The Journey from Ordinary to Extra Ordinary

“Every morning, we are born again” Buddhist Maxim

What do you do to get through the day? Human beings have a remarkable ability to put on a Teflon coat and pretend that there is an unknown force that will protects them from the hardships of their outrageous fortune. We often find ourselves riding the emotional roller-coaster and like all roller-coasters we tend to feel sick with fear and anticipation on the way up and scream on the way down. We get through the day by and large by thinking these things in our head but it still feels like a struggle to survive.

Life shouldn’t be ordinary and it shouldn’t just be about keeping our head above water. So how about adopting some principals in your life which can help make the journey feel a lot smoother than it being a bumpy ride and to help live your life to the full?

• Life is a Precious Gift – Make the most of it
• Respect to be respected
• Inspire by being an inspiration
• Stick to your principals and morals
• Compliment others at least once a day
• Find joy in everything you do
• Prepare for the “unexpected”
• Don’t worry be happy
• Smile and the world smiles with you

Remember we get a fresh start each morning. It’s a great idea to review these ideas every morning to get your head in the game. Just to be reminded that life is precious and every morning is crucial. There are days when I feel completely disoriented and when I wake up those days feeling sad, stressed or unexcited I’m reminded to find joy in life. Most importantly the principles take away the temptation to simply survive – I remember that life is too short to be ordinary.

I believe that every human being is born for a reason on this planet earth. No one knows what that is or has an easy means to discover it. The journey from “Ordinary” to “Extra ordinary” always seems long and tedious and while this may be quite an "ordinary" post but the small things that I have mentioned above can make a big difference. You just need to keep your chin up and continue to march along the journey of life and hope to find it somewhere along the route. You can make it happen......

When the going gets tough, the tough get going!!

We all dream a dream every night. But how come we don’t remember most of these dreams when we wake up in the morning. Is it that we are just not dreaming big enough? Do you ever catch yourself day dreaming at work or while driving? What do you think about when you day dream? Is it about a new car, new house, your girl friend or your career or just about a situation at work? Our life is full of things which we continue to think about consciously or sub consciously.

Day dreaming typically means you are thinking about something big for your future. It’s a normal human tendency to think big. It doesn’t always mean that it’s realistic or it will come true. However if you do want to achieve something big then you need an action plan to realize your dreams. You absolutely must have a vision. They say “Aim for the moon and even if you don’t reach the moon you will land amongst the stars!!”

You may have a dream of climbing Mount Everest and I am using Everest as a metaphor here. You must realize that the climb is going to be tough and steep. You may feel satisfied and content once you have reached the top and realized your dream or you may realize that it wasn’t your dream and you were living someone else’s dream.

Now getting started isn’t always easy and neither is finding the right path to your destination. The challenge is to keep on going and not lose hope or focus mid way. So it’s important to have certain traits to achieve the success.

1. Having a realistic dream: It’s important to have a realistic goal. It’s easy to say “I want to be Bill Gates or the richest person on this earth” but is it realistic for you? So realize your potential, understand your limitations and plan accordingly.
2. Have short term goals to achieve the long term goals: You need to make a conscious effort to set intermediate milestones to reach your end goal. The mountain will appear to be big but once you reach an intermediate milestone and learn to celebrate every small achievement the journey will be more entertaining.
3. Take a break and enjoy the moments: You can’t always run at 100 miles/hour. You do need to understand that we are after all human beings. We need a break and enjoy the moments. So stop and take the time to enjoy the view while you are climbing the mountain of your dreams. Make every step count and you will find yourself charged and well motivated for the next milestone.
4. Prepare for failures: Life is not perfect, neither is it a bed of roses. You will stumble along the way. Your path will be full of stones, rocks and pot holes. You must prepare yourself for setbacks and failures. “Success is not final neither is failure, it’s the courage to continue after the failure that matters”. You have got to be tough.
5. Be receptive: be flexible to change your path along the way if you think you are taking the wrong path. Be open to new ideas. You will meet several people along your journey who have different perspective of life who are bubbling with new ideas which you may have never thought of. So as long as you are ready to embrace the new ideas with the positive attitude, you will find it easy to make adjustments to your path.

So what do you think? Are you ready to think “Big”? I am…………………