AMY HANSEN

You may have heard of alter egos before.  For example, Beyonce has Sasha Fierce when she goes on stage.  It’s almost as if she becomes someone else.  An alter ego gives you power, confidence, courage, and bravery to do things that you are afraid of.

The alter ego you should be focusing on is the future version of yourself.  The one who has already been through the tough times, learned the lessons, and came out on top by conquering fears.  This is the alter ego you should be embodying when you’re faced with something difficult or scary.  Pull from her strength and unwavering belief that everything will work out.

What’s most interesting about this concept is you aren’t trying to be someone you’re not.  You’re just becoming the future version of yourself.

You might be wondering how you become the future version of yourself.  Here are the three steps to becoming her.

Step 1: Affirmation

A lot of times, in personal development, affirmations are a helpful tool to encourage y...

There are some commonalities that all successful people have.  Here are the eight key traits of successful people that set them apart from the rest.

Decide To Change

It first starts with deciding to make a change.  Successful people decide that they no longer want to be stuck in their current situation. They realize that there is more for their life and they have the power to make it happen.  They choose to take 100% responsibility for their life and future. Knowing that no one else is going to create their desired future but themselves.  Successful people draw the line and say enough is enough.  They make a commitment to making positive changes in their life.

Successful people know that they have the power to decide to change.  They also have the power to choose.  They can choose to remain where they are or choose to do the work and create the life that they have always envisioned.

Have A Vision

Once a successful person has decided to make a change in their life they mus...

Fear, everyone feels it yet some take action while others don’t.  The difference is, successful people don’t let fear win.  They know it’s there but they tell fear to be quiet.

What is Fear?

Fear simply wants to get your attention.  It wants you to feel.  Whether that’s stress, anxiety, panic, terror or fright.

Your ancestors felt fear as a sign to run from predators.  Today fear is often made up your mind to keep you “safe” in your comfort zone.

Types Of Fear

There are two types of fear. The first type is to protect you from physical harm while the other is to keep you safe in your comfort zone.  If you’re not in physical danger then the fear you’re feeling is often made up in your mind.  It’s telling you all the reasons why you should remain in your comfort zone.  This type of fear should be viewed as something to move towards and embrace with open arms.  It’s up to you to interpret the signal fear is sending you.

Your Beliefs

Fear gets emotion based off your past ...

You may be feeling stuck and unable to take action on achieving your goals because of some resistance that’s trying to stop you.

There are two types of resistance.  The first is internal and imposed by your own mind.  Your brain wants to keep you safe in your comfort zone.  Internal resistance is fear made up in your mind that prevents you from going after your goals.

The other type of resistance is external.  External resistance should be embraced as a sign from the universe to steer you onto the correct path toward reaching your goal.

Let’s take a closer look.

Internal Resistance

Internal resistance will try and keep you from making any progress toward your goal because your brain believes that there is danger by stepping outside your comfort zone.

When you try something new your brain starts freaking out.  It puts up a bunch of internal resistance.  Often caused by the loud negative voice in your head telling you all the reasons why you shouldn’t step outside yo...

One of the major reasons that can hold you back from going after your dreams is the fear of criticism. You devote so much time and effort into working hard to achieve your dreams that any negative comments from someone else are sure to be upsetting.

You are already dealing with the voice in your head speaking to your internal fears.  That little voice encourages you to play it safe and remain in your comfort zone.  Then add on top of that other people criticizing you.  No wonder it’s difficult to achieve your goals and dreams.

You may be wondering how you get over this fear of being criticized.  Here are five questions to help you handle criticism.

1. Is It Constructive?

The first question is all about looking at the person giving you criticism and deciding if it’s well founded.  Identify if it is constructive criticism where you can take the information and use it to your advantage in order to improve.  Or perhaps it is simply a negative remark to keep you from going afte...

Take a moment to picture this: you’ve been taking massive action towards achieving your goal and it is really hard work.  You’ve become so attached to the end result that you’re frantically consumed by the overwhelming demand to achieve your goal.  You start feeling stressed out and irritable because you can feel the pressure mounting.

All of a sudden this goal is everything.  It’s almost as if your life depends on achieving the goal.  You’ve invested so much time that you have to see it through to completion.

Then, when things don’t go the way you had planned, you take the anger and frustration out on yourself. You start speaking negatively and feel extremely disappointed when things fall short.  You’ve attached so much meaning to achieving this goal that it’s defining you as person.

That image is true for so many goals.  You work extremely hard to achieve your goal and when it doesn’t work out you feel like a complete failure.  You must learn to let go of attachment you p...

If you’re ever feeling stuck there are three roles that you can use to move forward in life.

Adventurer

Think of life as an adventure.  Be ready for new experiences and look at life as a fun adventure.  Make it almost like a game where you play and have fun.  Put on your adventure hat like Indiana Jones. Be the curious adventurer and start exploring new possibilities.

Often times you’ll find yourself stuck in your comfort zone afraid of trying something new.  That’s why when you become a true adventurer you won’t listen to the little voice in your head that keeps you from the “danger” of stepping outside your comfort zone.  Let go of the things holding you back in life and see life through the eyes of an adventurer.  Stop consuming yourself with fears, doubt, and worry.  Life doesn’t need to be perfectly planned out or go exactly as expected.  In fact, the unexpected is part of the adventure.

By becoming the adventurer and charting new territory your comfort zone will dram...

Often times you get so stuck in your head with fears of the worst case scenario that you remain stuck where you are.  Your brain wants to keep you safe and it knows that by trying something new there is always a chance of failure or worse yet, being judged harshly by others. These fears keep you paralyzed from taking any action at all.

Going after your dreams and coming up short of where you wanted to be can be a big let down.  But, what if you had the mindset and belief that your success was inevitable?

Think of everything you would do and achieve if you were to go through life with the mindset that no matter what you did it would be a success.

No longer would you be worried and held back by fear.  Your success is inevitable.

Start shifting your mindset and believe your success is inevitable with these six steps.

1. Dream

Allow yourself to visualize and see what's possible for your future.  Think of all the things you would do if you believed that your success was...

If you knew exactly how your life was going to go there will be little excitement.  It would be difficult to get up in the morning if you already knew exactly what was going to happen.

Yet, you hate uncertainty. You often like a plan of what your day or life will look like.  But life is unpredictable.

The only thing that is for certain is that life consists of ups and downs, much like a heart a beat. That’s how you know you’re still living!

The hardest times are when you’re unsure if the outcome will be favorable or not.  Your mind goes to the worst case scenario and you start to feel sick to your stomach.  The uncertainty of what’s going to happen next can cause you to worry the most. The fear of the unknown will cause you to worry obsessively.

The most important question to ask yourself is:

What do you hope to gain or achieve by worrying?

You may have answered to better prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.  You’ll be better prepared to cope with a let...

There are a multitude of ways to get from one place to another.

If you were to look at a map and wanted to get from Washington DC to Los Angeles, you’ll see that there are many roads you can take that go in all different directions.

One of the first steps is actually getting in the car and start moving.  One road may take you north toward Pennsylvania, another may take you south through Virginia.

The truth is, there is no “right” road to take.  Yes, there may be a path that’s faster than another.  But you’ll still eventually end up at the same destination.

Remember, there is no “right” direction.  These six tips to choosing the right direction will help you move forward and make progress.

1. Learn To Course Correct

Every decision you make will take you further on your journey in life.  If you find yourself off course of obtaining your goal then correct it.  Make another turn and head in another direction.  It’s as simple as that.

2. No Straight Line

From a you...