Joy and Balance

Allowing Your Success Momentum to Carry You Forward

Scott Mills, Ph.D.

For most of us where there is a new challenge in our lives, like finding a new job or learning a new skill, there is a nagging little voice in the back of our heads that tells us that we can’t do it.   It probably is busy inventorying all the ways that you have failed in your life and the many ways that you might just fail in your new venture.

But unless you were born yesterday, literally, you’ve had way more success in your life than you are probably giving yourself credit for.  Doing a success inventory and keeping it nearby when you hear those nagging thoughts is a great way to boost your confidence and remind yourself how capable you are of succeeding.

A success inventory is simple.  From your earliest childhood memories to the present, make a list of a minimum of 101 successes that you have had in your life.  Starting out small, you learned to walk and to talk, you probably learned to ride a bike and swim.  You may have graduated from high school or college.  Take the time now to do this inventory and post it somewhere you can see it.  Your new challenge is being backed up by a great wave of success.  Simply let your current challenge be the next one!

Scott Mills,Ph.D. is an expert in the world of work life balance.  As a life coach and consultant he works to create passion, purpose and power in the lives of extraordinary people just like you. You can read more of his blogs or find out more about him at www.joyandbalance.com

Choosing Hope in the New Year: Acting "As If"

Scott Mills, Ph.D.

 I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any particularly strong psychic powers.  I don’t know what the New Year will bring.  In fact, I don’t know what the new day will bring.  What I do know is that when I have strong expectations then I often see the things that confirm them.   Acknowledging this, every day before I get out of bed I say a prayer of thanks (to any and all those who are listening including my dog) for another day and set my intention for it to be filled with learning and joy.   And most of the time that works pretty well.   When it doesn’t I rely on a concept that psychologists sometimes call “Acting As If.”    This is the basic notion that when we act “as if” something is so then we often create the circumstances for that to happen.   As we approach the New Year, even on those days that we have listened to one too many economists (whose powers of prognostication have seemed pretty limited lately as well), we can choose hope and possibility if we choose to act “as if” they are already here!

We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For: Thinking Ahead to 2009

Scott Mills, Ph.D.
   

 2009 is just around the corner and it feels like the world has been turned upside down.  The U.S.  economy has collapsed.  Many others have followed.  Terrorists have attacked in Mumbai, India and the litany of horrors goes on and on.  At the same time the U.S. has inspired many around the world with the election of the first African American President.  Everywhere I turn people are discussing new ways to be in the world that are centered around community and compassion.  And in the midst of all the craziness is a sense of hope.   As you look forward into the new year, make plans and resolutions, I invite you to let the words of the Hopi Elders ring in your ears.  They are definitely ringing in mine!