Morning Motivation: Lessons From Will Smith

It's Tuesday, and the fortunate of you will still be feeling fresh from the weekend, the other half however will be transfixed on the seemingly endless expanse of weekdays left before Friday. Whichever side of the glass half full camp you belong to, I thought it would be a good idea to share a motivational message I came across by none other than Will Smith.

For me, Will Smith is the picture of success. Not just because he is rich, talented and has a great family, a lot of it is because he is unapologetically himself, and comfortable in his own skin. He seems so sure, and focussed. Many people have good things, but how wonderful it would be to actually love your self and be happy when you get them. So what can we learn from Hollywoods leading man.

Lesson 1. Set your destination"You can have anything you want if you just decide"- Will Smith

What are you running to? Where are you trying to go? Without this being figured out, everything else in life can seem meaningless. Knowing your destination brings purpose to your life, happiness optimism and hope. You are not a piece of driftwood in the sea, you are in command of your own life. I don't care how big or ridiculous what you want is, decide what it is and set your compass in that direction. Do you think it made sense when Christopher Columbus set out to discover the new world? Or Armstrong the moon. Yet there you are in America, and there are men walking on the moon. There is a power to making a decision a destination and visualising the finish line. The universe responds and gets behind your wishes. So in the words of Will Smith "Just decide". Its the hardest part.

Lesson 2. Focus on building the wall brick by brick

Will Smith told a story about how when he was a child his father challenged he and his brother to build a huge wall. Obviously being children, they had never built a wall, and had no idea how to. When they asked their father how they could possibly build this wall, he responded 'brick by brick'. And so although it took forever, Will and his brother focussed on laying every brick perfectly. Instead of focussing on the huge challenge ahead and getting overwhelmed, they instead focussed on what they could control in the now- laying each brick to the best of their ability. It is the same with your life. If you look at where you want to be ultimately and compare it to where you are now it can seem so overwhelming, yet if you focus on doing today as good as you can, staying positive in every minute. Saying no to negativity and yes to hope, before you know it you will be one brick closer to building your dreams.

Lastly, be patient. It will take time but you will get there. Keep going.

TGIF? The whole system is wrong.

Thank God it is Friday. Of all the days of the week Friday receives the most love. We may be considered a thankless secular nation yet Friday has us thanking God- because on Friday the freedom bells ring. Each week on the 5th day we band together with colleges and friends to celebrate the end of the week as if it is the end of a jail sentence. 

If that is exactly what it feels like to you,  I want you to ask yourself an honest question- does your living for the weekend equate to you living life JUST on the weekend? Have you signed away the other 5 days of your life in exchange for 2?

We live in a culture where it is totally acceptable to not love what you do. In fact that is putting it mildly, many people openly hate what they do. In society the things we love doing have been assigned the frilly word 'hobby', and should not be taken seriously. Work however, is a 'chore' and 'chores' should not be fun. 

When choosing a path in life, many of us navigate on the default assumption that happiness is an illegitimate factor for consideration. Perhaps this is because growing up, throughout religion and in school, we are taught that sacrifice is the holiest of deeds. We are taught that when it comes to work, sacrifice is required, and we all too readily sign away our happiness for 'practical' reasons. At some point in our 20's we killed our childish dreams, stopped stargazing and just kept our heads down. 

Well today I am challenging the status quo.

I say it is actually more harmful to society to sacrifice your happiness. As Marianne Williamson says, "Your playing small does not serve the world". Where would we be if The Wright Brothers had not pursued their passion of flight, or Beethoven of music or Einstein of science? Where would we be if Richard Branson had stayed in school?

It is a proven fact, you perform at your greatest potential when you do what you love, and the whole world (including you ) benefits too.When you love what you do you are more creative, more innovative and more successful. The sky really is the limit. 

You are an individual and you are unique. It is not OK to be a square peg in a round hole and just keep going on that way. Somewhere there is a square hole just for you. 

It is never too late to rethink things, Samuel Jackson only started acting in his 40s.

It is time to love Mondays. It is time to do the world and yourself a favour. It is time to be happy.

Choose a job you love, and never work a day in your life (Confucius)

Life By Lois

Why You Should Stop Sharing (It's for your own good)

We live in a share happy culture. We share what is awesome about us and hide what isn't. We shout about our success and quietly cry about our failures. Whilst sharing is portrayed as liberating, in reality it is actually crippling due to the reverse side of the coin- the things a perfect image makes you hide.

Keeping up appearances is nothing new-portraying a perfect life, at odds with reality, is a game as old as time. Whether it is posing perfectly at church minutes after screaming at each other in the car or having an argument with your partner before smiling for a family photo- we have all been there. Whilst the game may be old, social media has upped the stakes. 

When appearances were maintained as a family, failures were handled in the family which allowed for some sort of support. However now, because we enthusiastically share every step on the path to success publicly, we have created a captive audience (many of whom we don't actually know or care too much about) who we 'report to'. On the flip side when things go wrong, even though we keep this to ourselves, the weight of the audiences judgement remains, resulting in us mourning our personal failures in pressured isolation.

This is what makes failure so terrifying. As I said in my last post, fear of failure is the kryptonite of success. Failures, setbacks, trials- they're all a part of life and are steps on the way to your goal. 

Being afraid of failure is what makes you so afraid of trying again, and that is what will keep you from success.

My remedy to society? 

1.Stop working so hard on your external image, and start working internally. 

2.Nurture your dreams like plants, grow them. When good news happens- bank it for yourself- it is yours not the worlds. 

3.Protect your dreams by keeping them to yourself in the formative stages- they are fragile. Tread each step on the path to success confidently and quietly.

By doing this, when you experience a setback, it will not be so powerful because you do not have to worry about your PR image. Figure it out for yourself. The world can wait.

It is time to take the power out of fear. The best way to do it is to ban the audience.

Love,

Lois

Life By Lois