How to Persevere When Times Gets Hard

Perseverance is hard to have sometimes. Things happen in everyday life that just make you want to crawl under a rock and hide. It becomes a challenge to stick our heads back out into the world where they may get chopped off in the process. This is what perseverance is all about. The determination to keep going, no matter what the odds. It is the character of many successful people. Many of whom were knocked down before they even got to the door, but today they are successful people with rich full lives.  We can all learn from the example of Ieshia Champs. She dreamed of becoming a lawyer as a child, but found herself homeless, a single mother of 5 children in her twenties, without a high school diploma.  By the age of 33, she had earned a GED and gone on to graduate with a law degree from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.  She refused to allow life’s circumstances to hold her back and is now a practicing attorney.

A strong character is built around perseverance. It shows what you are made of when faced with an obstacle that you must overcome. Successful people are determined to achieve the goal they have laid out for their future. They keep striving to get there and will fight anybody and anything that gets in their way. They are determined to see a task through to completion and then they will sit back and reap the rewards.   Sylvester Stallone is a perfect example of someone who refused to quit.  Early in his career, he had every door closed on him as an actor. However, he did not let this deter his goal to enter the movie industry. Stallone banked on himself and wrote and starred in his own film Rocky and eventually went on to become one of the most successful actors.   

Refusing to give up doesn't mean that you will never fail. It just means that you may have to take the long way around instead of the shortcut. But don't stop believing that you can do what you set out to do. Refuse to quit just because the road became real steep and it is going to be a big drag to try to get to the top. The journey begins with the first step, so keep placing one foot in front of the other. Before long, you will look back and see all that you have accomplished on this journey called life. It will be a wonder that you got as far as you did and that you didn't stop when the times got really rough. 

Be a doer and a thinker. Instead of whining, come up with an achievable solution to your worst problem. This can start you on the road to confidence and self-esteem. If you decide you are unhappy, then you will live your life that way. But one morning, try to think happy thoughts and dream of a goal you want to achieve and you will be on your way. It may take many months or years to achieve, but you started by thinking it into existence as a goal to be earned.  Oprah Winfrey faced considerable hardships during her childhood. She has shared her story of being raped at the age of nine and becoming pregnant at age 14, baby did not live.  None of this prevented her from persevering. Oprah went on to become one of the wealthiest African Americans of the 20th century.

If you have things in your past that upset your future, try to contain them in one small part of your brain. Try to limit the contact you have with the bad memories of the past, let them go. They will just pull you down as you go through life. Living in the now is much better and less worrisome for people. The past is gone and there is nothing that can be done about it now. You can try to fix the mistakes you made by doing even better in the future. Everyone makes mistakes. Don't be so hard on yourself when you do. Take them for what they are as a life lesson. Learn from them and move on. Don't let one mistake ruin the rest of your life.  Personally, I was suspended from school in 9th grade for unruly behavior and fighting. This was a learning experience and turning point in my life.  I left this negative behavior behind and went on to become captain of the football team, president of the student government, and earned a full college scholarship.  Hence today, I have three college degrees, a successful career, and a beautiful family.

Make those hard decisions that are needed. They come about to test our mettle. Persevere and get through those challenges sent your way. This will show others what you can do. You may even have a few people ask you how you did it. Be honest and you may just be the one to start them on their journey. Take pride in that. Mentoring can be another goal that is very satisfying. Teaching someone else how you persevered through a bad situation can always help. To know we are not alone in the world is always a great feeling to have. To know someone else made it through, and now I can do it too is a wonderful way to teach someone about living.

Remember to take small steps on this long journey. Don't wear yourself out and try to do it all at once. Take your time and rest along the way. You will find that if you persevere, you can get to the finish line. 

Written by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions.  Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.

Top 10 Tips to Maintain a Positive Mindset

Practicing optimistic thinking enables individuals to concentrate on their strengths as well as focus on accomplishments that enhance happiness and motivation. The following 10 tips for having a positive mindset offer useful suggestions which you can use to assist you to shift into better thinking patterns.

1. Take Proper Care of Yourself
It is easier to stay positive while you are feeling strong, doing exercises, and getting adequate rest.  Your body is functioning at an optimum level free of pain, stress, and illness that can distract you. Self-image has a tremendous impact on your mindset.

2. Recall the Things You’re Grateful For
Taking time each day to stop and enjoy the good things in life can make a big difference.  As you go through the garden, don’t hesitate to rest and smell the roses.  Setbacks and challenges do not appear quite as bad whenever you are continually recalling the things which are positive in your life.  Things are never as bad as they appear to be.

3. Search for the Proof Rather than Making Assumptions
In case you have a concern that a friend or family member's poor mindset is because of something you have done, or that your fellow workers are privately gossiping about you behind your back, do not hesitate to ask them. Do not waste your time wondering if you did something wrong until you have evidence that there is reason to be concerned. 

4. Avoid Making use of Absolutes
Speaking and thinking in absolutes such as 'always' ( for example, You're ALWAYS late ) and also 'never' (for example, I NEVER do anything right) makes the situation appear even worse than it is, and forces your brain to believe that certain individuals, as well as yourself, are not capable of coming through when needed.

5. Remove Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts cannot have any power over you in case you do not assess them. If you observe yourself developing a negative thought, remove it, and do not follow it.  You have the ability to shift your mind from one thought to another in a matter of seconds. Yes, discriminate against what comes into your mind.

6. Crush the "ANTs"
"ANTs" (automatic negative thoughts) are actually the bad thoughts which are generally reactionary, such as "Those people are whispering, they must be talking about me," or "The boss wants to meet with me? It must be something bad!" When you recognize these types of thoughts, understand that they are simply ANTs and just crush them.

7. Practice Caring and Touching (Your family and friends)
You do not have to be a professional to understand the advantages of a great hug. Positive bodily contact with friends, family members, and even domestic pets is an immediate pick-me-up.  It’s a way of letting others know that you are concerned and care about them.

8. Enhance your Social Activity
By boosting social activities, you reduce solitude. Surround yourself with happy, healthy folks, and you will be affected by their positive energy in a positive manner.  Be spontaneous in reaching out and connecting with others.  Don’t allow social distancing to cause you to lose contact with others.

9. Help Someone Else 
Everybody feels great after helping. It is possible to give of your cash, your time, or your other resources. As you put more positive energy and well-being into the universe, you will receive more in exchange.  The more you give, the more you get.

10. Fight Constant Worrying
If you constantly worry, the best way to prevent it is to disrupt the pattern of thinking and force yourself to think of something totally different. Worrying is similar to hyper-focus on something which is negative. It is never going to change the situation; it's simply too much-wasted energy. Try altering your physical surroundings - go for a stroll or sit outdoors. You can also call a friend, read a book, or listen to some music.

I hope these suggestions help to enhance your ability to maintain a positive mindset. You have the ability to choose your thoughts, so chose them wisely to maximize your talents, skills, and knowledge.

Written by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions.  Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.

5 Things Successful People Do To Develop A Legacy

 Have you ever wondered why some people get so much out of life while others do not? Well, here are 5 things successful people do to develop their legacy. Try them out and you will become an icon in your family, community, and profession long before your living days are done.  
 
1. They set and achieve goals persistently. You cannot improve in anything you do unless you set some targets and achieve them. Successful people understand that you can never be too good at what you do or too successful in your endeavors. You always have a goal to achieve. You thrive to do something that no one before you did. You seek to learn and master skills you didn’t know before.   You look for new mountains to clime no matter your age or limitations.  You develop a reputation for being someone who get things done no matter the task.    

2. They develop the right networks. 
You cannot succeed alone. You need a network of people who know things that you do not know. You should seek and listen to their expert advice, analyze it, and then implement it if it makes sense. Do not rely on your wisdom in everything you do because you cannot know everything. Establish a mind power council of
elders, professional experts, mentors, spiritual advisors, and a strategic thinker among others. Connect with people in positions of influence and accomplishment in their lives because they can help propel you to the next level.  

3. Take responsibility for your actions and learn from your failures. You will never be successful if you do not accept responsibility for your actions even if it is just in private. Without doing so, you would never learn from your mistakes. Instead, you would blame others for your failures and doing that will cost you many good friends. If you learn from your mistakes, you can correct them and even prevent them in future. You can build stronger relationships with those around you and generate better ideas than you did before you took responsibility for your actions.  You build a reputation for being a stand-up person.

4. Family is everything. You strive to live for a cause greater than yourself.  You protect the welfare of your family from external and internal negative forces. Think in terms of building wealth and prosperity for future generations. You want your family to benefit from what you have worked for throughout your life.  Most of all, you invest time and past on wisdom to your children and grandchildren to prepare them to take your place in the future. By doing so, your name will live forever, and your grandchildren and great grandchildren will cherish stories about you.

5. Take care of your body, mind, and spirit. 
You cannot be successful if your body is unable to handle the pressure that comes with working hard. You have to keep it healthy with exercise and a healthy diet. You also have to have a sound mind for you to make the right decisions at the right time. Doing so is impossible if you have too much stress. Finally, you must be in good spirit for you to think clearly. You also cannot enjoy life or interact with others positively if you are in a bad mood all the time. Take care of yourself so that you serve as a model of fitness and health to others and live life to the fullest. 

I hope these suggested strategies will encourage you to build on your legacy. When the time comes to depart this earth, what would you like to be remembered for? Don’t leave it to someone else to define your legacy.

Written by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions.  Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.

3 Ways to Manage Your Mindset During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The unexpected impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) is a serious setback for all of us. Unfortunately, some people will not be able to make adjustments to keep their wheels in motion while others will remain unstoppable in pursuit of their goals and accomplishments. The truth is your mindset is ultimately what will make the difference in your ability to effectively deal with this current situation. There is a lot of negative information coming at you and unusual lifestyle changes taking place every day. It’s important that you manage your thoughts during this period of uncertainty and change. Managing your thoughts through these tough times will enable you not to be overcome no matter what happens. If you or know someone who is having a rough time making the adjustment to the world, we now find ourselves living in, here are 3 suggested ways to manage your mindset:

Start Off Your Day From A Position of Strength

Your day’s effectiveness is normally determined in the first few morning hours. If you start checking the Facebook newsfeed and emails when you get out of bed for an update on COVID-19, you will start to drift down the slippery slope of negative thinking. You cannot allow this situation to dominate your thoughts from morning until night. Begin your morning with an activity that will give you a positive mental focus. Tune out all the negativity in the world. Start with a brainstorming session of positive self-talk or listen to inspirational music to help uplift your thoughts. You might want to reserve the first two hours for prayer, meditation, and exercise to establish your thought process for the day.

Control What Goes In Your Head

Are you filling your mind with positive information or reading emails and listening to the rehash of COVID-19 news stories repeatedly? Stop immediately if you are doing the latter. You have no idea of the negative impact the constant intake of this information has on your sense of reality. No, the world is not coming to an end. Back away from it and your anxiety and stress levels are bound to go down. Be disciplined about the things you allow to go through your mind. Although you cannot change your current situation, you can opt to be more vigilant about the sort of information you choose to consume. This is an excellent opportunity to expand your reading to enhance your personal growth and development. Check out our Mind Power Reading list at. Also, take advantage of the positive learning materials on youtube and other media resources. Also, use this time to focus on what you intend to accomplish when things return to normal.  

Practice Gratitude

Yes, these are challenging times for all of us. Amid the storm, be encouraged to reflect on what you have to be grateful for. If you are not one the individuals laid up in the hospital fighting for life, there is much to be grateful for. If you have not lost a loved one, family, or friend, you should have no complaints. Think about how fortunate you are to spend this newfound time with your family and have a job to return to when this pandemic is over. If you lost your job, keep the faith that everything is going to work out. Be grateful for good health and a sound mind because there is nothing that you can’t accomplish. Most of all, be grateful for life. Remember, it is up to you to determine your reality going forward. Be grateful for this opportunity to repurpose your life.

I hope the above three strategies can change the way you respond to being housebound for weeks. Come to terms with the reality that life is not how you would like it to be, but it is what it is. How you respond to the shakeup of your normal daily routine, depends on your ability to manage your mindset. 

Written by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions. Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.

The Power To Think, Do, and Become

I hope you are having a great day. It’s been months since my last blog. I took a mental break and now I am back and ready to go. This week’s article discusses the importance of our capacity to think, do  and become  whatever we desire in life. The focus is to encourage readers to tap into their innate power to overcome circum-stances that often impede their growth and development. We have all heard, “You have the power to control your destiny.” or “Your destiny is within your hands.”? Although we may believe this is true, taking control of our destiny is no easy task. There will be many unexpected challenges and obstacles along the way. No matter what we set out to accomplish, the road to success is going to put us to the test. After proving ourselves worthy to move beyond one test, another is usually waiting around the corner. Our preparation for past life’s tests is greatly reflected in how we think, what we do, and become with our lives.   

Think 

The power to think is one of our greatest attributes as humans. It separates us from all other creatures in the Universe and makes us co-creators of our thoughts and ideas. The ability to think empowers us with the capacity to generate ideas to change our circumstances and to create the world we desire. So be careful of the ideas that you allow to take root in your head because they are likely to become your reality. The writer James Allen said, “A person’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be developed to the highest or allowed to run wild; but whether developed or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth a harvest.”  You must protect your mind from negative thoughts to achieve your highest good.  

It is estimated that our mind thinks more than 60,000 thoughts each day. This represents close to 2,500 -3,000 thoughts per hour. Research suggests that at least 80% of them are negative thoughts. We have no control over where these thoughts originate, but we do have control over our response to them. It’s our choice to hold on to the positive ones that enable us to do our best or to let go of the negative ones that keep us stagnated, living below our full potential. Either way, what we think plays a major role in determining how we respond to the challenges of life. 

How we think is also greatly influenced by our environment, culture, and experiences in life. They help to form our belief system which shapes our view of the world. We either believe we can or cannot bring our ideas into existence. If you don’t believe that you are worthy of being successful, you are more likely to set low expectations for yourself. Therefore, you must not be afraid to question your beliefs. Just because you believe it, doesn’t make it true. Too many of us have been holding on to false beliefs that have held us back from fulfilling our destiny. For example, we reach a certain age and let our bodies go because we now believe that we are too old to work out. We stay in self-destructive situations, believing it’s the best we can do. In his book Mind Power, John Kehoe advocates that we question our beliefs to get to the root causes of our problems. It is our limiting beliefs that keep us from achieving our goals. It’s all in the mind. We are who we believe we are. What we think, determines what we do.  

Do

What we do is the manifestation of our inner thoughts. To succeed at anything requires that we first see ourselves being successful in the mind. This demands clear and focused thinking. As such, we must rid our minds of negative thoughts such as fear, anger, and failure. There can be no doubt in our ability to get things done. We must take on the persona that we are unstoppable. Our actions must convey self-confidence to do what others said could not be done or doubted our ability to succeed. 

The Nike slogan, “Just Do It!” is powerful. Three simple words that place an awesome challenge before us. To “do” requires action. We must be willing to put forth the effort to achieve our desires. Many of us want more out of life, to change our current situation, start a business, pursue a new career, but can’t seem to get started. Day in and day out we find ourselves in the same old rut. To change current circumstances or to accomplish what we desire, demands that we transform our thoughts into action. Our thoughts and ideas will never become a reality unless we act. Sorry to tell you that you can pray for success 365 days a year, but unless you act nothing will change. It requires an investment of time and energy to make our vision real. We have been led to think that we need money to make our dreams come true, but I have come to realize that it’s how we use our time and energy that enables us to convert nothing into something. The self-made businessman, John Wanamaker use to say, “Nothing comes merely by thinking about it.” We must act.

If your actions are not producing the desired outcome, that’s a sign that you need to do something different. Some of us have been doing the same thing for years, feeling trapped because things haven’t worked out as planned. The response is too often blame others or life’s circumstances for our shortcomings and failures. Perhaps, it’s time to reassess how you spend your time. Just because you are busy doesn’t mean that you are being productive. What we do with our time determines who we become. All of us are given 168 hours in a week, 8,736 hours in a year. We must use our time wisely to become the person we desire to be. To be, or not to be, is up to us and no one else.  

Become

To be is to become that which you were meant to be. We each have a God-given purpose and it’s up to us to fulfill it. You will know when you find your purpose because it will bring joy to your heart and peace of mind. If not, what you are doing may not align with your mind, body, and spirit. From the time you arise in the morning until resting your head at night, your primary focus should be on becoming the person you are destined to become. When you reflect on your day and don’t like the person that you have become, it’s time to make a change. You may be living someone else’s story or implementing somebody else’s plan for your life. Perhaps, you should take a chance on yourself, live your story and implement your plan.   

You must be in the moment. Stop waiting for the timing to be right because you only have today. There is a Zen saying, “ Tomorrow is an illusion that never comes, the only reality is now.” Start today to transform into the person you desire to become. Conduct yourself in a manner reflective of your true self. If you aren’t there yet, fake until you make it. Sure, people are going to say that you are not the person you use to be. Hopefully, it’s for the better. A wise man once told me that a person will become a runner when they become one with the run. Likewise, a person who sings will only become a singer once they become one with the song. This requires an alignment of the mind, body, and soul, no matter what you are striving to accomplish. Otherwise, your efforts are no more than going through the motions.   

To become the new, you often require that you leave the old you behind. This requires giving up old habits that don’t contribute to your growth and development. We have all know people who were at the doorway of success, but they just couldn’t go forward and leave their old ways behind. Although the desire to succeed may have been there, the pull of the old way of doing things was too strong. Old habits tend to provide a familiar comfort zone or haven for us if you will. Therefore, you must be willing to reinvent yourself by practicing new habits. You can do it. I encourage clients to try practicing doing something different for 3-months. Whatever you practice for 2-3 months is likely to become a new habit. You will no longer have to think about what you want to be because you will have become who you were meant to be. 

Yes, I firmly believe that we each have the power to control your destiny. It all comes down to how we think, what we do with our time, and strive to become in our daily lives. Our success depends on us. Others can assist, but they can’t want more for us than we want for ourselves. 

Written by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions. Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.