Month: April 2023

10 THINGS TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE THAT REQUIRE ZERO TALENT 😀

Yesterday, we showed you something that would have a positive impact on your life and not require a single cent. If you missed that post, it would serve you to check it out. Today, we are going to look at some things that could radically improve your life and require zero talent. If you are keeping score at home, in two posts we will show you how to improve your life without spending any money and without the need for any talent! Can you see why subscribing to this blog can be so powerful?

We are not going to go through everyone of these, but I want to touch on a few to give you an idea. Let us start at the top, being on time. Why will being on time improve your life. Believe it or not, being on time says a lot more about you than the fact you are punctual. Being on time shows that you have respect for the event you are attending. If you are meeting someone for coffee, being on time shows that you have respect for both that individual as well as their time. Being on time for your job shows your boss that you respect the employment they have given you and the money they are paying you to do the job. Being on time also shows the world that you have self-discipline. It shows the world that you know how to control the events in your life and to adjust circumstances to achieve a certain goal.

A positive attitude is one of the most important tools in our toolbox. It doesn’t require any talent, but can propel you past people with talent! The quote above gives us good food for thought. Why is having a bad attitude so…well…bad? If we are negative, or pessimistic, it can often prevent us from seeing solutions and opportunities. This is not only true when life is going well, but even more so when we are facing a challenge. It will also help us with out social contacts. More people would be willing to, and likely to, help someone with a good attitude verses a bad attitude. Developing and maintaining a positive attitude will go a long way to improving every aspect of our life.

The final of the 10 things we will look at is being coachable. Socrates once said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.” That is so true. To this day I am learning more in every field I am involved in. Writing, self-improvement and speaking. I am constantly learning more about relationships, work ethic and how to positively impact others. When you have the attitude that you know everything, you close your mind off to any possibility of improvement. We all want our lives to improve right? Sometimes that requires us to be humble enough to admit we do not know everything. Nobody does. Admitting that does not diminish you in anyone’s eyes, but demonstrates that you are a student of life that is eager to improve themselves.

There are so many other great things on this list. The point is that there are many things you can do to improve your life that do not require a degree, years of schooling or even any talent at all! I encourage you to look at the other items on the list and meditate on how you can incorporate them into your own life. I also invite you to think of additional items that could be on this list that would improve your life with zero effort and share them with the rest of us.

THE BEST THING YOU CAN FIND ON AMAZON… AND IT IS FREE! 😜

We are all looking to use our money wisely these days. With the price of groceries and gas on the increase, every dollar counts. Yet, self-care is more important than ever. Stress seems to come at us from every corner. Turn on the television or look at your phone and there seems to be one stressful situation after another. We need to invest in ourselves and our mental well-being to thrive in today’s world. Any money spent on your own mental and spiritual care should not be viewed as an expenditure, but rather an investment.

Wouldn’t it be nice to invest in your well-being and stress reduction and not have to spend anything at all? A lot of us are on Amazon.com quite often. Who can blame you. There are plenty of good deals, and as we mentioned, saving money is good for all of us. There is one thing you can find on Amazon that will not cost you a thing, but help you reduce your stress, increase your joy and help you become the best version of yourself. That is the Living the Dream with Neil Panosian podcast. All you have to do is search my name, Neil Panosian, on Amazon. You will see all three books of mine. Great investments in themselves. I promise you the value you will gain will far outweigh what you spend to get them. There is one item you can get today, no money out of pocket, that will bring you both entertainment as well as useful life strategies. That is my podcast. As you can see from the picture above, it is 100% free. You can be listening as soon as you finish reading this blog. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you much longer.

Here is a brief description of what you will find inside that podcast. I must add that it will also include items from my third book as well. You can improve your life starting today. You do not have to spend a single thing and all you have to do is push play and listen. You can get to this podcast, as mentioned, by searching Neil Panosian on Amazon.com. You can also click on the link below. I highly suggest subscribing to the podcast so you will be the first to hear the new episodes as they are released. I will leave a link you can click on at the bottom of this post as well. I look forward to being able to serve you and your life on my podcast and will look forward to your feedback. Subscribe now as season two is just about to begin!

CLICK HERE TO GET MY PODCAST 100%FREE! 😀

ARE YOU SORRY, OR ARE YOU SORRY YOU GOT CAUGHT?

Here is a situation that many of us find ourselves in. Someone does wrong by us. They then say they are sorry. Whether that was saying something hurtful, not fulfilling a promise to us that they had or a host of other things. We have also been the one apologizing. Here is a good question to ask, “Are you sorry, or are you sorry you got caught?” What do I mean be this? Let us take a look.

Apologizing is a necessary and important first step. It is not an entire step. Let us take a really simple analogy. If I were to kick you in the shin because I am mad at you, that would be a very bad thing. I apologize, as I should. Does your leg feel any better at this point? Probably not. If I were truly sorry for your actions, I would want to do something to help. Maybe I would get you some ice to put on your leg, or some pain pills? I could help you lay down and put your leg up to rest. I would also have to develop a plan as to what to do in the future with my anger, so we do not find ourselves in the same situation. This is good conflict resolution. Apologize for the wrong. Take what immediate action you can to help repair and correct the wrong. Finally, develop a plan so that in the future you will not have the same situation come up.

We all know some people who seem to be forever apologizing. What is worse, they seem to be doing so for the same reasons. If you apologize for something, and then continue to do that very thing, are you really sorry? You might be, just not for why you think you are. You are not sorry for the thing you did, you are sorry you got caught. If you were truly sorry for your actions, you would do your best to correct them and improve them. That is not to say you would not make another mistake, just not the same mistake. Growing and evolving includes making new mistakes. We are human after all. If, however, you are continuing to make the same mistakes, you are not growing and evolving.

Pay attention not only to the people in your life, but to yourself as well. Are you following the formula for conflict resolution, or are you just saying you are sorry and hoping that fixes everything? A good rule to follow is to not just say you are sorry, but to show that you are sorry. We do so but taking actions to correct the wrong we have done and to put in place plans that will stop us from doing that same wrong in the future. That is how we grow and evolve.

ARE YOU A ZERO?

This idea may seem very basic to many of you, but it is still very valuable and has a great deal of truth. This is a simple scale. As you can see it goes from negative four, to positive four. This is a great metaphor for our lives. If we think that by eliminating the negative, it will give us a positive life, we can see that is not so. If you think, “I don’t beat my spouse. I don’t smoke. I don’t say anything bad about others. That makes you a positive person.” As you can see by the graph above, that is not exactly so. If you are not doing anything negative, that puts you at zero.

To get to the positive, we must add positive things. We must work hard to make our spouse feel loved and appreciated. That is a positive. Ok, now we are at one. Don’t smoke? that is great. Staying active and eating a healthy diet, that is a positive. That puts us at two. It is good to not say anything negative about others or spread gossip. That means you do not get a negative. Want another positive? Try speaking empowering and kind things about as many people as you can.

The secret to an amazing life is to blend eliminating as many negatives from your life as you can. You also have to add as many positives as you can. Doing both of these at the same time will lead to the biggest improvements. Just make sure you are not making yourself feel overwhelmed. How many negatives can you think of to eliminate in your life? What are some positives you can add?

FAILURE IS NOT FINAL, IT IS FORMATIVE

Last post, I shared with you that fact that I had decided to throw away the months of work and writing I had been doing for my fourth book. It was, in some sense, a failure. It did not meet the expectation that I had for what I wanted to share with the world. Does this make me a failure? I really do not feel like it. The project was. I will still write a fourth book. It will be different than the one I was writing. It will be better.

Think of any great accomplishment we have had in life. Learning to walk. Learning to speak. Getting in shape. Starting a relationship. Finding the love of our lives. Which one of those was a linear process? Which one did we accomplish flawlessly? I am not sure about you, but my total is something slightly less than one. I fell a million times learning to walk. Some days I feel that I am still learning to communicate with those in my life. Getting in shape? That is a life-long journey. My relationship is something that took a lot of work on both of our ends and continues to do so as we navigate the challenge of two different people living one life.

Society’s definition of failure is wholly inaccurate. If it were, no babies would ever learn to walk without a terrible self-image. People would give up on each other before their love had a chance to fully blossom. To, of course, authors would never complete their next book. Failure is not an outcome unless we choose to make it so. It is, more accurately stated, a stepping stone. Next time you feel like a failure, ask yourself if you were failing, or merely learning. Are you going to give up, or begin again more intelligently?

I MADE A DIFFICULT DECISION 😕

For the last several months I have been working on my fourth book, From Ruining Livers to Saving Souls. It chronicles my journey from bartender to self-improvement author and blogger. It contains many amusing and funny personal anecdotes. I was 30,000 words in and had slated a late-spring/early-summer release. Last Saturday, I made a very important and difficult decision – I will not be releasing this book. After reading what I had written, and lots of personal reflection, I decided the content, although quite entertaining, did not fit the message I was trying to convey. The months of work and 30,000 words I had composed would not see the light of day.

This also means there will be no book from yours truly in 2023. This is both deflating and liberating. It will allow me to focus on other endeavors such as this blog and my podcast – Living the Dream with Neil Panosian. It also stresses the importance of investing more thought into the planning process of what the message of the fourth book will be. It is my belief the writing will be stronger and do more good than had I released what I wrote earlier this year. A good book should place the focus on the reader. In my case, not only do I want to entertain them, but serve them as well. I promise that my fourth book will not be released until it accomplishes both.

Giving up on a goal can be a very difficult decision. Starting over can seem so deflating and hard to do. Just like going back to the gym after slipping during the holidays. It does not have to be an end, but can serve as a more powerful beginning. When we start over it is not starting from scratch. It is beginning with more information, even if that is just what doesn’t work, than we had the first time. If there is a goal that you know may not be right for you, it is ok to throw it away and start over. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, it may take longer. Most importantly, yes, it will be worth it.

LEARNING FROM DEAD PEOPLE

One of the first reasons I was brought into the world of self-improvement was the man above, Tony Robbins. Like millions of others, I saw his infomercial at 3a.m. and ordered the product “Get the Edge”. Those CDs transformed my life. Not only for the content and strategies contained within, but because they influenced and motivated me to share what I learned with others. Not only did I improve my life, but by becoming a blog writer, author and life coach, I was able to positively influence the lives of others. I am still a big fan of Tony Robbins. I refer back to some of his work as a good reminder of some of the core principles that began my journey.

Then there was my fitness journey. Still a very active, and often up and down, journey. One of the main influences to get me moving was the man above, Greg Plitt. Not so much for a desire to have a physique like him. Although, that would be a bonus. His knowledge of fitness, both the physical and mental aspects, were a great boost. In addition, he has great motivational videos that both reinforced what Mr. Robbins said, as well as introducing some new and powerful concepts. The more videos I watched, the more I learned. Then, I learned a very interesting fact – he was dead. He met an unfortunate demise while filming a video. I had been learning for months from a man that I did not even realize was no longer with us. I still watch some of his videos to get me into the gym and to educate on several fitness and nutrition aspects.

That leads us to this man. Probably, one of, if not thee, greatest influence on my writing and personal development career. His name is Earl Nightingale. His message, The Strangest Secret, is something I have listened to thousands of times. His strategies for success are straight forward and filled with common sense. He was one of only 100 survivors on the U.S.S. Arizona when it was bombed in Pearl Harbor. He owned his own insurance company. He had his own radio program. He earned the first gold record for a spoken word recording and went on to launch the self-improvement recording industry. The company named after him, Nightingale-Conant, has many great products to help you improve your life. He also reminds me a bit of my grandfather, but I digress. He passed away in 1989.

The point of this message today is that every day I learn from people who have passed away. The only reason that I can do so is that they shared their story before they did. That is why it is so vital to share the talent you have inside of you. Your greatest moment may come long after you are gone. Our lives on this planet are finite, our influence on it does not have to be. Read that last line again slowly. How many authors, artists, musicians and others were only truly appreciated after they were gone? There is a day that we are born, and a day that we will die. Most self-improvement is focused on the moments between. That is for good reason. I put forth that we should also think about the influence we will have after we are gone. What you leave behind could save the life of someone who is not born yet. What you leave behind could change the world for your great-grandchildren. Do not let your influence die with you. Share your story today. Whether that is a video on YouTube, writing a book, or sharing a blog. That could be recording your music, sharing your artwork or a million other ways to express yourself. Do not keep it inside you. Tomorrow is never promised.

WOULD YOU PUT YOUR MONEY IN HERE?

If you saw your friend putting all of his money in this machine, what would you do? You watch him take dollars out of his pocket and feed the machine, press a button and then get frustrated when nothing happens. Would you stop him? Would you point out how putting hard-earned money into a machine that is “out of order” is not only a waste, but a rather stupid course of action?

If you are a good friend I hope you would. Would you put your money in that machine? I’m guessing you are thinking to yourself, “no way! I work way too hard for my money to do something so stupid!” You would be right to think so.

What about your time, emotional and mental health? How many people, places and things do we keep investing our time, money and physical, mental and emotional health in even though they are “out of order”? It may not be so obvious because they don’t have a sign on them, but we know they are there. You keep lending money to that friend who can never hold down a job. You keep listening to your friend that just spreads negativity and gossip. You continue to go to that job that is sucking the joy out of your soul.

Think of your life and how many out of order machines you are feeding. The scary part is that it is not money you are losing. Although, that can be part of it as in the case of our friend who can’t hold down the job. No, you are losing something far more precious. You are losing time. You are putting part of your life in an “out of order life vending macine”! Stop doing that. Think of your life and what things might be wasting your time and energy.

HOW TO HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED 🎈

This really is the first secret to living an amazing life. There is no way to experience true joy or happiness until you love the life you have currently. That doesn’t mean you are not working towards a better life for both you and your family. It simply means adopting an attitude of gratitude along the way.

You may not have the house you want, but you have a roof over your head. You may not have received that promotion you were hoping for, but you are still employed. Your relationship may seem difficult at times, but at least you have one to work on. Maybe you don’t have a relationship? You can use that time to work on yourself and to work out what you really want in a partner.

Developing an attitude of gratitude truly is a secret to an amazing life. Tony Robbins refers to it as “Swapping expectations for appreciation” I think that is something we could all do a little more of. I would love to know what you think.

TRAIN IT WELL💪

Our mind has such great power! The trick is that power can either work for us or against us. Either way it is very strong. If you had a strong friend that followed you everywhere, wouldn’t you want to make sure they were working for you? How about your mind?

If we fill our mind with fear, worry and anxiety, it will paralyze us into a life of inactivity and darkness. If, however, we learn to put our mind to work for us, we can have everything we dreamed of.

Invest today in discovering different ways of making your mind work for You. Whether that is meditation 🧘‍♂️, self-discipline or any other aspect. The time and money you put in will give returns many times above.