Are you a hamster or a human being? If you answer hamster then this article is not for you. I am sure you are doing great. For us humans who have pay bills, service clients, do work and balance work with loved ones, the question is how can I be a human being whilst still being able to be in control of my life without falling apart?

Realise That No One Is Going To Save You

Myth: When I have the money, success, the government on my side, recognition, that dreamy woman/men, God and all that I want then I will be OK and happy.

Reality: I used to believe that if I have all that I want then I will be happy. But then I started getting what I wanted, and I felt even more miserable. Knowing this allowed me to be freer than ever before.

Decide You Are Going to Be The Director Of Your Life

Myth: I have no control of my life and I am the victim to all that happens around me.

Reality: All that I do, I choose to allow in my life. When someone calls me in my rest time, it is my fault if I pick up the phone or answer the email. I have made it a point to take responsibility of all of my life.

Use Systems to Be Able To Manage Your Workload

Myth: I have no say on what my workload is going to be.

Reality: The only way to sanity is that I manage myself. This is especially true when I am employed by others and they manage my time. I need to be able to know what I can handle and if I am giving out too much I negotiate or don’t take it.

Have A Clear Map: Manage Your Time

Myth: I can go through the day dealing with what comes up.

Reality: what happens if you had to drive blind. You would crash. Then why do most people work without a calendar and an organised time management system? How are your going to know how to sort out your tasks and prioritise. Manage your time or your time will manage you.

Focus on What is Urgent

Myth: being busy means I am productive.

Reality: What if I told you that 60% of what you do is useless? Most of us work in crisis mode, putting one fire after the other. That wastes a great deal of energy and time. Having systems/processes will help reduce the need for firefighting.

Cultivate Positivity Within Yourself

Myth: positive emotions come when something good happens to me.

Reality: you can choose your emotions. We have been programmed how to think and feel that most of us don’t realise that we have programmed misery into us. We need to let go of the ideas that create misery and relearn what makes us truly happy.

Cut Down On Drugs (Called Social Media)

Myth: I NEED social media.

Reality: It is scientifically proven that it releases pleasurable chemicals in your brain. So, most people go to it because they want to escape the drudgery of work with a hit of social media. You may want to ask this question: are you using social media or are you being used by social media?

Have Clear Goals, Plans and Systems To Implement

Myth: life (s*it) happens to us.

Reality: life happens for us to learn and grow. By learning what life is teaching us, we can use this to set goals of which direction we want to go. From these we then gain the knowledge to break the goals into plans. Finally, we then execute on the plans.

Let Go Of The Goals You Made

Myth: by being goal oriented I will succeed.

Reality: goals give direction but once you set them you need to focus on the process that gets you there. After you choose a destination (goal) when driving, you focus on what is in front of you. Likewise focus on executing what is in front of you as best you can.

Be Calm

Myth: I am calm, dam’ it.

Reality: when we came out screaming from our mother’s womb, no one gave us the instructions. Like Sadhguru says: we have the most sophisticated machinery in the world and we don’t know how to use it. It is crucial to learn how to use the machinery rather than just taking pills or blame it on others.