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Don’t do it! Well that is my opinion. Vacation is all about getting away from work. So why do so many people take their laptop, or read their work emails while they are away? My vacation experience has always been better when I did not stay in contact with my work.

Perhaps you are like me, and you scramble to finish projects and tasks before you leave. It creates a little bit of stress, but don’t let that entice you into taking work with you. Your vacation provides a perfect opportunity to get away from emails and projects.

You can have a productive and relaxing vacation with just a little bit of preparation.

1) Plan time for thinking. A new environment and a bit of relaxation will provide an opportunity to receive new and fresh ideas. Take an empty journal and capture your thoughts. Find a beach chair, a park bench, or a comfortable sofa to take some time just thinking.

2) Plan time for reflection. A vacation is also a great time to reflect on past successes and current challenges. Being in a relaxed frame of mind will provide an opportunity to see the past in a new light.

3) Re-energize your attitude and perspective. Many people talk about recharging their batteries when they are on vacation. For me it is not so much about energy as it is about resetting my attitude, having a chance to see things from a bigger perspective. When you re-energize you can let your mind take you to a new level of performance.

I hope you have enjoyed, or getting ready to enjoy, your summer vacation. I am looking forward to setting my mind free for a few days!

John Maxwell said it best when he wrote, “Dreams are free but the journey is not.” Costs can be financial, but there are many other costs. There are physical costs, emotional costs, and the cost of our time.

Every action we take is a trade off in how we spend our time. When you pursue your dream there are other activities you will have to give up. Pursuing your dream is not easy. That is why most never achieve their dream.

Many people have not even started pursuing their dream. Some are waiting. Here are three things to consider in preparing for your journey in pursuit of your dream.

1. Prepare yourself for criticism. Your dream is something you have not yet achieved. Pursuing it will take you away from your familiar surroundings. Some of the people closest to you will criticize your dream. Be mentally prepared for it. Your desire to achieve must be greater than your fear of criticism.

2. Get past your fears. If you did not possess fear about the journey required to achieve your dream, you would have already achieved it. The journey is difficult because you will be forced to learn along the way. You will encounter failure, and detours. Only your persistence and your ability to overcome fear will allow you to continue. Your desire to achieve must be greater than your fear of failure.

3. Get to work. You will not achieve your dream by waiting for it to happen. You must take action. Your dream requires investment. It will need your time, your effort, your money, and your resources. Your desire to achieve must be greater than your satisfaction with your current status.

If you find yourself waiting to start on your dream. then there is no better day to take the first step than today. The cost of not starting may be higher than waiting.

Like me, you probably find yourself feeling tired occasionally when you are not physically tired. A lack of mental energy will leave you feeling fatigued even when you are well rested. What drains your mental energy, and what can you do to keep yourself charged up?

Mental energy can be drained and recharged by emotions. Emotions like anxiety, fear, doubt, frustration, and confusion will sap the mental energy you possess. However, emotions like passion, clarity, hope, and courage can generate mental energy for you. Positive emotions will fuel your mental activity!

Three things to consider about mental energy:

1. You can learn to recognize if you are charging or draining. If you become aware of your current mental state you will learn to recognize faster when you are moving from a place of charging to a place of draining.

2. You can learn to avoid draining your mental energy. If you are losing mental energy over a long period of time, it will begin to affect you physically. Change your emotional state. Initially this may seem difficult, but with practice you will be able to recognize the positive elements in your environment.

3. You can learn to use your mental energy to affect those around you. Everyone knows that laughter is contagious. Other emotions are also. Don’t be afraid to show the world how positive your mental energy has become. It is a powerful ability. Here is a psychology article on contagious laughter, and also a video that demonstrates how emotions can be contagious.

You can generate mental energy, and you can positively change the world by wielding its power. Join me in sharing positive mental energy!

 

John Maxwell has taught me that growth occurs outside the comfort zone. If we are going to grow we need to move ourselves from what we know and go explore what we don’t know. That may sound exciting to some, but for most of us we are uncomfortable being in an unfamiliar situation. But to grow we must discover the undiscovered!

John has also taught me the importance of being comfortable in my own skin. We should learn to be comfortable about who we are. Developing core values, beliefs, and character that allow us to be the same person in all situations. This feeling of comfort is generated from possession of positive self esteem.

These two concepts may seem incompatible. How can I be uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time?

We all live our lives within our own mind. We have a unique view of the world. Feeling comfortable or uncomfortable is a part of that world. Right? Sometimes when we feel uncomfortable, everyone else is comfortable. The feeling of comfortableness or uncomfortableness only exists within our mind.

So feeling comfortable in our own skin is about being comfortable about how others view us. Being uncomfortable to grow is about how we view the world. It is two different perspectives. To be the best version of ourselves we need to be comfortable in how the world views us, and uncomfortable in how we view the world.

This can be a very difficult state to achieve. We want to shrink back to a place within our own mind where we are always comfortable. But I know this. It is not the best place.

Think of a situation when you walked into the unknown, confident in yourself. Self-assured in your ability to find success when you don’t know what you are facing. That is where you both shine and grow as an individual.

I hope to see you there!