Life can be challenging at times and figuring out what works best for us and what doesn’t can take some time. Throughout this process we may get frustrated or confused and our internal navigation system can throw us off course, but if we don’t take control of our own destiny and take charge of our life, someone else is bound to try.
Of course there are well-intentioned people who want to help us move in the right direction so that we are doing the right thing, but not all people are well-intentioned and nobody knows us better than we know ourselves.
The truth is though, sometimes we trust others more than we trust ourselves and accept another’s point of view or opinion as more valid than our own. While it may be easier to simply follow what others are doing, we need to learn how to take control of our own lives and not sacrifice our authenticity in return for making things easier.
Here are our TOP 10 tips to take responsibility for our lives and ownership of ourselves.
#1 Plan Your Desired Future
The first step towards taking control of your own destiny is to take a good, hard, honest look at your life and circumstances and figure out what you like and don’t like and what you can or cannot change. Whether you need to change your work or your attitude, look at every aspect of your life and make an action plan to move towards your desired future. Consider what you need to do in order to achieve the life of your dreams and sit down and figure out the steps you need to take to get there. Remember, there is a plan for just about anything you dream of, so do the work and plan it.
#2 Embrace Personal Growth
In order to take charge of your life, you need to look for ways to grow personally as well as professionally, so find a class, a seminar, a networking event, online resources, books or even a mentor who will help you to learn and grow into the person who has the power to take control of their own destiny. Personal growth is one of the most important steps you can take, so make it your mission to learn as much as you can and empower yourself to be the master of your own universe.
#3 Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Do something you always wanted to do, but never had the courage to do it and step outside your comfort zone and break the rut of the same old routine. Whenever you challenge yourself to do something that you didn’t dare to do before and allow yourself to make a new decision, you feel like you are taking control of your own destiny. Every day, go out and do something that makes you just a tad bit uncomfortable, because every single time you decide to step out of your comfort zone and follow through, you gain tremendous confidence and power that will ultimately make it a lot easier to take control of your life.
#4 Be Open to Change
Even if you only take tiny little baby steps, fostering the feeling of openness to change allows for creating more space in your life and more space gives you the freedom to have options, make choices and really be in charge. Be open to change in your environment as well as within yourself and the best way to open yourself up to change is to take decisive action. Do something differently than you would normally do, even if it’s in a small way and open yourself up to change.
#5 Do Your Research
Whatever you think you can not do could be your greatest opportunity to expand your potential and become an expert in that area. Open up a new path of endless possibilities by challenging yourself to increase your abilities and do your research. With our modern day technology, any area of your life is researchable and getting more information will push you forward with more confidence, which allows you to take charge of your life and determine your own destiny.
#6 Learn from Others
Everybody you encounter is a mentor in their own way, but you have the power to choose who you want to learn from the most. There are people who have successfully taken control of their life and destiny, learning from them can be the fastest way to achieving greatness, so consider finding a mentor who will support you and guide you on your journey to being in control to your own destiny.
#7 Create a Healthy Space Between Yourself and Others
In order to be in charge of your own life, you have to create a healthy distance between yourself and others. A lot of people are completely tied up and dependent on their relationships and while we admit that it can be difficult to be emotionally attached to someone else while still remaining detached psychologically or intellectually, it is detrimental to create enough room between yourself and others to allow for your own personal expression and taking control of your destiny.
#8 Recognize Your Own Worth
We all have unique, specific skills, talents and abilities, but more often than not, we need validation from others and a lot of times, we don’t get that outside validation from the ones we want it the most from. And whenever we don’t get the support or acknowledgement from the other person, it can put a huge damper on our self-confidence and self-esteem. Forget outside validation and recognize and acknowledge your own worth. You don’t need somebody else to tell you how fabulous you are, you just need to know it yourself.
#9 Be Patient
On your way to take control of your own destiny, it is important to remember that for most of us, this doesn’t happen over night and we need to acknowledge that it takes a dedicated effort to achieve what we want. Instead of giving up when it doesn’t simply happen tomorrow, be patient, have the right attitude and be willing to do whatever it takes, because otherwise you will be back in that same old rut again and feel out of control.
#10 Don’t Settle for Mediocrity
Even though being the next U.S. president or Elon Musk isn’t on our agenda, we want to push to the limits of our potential. Way too many people settle for the easy way out rather than putting their creativity and energy into creating something meaningful and different and then wonder, why their life and work has no significance. Don’t settle for mediocrity because life rewards those who leverage their smarts, energy and creativity aggressively to achieve the life that makes them truly happy.
However crazy life can get, it is possible to take back control of your own destiny and it is even possible to do it without completely changing your life around or moving across an ocean. Remember, if you don’t take charge of your own life, it’s not your life anymore and you are simply passively drifting through it. However, with our above suggestions, you can create our own destiny and be an active participant in your own life again.
TAKE BACK YOUR PERSONAL POWER
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked