Take Back The Driver's Seat in Your Life
Photo: Cleyton Everton
If your strategy is to let life happen to you; it will. The time has arrived to put you back in the driver’s seat in your life. Ask yourself, honestly, “Am I the driver or the passenger in my life?” Yes, I know we can’t control everything that happens to us. I also understand the wisdom of just being and going with the flow.
Neither is a reason to not be the driver in your own life. Things out of your control are going to happen whether you are the driver or the passenger in your life. That’s no reason not to be steering the things you can control. There is wisdom in “just being”, but it is so much more beneficial when done as a conscious choice to enhance your life rather than as the result of sitting in a rudderless boat.
Wayne Dyer talks about being not only the actor in your life, but also the director and producer. Actors are just given scripts that they then play out. They have no say in how the story line progresses. Directors make conscious choices about how the story is going to be told. Producers select the ideas that become the storylines created by directors and actors.
CHOOSE your storyline right here, right now. It’s not enough to just tell or act someone else’s vision of your life. Put yourself in the driver’s seat.
Here are a few tips for putting you in the driver’s seat.
Be the driver – stop seeing yourself as the passenger in a life where things “just happen” to you. You have a say and you have a lot of control over what happens in your life and how you react and adapt to it.
Make the decisions – if you have become a passenger in your life, you have probably given control to someone else. Take it back. Be ready to accept advice from others (many heads are better than one), but make your own decisions.
Take credit and responsibility – give yourself the credit for your achievements and take responsibility for your failures. Others play a role in successes and failures, but you are ultimately responsible for the results and choices in your life.
Get back up – getting knocked down or facing a setback is an event not a way of life for people driving their lives. Life is full of bumps and bruises. Adapt and move on.
Empower your thinking – practice empowered thinking. Here are the three aspects of empowered thinking.
Thought aspect – you have to think positively. Belief and commitment are important in any endeavor. Show me two people of equal talent – one who believes in his or her ability and one who does not – and I can tell you with high accuracy who will succeed. Positive thinking is imperative to maximize success potential in any endeavor. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t; you’re are right.” Positive thinking is the basis for empowered thinking, but empowered thinking is more than just positive thinking. It incorporates two more elements.
Knowledge aspect – you have to be informed. In achievement pursuits, know what you are trying to achieve and be informed on what is going to be involved in succeeding. Knowing that ahead of time can help you prepare mentally for it. When empowering your thinking to critically evaluate information you need to know as many of the facts as possible. Positive thinking without information does not allow you to take powerful action. When you combine positive thinking with information you lay the groundwork for powerful action in your life.
Action aspect – empowered thinking is more than just thinking and knowing. Empowered thinking includes action. If you have incorporated the first two elements, your actions can be motivated and informed. Until there is action, informed positive thinking is just wishful thinking. Your world is supported by intentions, but it is built by actions.
Take action – the driver’s seat is a place of action. The passenger’s seat is a place of passivity, paralysis, and fear of moving forward and making change. Take action. Some actions don’t work out, but you cannot allow that fear to stop you from being the driver in your life.
If you’ve been the passenger for too long, make the coming year to shift back over into the driver’s seat. Take the wheel and start steering! If you’re already the driver in your life, keep the momentum going into the new year!
Follow your bliss. Experience your bliss. Become your bliss.
Ray