It looks like we are turning the corner regarding the pandemic.  We all can’t wait to go back to normal.  I can’t wait to travel again, go to a crowded stadium, and even have many people over to my house.

 I have some thoughts about the way to look at the last year and how you can enjoy life in the future.  It all comes down to perspective and having the right perspective.  We all have a narrative about how we processed the last year.  The more you make the best of the unfortunate situation, the more prepared you will be to succeed and, more importantly, enjoy life.

 A little caveat- some people may have had some very painful experiences during this time.  Some have lost a job, a home, a business, or the ultimate loss— a loved one.  To anyone feeling the pain of these losses, I truly empathize with you.  However, if you experienced only inconvenience, then this is for you.  

 There is much to...

One of the concepts often written about in developing an amazing mindset is rewriting your narrative.  Part of our narrative is the way we see ourselves and the way we go about achieving our goals.  I have been writing and thinking about this concept for a while now.  One thing I know to be true is that no matter where you are in your life, this process is never ending.

Why?

 There are two reasons why this journey is never ending.  First, times are always changing and in order to keep up your narrative and mindset have to keep up with the times.  Your approach needs to keep evolving.  Your understanding needs to keep evolving.  Your approach needs to keep improving.  You also need to keep up with the times.  Second, is that it’s challenging to get away from your narrative that has been ingrained in you from a very young age.  No matter how much you want to change, there are still going to be voices in your past or...

We don’t live life in a vacuum or in an echo chamber. Our behaviors, decisions, habits, and routines are influenced by the people we spend time with and even look up to. Any good parent values the influences that contribute to children’s behavior. Some examples of this may be the friends that they have, the activities that they partake in, and even the media they consume. Also, good parents are engaged in their children’s behavior. They promote good behavior and discourage less than ideal behavior.

Society promotes independent thought and people’s free will. However, truly successful people are influenced by those around them. If you look at the nature of pro sports and elite athletes, their behavior is highly influenced by others. From a young age, coaches and other adults dictate their practice schedule, weightlifting schedule, and other regimens, and activities.  This continues throughout the college career and beyond. 

If you want to live out an...

When many people set goals it’s a wish list. In order to accomplish them, you need to measure many more indicators besides the results. Results may come slow, and, in fact, when you start accomplishing your goals results may be negative. Your time and resources become stretched because you are devoting more resources to your goals and the rest of your life may suffer.

In the beginning of an endeavor, we are excited for all of the possibilities of our goals coming true. We imagine buying clothes that are two sizes below where we are now.  We imagine making money, opening up a bank account and seeing dollar amount. We imagine opening up a company and not dealing with bosses or coworkers. However, the journey is bumpy and it’s filled with ups, downs, and twists. We must have other factors that we can measure rather than results. If we measure success by arbitrary dates, times or events, then we might not work on our goals as efficiently as we should.

Achieving your...

One way we grow as human beings is by relating to each other and learning the lessons that others have learned along the way. Unfortunately, some people want others to relate to them instead of relating to those that are successful.

 It would have been easy for me to want other people to relate to me as a disabled person.  I always looked at it this way. If I want to become successful, I have to relate to others, not the other way around. Other than appreciating life and the lessons that my disability taught me, there is little to be gained by people relating to my disability.

 Those that are struggling want successful people to relate to their struggles in order to help them. Although this is a necessary process, such as psychologists relating to a patient or a financial advisor relating to financial challenges, or even a motivational speaker relating to their audience, you need to relate to other successful people. You want people in your life who can understand...

In the book, Indispensable, by bestselling author and Hall of Fame speaker, Joe Calloway, there is a concept called Your Normal. He said that everything that happens to you is normal. This resonates with me so much that I even wrote a chapter in my book Big Dreams Take Small Sacrifices.

There have been many periods of my life where my unique challenges felt well… unique. They felt so abnormal that it left me sad and frustrated. When I read this book, I realized that everything in my life was my normal. The times when I accepted the fact that my unique challenges were my normal life became easier.

Right now, we are in the thick of dealing with the coronavirus and it feels so unique. It feels so unfair. We miss our freedoms, but guess what? This is normal. Scientists were warning about some pandemic for years. Throughout the decades and centuries, humans had to deal with different illnesses and different pandemics.

I always looked at my life like this. I was always fascinated...

One of the most discussed concepts in personal development is passion. People discuss passion as if it’s a principle of success. In fact, in my first book, Love Your Life and It Will Love You Back, I use the word passion quite often. However, my understanding of passion has changed and evolved over time. 

 If you look at the definition of passion, it is an uncontrollable emotion. I believe one of the principles of success is having as much emotion discipline as possible. Let’s face it. Sometimes you don’t feel like putting in work. Sometimes you have other issues in the back of your mind.  Sometimes you don’t feel like getting out of bed, dealing with people, going to the gym, sitting in traffic, disciplining children, starting any conversation with “we need to talk,” or firing people.  Ah… the joys of life.  All these activities need to be done by somebody and unless there’s something wrong with you...

Traditionally, when people want to achieve a goal they point to working harder or being more disciplined or developing will power. One of the keys to success is upgrading your environment.  There are two parts of any environment. First, there is a physical environment. This includes any tool that you need to accomplish your goals, including a computer for a writer, a calculator for an engineer, even workout clothes for an athlete. The second is the people that you need to accomplish the goals.

We are in a rush to accomplish our goals without first setting up our environment. Goal achievement is a lot easier when you have the tools at your fingertips and the people around you who can help you make decisions or just have your back. You need to be a chef with sharp knives, a full fridge of ingredients, and an amazing sous chef who has your back no matter what.  Any job or any goal needs the proper environment.

Every goal needs consistent habits that need to be done for a long...

It’s a brand-new year, and last year was unique to say the least.  We dealt with brand new challenges while simultaneously living our lives.  Dealing with the pandemic meant something different to everyone.  It looks like it’s going to take several months to get back to normal. However, I want to give you the mindset that you need to get through these times and put yourself in position for success after we get through this period.

 Dealing with a pandemic is like dealing with a broken leg for a couple of months.  Your goals should be to heal while also fulfilling your personal and professional obligations.  Last year and a good chunk of 2021 is a glorified version of having a broken leg.

Mindset is simply the way we live our lives, go about our goals, deal with challenges, or even how we go about our day.  I developed Sourena’s 5 Keys to an Amazing Mindset as a guide to help anyone develop the mindset needed to be successful.

1. ...

This year has been one of the most unique years in our lifetimes. Whoever thought that we would be in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century? We all want to turn the page and move on. We also had to deal with a rambunctious election and issues dealing with race.  Instead of wanting to turn the page, just accept the fact that this period of time is part of our life experience.

 Over the years and dealing with my disability, I have learned that challenges need to be accepted and dealt with, not avoided. Some have dealt with it by denying it or blaming others or other countries. I look at the pandemic as a once-in-a-century occurrence and, for a couple of decades, the experts warned us that something like this could and probably would happen.

 Although my lifestyle changed a lot this year by not traveling, by not watching sports at my local watering hole, by not being able to go to the mall, I choose to focus on the blessings in my life.  This year was one of...