When we were kids, we all wanted
to be a great spouse, a great big brother/sister, a great lover, etc. We all
wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, pastor, or a high government official.
If so, how’s that working out for you? Hopefully, it’s going great and you are
living the life of your dreams.
But for the rest of you who are
not, here are 10 signs that you might be wasting your life… but you don’t want
to admit it:
1). You find yourself complaining
a lot.
I know people who are constantly
overwhelmed with life. They complain about their job, their salary, their
neighbors or the attitude of their teachers, pastors, or spouse.
If you do, then you are doing
nothing but exuding negative energy. Negativity doesn’t change things. It keeps
you stuck. So change your thoughts and talk about what you appreciate about
your life and your job, not what you don’t like.
2). You don’t feed your mind.
If you’re not continually growing
and learning as a person, then you are stagnant – just like a still pond that
doesn’t move and soon starts stinking.
That’s what your mind does if you
don’t keep it active and learn new
things. Challenge your mind with
a new skill such as bead making, piano lessons, corel draw designing, autocad
designing, a new programming language. Challenge your mind with a new novel or
a book on marriage, relationship, money, community service, or leadership.
3). You have a lot of negative
self-talk.
Closely monitor what you say to
yourself, because you will find that your life matches your thoughts.
The first day I went to Abuja to
write an interview for Housemanship in a certain Federal institution, I saw a
crowd of about 400 doctors who came for a space of only about 24 House
Officers. I told myself that it was game over…and it was. At the end, I was not
even shortlisted for the oral interview. I went home from the written
interview.
You will always experience
physically your most dominant thoughts. If you are always talking down
yourself, you are wasting your life without knowing.
4). You feel uninspired always.
There has to be something that
you enjoy doing, so you need to rediscover what excites you, and then do more
of it. If you sit down all day, uninspired at everything, your life is
obviously ebbing away.
Some have passion for writing,
women rights activism, unionism, philantrophy, etc. Discover yours and start
living.
5). You always think someone owes
you a living.
It is a global problem. Most of
us think someone is responsible for our success in life. I used to think that
way too; that somehow, my success was in the hands of someone; that someone
somewhere was owing me a living.
Its not unusual to find people
who blame their parents for not being a little more wealthy, for not sending
them to school, for not sending them to UK, for not opening a beauty salon for
them, etc.
Wake up! Nobody owes you a dime.
6). You don’t plan for your
future.
If you don’t have a goal or a
plan, then you are like a boat that is wandering aimlessly in the ocean hoping
to end up somewhere good. You can’t do that and expect to have a great life
later. You have to make a step-by-step guide to get where you want to get to in
life. You’ll never hit a target you can’t see.
7). You spend too much time with
people who don’t contribute to your growth.
I like to call them Energy
Vampires. They suck the life out of you and give you nothing positive in
return. Instead, go find growth-oriented people to be around with.
Love is a command, but
association is a choice. As you go on in life, never be afraid to say goodbye
to people who no longer make you happy, encourage you, support you, nor defend
you when you’re unavailable to defend yourself in the court of people’s
opinion.
Your need for acceptance can make
you invisible in this world. I have made mistakes and learnt from them, I have
fought friends, and embraced enemies… all for the sake ofFOCUS
8.). You’re addicted to your
phone.
Sure, cell phones are fantastic.
I literarily live inside my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1, but that’s because I
read a lot of my ebooks there, surf the news, and blog.
While that’s fun, think about all
the time you are wasting with your phone if you are doing things that do not
increase your value. You can’t watch porn all night and claim your life is not
being wasted. You cant play all the android games in your cellphone from
morning till night and claim your life is not being wasted. Even worse, think
about all the relationships that might be affected if you stay all night
playing games and watching porn instead of staying awake to hear your spouse
out.
9). You’re not taking care of
your body.
Many people wish to be slim, fit
and trim, but it is only a wish. They do things that contradict their wishes by
over eating, excessive drinking of alcohol, etc.
Not only is sleep essential to
your health, so is food and exercise.
I know I’m not telling you
anything you don’t already know. But eating a balanced, healthy diet and moving
your body around truly does have more positive effects other than weight loss.
It affects your mental attitude and overall well-being.
So take a look at your diet and
level of activity. You might find that making a few small changes will greatly
improve your life.
10). You don’t like to leave your
comfort zone.
I know how easy it is to live in
a comfort zone. In fact, when I go to a familiar restaurant in Portharcourt, I
always order the same thing.
Not because I’m afraid to try
something new, but because I like the food I normally order.
But that’s not the kind of
comfort zone I’m talking about. I’m talking about not taking a risk that will
improve your life.
In Summary:
Life should be exciting! So if
you’re not enjoying life, take a look at some of the changes you can make to
get you to a better place.
So if any of these 10 points
sounded like you, don’t despair. We can make changes. None of us can be so
flawless. After all, I wrote these things above yet I’m not flawless. I’m a
decent gentleman, not a perfect one.
But if any of the points above
addressed you, and you toss this aside after reading; as most people will
likely do, then you’re wasting your life but you won’t admit it.
