Are you stuck in a rut with a life that you never really pictured for yourself? If so, check out these tips for how to own your tomorrow.
As I've mentioned in a few posts over the years I didn't have an overly awesome childhood. The first half of it was pretty good. I was a bookworm imaginative dreamer that looked forward to my future knowing I could be successful with whatever I set my mind to. However, by the time I hit my teens I saw just how miserable my parents were in life to the point it started very adversely affecting their health, which made them bitter and apathetic. Most of the time I felt like the parent in my family before I even graduated high school and I went through some things that I'd never wish on any teen. This slowly stripped away my confidence and hope for a good future. Luckily, Mr. Savvy believed in me and helped me get to where I could own my tomorrow. Check out my tips for how to own your tomorrow with some questions to ask yourself that really helped me get to the much better place that I am today.
1. Be honest with yourself on why you want to change for your tomorrow. After having known each other for several years Mr. Savvy and I moved in together close to where I grew up. Unfortunately, just a couple months later we had to move a state away for his job. This was a place I had never been before and I didn't know anyone else there. We only had one car, the recession was really getting started, and Mr. Savvy often had to work late hours at his new job so it wasn't easy for me to get a job myself. I knew I wanted to own my tomorrow because I didn't want to be completely dependent on him, the thought of which made me sick to my stomach because that's not who I am at all, nor cause him additional stress by being the sole breadwinner. I also plain didn't want to end up miserable like my parents. Maybe you are in a job you hate, you have toxic relationships, you're super stressed in your current situation, or you just seem to have lost yourself along the way. What's your why?
2. Ask yourself what exactly you want to change. For me, I wanted my self-confidence back more than anything. I had been beaten down so much over the years my self-worth was almost non-existent. I also wanted to be self-sustainable and able to contribute to our finances. I knew that finding any way I could make at least a few bucks and work my way up would help so much with our finances and, more importantly, my belief in myself. This would all ultimately make me happier, too. What exactly do you need to change to own your tomorrow? Do you need to change where you work or completely switch careers? Do you need to start putting yourself first instead of always catering to everyone else? Do you want to give back to your community more and try to change the world for the better bit by bit? What do you need to change?
3. Set realistic goals for your change that you can actually act on. We all daydream of how it would be nice to have this super high paying job that we love or that we win the jackpot and all our worries go away. While this does happen for some it's obviously not very realistic for most of us. That's why I like to set small, pretty easily obtainable goals even if it's as simple as not pressing the snooze button 3 times before you get up in the morning...which is actually really not that easy if you're very much not a morning person like myself. For my own goals, I started looking for ways I could make money at home without having to make much of an investment. I started with taking surveys and entering sweepstakes. Then I started writing articles for websites and eventually learned that I could make an income with my own website which is where I'm at today. It's something I'm constantly building upon and it wasn't always easy which brings us to #4.
4. Know that things will change and risks can be good. I don't think anyone has made a real change for their tomorrow without taking risks. It's important to remember to be cautious but not afraid of risks. Sure, sometimes risks can fail but you never know until you try, right? If something does fail you must be willing to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue on. Things can also change dramatically, and you have to be willing to change with it. For example, blogging has changed SO much since I started back in 2011. I've had to learn so many more skills than I ever imagined but that has also been a good growth for me. It's also totally okay to change your goals as you go. Sometimes what was a priority a couple of years ago just simply doesn't matter as much anymore because of other things going on in your life.
5. Celebrate all the wins no matter how small or insignificant they may be. In today's world negativity is all around us if we let it. That's why I'm always seeking out things to celebrate no matter how small they may be. Some days my self-worth just wasn't enough and my cat was the only reason I pulled myself out of bed for the day. Whether you finally earned your degree, landed your dream job, made your first affiliate sale, made it through the day without any sugar or have any other small or large victory, celebrate it and don't care about what anyone else has to say about it. After all, as important as it is to make all our tomorrows awesome, it's never promised for any of us.
Being willing to own your tomorrow is a tough goal to take on and takes a bit of investment every day but I wouldn't want it any other way. Even though I have days where I wonder why I even try to continue to build my own business I don't really want to give up. When I'm struggling to find motivation one thing that really helps me is to read about or watch videos about other's stories of change or what inspired them. If you're ready to be inspired check out these motivational stories, videos, and photos.