2 REASONS YOU SHOULD BUY MY BOOK. ✌️

I recently returned from a week in the wonderful country of Jamaica. As soon as I got off the plane, I felt like a different person. Have you ever had this experience? As soon as your vacation begins, stress melts away and life just feels amazing. Whether that is driving to the mountains, flying to the tropics or any other destination. Ten years ago, I asked myself a question you may have pondered as well. “How can I carry this amazing feeling of vacation into the other 50 weeks a year that I am not on vacation?” I have spent every day since looking for the answer to the question, “How do we live like we are on vacation?” The first answers resulted in my book, A Happy Life for Busy People. It focuses on quick and simple ways to reduce stress and increase joy in your life. They all require very little effort and most can be done without spending a single cent.

As the years went by and I continued to learn more, I created my second book, Living the Dream. It took a deeper dive into how life works. How to create the relationship of your dreams. How to create a feeling of inner peace. How to better control your emotional state. How to better handle the challenges life throws at us all. How to develop a champions mindset. If any of this sounds like something you would like in your life, I suggest reading that book. To simplify this, I will put a link at the bottom where you can get all of my books. If you incorporate these tools and strategies, it will help you create a life that feels more like a vacation. Do not get me wrong, I certainly would not mind more tropical escapes with the love of my life, but every day with her seems like a dream come true. Why? We have both used the tools in this book to take our relationship to a higher level and continue to do so. We both are chasing our passion and focused on gratitude in our lives. Which leads us to the final point that will benefit you from reading my books.

With all of the self-improvement books on the market, why should you bother to pick up mine? Why did I even bother to write a book, never mind several, in a field that is already so saturated? Those are questions I get a lot. The answer is a simple one. These books were written based on two things. One, the wisdom of several very intelligent individuals. Some as far back as 500 B.C., some who are still alive today. The other is my own mistakes. That is what started my journey to begin with. My life was in a terrible state. In order to take control over my life and turn it around, I began to read. By ‘began to read’, I mean reading everything I could get my hands on. Here is what I learned. Many of the books told me that when I was in China, it was a good idea to speak Chinese, but they never taught me any of the vocabulary.

My book will not teach you how to speak Chinese. What I mean is that many books will give you practical theories, but not tell you simple ways to incorporate them. I tried the things that I read about. I recorded what worked and what did not. I tweaked them. In my books you will not only get the theory behind them, but step by step instructions on how to implement them in your own life. There are also funny personal stories of how they worked when I applied them.

If you want to change your life. If you want to start living the dream, or living like you are on vacation, I highly suggest picking up one or more of my books. Allow me to be of service to you. I put over two decades of both wins and loses, success and failure in these books. What works and what does not. It is my life’s mission to leave this world better than I found it, and that starts with you. If we can work together to take your life to a higher level, then the world, and more importantly your world, will be a little bit better. You can even share the tools with those you love and help them positively transform their lives. Whether you read my book or another, please never stop learning and improving yourself and your life. It is the best thing you can do to make the world a better place.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF MY BOOKS AND TO GET THE ONE THAT SPEAKS TO YOU!😀

HOW MANY RABBITS 🐇 ARE YOU CHASING?

Multi-tasking… one of the biggest lies perpetuated to the masses. We may think 60,000 thoughts a day. We can only focus on one thing at a time. Don’t believe me? Try it. You may bounce back and forth quickly, but you will still only be able to focus on the one thing.

The same thing with doing something. You may bounce back and forth between activities quickly, but you are still only doing one at any given moment. The more you spread yourself around the less you are actually putting into anything.

To conceptualize this concept, I picture a scale. You know those ones with a cup on either side. On one side would be the quantity of activities you are pursuing. On the other side, the quality you are bringing to each activity you are pursuing. It I’d an inverse relationship. Not only will you bring more quality by focusing on one activity at a time, but you will actually get more done in the long run! Next time you are tempted to multi-task,picture that scale with the 2 cups. Then ask yourself, “Am I looking to bring quality or quantity to the world?

HOW TO USE YOUR ENEMIES 🤔

We all have them.  People who just seem not to like us for whatever reason. Sometimes these people seem to not like anyone. You hear them when you’re out, or maybe at the office. They are constantly highlighting everyone’s faults. How annoying is that?

You may be thinking that your life would be better without any of these people. The secret to an amazing life, however, is learning to use everything in life to our advantage. This includes negative emotions and situations, as we have discussed in the past. It also includes these negative people. How can we put them to work for us?

Listen to what your haters have to say about you. Often, it is blown up and exaggerated, but there may be a hint of truth in it. They may be pointing out a character flaw that your friends are too polite to mention. Here is another great idea that I often use. If I am trying to start a new habit such as eating healthy, or trying to stop a bad habit such as eating junk food, the first people I’ll tell are my enemies. Why? They will be ones who will watch you at every turn looking for you to mess up. That way they will be working for you by making sure you stick to your new self-improvement goals!

Next time you are tempted to be angered by, or frustrated by, your haters, put them to work! Take an honest look in the mirror and see if their complaints have a ring of truth to them. Even if they don’t, it is a great reminder to speak good of everyone. Also, use them to help you stick to your goals. They will help you improve your life without even knowing!

NECESSARY FOR PROGRESS 👷‍♂️

Many people forget that the weekend is a great time to make progress on their life goals. Yes,I get it. You have just worked all week and want to relax,and you should. Still, if we hope to see any progress in life,we must take action.

I work 50 hours a week at my day job. I also DJ on Sunday. Guess how I feel a good deal of the time? If your answer was “What is tired Alex?” (my nod to the show jeopardy) you would be correct. Most nights I would love nothing more than to come home and collapse in the arms of the lady I love. If I did that, I might not be as physically tired, but I would have no spiritual satisfaction.

Although writing a blog every day and working on my fourth book, to say nothing of promoting both, takes time from an already busy schedule, it also provides satisfaction. Without the action I take, my life would feel unfulfilled. Actions give us a feeling of progress. That can lead to momentum. So write a page towards that novel you dreamt of creating. Start on that painting. Work on that business plan.

It is important to get rest, but make sure you are also taking action toward reaching your goals. It will give your life a sense of meaning and you a feeling of fulfillment.

1 GOAL FOR THE WEEKEND ☝️

Being happy. One thing we often put off. Make sure the work gets done, then we will be happy. Wait until this happens, or that happens then we will celebrate. This is some of the most backwards thinking we can have and why we find ourselves in the state we do today.

I like the thought above – “Be happy. You never know how much time you have left.” That is so true. How many celebrities can you think of who died young? How many people in your own life did not have as long as they may have thought?

There used to be a show on television called 1000 Ways to Die. It showed the unique and often ridiculous ways people met their demise. I never really considered how many ways there are to die. By the end of this show’s run they had shown 500. That’s still a lot. The point is, with all of these ways to take the last train out of town, we should be thrilled every day it leaves the station without us! We should not need a reason or a goal to achieve, to make us happy.

One of the great secrets of an amazing life is switching expectations for appreciation. Instead of chasing happiness this weekend, why don’t we try sitting still and appreciating it. Look around and find all of the beauty and things we can be grateful for. Even if that is just that we haven’t appeared on 1000 ways to die. Although, if we did, chances are we wouldn’t be able to watch our own episode.

There are many things to put off. Being happy is not one of them. When you get to the end of your life, do you want to regret not enjoying it? You may think you have time to fall in love with your life, but do you? Truth is, we don’t know. When I discovered that I needed open-heart surgery, I only had about 2 months to enjoy before that. You never know when life will surprise you with a challenge to did not see coming. If there is one thing to do today, that is to be happy.

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?