One of the biggest barriers to achievement, happiness, and goal attainment is a lack of mental focus. People who don’t instill a degree of self-discipline in their lives, eventually become distracted, discouraged, and demotivated.
I’m not one of those people who believe that the path to success involves working 80 hours a week, continually burning your candle at both ends, and sacrificing your health, relationships, and peace of mind for financial and material success. You don’t have to “sell your soul” in order to have a beautiful home, fulfilling relationships, a satisfying career or business, a healthy lifestyle, and enough financial resources to meet your needs.
The Starting Point is Creating Balance
The concept of work/life balance has been increasingly talked about and emphasized in recent years. More and more businesses have been recognizing the need to encourage employees to maintain a healthy balance between work and leisure. When any one aspect of your life becomes too dominant, the other facets invariably suffer — and when that happens, one’s balance is thrown out of whack.
Maintaining balance in life involves these elements:
Awareness: Making mental notes of changes in your environment, your attitude, and habits can be the first step to developing an action plan and upgrading the direction and quality of your life.
Making adjustments: Rather than just being a passive observer of your external world, consider taking specific actions to resolve problems. improve conditions, and restore feelings of contentment.
Action orientation: Setting positive intentions, writing down your goals, working on improving your self esteem, and focusing on your personal values (what’s important to you), are four ways to create a mental climate that lends itself to being proactive and action oriented.
Since most people have what is known as a “negativity bias,” success and happiness demand that we be proactive in regulating our own thoughts, developing assertiveness, practicing self discipline, and cultivating habits that support our goals and desired lifestyle.
Thoughts that Work 