Marc Chernoff's Blog, page 41

10 Wake-Up Calls We Often Receive a Little 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?” And seeing as it’s the end of December right now, perhaps you can already relate. So take time to reflect. Take time to realize what you want and need in the year 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 excerpts from people’s stories that we recently received in our email (more…)

24 Tiny Challenges for Finishing the Year Stronger on the Inside

Think a little less about managing your problems and a little more about managing your mindset.

Remind yourself that inner peace and progress are both built through tiny recurring victories. It’s the seemingly inconsequential choices we make day to day that either break us or make us whole in the long run. Yes, the fulfillment of our lives ultimately depends on the quality of our daily thoughts and actions.

So as we move toward (and through) the impending New Year, challenge yourself…

1. When a new day begins, challenge yourself to smile genuinely and gratefully.

2. When you don’t get what you want, challenge yourself to (more…)

10 Life Choices You Will Regret in 10 Years (and Maybe Sooner)

In the end, more than anything else, we regret the little things we wish we’d done differently.

“If only…” Those two words paired together create one of the saddest phrases in the English language.

Here are ten life choices that ultimately lead to that phrase of regret, and how to elude them on the average day:

1. Wearing a mask to impress others.

If the face you always show the world is a mask, someday there will be nothing beneath it. Because when you spend too much time concentrating on (more…)

40 Quotes for Letting Go and Coping with What You Can’t Control Today

The goal every day for the rest of the year (and beyond) 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 stress and frustration 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 (more…)

20 Things My Now 80-Year-Old Dad Was 100 Percent Right About

“One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.”
— MHN

Twenty-seven years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher gave my class a homework assignment entitled, “Advice for a Younger Generation.” The concept of the assignment was simple: Each student had to interview a person who was over the age of 25, gather enough information to write a basic biography of their life and find out what their top tips are for a younger generation. I chose to interview my dad. He was (more…)

6 Things We Often Waste All Our Time and Energy On (Until it’s Too Late)

Life is short, and it is here to be lived.

I recently received a thank you email from a reader named Hope. She said our articles helped motivate her through an arduous recovery process following a serious car accident earlier this year. Although her entire story was both heartbreaking and inspiring, this one line made me pause and think:

“The happiest moment of my life is still that split-second earlier this year when, as I laid crushed under a 2000 pound car, I realized my husband and 9-year-old boy were out of the vehicle and uninjured.”

Dire moments like that force us to acknowledge what’s truly important to us. In Hope’s case, it was her husband and son. And in the remainder of her email she talks about (more…)

10 Sticky Notes We Need to Read Every Morning for the Rest of the Year (and Beyond)

Where you ultimately end up is greatly dependent on your daily attitude and response.

This morning one of our clients, Monica — a recovering victim of a fairly recent and debilitating car accident — was smiling from ear to ear the minute our FaceTime coaching session began. “What has you in such good spirits today?” I asked her. “I’m thinking better about things… about how lucky I am to be alive,” she replied. “I thought the injuries I sustained in that accident earlier this year signified the end of life as I know it, but now I realize they signify the beginning.”

All details aside, Monica decided to begin again, in her mind first and then in her life. It’s taken her several months of healing and practice, but she has gradually let go of the “shoulda, woulda, coulda” attachments in her head about her circumstances. And she has stepped forward with grace, determination, and a healthy mindset.

Let’s follow Monica’s lead and practice thinking better as we move through the final stretch of the year, so we can begin to build momentum, together, as we head into the New Year and beyond… (more…)

4 Daily Habits that Held Most of Us Back Over the Past 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 literally held most of the people I know back over the past year (myself included), and some tips for turning things around if one or more of these daily habits held you back too.

1. We weighed ourselves down with unhelpful 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…)

10 Things We Often 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!

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…)

3 Fundamental Lessons Too Many of Us Learn Too Late in Life

“In elementary school my parents told me it didn’t matter what I did when I grew up, so long as it made me happy. ‘Happiness is the whole point of life,’ my father said. ‘But it doesn’t always come easy. Your mother loves to help people in need, so she became a psychiatric nurse. I love reading, writing and poetry, so I became an English teacher. We both find happiness in the hard work we do each day.’

A few years later when I was in junior high, my sixth-grade homeroom teacher put me in detention for ‘being difficult.’ She went around the classroom and asked each student what they wanted to be when they grew up. When she got to me, I told her I wanted to be happy. She told me I was missing the whole point of the question. I told her she was missing the whole point of life.”

That’s an old parable my grandmother recited to me countless times when (more…)