One of the exercises I get my clients to engage in as they are nearing the end of their personal coaching program is to integrate their notes, connect the dots from day 1 to the present, get clear on learnings and shifts in perception, notice what reminders, tools, and resources stand out as pivotal moments in gaining clarity and direction in their life, and compile this into a succinct, fun, and overarching list titled My "Rules" for Life.
I have been working on my own list for the last few months and felt the urge to share what I have come up with. So here it is, My "Rules" for Life with a few powerful quotes sprinkled through:
1. Lead with Love; love for change, love for growth, love for learning, love for connection, love for passion and purpose, love for supporting others, and love for a life lived to its fullest
"The more you are motivated by LOVE, the more fearless and free your action will be" Dalai Lama
2. Learn, laugh, and sweat daily
3. Courage is contagious. Lead by example.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts" Winston Churchill
4. Think and Act in ways that fuel, encourage, uplift, empower and breathe more life into me. Where your mind goes, energy flows.
"The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear" Brian Tracy
5. Surround myself with people who live wholeheartedly, play big, seek inspiration, and are living a life aligned with their passion and purpose.
"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with" Jim Rohn
6. Be a do-er. Learn from experience. Reflect, Learn, Grow.
"Life is best lived looking forward but best understood looking back" Soren Kierkegaard
7. Be the author, editor, and number one fan of my brave, resilient, passion-filled, growth focused, self-loving Story.
"When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending: Brene Brown
8. Balance in everything. Know when to put in Effort and when to embrace Surrender
"Two wings of the same bird"
9. Embrace a Growth Mindset and love the process.
"It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end" Ernest Hemingway
10. Observe without judgment and desire without attachment
"You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing is to master you" Brian Tracy
"Detachments is not that you should own nothing, but that nothing should own you" Ali Ibn Abi Talib
The average person has 16-50 bits of information being processed per second in their conscious mind; 5 of which are simply "move closer" or "move away". There are 11 million bits per second being processed in the entire mind. When we focus our minds and harness that vast potential and energy into the direction we choose, we create the change we want to see. We become the driver in our own life.
"Unless we are able to generate some kind of (focused) forward momentum, we will be carried along by the winds and currents of peer pressure, market forces or genetic inheritance, unable to influence our own fate" Robert Poynton (Everything's an Offer).
What are your "rules" to live by? Take some time to play with wording and create your own list. Post it online, put it up on your wall, and remind yourself often of these powerful affirmations of how you want to show up in the world, moment by moment, gaining strength and clarity as you align your life with your values.