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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is Personal Development in Business, and this week, to make up for Monday, I included some Jiu jitsu as well.…

The last few months or so have been pressure packed for me. As you can tell by my various posting schedule, my time has been short. I have a budding business I am helping mold, major projects being released, and a growing list of clients to deal with. On top of that, money has been tight because I have been putting it all right back into the business, or working for pennies to build my portfolio. All in all, you could say it has been a tough, but very productive, first quarter of the year.

Considering the economy, I’m sure many of you have been dealing with similar problems in your business or job. Your mind is tied up with all sorts of issues while you try to hack out the best possible path in your life. You have bills, deadlines, worries, expenses, and not nearly enough time in the day to take care of them all. Your mind is clouded with these thoughts, and you want nothing more than for them to disappear.

If you are like me, then you toss concern to the side and just keep on pushing, knowing that at some point, the night will eventually fade into the spectacular splendor of dawn. At least that’s the hope  However, the other day in Jiu Jitsu, I noticed how much of an effect these thoughts have on our daily state of mind.

Performing at your Peak

When times are tough, it is more important than ever to have a clear mind, and attack problems with confidence and optimism. However, when times are tough, confidence and optimism can be hard to come by.

When training in Jiu Jitsu, if I have a clouded mind, I am completely off my game. I don’t have the same drive, or energy level needed to do my best. My mind is constantly wandering, and nothing seems too important until I’m put in a really bad position and forced to fight my way out. It’s as if I don’t even care until it’s almost too late.

I have found the same goes for life as well. When our minds our clouded, we tend to not want to deal with anything. There is too much on our plate already, and anymore will break the entire dish. Therefore, we tend to lose focus, trying to just to keep up as best we can. It seems each time we solve a problem, another has already built up enough to cover the part of the plate we just cleared. The cycle goes on and on, like a bad dream you can’t wake up from.

Clearing Your Mind

I realized this the other day, how can I possibly become successful if my day is spent focused on the negatives? How can I be optimistic in my approach to success, if all I deal with is one negative after the next?

The answer is you can’t. Remember, success is a state of mind. You do not get this state of mind after you are successful. That is called getting lucky. You develop this state of mind first, and that leads you to your success. Developing that state of mind is the first step to becoming successful beyond your wildest dreams.

Developing this state of mind is not something we are going to accomplish by the end of this article. No, that is something we have to continue to work on each and every day. However, by the end of this post, you will have a great base to build off of.

Developing the Successful State of Mind

Times are rough. There seems to be more problems than solutions in the current world.

For a person feeling down about their situation, this is a negative statement. They think like the majority: ‘there are too many problems to deal with, so we just do our best to get through it.’

For a successful entrepreneur, they see that statement as a gold mine of opportunity. A successful entrepreneur realizes that if there are more problems than solutions, then there must be a lot of opportunities to make money off of solutions.

This is an example of the state of mind you need to have to be successful. It is an optimistic state of mind, bordering on lunacy. Whether times are bad, or times are good, you know opportunity is everywhere. Each problem that comes your way is just another step on the old ladder. Success is all about how you perceive the environment around you. With this in mind, I have come up with…

5 Steps to a Successful State of Mind

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1. Take control

Today is today. Yesterday was yesterday. Tomorrow is not here yet. The first thing to do to clear your mind is to let go of all the nonsense out of your control. Let go of the past. Let go of all the possible future outcomes. Let go of anything you can not control right now. If it is not in your control at the present, then you can not concern yourself with it. You can only take care of the now.

2. One problem at a time

Too many times, as the problems start to pile up, people get overwhelmed with taking care of all of them at once. The bottom line is that to correctly solve a problem, you must focus on only one at a time. Write down your problems somewhere, prioritize them, and check off that list as you attack each one. Don’t worry about how long it takes. Just solve one, and move on to the next.

3.  Nothing is as serious as it seems.

When I was 18, I was deathly sick with Crohn’s disease. Out of the blue, in the middle of college, I lost over 60 pounds in a few months. They were not sure if I would ever be the same. Surgery was my only option. The reason I write this is because your health, and your loved one’s health, is all that really matters. Everything else may seem like a big deal, until you compare it with the value of good health. So when facing financial, business, or personal problems, remember, it could always be worse. Those problems are easy compared with some of the health issues others are forced to handle.

4. Enjoy the Challenge

Problems are fun, right? Maybe not while you are facing them, but afterwards, we always like to reminisce how we overcame the obstacles we face in life. It gives us character, and a sense of pride. Try to remember that while you are dealing with the problem. Look forward to be able to one day talk about how ‘it was really no big deal’. I will even go so far as to advise you to pretend in your mind that you already solved the problem, and see what it feels like. Get a glimpse of that feeling of success, and then hold on to it for motivation during the hard times.

5. Believe in Yourself

If you don’t believe you can be successful, then stop reading, shut down your browser, and start thinking about changing careers. Your belief in your own success does not get tested when times are good. No, belief in your own success gets tested when times are rough. A true success thinks like the aviator Howard Hughes. Even when the whole world is laughing at your feeble attempts to reach your seemingly impossible goals, you know that just makes it all the more glorious when you come through. It is this belief that carries you through the darkest times of your journey.

6. Take responsibility

Each problem you face is a test of your resolve. It is up to you and you alone to make sure a solution is found. It is not up to your friends, families, co-workers, or relatives. It is not up to fate. Life is what you make it, and if you give up trying to make it, then nothing and no one can help you out. You must fight hard to stay focused and take responsibility.It will by no means be an easy task, but you can overcome anything you put your mind to. I can not tell you how long it will take, but any problem can be solved over time. Just look at what one of the smartest people in our history said…

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer .”
–Albert Einstein

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