Marc Chernoff's Blog, page 24

3 Tiny Morning Rituals that Will Change Your Life Before the End of the Year

A good morning, and thus a good day, aren’t just experiences that magically happen — they are created consciously.

Most of us are distracted from the get-go every morning. Trivial activities like checking social media, watching TV, and worrying about things we can’t control often set the tone of the day. And that means we waste our most well-rested time on things that don’t matter, while gradually losing touch with the significant, controllable parts of our lives that actually do matter.

We simply forget that the morning hours are enormously important — they form the foundation from which the day is built. We forget that how we choose to spend these hours can be used to predict the kind of days we’re going to have, and ultimately the kind of lives we’re going to live. So if you feel like you’ve been getting a rough start lately, and stumbling through your days with diminished intention and focus, it’s time to consider some tiny shifts before the end of the year… (more…)

7 Daily Expectations that Often Drain 90 Percent of Our Inner Peace

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
— Bruce Lee

The biggest and most draining disappointments in our daily lives are often the result of misplaced expectations. This is especially true when it comes to our relationships and interactions with others. So don’t lower your standards, but do remember that removing your expectations of others is the best way to avoid being utterly disappointed and drained by them.

Which means it’s time to…

1. Stop expecting everyone to agree with you.

You deserve to find joy and peace in your own way. You deserve to (more…)

12 “Notes to Self” We Should All Memorize Before the End of the Year

As we all look forward to the rest of the year, I know many of us are yearning for a simpler and selective range of life experiences — the happy holidays, the normal times, the settings and experiences that make us feel more comfortable. And yet, the full range of our reality often brings something very different. The days and weeks ahead will inevitably give us an extensive array of experiences that evoke feelings ranging from sadness to struggle to pride to growth to hope, and more.

So we have a choice starting today. We can revolt against reality — the reality of having to deal with discomfort, of having to cope with uncertainty, of having to feel upset sometimes. Or we can (more…)

10 Wake-Up Calls We Often Get Too Late in Life

There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. Life is too short not to focus more on what matters most.

Before you know it you will be asking, “How did it get so late so soon?” Perhaps you can already relate. So take time to reflect. Take time to realize what you want and need in the days and weeks ahead. Take time to take calculated risks. Take time to love, laugh, cry, learn, and forgive. Life is so much shorter than it often seems.

In our line of work we speak with people on a weekly basis who have been forced to ‘wake up’ to life’s fleeting nature. Consider these two small excerpts from people’s stories that we recently received in our email (more…)

40 Quotes for Letting Go and Coping With Things You Can’t Control

The goal each and every day is to gradually grow stronger on the inside, so that less and less on the outside can affect your inner wellness without your conscious permission.

Truth be told, how you cope with unexpected problems and frustrations can easily be the difference between living a good life and living an unhealthy one. If you choose unhealthy coping mechanisms like avoidance or denial, for example, you can quickly turn a tough situation into a tragic one. And sadly, this is a common mistake many people make.

When you find yourself facing a disheartening reality, your first reaction might be to (more…)

20 Things My 90-Year-Old Grandma Told Me to Stop Worrying About

Worry gives small things a big shadow.

Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness. Don’t be one of them. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The secret to happiness and peace on the average day is letting each moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it — less worry and more presence every step of the way.

So go ahead and sing out loud in the car with the windows down, and dance in your (more…)

10 Things We Always Wait Too Long to Do for Ourselves

Opportunities are like sunrises, if we wait too long, we miss them.

Too often we waste our time waiting for the ideal path to appear. But it never does of course. Because we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting. Let this be your wake-up call today!

If we always sit around until we feel 100 percent ready for the journey, we will likely be sitting around for the rest of our lives. Most of the time we just have to get up and go for it. And no, we shouldn’t feel any more confident before we take the next step. Taking the next step is what gradually builds our confidence. Now is the time!

Yes, it’s finally time to admit that… (more…)

4 Daily Habits that Keep Holding the Best of Us Back (Year After Year)

We ultimately become what we habitually do. If our daily habits aren’t moving us forward, they’re likely holding us back. Here are four widespread examples of the latter that keep holding many of us back, year after year (myself included sometimes), and some strategies for turning things around…

1. We weigh ourselves down with heavy thoughts.

Twenty years ago, when Marc and I were just undergrads in college, our psychology professor taught us a lesson we’ve never forgotten. On the last day of class before graduation, she walked up on stage to teach one final lesson, which she called “a vital lesson on the power of (more…)

20 Calming Affirmations We Should All Memorize Before the End of the Year

Let’s cut to the chase today. What you ultimately do comes out of who you believe you are. You have to practice believing in yourself and ignoring the naysayers. Because while you may not be able to control the impolite and unfair things some people say and do, you can press forward and decide not to be endlessly derailed by them.

Of course I know that’s much easier said than done, especially at the end of the year with all the impending holiday gatherings and formalities, but you must remind yourself that it can be done!

How?

Start by leveraging the right daily affirmations for the rest of the year. After all, it’s not what others say about you, and it’s not what you broadcast to everyone else that determines the trajectory of your life. It’s what you whisper to yourself behind (more…)

7 Things You Should Insist on Doing for Yourself for the Rest of the Year

You can’t lift a thousand pounds all at once, yet you can easily lift one pound a thousand times. Tiny repeated efforts will get you there.

I have witnessed people reinventing themselves at all ages — 48-year-olds starting families, 57-year-olds graduating from college for the first time, 71-year-olds starting successful businesses, and more. How did they all do it? In a nutshell, they started making gradual progress in their lives, step by step. And by doing so, they changed the trajectory of their their lives.

What you need to remember most right now is that it isn’t too late to start making positive changes in your life this year. Your future is always affected by what you start doing today. Yet so many people wait around for some arbitrary date and time, like next year, to take action. Don’t be one of them! Make yourself a priority starting now. It’s time to…

1. Insist on embracing your humanness.

“Human” is the only real label we are born with, yet we forget so easily. To become attached to a loaded label of (more…)