AMY HANSEN

Growing up you may have been the star student or the good child.  It became your identity to prove your worth; that you were smart.  Evidence of getting an A grade would only strengthen your identity and confirm that perfect exists.  You were celebrated with “great job” and expected to continue the perfect streak.

Now, as an adult, you may be struggling with perfectionism because you’ve had this expectation for so long. Believing that everything should be perfect before you start a project or put yourself out there.  Often you say, “if I just did this, then I will be ready.” But once you do, you just find another reason why it’s just not quite perfect yet.  This way of thinking only keeps you stuck.  You’re expecting to have all the right answers and the full path mapped out in front of you before you begin.

The truth is, there is no perfect time.  And when you think about it, your definition of perfect may be different than my definition. So, who’s right?  Honestly, it doesn’t...

Focus on one thing in order to make progress.  Think of it this way, you have five soccer balls.  You can kick one ball five times or kick each ball once.  The ball that is kicked five times is going to go farther than kicking each ball once.  This is the idea of focusing on one thing so it gets to completion faster.

Focusing on one thing will help you achieve that goal faster.  Putting your energy toward multiple tasks will deplete your brain power much more quickly than if you were to stay focused on one thing.  Instead of splitting your time between multiple tasks, focus on one thing at a time.

It’s been thought that multitasking is a skill.  You may even have it on your resume.  But studies have shown that when you multitask, it takes you brain longer to get back into the flow of things.  Toggling back and forth only confuses your brain rather than letting it focus on just one thing.

Think about a time when you were deep in thought and someone came up distracting you wi...

A mentor is a leader.  You look up to them for a few reasons.

You look up to someone because they have achieved what you want to do.  This may be something you’ve been struggling to figure out and seeing that someone else has done it, allows you to see that it’s possible.  The best part is, they’ve gone before you. Therefore, they can give you guidance on how they did it so you can get there faster.  Learn from their missteps and implement their advice into your own life.

A mentor is also relatable. They are real people who you look up to and admire.  You have things in common with them.  Whether it’s the music they like, their lifestyle, or similar family dynamics.  Often times you can see yourself in your mentor.

Mentors also inspire you and lift you up.  They give you confidence in yourself that you too can achieve great things.  Their guidance gives you courage to step outside your comfort zone and do things that may be a bit scary at first.  But, with their help, you’r...

You may be thinking the goal in life is to be happy all the time.  That’s like saying you should be a perfect human being and never make a mistake.  It’s nearly impossible to live up to that standard.

Rather than focusing on being happy all the time, you must look for the meaning in life’s situations.

Maybe you’ve encountered a difficult time in life.  You look around and see other people are happy and not dealing with the same difficulty. In this moment, you have two choices.

You can choose to let this get you down and believe the world is out to get you.  Rightfully beating yourself up for feeling negative emotions about your current situation because life isn’t perfectly happy all the time.

The second option is to choose to acknowledge that there is meaning in this situation.  You may not see it now, but once you’ve made it through the other side, you can look back and find meaning.

Finding the meaning in a situation can be a lesson you need to learn in order to ...

Mindset plays a big part in the success of your life.  One of the most important mindsets you can have is a belief in yourself.

The famous quote from Henry Ford, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” speaks perfectly to mindset and believing in yourself.

If you believe something is possible, you can make it happen.  If you doubt yourself and think you can’t achieve it then that becomes your reality.

Having the mindset to believe in yourself is the first step toward your success.  Sometimes you dream up the most outlandish thoughts and have someone say there’s no way you can do that.  All of a sudden, the little voice in your head starts flooding your mind with thoughts of disbelief.  At that point you have a choice.  Do you let that person hold you back from going after your dreams or do you say forget them and go for it?

You can’t live your life dictated by the thoughts and beliefs of other people.  We must forge a path of our own and step ou...

Thoughts can hold you back from taking action and living the life you’ve always dreamed of.

You think, “oh I can’t possibly do that” because you don’t have all the answers, know all the steps, or have the path fully figured out yet.

You want all the steps laid out in front of you before you begin.  Mostly, this is because you don’t want any surprises along the way.  Doing something you’ve never done before can be a bit scary. You think you’ll be more prepared if you plan out the path and it may save you time by avoiding mistakes along the way.

Trying to figure out the perfect path only keeps you stuck in research mode.  You say, “once I do this then I’ll be ready.”  The funny thing is, you figure out that one thing and then you come with another reason why you can’t get started.  You continually sit in this holding pattern, planning out what to do when it never actually gets done.

Perhaps it’s because you’re afraid.  Afraid that you’ll make a mistake, look stupid, get j...

Every day your mind is constantly flooded with thoughts about what is going on in your life.  These thoughts determine how you feel.  How you feel decides what action you take.  Your actions dictate your result and your future. This domino effect is starts with an event and your response to it.

Let’s dive deeper into this process and learn how to take control of your thoughts.

Most of the time your circumstances are beyond your control.  You made it to the airport late and missed your flight, you cut someone off in line, or you forgot your lunch at home.  We all make mistakes.  But what’s done is done.  The past cannot be changed.  The only thing you can change is how you respond.

The first response to your current situation is the one sentence thought that just popped into your mind. The thought is usually focused on what this situation confirms about you.  This may be that you’re not worthy, enough, smart, or pretty. 

This then triggers a particular feeling inside you...

Everyone is energy. We all vibrate at a frequency determined by our thoughts and feelings about life.  The frequency you are vibrating at will determine your future. 

There are two frequencies. One is positive, such as, bliss, happiness, joy, and excitement.  The other is negative emotions; doubt, fear, worry, anger and resentment.  When you vibrate at a positive frequency you are aligned with your highest self.  This is when things fall into place and feeling good is easy.

The truth is, you are in control the frequency you are vibrating at.  No one can control how you feel.  But wait, what about that person that made you feel a negative emotion?

For example, someone gets upset with you for apparently cutting in line.  You don’t want any trouble so you let the person go ahead of you. Later you start replaying the encounter and get more frustrated.  Then you notice the person had said “it’s like you don’t even care about me.”  The realization hits you that this is more about...

As high achievers, waking up with purpose is crucial.  The perpetual goal setting and drive for achievement constantly pushes us forward.

However, the real purpose isn’t to achieve the goal in the first place.  It’s actually all about the journey.

If you were challenged to make one million dollars and then give it all away, think of the kind of person you would become in the process of working to achieve that goal.  You would be faced with many obstacles, you would have to get creative, meet a lot of people, and force yourself to step outside your comfort zone to do things that you’ve never done before.

The person who you are becoming while working to achieve your goal is transformational.  You become a better person along the journey.

That is why you must set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them.  It’s not setting easy to attain goals, or ones that are impossible to reach.  But, setting goals that will challenge you and allow you to grow al...

It’s okay to make mistakes. Yet, growing up we are taught not to make mistakes.  There is so much pressure to get all the correct answers in order to get the perfect grade.  Mistakes mean you did a poor job and the assignment you just completed comes back marked up with giant red strike throughs.  Mistakes make you feel like you messed up.

Think of everything you could create if your goal was to do it messy and make mistakes. 

The truth is, mistakes are lessons you need to learn.  Mistakes allow you to take note of what didn’t work and improve for next time.

Let go of making everything perfect.  Perfection only holds you back from sharing your creativity with the world.

The first step in getting over your fear of making mistakes is to know that it is going to be imperfect. Something will go wrong.  In that moment when a mistake happens, you will have tons learn and it will make you a better person in the process.

The second step is to be prepared for a mistake.  Thi...