Browsing CategoryPurpose

People are not dealt the same hand in life. They all have different starting points. We are all born with different talents and abilities. That’s a truism.  However, we all have the choice to get better at what we do and, despite our starting point in life, we can often do something about it — to either get ahead, stay still, or slide backwards.  I prefer to view success in life as a choice. But I know many people who see things differently. Some people attribute the success of others to luck, circumstances, connections, and even family ties.  These people are free…

It’s easy to make emotional decisions. The way we feel produces a powerful force in us to do certain things (or not do them). And our emotions, including how we feel about the choices we want to make, can be easily manipulated by ads, movies, friends, relatives, and more. In fact, we are exposed to 5000 ads a day. Yes that’s five thousand, and that number keeps growing. So there is an abundance of emotional stimuli around us and this stimuli can easily influence how we behave. It has the power to sway us into acting against what we believe…

People hold their own views of how to live a good life. It’s based on their personal beliefs as well as the experiences and trials they’ve had. However, some people believe that their experiences are exemplary. And that’s how it will turn out for everyone else. Accordingly, they might try to influence you to take the same path they’ve taken or suck us into what they believe to be right. They don’t believe that the path you’ve chosen will yield the “best” results. And there is no shortage of such people. They often believe, consciously or unconsciously, that their way…

Let me begin this post by saying that you are the writer of your story. The things that happen to you in your life, whether disappointment, failure, financial mistakes, relationships mistakes, and whatever they might be, are real things… but they’re real to the extent you let them define who you are. So making financial mistakes and losing a large sum of your money or losing all of your money and savings can cause you, among many things, to lose your self-esteem. You might also begin to suffer from depression, you become less social, and you begin to interpret your…

I write a lot about passion. I’ve said many times that people should pursue what they’re passionate about because that’s where they will ultimately find happiness and fulfillment. A lot of people also think about what they’re most passionate about when they consider changing careers. In fact, many people quit their jobs because they want to do something they’re more passionate about. They’re sick of doing the same old thing every month for a salary that doesn’t complement the value they provide. And they’re ready to move on. So passion seems the way out of boredom and repetition and also…

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” – Confucius. If you’re a student of personal-growth, then you expect great things of yourself. You strive to improve your skills and abilities and excel in your personal, professional and financial endeavors. In order to constantly improve yourself, you need to develop an ability to gauge your skills accurately and honestly. You need to have self-awareness; an ability that is lacking in most people. Self-awareness is not the same as self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is a mental state of being excessively preoccupied with one’s imperfections, whereas self-awareness is the philosophical view of…

People complain about how they can’t seem to find lasting happiness. They say they’re happy on some days but unhappy on others. And they wish they could just be content with what they already have. Many of these frustrations arise because people hold (false) beliefs about happiness. They want to have happiness in their lives as though it was a commodity that they could possess and own. Much of this mischaracterization has its roots in the consumerist mindset that dominates the psychology of most people these days. A consumer views happiness as a commodity; as a product that can satisfy…

From time to time, we have to make major life decisions that can set us off on a completely new path. It’s scary to think that one decision can change our lives forever and it’s even scarier to decide which path is the right one. So what are you going to do? You obviously want to do what’s going to make you happy, but how are you going to know? Take this hypothetical scenario: you’ve been working for a company for a few years, and things are not too bad. Although your job eats away most of your time and…