How to make BIG things happen in your life

How’s your life going? Are you hitting on all cylinders… or stuck in a rut?

The fact is, a “successful” life can be defined in many ways: wealth, awards, recognition, peace, adventure, or happiness, just to name a few. And each of us will be faced with adversity at times in our lives.

If your life is in need of a jump start, below is a list of common sense (but perhaps difficult to carryout) tips that resonate with us. Got experiences and suggestions you’d like to add? Please share them in our Leave a Reply section below.

attracting abundance and happiness
Which of these two do you most identify with?

Tips for creating abundance and prosperity

Ask the right questions BEFORE focusing on solutions.
“If I had 60 minutes to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I’d spend 55 minutes determining the right question to ask. Once I got the right question, I could easily answer it in 5 minutes.” Einstein.1

Make new friends. (Build a tribe.2): Be generous with appreciation, compliments and sharing your time and skills. Be a good listener (you may just learn something)!

Research suggests, however, that having an enormous network of casual contacts isn’t as beneficial as developing active, working relationships with people very much UNLIKE yourself. Rather than isolating yourself with others of similar opinions and experiences, the greatest benefit comes stepping outside our comfort zone and exposing ourselves to different opinions and ideas.

Be open to hearing honest feedback.3 (hear-out the dissenters) Try to remain neutral and suspend judgment. Don’t be blinded by the things you already “know.” “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Be willing to put everything out on the table for consideration.4 You don’t know what you don’t know… so always have an eye out for new opportunities or resources.5 Reframe mistakes as “learning”6 but just don’t get too attached to them when it’s apparent that they’re not going to work.

Don’t toss out the good, because you’re waiting for the great! (There may be many ways to achieve your goals7).

Journal your ideas. (Later, when you browse through your journals, those odd notes may prompt lots of good ideas8.)

Accept that many of us (and perhaps the lucky ones) may need to continue working hard throughout our entire lives.9

Making small improvements, every day, will add up to big changes over time.10

Study those who seem to have life or business figured out. We don’t always have to reinvent the wheel.11 Never stop learning. “It’s what you do when you don’t have to, that will determine what you become when you can no longer help it.” Floyd Wickman.12

Appreciate all that you already have.13

Stay positive.14
Expect good things to happen. Wayne Dyer once said that… even if you discount the metaphysical power of visualizing what you want (which he says would be a mistake), your attitude can most definitely affect the outcome. For example, if you call a serviceman and he says “I will be there before 5 on Tuesday” you have 2 options. You can say to yourself, “I’ve heard that before. He isn’t going to show up.” Or you can say, “I fully expect that he will be here.” Then, if it gets to be about 3PM on Tuesday and you haven’t seen him, you’re very likely to call his office to remind them of their commitment and reconfirm that you are still on their list for the afternoon. Come 4PM, you may call again, and so forth. Chances are, what you tell yourself is going to influence the outcome.

Ask “what might be”, rather than “what is.” “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill.15

Stay persistent.
Few people today have made big things happen than Steve Jobs at Apple. When you’re in need of inspiration, his commencement speech to the Stanford graduating class of 2005 may be the best 10 minute pep talk you’ll ever get.

Sources:
1. http://thetendayturnaround.com/einsteins-secret
2. http://www.inc.com/chris-dessi/how-to-produce-stunning-change-in-your-life-immediately.html
3. http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/7-ways-to-make-big-change-quick-and-permanent.html
4. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247621
5. http://firstround.com/review/the-remarkable-advantage-of-abundant-thinking/
6. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2014/10/01/9-ways-to-kick-life-in-the-you-know-what/
7. http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-counterintuitive-trick-for-making-big-changes-in-your-life.html
8. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233424
9. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237622
10. http://www.businessinsider.com/12-ways-to-jumpstart-your-life-2011-2
11. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-functions/discover-possibilites/main
12. http://masternetworks.com/all-of-a-sudden/
13. http://www.success.com/article/john-c-maxwell-6-tips-to-develop-and-model-an-abundance-mindset
14. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/positive-thinking_b_3512202.html
15. http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/science-of-happiness/positive-thinking/