This simple and effective method helped others to quickly change their lives.
When I quit a good job many years ago to pursue my dream of working for myself, I failed.
I was a procrastinator – one of the best. I found ways to avoid, delay, and quit. My list of excuses was miles long. I had so many different thoughts running through my head.
Change was required, but I wasn’t quite sure how.
I started looking at how others were able to find motivation and get unstuck. During my search, two stories really stuck out due to one simple action the storytellers took to change their lives.
Story One
The first story is of a guy who dropped out of college just needing three credits to finish. After dropping out, he had gotten caught selling drugs and was doing things to further mess up his life. He had a lot of college debt, continued to sell drugs, and missed a parole meeting. He said that he knew things were spiraling out of control and he would end up in jail for a long time.
He finally had enough and made the decision to change his life.
He had a job at a video shop and had to open it every morning. He said that he would play self-improvement tapes over the loudspeaker as he prepared the shop for opening.
He credited this action with helping get his mindset right every day.
His name is Ayodeji Awosika, and he is now one of the most successful writers on Medium.com and has completely changed his life around.
Story Two
Many years ago, I happened to come across a mash-up of motivational speeches on YouTube.
One of the snippets was of a young man who told his story of how he was stuck in life and was not able to do anything. He said he felt lost and frustrated. He said he was just wasting his life away and felt depressed about how things were going.
He made the decision to change his life and he started listening to motivational, inspirational, and educational material throughout the day. He said he would play these in the background no matter what he was doing. He would listen to them from when he woke up until he went to sleep.
He credited this with helping him to turn his life around in a very short time.
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Here are the results after I tried this.
I started listening to self-help and motivational podcasts and messages every morning.
Most mornings I would wake up and my mind would start to race with all the things I had to do and face throughout the day. Sometimes I would start to look at the news or come across a video that would trigger negative emotions.
After I started listening to motivating videos and podcasts, I discovered that they interrupted my regular pattern of thinking. I found that they helped to prevent the negative and stressful thoughts that would creep into my head.
Instead, I found that they started to motivate and push me to get started on the things I had to do.
In addition, I noticed that they would help put me in a positive mood, helping me have a better mindset to start the day.
They also helped me go further and get more done. Whenever I found myself getting stuck with things or wanting to give up, I would play these in the background, and I would hear something that would resonate with me. It was if I had a coach or mentor talking to me and encouraging me to go further.
Furthermore, I realized that their messages were being wired into my brain. I started hearing them in my dreams, and their messages often popped up into my head during the day.
One final thing that they helped me with is that I found that I did not get stressed about things as much.
I live in Tokyo. Riding a packed train or walking through busy streets in the morning and being almost run into by people staring at their phones would irritate me. Listening or having listened to motivational messages made me much less prone to be bothered by those things.
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Are you tired of wallowing in procrastination?
If you are stuck in life and really want to move forward, then make a decision to change and start by changing your external input.
Quit getting caught up in your own thoughts and start listening to better messages.
If you want to change your own mindset, or if you want to get out of a negative mood, the easiest, first step is to change your external input. Change what you listen to every day.
Put something on in the background whenever you are doing something that doesn’t require concentration.
This is so easy to do and can have an immediate and positive impact on your life. The more you listen to positive and motivating things, the quicker you will start to see a shift in your thinking and mindset.
If you are not happy with where your life is today. Change your negative and critical thoughts by listening to motivating things.
This is one of the simplest methods to get your mindset right in the mornings. If you can start your day off right, it can help propel you throughout the rest of the day.
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