside your comfort zone of what you’ve already deemed safe.  However, remaining in your comfort zone will only hold you back from fully living your dream life.  If you want to live the life you’ve always imaged then it’s time to start acting with courage.

Here are five ways on how to act with courage.

1. Stop Overthinking

Sitting there mulling over what you should do will only keep you stuck.  You may think you need more information; that you don’t know everything in order to make an informed decision.  At which point you decide it’s a good idea to ask other people for their opinions.  This only causes you to get more confused.  Overthinking things prevents you from taking any action at all.  Stop waiting for all the answers and the perfectly laid out plan of action.  Just have the courage to start.

2. Quiet Your Inner Voice

Silence your inner voice when you hear...

In today’s world, it is thought that you need to have confidence in order be successful.  Famous people often portray a high level of confidence.  Social media images reflect perfect lives of people with confidence.  Now, if only you had the confidence these people had.  Your life would be completely transformed.  Because it’s confidence that you need in order to make all your dreams come true right?  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

If you’re waiting for confidence in order to take action on your goals so that you can live your dream life, you’ll be waiting forever.  No on online program will give you the confidence you need.  Confidence comes after you have the courage to begin.  Only you can create that confidence in yourself.  You must have courage before confidence.  Let’s take a deeper look with an example.

Riding A Bike

Think back to when you were learning how to ride a bike.  You were scared and unsure.  There may have even been tears.  You definitely weren’t confid...

Only thing that is certain in life is uncertainty.  Things don’t always go the way you had planned.  No one has a complete view of what the future holds.  That’s all a part of life.

It’s like watching a movie.  Movies get bad reviews when they are predictable.  If you already knew the ending you probably wouldn’t go watch it. 

The easiest way to be certain in uncertain times is to create some structure.  Here are four ways on how to be certain in uncertain times.

1. Morning Routine

It’s important to have some structure in your day.  This includes having a game plan for when you wake up.  Your morning routine could be washing your face, brushing your teeth, drinking a full glass of water, and reviewing your schedule for the day ahead.  You may also include things like exercise, meditation, journaling, and reading to get you in the right frame of mind for the day.  Additionally, try to stay off social media and checking email for at least one hour after you wake up.  Don’t l...

Being optimistic isn’t about ignoring the challenges in life.  It’s believing you have the ability to take on those challenges head first and come out a better person because of them.

Often when you struggle with a challenge it can be hard to keep going.  You feel like giving up.  It’s almost as if the world is against you.  But, it is said that life is happening for you, not to you.  There are lessons you need to learn in life and that’s why you are faced with challenges.  It’s all in how you respond to a challenge.  You can either negatively muddle your way through a challenge or put on your rose colored glasses and be optimistic.  Believe that there is no other option but to conquer this challenge, learn the lesson, and come out on top.

Here are five ways to be optimistic through challenges.

1. Temporary

Acknowledge that these challenges are only temporary.  In the moment, a challenge may feel very overwhelming and impossible to overcome.  Especially major challenges li...

One of the most important things you need to have in order to achieve your goal is the right mindset.  Use these three steps to get your mind in the right place so that you can achieve your goal.

1. Clear Direction

Have a vision for what you want to achieve.  Even if you don’t know exactly how to get there, know where you want to end up.  Often times you get so hung up trying to figure out the perfect step by step process to achieve your goal so that you won’t make any mistakes along the way.  However, nothing goes exactly as planned.  Especially since you’ve never achieved this goal before.  Therefore, forget figuring out how you’re going to achieve the goal for now.  Just get clear on the goal that you want to achieve.  You won’t be able to get to where you want to be if you have no idea where that end destination is to begin with.  Get crystal clear on the direction you’re headed.  Write down what the goal is that you would like to achieve.

2. Take Action

Be disciplined to...

A morning routine sets you up for a successful day.  A morning routine gives you a sense of normalcy and consistency that is needed to help you feel your best.  When things are out of whack, sporadic, and unplanned, it can throw your day off.  Start your day with solid morning routine so you know what to expect.  Here are three areas you should focus on in your morning routine to set yourself up for success.

1. Mind

Begin your day on a positive note.  Fuel your mind with something uplifting.  This can be an inspirational podcast or video.  Put on some music and listen to your favorite upbeat playlist in order to wake yourself up and get energized for the upcoming day.  Take time to be silent and meditate.  Try practicing gratitude and list three things you’re grateful for.  Make a list of positive affirmation to get in the right frame of mind.  Spend time visualizing your goals and dreams becoming a reality.  Find something that will put you in the right head space to start your d...

Marie Forleo coined the term everything is figureoutable.  Initially this phrase can mean that you can find solution to anything, no matter what the circumstance.  In order to do this, you often go looking for the answer everywhere but inside yourself.

Streetlight Effect

There is story that a man is under a streetlight searching around when a police officer comes up and asks what the man has lost.  He says he lost his keys so they both begin to look.  After a few minutes the officer asks the man if he’s sure he lost the keys there, and the man replies, no, he lost them inside his house.  The officer asks him then why are you searching out here and the man replies, this is where the light is.  This is has become known as the streetlight effect.

Look Inward

Many times you go searching for things outside of yourself when if you just took a minute to turn inward, you could find the answer you were looking for all along.  The phrase everything is figureoutable works to this effect...

Truth moment, your comfort zone is holding you back from going after your dreams.  It’s easier to stay in your comfort zone where you know everything is safe.  But that’s only going to keep you stuck where you currently are.  No dreams or goals are ever achieved in your comfort zone.

Comfort Zone

Your comfort zone is often warm and cozy.  Like your bed when you first wake up in the morning.  It’s time to shift your belief around your comfort zone.  Realize that your comfort zone is not a place where you desire to stay.  In order to make that shift you need to change your comfort zone from being a place that you find comfortable and enjoy to one that you despise and cannot wait to get out of.

Dungeon

Envision this, you’re back in the time of the gladiators.  Imagine a dungeon that is full of rats and spiders.  It is dark, cold, and damp.  There are no windows and it feels almost as if the walls are closing in on you.  The space feels small and cramped.  This is nowhere you wou...

Negative thoughts are a bad habit.  It’s time to replace that bad habit with a new, positive one.  Learn these five steps to help you change your negative thoughts.

 1. Watch Your Thoughts

The first step to change your negative thoughts is to notice when it happens.  Sometimes you don’t realize you’re speaking negatively to yourself.  If you’re a positive person, who is usually in a good mood, then it can be difficult to admit when you’re being negative, mean, or hard on yourself.  Often negative thoughts can be just a quick little voice that you barely notice.  For example, you may say you’re so stupid when you make a simple mistake.  Even though these negative thoughts may be small and easily dismissed, they are still very influential.  Start by watching your thoughts.

2. Comparison

Comparing yourself to someone else is the easiest way to have negative thoughts.  Social media makes this extremely easy with gorgeous poses and envious pictures of fun adventures.  The truth is...