Taking charge of your life is one of the most empowering journeys you can ever embark on.

It’s only natural to feel lost at some point in your life, especially at times when you have no control over external circumstances or as you approach certain milestones.

You’re not alone.

Everybody loses their way on the long journey of life. 

But here’s the secret – by learning how to take charge of your life you can revitalize your spirit, so you can continue on with renewed purpose.

When you learn how to believe in yourself, the world becomes your oyster, and you can approach all of life’s hurdles with rekindled, incendiary passion.

If you want to make it your prerogative to live with a definite purpose and direction, keep reading as I guide you through the process of taking charge of your life.

Why Taking Control of Your Life Will Make You Happier

“Your journey is completely yours. It is unique. Others may try to steal part of it, tell it in their words or shape it to suit them. Reality is no one can live it or own it but you. Take charge of your journey, it’s yours and yours alone!”

Kemi Sogunle

A person’s fate is often determined by their actions and decisions. 

No one else can make your life decisions for you or lead you down a path you desire.

The power of taking charge of your life lies solely in the hands of the individual – it’s up to you to steer yourself in the right direction.

By taking the leap to take control of your life, you’ll find yourself at the beginning of the path erring towards true happiness.

But keep in mind – this isn’t a fast expedition, and it doesn’t follow a straight line.

By taking control of our lives, we have more power to make decisions and more influence over the trajectory of our destiny. This inherently leads to more happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment.

By not taking charge of your life, you risk:

• Other people and external events controlling your emotions and actions
• Having a lack of boundaries that erodes your energy
• Swaying off track and forgetting your true purpose
• Not prioritizing your time to pursue meaningful goals
• Getting caught up in the things you can’t control
• Living an inauthentic life to please others

But by taking charge of your life, you:

• Blossom into your authentic self
• Set the direction for meaningful goals
• Gain resilience during setbacks and the inevitable low points of life

Does that sound like something worth striving for? Then let’s take a look at how to manifest that change.

Taking Charge and Changing Life: 11 Tips for Living Fully

Are you ready to embark on a life-changing journey that is in alignment with your true self? 

These 11 tips will teach you how to take control of your life and find purpose: 

1. Define Success on Your Own Terms 

What does success mean to you?

Success has a different meaning for everyone – it’s entirely subjective.

For some it could mean creating a loving family and for others finally receiving that promotion in your dream career. 

It’s a personal definition and philosophy, but one that is critical to understand and define if you want to take control of your life.

Defining success is a prerequisite for long-term goal setting. It provides the overarching purpose that you strive towards – the thing that all makes it worth it at the end of the day.

But how do you define success as it relates to your life and your ambitions?

Start by taking some time to write down your goals. Beside each, connect how you will feel after achieving them. Linger on that feeling. Let it seep deep into your consciousness. 

And then project it out into the universe and let it guide you towards your purpose.

2. Make Decisions From a Place of Love and Gratitude

Love should be at the center of everything we do. 

When we make decisions from a place of love, we act genuinely and respond consciously to life events.

This rule is absolute. 

No matter what task you’re performing, approach it with the deep kindness that you feel in your heart.

Since we often experience conflict, it’s easy to forget how interconnected everything is.

A good starting point for adopting this outlook is to practice gratitude. Instead of wasting energy focusing on extraneous details outside of your control, place your attention on the good things in your life that you’ve already manifested.

The benefits that gratitude provides us aren’t just wishful thinking either. 

A study conducted by psychologists out of the University of California and the University of Miami demonstrated that those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. 

It also led them to exercise more frequently and visit the doctor less often than those who focused on aggression and negativity.

The power of gratitude is real – leverage it!

3. Discover Peace Within 

True peace comes from within. 

Being able to remain calm is a powerful skill to master, and allows you to make purposeful decisions amidst the chaos of life. 

In order to take control of your life, you must know how to control your emotions first. Emotional turbulence can prevent you from making the right calls in critical moments.

But if you can cultivate peace within yourself, you can calm any inner turmoil. 

When you take the time to focus on the present moment, you minimize the distracting background noise that is always present. In turn, you’re able to fully utilize the now and focus on the endless possibilities in front of you.

Tracking Happiness details 5 beautiful ways to find inner peace and harmony so that you can retreat to a haven within whenever life’s stresses get in the way. 

These include:

• Finding your why
• Practicing mindfulness
• Accepting that you can’t control everything
• Taking care of yourself 
• And, most importantly, making time to laugh 

4. Set Boundaries to Avoid Burnout

Burnout is something that can happen when you least expect it. 

This is unfortunately fairly common – but is entirely preventable with the right protocols in place.

Turn surviving into thriving by establishing healthy Boundaries to protect your energy and emotions. 

When you do this, you develop a strong sense of who you are instead of living for others.

By understanding your boundaries, you can better express your needs and, sometimes more importantly, express what you don’t want in a firm yet gentle manner.

As long as we set boundaries, we protect ourselves from unwanted dynamics, interactions and people in our lives that drain and weaken us. 

When your boundaries are clear, you are able to guide others in how you expect to be treated while simultaneously protecting yourself from harmful individuals and situations.

5. Don’t Take Anything Personally

Have you ever taken something to heart when another person passes a comment related to you? 

Perception is everything. You never know how someone is feeling. What one person sees, another person can interpret completely differently.

Maybe someone is having a bad day and takes this out on you, resulting in you thinking that you have done something wrong, or that you haven’t been genuine towards them.

When you begin to see this for what it is, it can become easier to control your own thoughts and not see yourself based on the reflection of another’s opinion of you.

Negative critics are a form of Limiting Beliefs. While some criticism can be useful, those who are constantly overly critical about you trying to Achieve your goals don’t have your best interests at heart. 

By learning which criticism to accept and which to ignore, you can learn to utilize only information that is useful to you. 

If you want to take charge of your life, you can’t do it while being shackled by the comments of negative critics.

6. Always Do Your Best 

In anything that you do, give it your all. 

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States

With every move you make, aim to perform at the peak of your ability while being kind to yourself and simultaneously enjoying the process. 

Making choices and sticking to them can reward you with the momentum you need to grow. 

If that sounds a bit “out there” – it’s not. It’s actually a neurochemical response that your brain uses to make you feel good and motivate you to carry out the next difficult task. 

Every time you accomplish something that requires effort, your brain rewards you with a shot of dopamine – a neurochemical closely tied to motivation. 

By putting in daily effort towards achieving your goals, you can take advantage of your brain’s dopamine response and propel yourself forward towards bigger dreams.

7. Stay True to Yourself

As humans, we are constantly told what to do, how to act, and who to be. 

With so many external influences, pursuing the life you want and staying true to yourself can be challenging.

Sometimes you need to look deep within to really answer that question for yourself. 

Stop comparing yourself to others.

That might mean stepping away from social media or watching too much TV. 

Learn how to ignore external influences that do not align with your truth. Even just a bit more time alone, or a short break from it all, can help get in touch with your inner voice. 

Go beyond self-doubt. 

Limiting beliefs can often hold us back from taking control of our lives but when you push past limiting beliefs and discover your true purpose in life – you become the boss.

8. Understand That It’s Okay to Fail

Rejection is just redirection. 

That being said – it doesn’t feel good to fail. No one likes the feeling.

But with a shift in perspective, you can reframe each failure as an opportunity for growth and development – because that’s what it really is.

Failure doesn’t define you but it can provide you with some pretty spectacular learning opportunities.

Because every time you fail, you’re learning how not to do something, while simultaneously adjusting your course of action as you set up for the next attempt.

9. Hold Yourself Accountable 

“Taking personal accountability is a beautiful thing because it gives us complete control of our destinies.”

Heather Schuck, entrepreneur

To gain control of your life requires you to look at what you have already achieved while simultaneously aiming towards new achievements.

To do this means committing yourself to long term goals and holding yourself accountable should you miss the mark.

You need to develop a system or protocol that you can follow in order to achieve your goals. A good way of doing this is by using a comprehensive daily planning routine.

With daily planning, you break large, seemingly insurmountable goals into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks. 

This not only allows you to make marked progress towards your dreams, but it gives you a deep sense of satisfaction every time you achieve a small goal, thereby motivating you to continue onwards.

But here’s the kicker – this only works if you hold yourself accountable.

That means showing up every morning, dedicating time to your goals, and making sacrifices along the way.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to achieve your dreams. It takes discipline, accountability, determination and hard work. You need to develop self motivation, because, at the end of the day, there is no one encouraging you to achieve your goals except you.

Only you can make a positive impact on your life.

10. Apply the 80/20 Method

Contrary to popular belief, working more doesn’t always yield greater productivity. In fact, the inverse may be true. The more effort you put in over time, the smaller the return.

We call this the Pareto Principle – or the 80/20 principle as it is known today – discovered by an Italian economist called Vilfredo Pareto.

The 80/20 principle was originally used in businesses for time management and productivity. Many companies found that 20% of their time spent working created 80% of their productivity, and that the top 20% of employees created 80% of the company’s value.

Today, however, this powerful principle can be applied to any aspect of your life.

Think about how you can reorganize your goals so that you’re spending less time on tasks that yield less results, and more time on high-output tasks. 

For instance, what tasks do you dedicate 80% of your time to that only yield 20% return? This could be your daily emails, memos, meetings with colleagues, or time spent making unimportant decisions.

Make a list of these tasks. Now think – can you reduce the time spent on these tasks? Can you remove some of them altogether?

Great – now write down where you can transfer that time so it can be maximally utilized. 

What tasks do you already do that generate immense amounts of value? And what tasks can you better turn your attention to in order to generate 80% of the desired output you need to achieve your goals.

Taking charge of your life means taking charge of your time. And like all scarce resources, that means utilizing it as effectively as possible.

11. Acquire the Skill of Saying “No”

It’s hard to say no.

It’s only natural that you don’t want to let your loved ones down, or hurt their feelings.

But taking charge of your life means that at some point you’re going to have to put your goals first and say no to people who want something from you.

That’s not to say those things will be malicious. In fact, they’re likely to come from people who deeply care about you, and simply want to spend more time with you.

Skip your workout and let’s go to a movie. Stay for one more drink. 

These are tempting offers that, while enjoyable, are likely to hinder your progress.

And remember – any movement forward is a step in the right direction. Whether it’s a baby step or a leap – progress is progress.

If you’re ready to take the leap to take charge of your life, I’m here to help you with an intuitive course designed specifically with all the tools you need to start living with purpose.

So, what are you waiting for? 

Take charge of your life. There is no time like right now.

The post How to Take Charge of Your Life: 11 Tips for Taking Charge appeared first on SoulSalt.