How to Get Your Life Back with Three Simple Steps

If you feel like you’re not going in the direction you want and you’d like to get your life back then I’d like to introduce you to a book that helped me: Three Simple Steps by Trevor Blake. This book has given me a new take on life and is one of the reasons I’m creating beautiful artwork for regular, real women. I’ll outline the three steps (you can read them in more detail once you have the book) and tell you how they’ve positively impacted my life.

 

STEP 1: MENTALITY CONTROL

You know how some people seem to live in their own bubble? This is exactly what you need to do too.

I always struggled with taking control of my feelings, but reading about controlling my mentality allowed me to recognize that it’s possible and worth it.

Whenever I found myself in a less than ideal situation I would often stress myself out. This started all the way in elementary school and into university where I studied engineering and business. If you’ve ever been to university or college or know someone who has then you’ve probably heard the horrors of the first year.

Not only do you have to learn more in less time, but you have to learn relatively more difficult things. To top if off you may also begin to live on your own which has its own huge learning curve.

Looking back at my post-secondary education days I realized that I was able to control my mentality in my second year (and more or less subsequent years). The first year had been a struggle and I was probably getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night. Between the lectures, assignments, and tests there was some type of deadline everyday.

In second year I said “screw this” and decided that I wouldn’t deprive myself of the sleep I needed.

So I set to go to bed everyday around midnight whether the assignment or studying was done or not. The funny thing is that my time management got better because I was forced to get as much done before bedtime. Moreover, getting more hours of sleep meant I could concentrate more. Needless to say my grades went from horrible to fantastic.

Controlling your mentality is an important part of your life that you need to take back your life. I’ve always been a relatively calm person (at least on the outside), but now I’m even more capable of handling adverse situations. When something or someone negative is placed in front of me I can now deflect it with ease.

 

STEP 2: QUIET TIME

The second step is to take quiet time. Sounds strange right? Well it kind of is, especially when you start out.

Essentially, you’re taking a 20 minute break from life. Most people will call or think of it as meditation and that’s what it is for the most part. What you’re really doing is rewiring your brain.

Have you ever heard that adults have a much more difficult time learning new things (e.g. a new language) because our brains have already developed? Now, have you heard of stories where someone was in a coma and would never be expected to walk, talk, or do anything normally? Miraculously, with the helped of loved ones some have come back from that point to an almost normal state.

Your brain can do that too. You just have to give it a fresh start by giving it an environment to thrive. That’s what quiet time is for.

At first it was awkward for me (as you can easily imagine). 20 minutes felt like an eternity! It’s a lot easier now and I really do enjoy it. It’s a part of my day where I know all I have to do is sit and let my body take care of itself. I can think more critically and creatively now.

 

STEP 3: INTENTIONS

Intentions are a step above having goals. Goals are easy to have. You simply think about what you want and voila!

With intentions, you are removing all doubt associated with those goals. The simplest way that I like to think of it is as a seed. It doesn’t hope that it will become a tree, it just knows it will and does everything it needs to to become one.

Thinking about the wind, rain, ice, animals, and other external influences which it will face won’t help it get to that point other than knowing it’ll fight all of them off.

A seed will simply become a tree.

Something to note about intentions is that they’re never shared. At least not the exceptionally important ones.

 

STEP 4: BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

Okay…so there isn’t really a fourth step…but there kind of is. You can’t pick and choose which of these steps you’ll take. Without control of mentality you cannot hope to overcome the obstacles placed before you. You don’t have time for negative thoughts when you’re building up to your intentions for example.

If you think of these steps as a wee-bit crazy then I don’t blame you. I felt the same way at first, but then I thought about it the way I do about the golden rule. It isn’t something you have to do, but it’s something that has more positive than negative implications.

So if you’re stuck at a desk like I once was and have thoughts of doing something more with your life (or not) then consider starting this. I’m not saying you should quit your job – in fact I would highly discourage it (I’ll probably write something about why you shouldn’t in another article). However, you can start laying the framework to creating a better life for yourself!

 

A seed will simply become a tree.

 

Scroll to the bottom to leave a comment about what you think of all of this or if you have a question! 

 

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Jonathan How is the photographer behind Made by Ten and calls Milton his home. He specializes in creating beautiful, creative portraits of real women. He uses photography (and this blog) to help them build confidence and love for themselves and creates artistic images for their homes and offices. You can see him driving around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada from portrait to fashion shoot and back again.