All right let’s go: the five rules of life.
1. Have vision for your life.
Have a vision for who you want to become.
- What are the qualities of the kind of person you want to be like?
- What are your dreams?
- What are your goals?
- What are your desires?
- Where do you want to go in life?
What will you find meaningful at the end of your life when you look back and you say, Wow, I’ve lived my life. These were the things I found meaningful. These were the things I was happy about. This was what I had pride in, having become this type of person.
That’s vision. Sitting down and thinking about what you want from life, what you want to contribute to life, what you want to experience in life.
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A lot of people would say, “I just don’t have vision for myself.” Well, vision doesn’t land on you; it’s not like you walk out of your house one day and the piano of purpose falls on your head and suddenly everything is clear. Some people have that epiphany. Some people have that awakening, but for most of us, it requires diligence and work.
Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and ask yourself these questions:
- What’s my vision for life?
- What do I want my life to be like?
- What kind of work do I want to contribute to the world?
- What kind of relationships do I want to build?
That requires thought, brainstorming, and if you don’t know the answers, that’s OK. Experience the world some more. Go sample different parts of the world, your community or ask other people how they discovered what they wanted in life. Start this journey; become a seeker of what your vision will be.
It’s all about the type of person you want to become, and living each and every single day to become that person.
At some point in my life, I thought, I want to become more present, because I wasn’t. I wasn’t able to get that awareness around me of other people, that awareness of my thoughts, feelings and emotions, to experience the full immensity and magic of the moment. I said, I have the vision to become a present person. I had to discipline myself to tune in and say, What am I paying attention to right now? What am I feeling? What am I sensing? Am I in this moment? Am I here with this person or am I checked out and away? It was a discipline to live out my vision of that type of person.
2. Believe in your ability to figure things out.
Some people just can’t believe in themselves. That should be a mission, too—to believe in your total self and your ability to figure things out. It allows you to wade into any unknown territory, any uncertainty, and say, I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I will figure it out.
That is a life belief we all must have: the ability to know that with enough time, energy, focus and resources, that over a period of time, we can develop the knowledge, skill, competency, mastery of any area that we must succeed in.
With enough time, dedication and effort, we can do it.
There will be a better tomorrow. There will be something that I move and progress in my life toward this, even if it’s a slog or a struggle.
When the worst of life’s storms hit you, say: You know what, this is terrible right now. This challenge is awful, but I’ll figure my way out of it. It might not be easy; there will be hardship, struggle and frustration. Other people will be jerks, but I’ll figure my way out of it. I will learn through this. I will develop through this. I will grow through this. I will move through this. There will be a better tomorrow. There will be something that I move and progress in my life toward this, even if it’s a slog or a struggle. Honor that struggle.
Be OK with that struggle, because you know in your heart and mind, you will figure it out. You will figure it out and as you learn more from other people over a period of time, you’ll gain that confidence, and guess what? As you figure things out, you develop competency. You develop your knowledge, skills and abilities, your talent and mastery of life. And with competency comes confidence. It will all come from believing in yourself and your ability to figure it out, enough times that you got it.
3. Have fun, no matter what, chasing your dreams.
When you have that vision, dream, desire, you’re going to have fun on this journey, even when it sucks, even when it’s difficult, even when you’re dealing with someone you don’t like. Whatever you got, whatever you’re dealing with, just say, I’m going to bring the fun. I’m going to bring the joy into this situation proactively. I’m not going to wait for something to happen for me to have fun.
Whatever way you enjoy life, whatever way that fun, joy, zest and enthusiasm sparks for you—make that happen.
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I go into the tensest situations in my business now sometimes, where major decisions are on my shoulders. But I decide I’m going to be the one to bring the joy to that situation. I’m going to bring light to that darkness, even though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by that darkness of doubt, delay or distraction in my life. I’m going to move that aside and show up, because I have this rule, no matter what, that I will have fun doing what I am doing, chasing my dreams.
And that’s allowed my life to have a very uncommon charge. It’s not luck; it’s discipline, of having fun and bringing that into every single situation.
4. Be patient but persistent.
Be cool. Life might not be progressing as fast as you want it to be. Give yourself the patience and allowance to do a good job. It might take longer than you think it’s going to take. A lot of people beat themselves up because they’re in such a hurry.
I think some of the worst components and worst behaviors and vices of humankind come from being in way too big of a hurry and wanting that immediate payoff, being entitled to have it right now without allowing that long journey of struggle.
I’m cool with the struggle. I honor the struggle. I know it’s going to be there. I’m patient. If I am disciplined and focused on doing the things that are good for me, for others, for my business, for my life, for you, I know over a period of time with enough patience, the success will come.
Do you know how long I did these videos before I ever made it a career? Do you know how many stages I spoke on and just sucked? I was allowing myself to learn.
To be a learner, you have to have patience with yourself, but the critical element is that you have to be persistent. You’re allowing time to take place as you’re putting these things in, you’re allowing the universe to align with your desires, dreams and focus. You are also not stopping. You are persistent in your actions.
It’s that peaceful warrior that you are working toward. You are fighting. You are struggling to move toward it, but at the exact same time, you’re cool.
You’re accepting that everything is as it needs to be right now, but you are continually taking action.
That persistence of action and behavior is what gets you ahead. It has to be a rule of life if we’re going to have what we want, because we can’t just start something and stop it all the time; that’s just distraction.
We have to be persistent toward our dreams and patient with ourselves.
5. Love and respect others playing the same game.
We’re all in this game of life. We’re all doing the best that we can. Loving and respecting other people is critical not only to our happiness and connection with the people we care for, it is critical to our destiny. It is critical to our legacy. It is critical to our legend. It is critical to our simple, everyday experience of the good parts of life.
To love other people is a rule for me. I take all this divine energy of love around me and I try to amplify and give it to people. That’s how I see myself, as a big vessel of good amplification and good vibes for human beings.
I think it’s critical that we respect other people. We tolerate that they have their own life. It’s about allowing people to have their own voice, allowing people to have their own experience, allowing them to follow their intuition. Let them follow their own rules and be OK with it. Let them follow their own life and be OK with it. Accepting, understanding, empathetic, sympathetic, compassionate, kind to other people—that’s the zest of life.
It’s that great grand connection that ultimately makes us feel, as human beings, fulfilled: because we are loved.
So love others on your journey. Make it a practice. Make it a discipline. Make it an area of mastery, where other people around you always feel like you’re so attentive to them that they feel adored and appreciated. They feel your affection and it’s real, authentic and genuine, and they’re like, Wow, this person is something.
Have that intention for other people. Care about them so much that they love to be around you, that you attract them and that you feel fulfilled in giving that very thing that birthed you: love.
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This post originally appeared on BrendonBurchard.tumblr.com.
