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You must not forget to live your life.

You may be wondering, “What does Tony mean by that?”

Or you may say, “Of course, I am living my life?!?”

Well, what I mean is that we are only on this planet for a relatively short period of time on the grand scale of things. And so we need to grasp opportunities whilst through life’s journey and don’t forget to make meaningful memories along the way too.

Because eventually, we will all get to our deathbed at the end of life and we want to recollect those meaningful memories that made life worth living, not the regret for those unfulfilled dreams or forsaken relationships

So I say, live your life.

Do what drives your heart and find and act upon your passion. Because all we have at the end of our journey are memories (not things). And those wonderful memories should bring that satisfied smile to our faces, knowing we led a life worth living rather than a life with regrets with missed opportunities

Don’t show love to family and friends only on those special occasions in the year. Like birthdays, Easter, Christmas, etc.

Love should be shown all the time all the year round. Otherwise, there is a chance of a disconnect between one another and this isn’t good for our well-being nor for our loved ones.

Now I don’t mean you have to be around them 24/7 of course, but you can do the little things every now and then to show you are thinking about them and they are in your thoughts. This small thing goes a long way.

So with modern communication methods at our disposal, this should be really easy in this day and age. So even a simple text message every so often to ask how they are is a good option.

If you and they both use social media, keeping in touch via these channels is relatively easy these days.

And if you haven’t got or don’t use any of these modern technology options, a good old-fashioned phone call or even a handwritten letter once in a while, work wonders to show that you care and are still thinking about them

Yes, we are all busy in our day-to-day lives, having to juggle all the challenges that life brings. But keeping in touch regularly with people you love to show them that you care, keeps the bonds strong and ensures you all benefit.

No, you can’t control the results you want, but you can control 100% of the activity needed to get the results you want.

Results are merely the outcome of the activity! So if you do want to get as close to the results you want, you need to get good at the activity and monitor the activity very carefully and adjust and measure the activity every step of the way.

So the focus is on getting the amount of activity right, for your desired results!

So the takeaway here is to measure, measure, and measure some more.

Track the activity closely…

• Measure whether is it enough?
• Do you need to increase it?
• Is it the correct activity for your particular goal? Or do you need to adjust it?
• Get specialist help to determine whether the activity fits the outcomes in the desired timeframes, if you are not equipped or knowledgeable yet to determine this

Once you grasp that the activity is the focus of your attention despite the end goal being the final destination, then the end goal will be achieved

Because if they are not in any circle of influence for you, you shouldn’t really be taking it on board…

Listen of course, because they “may” make some valid point at times.

However, just treat their comments as mere opinions, rather than guidance. You need to be mindful of “WHO” you take your guidance from to then act on that guidance.

Everyone has an opinion but not everyone has your best interests at heart. So be mindful of whom you get your advice, feedback or guidance from.

Choose wisely!

Happiness is a choice, it isn’t based on what things happen in your life.

Happiness is a personal trait and a choice! So if you choose to be happy then you will be!

Some people have said,

“Oh if only I had xxxx, then I would be happy…” or

“If I could be just like xxxx, then I would be happy…”

There are many examples of this where people are determining their happiness based on the outcome of an external situation or action. This is incorrect, as happiness is far more powerful when it is an internal trait. Sure external things can enhance happiness or decrease it, but you are still the “owner” of how you choose whether to be happy or not?

You can’t delegate happiness to external factors only, as you will be forever the victim of the “winds of life” that are passing your way. And as we know, life can be harsh sometimes. So when it is harsh, even if just a little bit, then bang goes your happiness.

However, if you choose to be happy and this comes from within, because for instance, you are happy to be alive, then external factors won’t stop you from being happy. Because you have made the choice not the external factor determining it for you.

External factors can affect your level of happiness of course because we are emotional creatures after all. But external factors shouldn’t undermine or affect YOUR decision on being happy because you own that trait and have chosen to be happy.

Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I don’t care, respect or still care about you!

We just disagree and that’s all. We are individuals after all and can’t possibly agree about everything. Having differing opinions is what makes the world interesting, otherwise, we would all be exactly the same and in fact, progress would not be made if we all thought the same!

It’s when people have differing opinions, do you get to see the world from another viewpoint that we may not have initially considered or understood.

Even after seeing that viewpoint, you may still not agree with it, but at least you are aware of the differing viewpoint. You don’t need to accept it, but you need to be aware of it and respect the person who has this differing view.

Because if you are entitled to your point of view, they are also entitled to theirs despite us perhaps not agreeing with it.

The world at the moment, appears to have lost the art of disagreement and has now made it somehow an offensive issue? It also seems to be whoever shouts the loudest is the one that is perceived as “right” as opposed to what actually IS right!

If other people disagree with you, try and find some middle ground (as sensible adults) where you can come to some consensus and move on.

As long as the disagreement doesn’t negatively directly affect anyone physically or mentally, then you can and should accept that you have differing viewpoints. It doesn’t mean however that you have to hate one another or get to the point of inflicting pain on one another.

It is still enough in this world for people to disagree amicably and reach a consensus rather than be acrimonious to one another.

Life is simply too short to be acrimonious with one another. It just leads to bitterness, ill health and shorter lifespan!

Have you ever failed to give homework in as a child and come up with an excuse for not doing it?

Have you ever resorted to the kind of excuse used in the title of this piece, where you’ve tried to convince the teacher that your dog ate your homework?

Looking back on things like this, we may raise a smile remembering some of the weirder excuses we may have used whilst growing up, when failing to turn in homework, or perhaps not wanting to do PE (Physical Education), so we came up with some excuses to get out of those which looking back, were equally daft?

But don’t we bring some of these excuses into adulthood too?

Don’t we sometimes treat other adults too with similarly vague or silly excuses to justify why we haven’t succeeded in a particular way?

So the excuses from childhood have only been tweaked for adulthood…

Such as, why aren’t we in the best job for our ability? Why have we let out talents go to waste? Why have we squandered all our money? Why haven’t we made a go of that business?

We then try and give an excuse, by saying life’s circumstances have prevented us from succeeding in some way, resulting in this non-success.

When in reality it may be more because we had a fear or lack of courage to “go for it”, but the excuse always feels better than having to admit we were actually afraid to try

Sometimes we really need to dispense with these lame excuses for non-success and realise they are just as bad as “The dog ate my homework”, because in reality who are we trying to fool? We’re only fooling ourselves if you haven’t succeeded, no one else.

So isn’t it better to look in the mirror at ourselves and face WHY we haven’t done something so we can be clear on how to put it right; as opposed to coming up with excuse after excuse to justify why things are just not happening for us

This isn’t easy for sure, but at least you can draw a line in the sand and put away the excuses, and instead give it a go!

Otherwise, you will forever be making daft excuses TO yourself!