Beginning out in the world, it is easy to succumb to the material world and the way it is glorified. When we look at billboards, magazines, or commercials we are often bombarded with materialism.

Everywhere we turn there is someone trying to persuade and sell something that we might have, might need, or something we don’t have any interest in.

It often surprises me that people give in so easily and they let their mind’s get hijacked by materialism and useless purchasing of multiple things, thinking that this stuff that they purchase will bring instant happiness. Many people throw money away purchasing things that end up picking up dust or breaking down because they hold little quality value.

I realize that some people have an addiction to endless purchasing, and this often leads to an excess of things that are not necessities. In order to create change, some people just have to learn to break free from marketing gimmicks and the flaws hidden behind them. Also it is important to build up purchasing awareness.

I find it surprising when people spend credit for things that hold high value today. Many times these same items can often be purchased at a lower cost tomorrow, next month, or the next year if you are able to snoop out the right deals.

I happen to be very thankful for technology, since it has lead to advancement and made lives easier. Also not to mention, technology has made our lives more fun because of all the entertainment that it gives people at their fingertips. Despite the power and wealth of information that these material goods and technology provides us with, it is important to not get carried away.

With all the material excess, our society loses certain skills and develops a purchaser mindset rather than developing by building and making things. When our society continually purchases and buys to the point where we put ourselves in large amounts of debt, this leads to consequences.

Due to the fact, that our world is reaching a point where we are sucking resources dry in order to fulfill the requests of consumers, we are doing damage as a result. Many times we all fall victim to causing harm, especially when using things in excess or taking resources away from other countries and leaving them dry as a result.

If we are to progress and maintain the world through harmony we all need to play our part. By developing a game-plan of using less and letting go of material things that we don’t necessarily need in our day-to-day lives, we begin to make steps in the right direction.

It is crucial to develop frugal habits and financial wisdom. If you can develop the ability to differentiate between your purchasing options and use your basic knowledge to make the right investments you can live to your fullest potential and YOU CAN defeat the odds.

Life often throws many objects at people, quite literally, but if you can find a way to prosper with the simple gifts that life provides you, there will always be room to flourish. Let go of the things that don’t matter and find ways to appreciate the people and the world around you.

Focus less on things and more on people and re-designing your life in an optimal way. Soak in nature and the beauty of the world. Life’s too short to get caught up in the material world full of glitz and glamour.

Let me ask, who likes to be mediocre or just average? When you ask a little kid what they want to be when they grow up, most times they will try and tell you that they are going to be good at what they do. Most people, and I say most people, because not everybody has the same ambitions or aspirations; have the idea of being great at what they do.

Nobody should ever go out and just aim to be good enough or simply aim to pass the test. Life will always throw obstacles and sometimes life is a chase for the things that you want. But my goal is not to have people live by a mindset that they have to chase after everything that they want. Rather wouldn’t it be better to live by bringing the things you want closer and nearer to you, so endeavors can be accomplished.

If you could simply learn and train yourself through constant discipline and ever-present awareness, think of all the miraculous things that you could do. Think about all the childhood dreams, stories, and tales that you read and how you are going to twist life in a manner that beauty will arrive in your life.

Anything can happen, it simply comes down to your determination and your hunger level for your goals. If you map out your personal objectives in a way that embody’s you, or personifies your inner-being, great things will happen.

When life doesn’t throw you a bone, you have to find one yourself or save some bones for later. Taking care of the tasks at hand and the goals that are presented each day can be a daunting task. Just staring at a long list of things can often strike fear in the eyes of the list’s beholder.  That is why focus and determination are so important. Never let priorities slip away too much. Do all that you can so you can focus on one thing at a time and just move swiftly to the next task, once you narrow things down.

Just remember, before you know it, once you set something off, you are already displacing your task at hand, and replacing it with other more tempting experiences. So in order to prevent unwanted results and slipping goals, you better have plans-to-action in place. If you are going to be successful you have to surround yourself with everything that you are and everything that you want to be.

Learn how to live in the moment and become great, through setting a mindset that immerses itself in any given situation or challenge presented. People love challenges because a challenge presents something new or foreign to our current way of thinking. After all, critical thinking and strategy comprehension uncovers itself after conquering challenges. Challenges are terrific because they present something that we have yet to experience or fully engage ourselves with.

Everybody has a different grind and everybody has different levels of skills and ability. The time is now to release your talent and battle out the market. Communities need change, cities need change, and countries need change. As the level of income disparity continues to build across major economic powerhouses worldwide, life becomes harder for many people. If you want to make it in your field or profession know yourself, know your market, and know your competition. If you study your targets well, you will separate yourself from the crowd.

By keeping a steady mind and learning all aspects of your outer and inner worlds you are training for greatness. Any person who has ever made a large impact, never did so by sitting on the sideline their whole life. We all need breaks and we all need to refresh our minds, but just remember that whatever your destiny is, you can let it happen through relentless perseverance.

Waking up in the morning it’s important to count all blessings. We all have blemishes, scars, and imperfections but all real people aren’t perfect. I could also state that perfect people don’t exist.

I recently read a quote by a man named Bob Dean. It went like this, “Success isn’t just about making money. It is about having ethics, building relationships, and feeling, at the end of the day, that you have done something worthwhile.” After reading it, I thought to myself, this is a brilliant quote. The words can really translate to multiple aspects of life.

Part of creating what you want and making a better life for yourself and others is ultimately a test of how you do worthwhile things. If you cheat yourself, or others, you aren’t building strong relationships or building something that will last.

Having the right ideas in mind are critical, but the pieces of the puzzle don’t always allow themselves to fall in place at the right place and time.

Another good quote is by Malcolm X, “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today”. Everyday that you work hard towards your goals, is another step closer to the reality of dreams coming true.

Part of what holds people back is the idea of fear, past mistakes, and it’s chains that hold people down. In any hour of the day you can choose to liberate yourself from fear and reach for your future’s potential. I understand letting go is a strange feeling and it can be a daunting task.

Most people will hold onto things without even realizing it. However through the act of mental contrasting, people can re-evaluate their thinking patterns and develop better plans to action.

Growth is imminent for everybody who reaches for it. By choosing to center in on your possibilities, you may realize that new opportunities suddenly arise.

With every new road that you begin to pave, their are new responsibilities that come with that pathway. The adventures are worthwhile, but only when you build solid relationships and ethics around yourself and your vision.

I believe that people’s abilities are very malleable and that comfort is meant to be tested. Stepping out of comfort zones leads to new ideas, places, and possibilities.

In order to shape your transcendental thoughts into reality, it takes trust and continual action.

If you can’t trust in the parallels of the world between different states of consciousness, and everyday motions, then you may easily be tossed in a whirlwind. By discovering parallels in your life between your goals, and other people’s goals you may work in conjunction to solve worldly problems.

I believe this is one of the most important steps right now. We currently live in a selfie-society. Most people are quick to only fulfill their own needs rather than look at the bigger picture. If we could all somehow work together and integrate our ideas and solutions, I believe we could cure a lot of problems.

I think the step that needs to be taken is a transition from the self-perspective to a worldly-perspective. Once more people open their eyes and stretch their idea muscles we can bring in the new and toss out the old.

Our world suffers from excessive greed and selfish desires. We could all benefit from more unity and cooperation. The future is bright, and we all carry flashlights. In order to make a change we need to turn our flashlights onto high beam and use our capabilities to the fullest.

As the controversial Jordan Belfort stated, “No matter what happened to you in your past, you are not your past. You are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it. And that is the basis for all change.”  This quote reflects that anything can happen to those who have the confidence to act on the mistakes of the past. Or better yet, think of it this way, tomorrow is the first page of your new story, so make it a good story!

Often times we all spend many hours surrounded by screens of all sorts. Whether it’s laptops, tablets, computer screens, televisions, or cell phones we are all consuming a lot of time with technology.

One of the best and healthiest things to do is to take a break, go outside, and enjoy nature and it’s beauty.

Social media is brilliant at stealing people’s precious time. Sadly, most people don’t even realize the large percentage of time that they waste on Facebook and Twitter just to name a few. As busy as life can be and despite all of the distractions and activities that people have to do each day, it is important to not overlook relaxation.

Whether you are currently in school, working, or a combination of the two, I’m sure you can probably use, “some time away”,  from everything.

Here are some goals that everybody should aim for even if you feel you are an outdoor person…

1. Go on a long bike ride, or off-road pathway with a mountain bike.
2. Gather a group of people and go on a road-trip in the mountains, or some place far away from the craziness of technology and city life.
3. Go hiking in a mountain range that you have never seen before, but be prepared with food, drinks, and supplies.
4. Meditate or do some yoga outside your living space, or in the wilderness.
5. When it’s warm, lay out on a hammock for a few hours and soak in the sun, and all that nature offers.
6. Visit new places that excite you or places that may provide a level of culture shock.

Taking a vacation, going for hikes, bike rides, or mountain climbs are great experiences. Getting away from technology is critical for good long-term health. You should really do any outdoor activity that takes you away from all of the daily taxation.

I am a big believer in the soul-body-mind connection, and in order to give all three parts a connection, you have to have a good balance of the world around you, as well as nature and your environment.

By spending time with other people and the beauty of the world, it can be a major stress reliever and a great boost of life-enhancing energies.

Nobody likes to spend too much time in a nine-to-five, or a classroom. Too much inactivity shuts the body down in a sitting position and leaves a person feeling lazy and tired by the time the day is over. What people like to do, and what humans were intended to do, is to travel around, exercise, and explore.

Sitting around and keeping a slouched posture can lead to problems in the long-run. For many people across the globe now, a sedentary lifestyle is now commonplace.

In order to truly free yourself, I believe that being outside and exploring nature is very important, and a very crucial part of experiencing life in itself. Just as a gardener may say, “I did not choose Gardening, it was rather nature’s calling to me”. People and land are supposed to go hand-in-hand.

If people lost their touch with nature, we would no longer be able to live. After all, the food that we consume and all of are body composition is derived from nature and it’s creation’s.

Finding a way to unplug and let in the restfulness that the outdoors provides is very soothing for the soul, body, and mind.

If you go out into nature and truly explore, I’m sure that you will return back as a much more strengthened individual and much more well-grounded. Often people take too much for granted and they do not realize how much the world has already provided, and so they want more and more, leading to excess greed.

For me personally and I’m sure other people as well, nature is always one of the greatest reality checks that one can find. Mother nature always makes you more humble and appreciative for life and all of existence in general.

If you take a break and unplug, you may feel out of place at first. However, you may return more thankful and you may observe how far humanity has traveled as a whole. Technology and the world can be exhausting, but one should never forget or ignore the beauty of the world, which can be seen right outside in a forest or mountain near-you.

Live life, explore, and learn. Enjoy your moments and do the best you can with each day that you’re given!

Do you feel you have reached a climax, or feel like you’re still trying to get to a higher place? Putting actions into practice can be a lot harder than what people originally expect. That is why it is important to test your own personal drive and willpower.

One thing that many people forget or miscalculate is the need to take adequate rest. It is easy to set multiple goals or high marks for individual achievement, but people often forget about recovery. After any form of achievement, or creation it is critical to take some recovery time and recuperate yourself after the reward.

Resisting temptation and delaying self-gratification may seem like disciplines of the ancient past, but they are important foundations. Whatever it is you want, or whatever you are looking to achieve may require critical thinking and lead to mental strain.

If rest is never taken, you may be cutting yourself short of greater feats. Humans have the ability to stretch their ambitions very far, as a result miraculous achievements and inventions can be put forth on display.

What may have been a dream yesterday, could very well be your routine today. Everything comes down to the moves you’ve made. At any moment it’s easy to give up, or to quit and say, “I’ve had enough”, but focus on the tracks ahead. If you feel like you’re always drained or putting yourself in vulnerable positions, it’s probably because you are.

Focus on one thing at a time. It is too easy to become distracted in the 21st century. If you easily give into impulses let me ask you, how strong is your willpower?

If you can tackle your personal issues and conquer them, then you will succeed in your endeavors.

In order to tackle issues, you must change the way you think. If you change the way you think, you will begin to analyze questions that you confront.

By changing your thought process you do things differently for once, as a result this may lead to conquered goals and resolutions.

Make today the day that you start taking action in certain activities. Don’t simply aim to stop a certain activity, you need to focus on behaviors centered upon starting and creating.

If you can start the actions or steps that you want to partake in, you are closer to achieving. If you stop a behavior, you may become confused by what you should do instead, that is why starting new goals is essential.

Once you decide and associate your mindset with good behaviors, your plans will turn into desirable outcomes and achievements!

In order to keep a good balance with anything, it is important to not over-think and overspend. Most people are probably aware, that over-consuming is generally a harmful behavior, especially if you don’t truly need something.

By using something too much, or by consuming things endlessly without providing, or putting out any value into the world, this usually results in wounding the outer world.

In order to establish a sense of harmony with your environment and the world as a whole, I think that it’s important that people know what they are consuming and investing their money into. I was once told, “You vote by the way you spend your dollar”. As this quote states, people show what they care about and support, through the way people spend their money.

Although consumption and investments are generally ruled through the course of one’s cash flow, they can also be factors through time and the way someone’s time is spent. Wise investments of time and money can often lead to great businesses, inventions,  and creations for the world to utilize.

By using your time, or collected wealth in a way that is wasteful, it often leads to less positive output for society.

If you are purchasing things just to show off, or “look the part”, this will not lead to long term wealth. Keeping up with the Jones’ is rather an expensive habit of over-consumption.

Here are some things to consider…

1. By cutting consumption, you save more money. This can be done through the act of differentiating buying things you need, versus buying things that appear appealing, but are not necessities.
2. By cutting consumption you may negate the guilt of indulging in something too much or too often.  For example: this can be such activities as weekly clothing shopping spree’s at your local mall, or Saturday night gambling extravaganzas.
3. If you can control consumption, you learn to contain yourself and with-hold from consuming. This leads to the development of discipline. By developing discipline this can lead to greater output and action in other parts of your life that need more attention, focus, or repair.
4. If you can control consumption, you are developing a mindset that focuses on healthier financial standing. If your cash flow remains local it supports local economies and as a result this will positively effect your friends and neighbors providing them with work and support. By over indulging on material goods from countries with poor labor rules you may be fulfilling your own self-gratification and your own personal desires. However, this indulgence may possibly be contributing to harmful effects on the job sector of your local economy and your own finances.

I understand that it is easy to get carried away by strategic marketing and “good deals”, but it is important to learn certain lessons such as when to spend, invest, and consume versus holding firm. To put it simply, if you can’t afford it, or you don’t need it, then don’t purchase it.

You can always go back to something and receive it when you’re ready, but if you always give into something right away, this is a poor display of self-discipline. Aim for the things that are possible, and try your best to remain realistic. If you want something that is out of your range, then build the steps and write out the goals that it will take, in order for you to reach the destination. If you really want the consumption, service, or investment badly enough, you will rectify the steps in a necessary manner and you will succeed by getting what you want.

Prioritize and pay attention to the things that you consume. You may be pleasantly surprised by how much you can save and build if you control your personal consumption habits.