Look at the picture on the left. What do you see? Do you see an old lady or a young, pretty woman?

Squint and concentrate, both pictures are right there! What’s my point?

Well, the things we see depends a lot on the way we see things. Our reality is self-defined. One of the things I’ve learned on all my travels is that, at the core — people are nice, kind, generous, and helpful. When I see people from a different land, I call upon all the great experiences I have in the past of amazing people, and I treat my new friends the same way.

Lo and behold, they treat me amazingly, too!

But I know of friends who complain that people overseas are always mean and unfriendly. They have a ton of mean and unfriendly stories, but I reckon it might have a lot to do with the way they see new people and interact with them.The same is true for business, success, and life.

What are the frames you have for each of these areas?

Some people think business is fun, exciting and an adventure — and they live it with that same attitude, kicking butt, making money and making an impact. Some people think business is risky and a sure-fire way to lose money. They either never get started or play hard not to lose that their business never goes anywhere.

I know of folks who think success is all about luck, fate and destiny — and they happen to have NONE of these things working for them. They live sad, quiet lives. Yet, there are those who believe their lives are what THEY make out of it, and they are going from peak to peak. Once again, your reality and your life depend a lot on the way you see things.

Finally, a lot of life has to do with the way you see ONE very important thing: YOURSELF.

When you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see?

A beaming success about to happen or a person who can’t get anything right? I urge you to check the thoughts and frames you have in your mind, because the way you see yourself plays a HUGE part to whether you can succeed or not. If you want your life to change or improve, you need to change the way you view yourself first.

Here are some simple ways you can use RIGHT NOW to change the way you see yourself and your life:

1. Celebrate all wins you have.

No matter how big or small the success you achieve, pump your fists, pat yourself on the back and celebrate! When you celebrate, you build winning momentum within yourself and you spur yourself to move on and do more.

2. Write down things you like about yourself.

Right now, think of at least 10 things you like about yourself. What do you do better than anyone else out there? What do you consistently do that’s amazing to others? What is going RIGHT in your life currently?

My mentor Blair has an exercise he calls The Bragging Exercise, where you brag about how great you are. Most people, would you believe, have a hard time doing this because they aren’t used to noticing how amazing they are, much less telling people about it.

But the more you fix your attention on what you do well and what’s going well, the more good things you attract into your life!

3. Have fun — consciously!

Have you gone to an event or party and heard people complain, “This party is no fun at all. I’m not having fun, I’m bored!”

I’ve come to realize that having fun is YOUR job and if you choose, you can have fun doing just about anything. Don’t sit around waiting for people to come by and light your FUN fire. Have fun consciously!

When you adopt that mindset, you can make anything or any event a fun, memorable one! It’s about the energy you bring into it. The thing about the mindset of making everything fun is that it quickly becomes contagious and people want to join in! At heart, everyone wants to have fun — and by starting first, you’ll not only have a blast, you can help people enjoy themselves.

Win-win!

4. Ask yourself the question: “What can I learn from this? What’s the opportunity right here?”

Sometimes, life isn’t smooth-sailing. You hit a bump and things don’t go according to plan. But instead of fixing your mind on how hard things are, take the frame of LEARNING from the situation.

Here are the questions to ask:

“What can I learn from this?”
“What’s the opportunity right here?”

This trains your mind to go from disaster and depression to learning, rebounding and opportunity-seeking. Doing this not only raises your mood and energy, you also train yourself to respond and rebound faster. It’s been proven over and over again that amidst the greatest difficulties lie some of life’s greatest opportunities, but it’s only available for the taking by people who aren’t wallowing in sorrow and depression.

So learn from your hiccups, stay focused, and keep driving!

In the end, life is life. It rains and shines on us all. It’s the way we see life, respond to life and play the game of life that determine how this journey of life pans out for us.

Just like famed speaker Wayne Dyer once said, “When you change the way you see things, the things you see change.”

So, my friend, what do you see — an old lady or a beautiful girl?

Live Fearlessly,
Yana