Here are a few ways to stay focused in your life through the good times and the bad times.

Everyone has at least once felt like they needed a swift kick in the behind to continue on, whether it was through a huge let down or through the best news of your life that somehow you didn’t know how to handle. Here are the “kicks” that you need to stay focused and well-balanced in your life. Sometimes all a person needs is a little motivation to keep their so called “train” of life on track.

1.      Don’t give up.

Do not, I repeat, do not say these three words. Don’t even allow them to slip past those lips. You are the only person in your life that can allow such a thing to happen. If you don’t try, there is no way of ever finding out your own capabilities. I use to be the person who would want to throw in the towel, but as I grew older, I realized that if I just take a chance, I can get somewhere in life. No matter how hard things can get, just remember, you are not the only one that deals with setback. This game of life needs to be played until the end; it’s not to be abandoned.

2.      Don’t look back.

We all do it. I’m talking about dwelling on the past. Picture it this way, the past is like a fire. If you keep giving the fire fuel, which is your attention, it’s going to keep burning. Let the past burn out. You have a future to look forward to. Don’t regret anything that has happened in the past because in somehow, someway it has presented you with a lesson to learn, and whether you learned that lesson or not, that’s for only you to know.

3.      Set goals for yourself.

Come on, don’t be a slacker. Setting goals for yourself gives you something to work for. It’s okay to think that some of your goals could be out of your reach at the moment. As a matter of fact, some of them probably are, but who cares.

The bigger your goals are the better. Let me tell you, nothing is impossible. I’m that girl that has always thought that nothing special could happen to me, and when I had those special occurrences in my life, my way of thinking changed very quickly. Write your goals down and complete them, don’t let them starve. Working for those goals to feed them gives you great satisfaction in the long run.

4.      Believe in yourself.

I believe I can fly…yep that’s right; you can do whatever you set your mind to. Believing in yourself is something many people struggle with, me being one of them. It took me most of my life to realize that I can be successful. I realized that in the past, my mind was full of negativity. How can one strive to be the best when that negativity is pulling them down? You can’t. It’s important to fill your mind full of positive thoughts and say “I can do this!”

5.      Learn how to handle criticism.

There are two types of people in the world. People who take criticism very well and people who want to kick and scream because someone didn’t like something they have written or didn’t like their opinion about this and that, so on and so forth. Don’t get your pants in a bundle when it comes to criticism. As I said before, filling your mind with negativity can only lead to a downfall.

If you look at criticism in a positive way, then you will quickly warm up to it and become more comfortable with let downs, constructive let downs as I may call it. Hey, you can’t be perfect and no one wants you to be. There is no fun with perfection. It’s those crooked edges we find interesting, not the straight boring lines. Know that making mistakes is okay and that there is always room to learn and improve.

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Apprentice Editor: Ffion Jones / Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo Credit:  Helga Birna Jónasdóttir via flickr