Responsibility vs Blame

Need I say more about this subject? The picture says it all and if you've been reading my blog you know exactly what this is all about. 

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." John Burroughs

When you take responsibility (even when it hurts), you keep control of your life. Casting blame is equal to giving up your power. Casting blame, may be a simple thing to do, but over time leads to failure in your life. 

Successful people understand that it is how they react to a situation that gives them power. We do not have control over circumstances but we do have control over ourselves. If every day you started taking responsibility over your life instead of casting blame on others for it, it would become an easier and easier thing to do and eventually become a habit, which in turn leads you to the path of success. So catch yourself! Next time it comes into your mind that it was something or someone else's fault, push that thought out of your mind and take responsibility!

Check out my new website! http://believetoachievewithbrenda.weebly.com/

Show up

So there are 7 principals to the Slight Edge.

The first is to simple "Show Up". Easy enough? But, just as easy not to do. That's half the battle. If you've ever joined a gym, you know exactly what I mean! The hardest part is getting there! That's what takes the most effort. Once you are there, your good and you work out. But its soooooo easy to not show up and this applies to every aspect in life, school, work, relationships...not just the gym.

The second is to Be Consistent. Do those simple things every day in order to succeed. Its easy to make excuses but it's just as easy to be consistent if you don't let things get in the way of your plan...your success.

Next is Have A Good Attitude. This is one of my favourites that I'm always trying to be concise of. Its so easy to be negative, judgmental and spread rumours. We really need to pay attention to this. If you feel you are doing this, stop yourself and stop hanging around with these type of people. "Choose wise your friends for they make you who you are," is a great quote that my grade 8 teacher used to say. And having a good attitude has actually been proven to make you live longer!  "If we are positive our brains are more alert and engaged, free to create, which eventually leads to more productivity …happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement—giving us the competitive edge that I call the Happiness Advantage." (Achor)

Be Committed For A Long Period Of Time.  In this "instant" society, this one is a toughy. You will not get results over night! To finally reach true success, when I knew I had a mindset and had truly made a lifestyle change, took me 3 years. Three years of baby steps.

Have Faith And A Burning Desire.  If it's something you want and something you believe in then most people will be able to achieve this principal as long as they have been following the first four!

Be Willing To Pay The Price.  The price of not doing is far worse than the price of commitment. With whatever goal you make, you will pay a price to achieve it. Not being able to do what it was that you were doing when you were not successful is a price! 

Lastly, Integrity.  Doing what you say you are going to do and not worrying if other people know you are doing it. Even if those little things you are doing every day seem insignificant to others, don't worry about it. Stay on your course. It takes discipline, hard work, and desire to change, so like my cousin says, "Get'r done!"

Applying the theory...

After reading the first two chapters of this book, I was in awe and I wanted to tell everyone about it and about how simple it really can be to be successful! There is so much more to the story but I'll  get to that later. Today I want to talk a little about me! :)

While reading the first two chapters, it hit me! I had been doing this! I had been following the slight edge philosophy for the last 3 years without even knowing anything about it! I have actually been telling people the reason why I have been successful is because I have been taking my journey in steady babysteps. You can't go full bore, like one day deciding you are going to change your life and suddenly start working out an hour a day and going on a strict diet. It doesn't work. In order for you to make a lifestyle change (which happens after you have been steadily making these babysteps and these babysets just become HABIT!)  I did this without even realizing that this was all a part of the slight edge.

It all started one day (Christmas break), when I decided to clean out my lower cupboards in my kitchen.  It was such a chore crouching down and leaning in to wash them down! A thought came into my head..."I can't live like this" and that was when my philosophy changed! (Without me really knowing it.)

I started with stopping eating salt. I would not add salt to my plate anymore. Switched to Mrs. Dash. That was easy. Then I started doing 10 minute workouts off the internet, and going for walks. Shortly after, my friend and I decided to swim laps together once a week and later we joined a gym.  After a year and a half of the gym, I bought a workout CD "Revabs" and put my gym membership on hold. Over the next two months I realized that I was getting more benefits from working out to the CDs then I had been getting from the gym. I lost more weight, more inches, was able to workout in the morning instead of after work (which is way better for me as I am a morning person), and I could wear whatever I wanted at home!

I ended up going back to the gym and finishing my membership and then went right back into my home workouts. At this time I started focusing more on nutrition as well, no processed food, more vegies, less butter......I finally got to the point over 3 years that I have reached success! (and it actually says in the book that it takes 3-5 years to reach success!) It is a habit now to workout 30 minutes a day. It is a habit now to eat good, nutritious foods! Over 3 years I slowly lost many inches and 25 pounds and I feel GREAT! It's actually such a big part of my lifestyle that I started wanting to help other people so I became a Beachbody coach! I absolutely love it! Fitness, nutrition and technology all rolled up in one! 3 of my passions!

I guess I can't do this entire blog without putting in a "plug" for my newest challenge...Anyone serious about losing some weight and getting into shape for the summer can go to my fb page https://www.facebook.com/groups/636001669789100/  and check it out. Great 2-3 minute video explaining how it works. Not only is it an awesome workout, you also learn about portion control without counting calories, as they provide colour coded containers for different foods to go in.  You can eat practically everything! Challenge starts April 23! Join me!

So now that I've reached success in this pathway, and actually know about the slight edge, I'm excited to put the same wheels in motion in order to become successful in other parts of my life like relationships and finances! Can't wait to see where I am in another 3 years. :)

Time

Time plays a big factor in being successful. Time can benefit you or hinder your quest to success. Time is a BIG factor if you want to change.  You can't expect instant results. Doing small positive things everyday will lead to success. We must Plant -> Cultivate->  Harvest.   People today want to go from planting to harvesting. (because it's easier not to cultivate) This will not lead you to the success you are looking for. There is no "easy route"! Take working out for instance. People join the gym, go a few times, get sore muscles and then find every excuse in the book to never return. Was there a harvest? Of course not because there was no cultivating! If instead this person came in a few times a week, maybe staying longer, lifting heavier, running further...., over their year membership, VOILA! There definitely will be a Harvest! You could put every behaviour you want to change into a scenario like this and become successful!

You always have choice in life...Simple disciplines or simple errors in judgement - You decide.

Baby Steps

Successful people do simple things that are easy to do. It sounds so simple. Why are there not more successful people? It's because these simple things are just as easy not to do.

These simple positive actions have to be done in BABY STEPS consistently over a long period of time. If you eat healthy for a day you are not going to lose weight, but if you eat healthy every day for months,  you will gradually see the weight coming off. This is hard for most people in this day and age because it has become such an "Instant" society.  With the use of the Internet, the world is at our fingertips.  But when it comes to success, this does not hold true.

If you want the "Slight Edge" to work for you, a simple positive action on a consistent basis over time will lead you to success. If you are performing simple errors in judgement consistently over time, you will join the other 95% that do not become successful.

It's not what you do one day that matters. It's doing it every day that makes the difference. You can't workout one day for 30 minutes and see a difference. But imagine if you worked out everyday for 30 minutes for a year...

If you want to try out this Slight Edge philosophy, remember, Baby steps is key.

Change your philosophy!

So how is it that you change from going with the 95% on the downward path? What is it you have to do? Well as stated earlier your PHILOSOPHY affects your ATTITUDE, your attitude affects your ACTIONS and your actions affect your RESULTS. Your life path begins with your philosophy so NOTHING will change in your life unless you change the way you think! 

Just like the snowball effect- positive philosophy = positive attitude = positive actions = positive results = positive life! 
If it's this simple then why do only 5% of people gain success in all avenues of life? Why? Because it's just as easy to be negative, blame others and feel entitled as it is not to. 

If there is a part of your life that is not successful, you are not doomed! Some of the biggest failures in history have become the most successful! Failure is learning! Just go back to the very beginning of your path, right back to your philosophy - and CHANGE it!  Results won't happen over night. Every baby step you take over time with consistency and positive action will lead to success in your journey. 

Two Paths

There are two paths in life. These are the paths to success or failure when it comes to all avenues of your life -FINANCES, HEALTH, BUSINESS, PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, and RELATIONSHIPS.  Unfortunately only 5% of people are successful when it comes to taking the right path. It seems like such a simple philosophy when it comes to being on the path to success, so why are their so many people who fail? Reason being...It's easy to be have the philosophy that leads you to success, but it's also easy not to do what leads you to success. Wow! Isn't that a mind blower! That's basically what results in success in a nutshell!

Your PHILOSOPHY affects your ATTITUDE, your attitude affects your ACTIONS and your actions affect your RESULTS.

The reason why people are not successful is because they blame others, and feel as if they are "entitled" to success.

Successful people are responsible, and value driven.

Is it easy to be either type of person? Is it easier to "do" or "not to do". Are you on the downward slide in your life? Is it easy to blame, make excuses, have negative thoughts? Of course these actions can be easy BUT taking small steps every day on a consistent basis of not doing these actions, eventually over time it actually becomes easier not to do them! So things that may have been easy for you to do that led you into a unsuccessful branch of your life, overtime become not so easy as you get closer to the level of success you are aiming for!