AMY HANSEN

One of the major reasons that can hold you back from going after your dreams is the fear of criticism. You devote so much time and effort into working hard to achieve your dreams that any negative comments from someone else are sure to be upsetting.

You are already dealing with the voice in your head speaking to your internal fears.  That little voice encourages you to play it safe and remain in your comfort zone.  Then add on top of that other people criticizing you.  No wonder it’s difficult to achieve your goals and dreams.

You may be wondering how you get over this fear of being criticized.  Here are five questions to help you handle criticism.

1. Is It Constructive?

The first question is all about looking at the person giving you criticism and deciding if it’s well founded.  Identify if it is constructive criticism where you can take the information and use it to your advantage in order to improve.  Or perhaps...

Take a moment to picture this: you’ve been taking massive action towards achieving your goal and it is really hard work.  You’ve become so attached to the end result that you’re frantically consumed by the overwhelming demand to achieve your goal.  You start feeling stressed out and irritable because you can feel the pressure mounting.

All of a sudden this goal is everything.  It’s almost as if your life depends on achieving the goal.  You’ve invested so much time that you have to see it through to completion.

Then, when things don’t go the way you had planned, you take the anger and frustration out on yourself. You start speaking negatively and feel extremely disappointed when things fall short.  You’ve attached so much meaning to achieving this goal that it’s defining you as person.

That image is true for so many goals.  You work extremely hard to achieve your goal and when it...

If you’re ever feeling stuck there are three roles that you can use to move forward in life.

Adventurer

Think of life as an adventure.  Be ready for new experiences and look at life as a fun adventure.  Make it almost like a game where you play and have fun.  Put on your adventure hat like Indiana Jones. Be the curious adventurer and start exploring new possibilities.

Often times you’ll find yourself stuck in your comfort zone afraid of trying something new.  That’s why when you become a true adventurer you won’t listen to the little voice in your head that keeps you from the “danger” of stepping outside your comfort zone.  Let go of the things holding you back in life and see life through the eyes of an adventurer.  Stop consuming yourself with fears, doubt, and worry.  Life doesn’t need to be perfectly planned out or go exactly as expected.  In fact, the unexpected is part of the...

Often times you get so stuck in your head with fears of the worst case scenario that you remain stuck where you are.  Your brain wants to keep you safe and it knows that by trying something new there is always a chance of failure or worse yet, being judged harshly by others. These fears keep you paralyzed from taking any action at all.

Going after your dreams and coming up short of where you wanted to be can be a big let down.  But, what if you had the mindset and belief that your success was inevitable?

Think of everything you would do and achieve if you were to go through life with the mindset that no matter what you did it would be a success.

No longer would you be worried and held back by fear.  Your success is inevitable.

Start shifting your mindset and believe your success is inevitable with these six steps.

1. Dream

Allow yourself to visualize and see what's possible for your future.  Think of all the things you...

If you knew exactly how your life was going to go there will be little excitement.  It would be difficult to get up in the morning if you already knew exactly what was going to happen.

Yet, you hate uncertainty. You often like a plan of what your day or life will look like.  But life is unpredictable.

The only thing that is for certain is that life consists of ups and downs, much like a heart a beat. That’s how you know you’re still living!

The hardest times are when you’re unsure if the outcome will be favorable or not.  Your mind goes to the worst case scenario and you start to feel sick to your stomach.  The uncertainty of what’s going to happen next can cause you to worry the most. The fear of the unknown will cause you to worry obsessively.

The most important question to ask yourself is:

What do you hope to gain or achieve by worrying?

You may have answered to better prepare...

There are a multitude of ways to get from one place to another.

If you were to look at a map and wanted to get from Washington DC to Los Angeles, you’ll see that there are many roads you can take that go in all different directions.

One of the first steps is actually getting in the car and start moving.  One road may take you north toward Pennsylvania, another may take you south through Virginia.

The truth is, there is no “right” road to take.  Yes, there may be a path that’s faster than another.  But you’ll still eventually end up at the same destination.

Remember, there is no “right” direction.  These six tips to choosing the right direction will help you move forward and make progress.

1. Learn To Course Correct

Every decision you make will take you further on your journey in life.  If you find yourself off course of obtaining your goal then correct it.  Make another turn...

Perhaps you’re a people pleaser who says yes to most requests.  Or maybe you’re so busy that you feel like you need to say yes to every opportunity that presents itself to you.

Each time you say yes to one thing means you’re saying no to something else.  It’s a trade off.

If you say to a breakfast meeting that means saying no to your morning workout.  If you say yes to a company dinner that means no to date night with your spouse.

We all have 168 hours in a week.  It’s how you use that time that is different.

1. Make Better Use Of Your Time

Time is fixed.  You will not get more hours in the day.  But you can better manage the time you do have.

That doesn’t mean cutting back on sleeping and hustling through your day.  It means making better decisions about what you choose to say yes to and what you say no to.

When you realize you’re in control of your time and...

Not making a decision is the most detrimental decision of all.  Not making a decision means that you’re deciding to stay where you are. You’ve decided to do nothing.  All because it’s easier to not to make a decision than to face your fears.

Here are some of the most common fears that hold you back from making a decision.

Perfectionism

One of the most common fears is perfectionism.  Whatever you do, it won’t be good enough to meet the incredibly high standards that have been set.

The truth is, nothing is perfect.  Perfect is a subjective word.  Your perfect may be different than my version of perfect.

When you’re focused on making something perfect you are also faced with the fear of failure.  You’re so afraid that you’ll make a mistake that you don’t take any action.  You choose to wait until you think things are perfect so you can proceed.  But that time rarely...

As an introvert you love your alone time.  It allows you to recharge and be alone with your thoughts.  Doing things by yourself can be relaxing like going for a walk outside or reading a book quietly.  But it’s also imperative that you have human connection.  Building connections with people is what truly matters in life.

Here are five ways you can focus on growing and strengthening personal relationships.

1. Childhood

Think about growing up and some of the good things you have experienced.  Perhaps there were sleepovers with friends, camping, discovering music for the first time, road trips, etc.

A happy life is one that is built upon many happy memories.  A lot of those memories are created with other people, especially growing up.  Relive some of those memories and reconnect with childhood friends.  Go through pictures from when you were younger.  Smile and laugh as you recall good memories that you may have...

You may have multiple goals that you’re working toward but you’re struggling to see results.  Here are the seven tips on how to achieve your goals faster.

1. Choose One Main Goal

Challenge yourself to choose one main goal and make it a priority.  This will force yourself to focus on one goal and put all your effort toward seeing it through.  When you have one main goal you’re focusing your energy on making that one thing happen.  However, when you have multiple things you’re working on your mind gets scattered and little progress is made.

2. Stop Splitting Your Energy

Spreading your energy amongst many goals will only slow you down.  Think of it this way, you have two bridges across the water you’re going to build. If you put all your effort into one bridge it will get completed much sooner than if you had to split your time between the two.  The same is true when you focus your efforts on one main goal.