When Life Happens: Do this!
When Life Happens; I have learned that you can either let it happen to you, or you can learn to take control and make life happen to your liking; and I believe, that you can have influence over how life happens… I know it, because I have taken action and I influenced events and opportunities.
The nature of my work gets me talking to a lot of people, friends, family and clients that I coach and I have found a common denominator amongst them and their conversations.
That common denominator is that: “life happens” to them and since 2020 brought us COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown, protests in Belarus, a (semi atomic) explosion in Beirut, an oil spill in the Mauritius… the general feel is that 2020 is cursed!
Yes, I am going to agree that the pandemic, for many, was an unexpected turn of events but misfortune is not purely due to it or to the year 2020. The global economy has been a roller coaster over the past few years and many people suffered but the impact was not as felt because everyone was too busy: commuting, getting stuck in board meetings, going to the supermarket, taking kids to school, being consumed by the nonsense of those on social media trying to show every one that their life is better than yours and then suddenly… there's a vacuum and everyone is tuned into the same station and therefore the impact is amplified.
2020 is not cursed! Many of us just moved into an external locus of control allowing “Life to happen” and then blaming everything on the year.
Many people triumphed in 2020, you my dear reader, I am certain you have benefited from 2020 in one way or another.
Spending more time with your children, after strenuous regional travels and non stop emails and phone calls at odd hours, you have finally managed to focus and get more done in one hour under “work from home” circumstances than in a full week in the office; and you have found time to sit and meet your children possibly also your wife.
You have become more creative in what to do as a family and many have also found comfort in learning to deal with being alone, being one and finding peace in solitude.
Breathing, meditation and exercise became the daily norm when before “you never had time” to take care of your health.
Didn’t you get a job? a promotion? didn’t you read those 43 novels you’ve always wanted to read, while you were so begging for a moment just to tackle a few pages? Didn’t you finally get some peace and quiet and just sit and do nothing — because doing nothing is also taking action!
Didn’t you set up your company? and pivot your business into a new service and found ways to reach clients and connect? Finally, social distancing allowed you to get closer to your customer.
A lot has happened to us in 2020… a lot of it was positive; and if you don’t feel that, then I invite you to regain and build an internal locus of control by following one simple mantra:
“OWN EVERYTHING” - Tarek Azmi inspired by Gary Vee:
“Do you know how liberating it is when you realize everything is your fault? It gets real Fu$king good out here. When you actually realize everything is your fault, it gets really good out here. Because when you think your boss’s boss controls your sh$t; when you think somebody down the street in a building controls your sh$t; then you get real sad because you feel helpless. When you realize you control your sh*t, things fu*king go!” Gary Vaynerchuck
It is that easy to build your internal locus of control and should you still feel the difficulty, then follow these six steps to strengthen your capacity to “own everything”
Control the way you react to events. Your reaction and post event thoughts are entirely in your hands
Control your output. You can seek out productivity instead of hours worked. Do all that you can on any given day and then repeat each day
Control your entourage. Who you choose to surround yourself with is entirely in your hands and if certain people are imposed upon you then you can learn to ignore anything that doesn’t fuel your goals
Control your health. You can choose exercise, eating hearty healthy meals each day over burgers, pizzas, tons of coffee and smoking your stress away
Control your habits. You can choose early sleep and early rise over late night Netflix binge watching series and waking up groggy and foggy each day.
Control who your support system is. You can choose to contact tee.azmi@heresgoodnews.com and start building your transformative journey over wallowing in the same toxic cycle day in and day out. Alternatively @azmitee on instagram; @azmitee on twitter to start a (no commitment) conversation
Here’s Good News: You can Make it! Simply by tapping the get in touch tab to fill in your details for a free, no commitment coaching session.
Written by Tarek Azmi; Founder of Here’s Good News, a leadership and development company dedicated to your personal and professional growth, offering learning modules, coaching solutions and personal training (including nutrition plans).
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