Challenge Yourself

Everyday I look around and see people complaining about being tired, having no energy, being overweight, not exercising enough, being shy, not having enough money, having nothing to do...

When I look at this, I see one thing: These people are not doing anything, and are consequently complaining about it. Instead of realizing that they are not taking action and start taking action, they would rather just complain about it, because they then are at least doing something about it.

I urge you not to get caught up with this type of thinking. Instead, when some aspect of your life is not how you want it to be, do something about it! Don't just sit there like everyone else and let your life pass before your eyes.

Taking consistent action will revitalize you, giving you more energy to accomplish even more of what you want to!

So, how exactly do you challenge yourself and take action?

1. Figure out a goal.
   -In order to know what you what to do, you have to figure out where you want to go. It's like driving, you can go very fast anywhere you want to, but unless you know where you're going, you might as well have just stayed home... Figure out a goal.
2. Think about the things you can do to achieve that goal
   -You don't have to have it all mapped out, just the end destination and a few baby steps to begin with. When your driving at night, you don't need to see the entire destination at the beginning, just the 50 feet in front of you where your headlights can shine light.
3. Take action
   -Now is the real challenge, take action. Start living your dreams! Why settle for anything less? You can have the life you want, so just go out there and get it!

A great thing to remember during this process is that you should enjoy the journey, not just the end result. Realize that every step you take is a step closer to your dreams and ENJOY THAT!

Live with enthusiasm and make a great life for yourself, starting...oh... how about the next 10 minutes? =)

Sean Golden

How to Reach Your Potential AND be Happy

Generally if you search the

The next step which sort of ties into theory 1 is... drum roll.... living without your irrational fears (or at least their effect on you). That's for another post though...

Generally if you search the Internet on how to be happy, you might come across two different ideas. One says that you should keep striving to be the best that you can be, and the progressive realizations of your dreams will make you happy. The other opinion is that you find happiness in the now, so stop living in the future or past and just live. Roll down your windows and feel the air rush past your face.

If you think about it tho.. don't these two ideas seem to completely contradict each other? How can you enjoy the present and not think about the future if you are trying to accomplish something for the future. Paradox? Not really...

See, when people read books or search the Internet for this sort of thing, they seem to have an all-or-nothing sort of mindset. They think that there is only one rule that they need to find and live by in order to be happy, when, in fact, there are many many ways someone can live his or her life in order to be very happy. The two I described above, though, are pretty much universal and have a massive effect.

I think that people should try to constantly strive to realize their dreams because when they do, they will feel empowered and proud. They will be happy. If they fail to do so, they will look back with many regrets and might be ashamed of how they carelessly allowed their life to turn into something other than what was wanted. Do you want to feel regret later on when you didn't accomplish what you want to, or because you didn't live up to your potential and be the best you can be? Or do you want to look back feeling great that you have learned, gained skills, and lived the life you really wanted to?
The most important part of this idea, though, doesn't come from actually achieving your goals, but from the process of achieving your dreams. People seem to underestimate the happiness they will find while striving for their dreams. This comes from all the pointless work that we have had to do throughout our lives. That kind of work makes us think that doing things or accomplishing things is not fun. However, if you really think about it right now, you might realize that when you are trying to achieve your dreams, you will be having tons of fun!


This first idea definitely has its time and place in your life everyday. However, when you are not doing this, you might want to start on the other theory: Live in the moment. Most of the time, even if people have done and been doing idea #1 (see above), they will start to worry, anticipate, become anxious, etc. when they maybe should be starting on idea #2. Stop worrying! You can prepare for your future in phase (or idea) #1; don't worry now! Live your life, smell and feel the air, and enjoy the world you live on. Recognize and appreciate all that you have and how fortunate you really are. Be grateful. I'm not going to go into much detail on this because it's pretty self-explanatory, but if you want more info. just search google for "appreciation and gratitude" or "living in the now/present".

The next step which sort of ties into theory 1 is... drum roll.... living without your irrational fears (or at least their effect on you). That's for another post though...

Live!

Sean Golden