Author: Iwona King, Ambassador of the World Healthy Living Foundation

1. Get clarity on the vision for your life. Being clear on the things you want from life is the crucial first step that you need to take. It’s the most important step.When you know where you want to go, then you can take the first step. You don’t need to see “how” you are going to get there at this stage, the “how” will come. By taking the first step, you can then start to map out the journey ahead of you, but by taking the first step you are on your way.Your inner-intelligence will guide you to gain the clarity you need. To listen to this voice, you will need to turn down the “noise” around you.

Follow these 4 steps to get clarity on what you want from life:

a) Book an appointment with yourself, 3 times a week for 30 minutes. In that appointment switch your phone off, turn the TV off, find yourself a quiet space that you feel comfortable either sitting or lying down, that you won’t be distracted by anything. Quietly, take one deep breath to the count of 4, then hold to the count of 4 and slowly breath out to the count of 4. Repeat this 4 times. Lots of thoughts will start to come to your mind. Your brain and your body are not used to doing nothing. When this starts to happen concentrate on your breathing again and try to imagine your destination, your desire, and the feelings of achieving your goal.

b) Ask yourself the following questions and write down your answers:

• What do you want from life?
• What is the BIG dream?
• What is the one thing that you can’t stop thinking about?
• What is the most critical thing that you want to change right now?

c) Take a moment after writing them down and imagine, after achieving all of this, how it will feel when you get there.

d) Now turn the table. Imagine how it will affect your future if you choose to do nothing about moving forwards towards these goals?

2. Share your vision.

If a friend or loved one asked you right now, how life was? What would be your answer? Asking yourself this question is the first step in getting clarity on where you are in life. Then you can see where you are starting from. Your vision is then all about the destination you are aiming for in your walk from where you find yourself today. Sharing this vision with someone that you love and trust will help bring reality to it.

So that you can articulate this vision effectively, then the best thing to do is to imagine we are talking, 5 years from now.

What would be your answer to the question “How is life?”

Stop now. Take 5 minutes and switch off all distractions. Quietly imagine yourself living out a day in your life, 5 years from now. In your mind’s eye, see yourself. Imagine what you are doing, who you are with, who you are serving, where you are living and maybe even where you have just come back from in terms of your last holiday.

Open your eyes and write down what you saw.

Be sure to write down the emotions, what you feel, and what you have achieved. Write it all down. And then even the things that you didn’t see but truly and passionately want!

This may sound crazy but work with me here. You have a licence to be crazy and to be creative. It’s simple, easy and fun! This activity will help you to articulate your vision that you can then share with your friends and loved ones. Those who love and support you will empower you with positive energy and encourage you on your journey from today, to then.

3. Banish toxic people.

‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’ Jim Rohn

Jim was right. And so is much of the research that has been done around this subject. It says that your behaviour, your emotions and your success in life is in direct relation and can be affected by the people you are spending the time most with.

Write a list of the five people that you spend all your time with.

Next to each name, describe whether these people are toxic or healthy for you and your life.

Toxic People are those that are always interrupting your conversations to talk about themselves. They are people that want to control every situation. They are people who tend to suck the emotional positivity out of your life with pessimistic or negative conversations. Toxic people always have dramas going on, are often jealous, judgemental and want to always put themselves first.

Healthy people are the polar opposite. They will be great listeners, more interested in your than themselves. They will always look to serve you and help when you need it. They will bend over backwards and often go the extra mile. With their positive outlook on life, they balance your relationships by being encouraging, yet will challenge you at the right times too.

Look back at your list, do you have any Toxic people there? Decide today to limit contact with them, spend less time with them. Then if you feel comfortable, delete them from your mobile phone, unfriend them, and prevent all contact.

Replace these toxic people with healthy people.

4. Create a daily morning routine.

The reality of being human, being on a mission and being busy people, is that we often find ourselves doing things that we think we ought to be doing but that don’t serve our mission.

On the other hand, there will be times that you stop yourself from stepping forward and doing something. Either a fear of getting it wrong, no idea on how to take the first step, or procrastinating over whether it or you are good enough will hold you back.

It’s time to tell yourself to stop wasting time! You, like every other human on the planet, have only 24 hours in a day. The queen, those successful entrepreneurs on their yachts, those millionaire life coaches and gurus, the unemployed people, your co-workers – they all have the same amount of time in their day as you. You just need to become creative with that time so you maximise your productivity and create habits that will enable you to do the things you are called to do and be the person you are called to be.

The best way to do this is to create a daily routine.

Let’s start with getting up – “Get up early. Don’t hit the snooze button.” says Mel Robbins, creator and author of the 5 Second Rule. When the alarm goes off, count “5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..” and then shout “Do it!!!” and spring out of bed.

Those who want a successful, positively fuelled and fruitful life, all have one thing in common – a daily morning routine.

After getting out of bed they focus on these 4 things

• Setting daily goals – the “need to get done today” things. • Setting priorities and boundaries – for people and tasks. • Ask for help – realising that sometimes they need to reach out to others to get a task completed. • Fuel the body right – With a strong focus on food, nutrition and exercise

Robert Kiyosaki calls us to F.O.C.U.S – to “Follow One Course Until Successful.” With your eyes set on the goals, priorities and boundaries for the day ahead, seeking assistance when you need it and fueling your body and mind in the right way, your days will never be the same again.

5. Demolish self-limiting beliefs forever.

Did you know that you have a choice to think and act the way you do. Many will have grown up with people saying things like “she can’t help it, her mother was like that” or “he’s just following in his father’s footsteps.”

You have a choice and free will.

There is an old Cherokee Legend about a grandfather talking about life to his grandson.

“A fight is going on inside me” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson asked, “Which wolf will win the fight?”

The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

What wolf are you feeding? What wolf inside of you is going to win? Those thoughts that keep you trapped inside your negative thinking and stop you from living life as you should be, can be fed not just by you but also by the actions and words of others. Removing the toxic people from your life first and then dealing with your own thoughts is the best way round to look at this. Feed the good wolf. Remind yourself of this every time you feel trapped with thoughts similar to the evil wolf. Take every thought captive and choose to feed it or let it starve.

6. Be mindful of your subconscious.

Our brains and minds are wonderful computers. They can be programmed to run many programmes without us having to think about them. These are thought patterns and functions that operate in the subconscious – the part of the mind which we are not fully aware of but the part that influences our actions and feelings.

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing our awareness on the present moment and the environment around us. While calmly acknowledging and accepting our feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Medical research has shown that mindfulness will increase the “grey matter” found in the Hippocampus part of the brain that is recognised as the area responsible for the earning and memory functions. This is a good thing. It means that by practising mindfulness you will have an increased level of intuition and creative abilities, giving you greater clarity of thoughts, a greater ability to handle emotions more rationally and the ability to help you understand yourself in a fuller way.

7. Never be the victim again!

The Holocaust, was the most barbaric genocide during World War II. Nazi Germany, aided by its collaborators, murdered an estimated six million Jews – this was thought to have been around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe, between 1941 and 1945. One survivor described how the power of positive thinking enabled them to think, not as the inferior human that the Nazi’s told them that they were – the one thought that they repeated in their mind was,

“They cannot make me think, what I don’t want to think.”

You are the only one that can control your mind! Learning how to speak to yourself, despite your circumstances will enable you to live the purposeful life you should be living and also how to not allow others to make you feel like a victim.

Working with me, I can take you from the victim status you live in today, to a vivacious, strong and empowered, knowing, self-worth believing woman. You can become a woman who is unique, bold, loving and the best version of herself!