“How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Today we’re talking about principles, specifically, the principles I live by.
I believe that everything we do in life is interconnected. For example: if we are messy and disorganised in one part of our life, it is likely we are messy and disorganised in another. For me, if I am physically and mentally well, I know I perform better in my business. I’m a more effective speaker, coach and facilitator.
So if you’re looking to become more confident as a leader, or a more impactful speaker, or have more influence at work, it’s important you understand these are not isolated areas to work on. You also need to take care of your physical health, your emotional wellbeing, your personal relationships, your spiritual growth, and so on.
As I was reflecting on this recently, I started to think about the key principles that inform my way of thinking, my decisions, and my actions, that have helped me to overcome challenges and achieve success in my business. Some I’ve had for a long time, others have developed more recently. But they all play a major role in how I approach everything in life.
I’m sharing 12 principles with you today. This is not an exhaustive list; I have many others, but if I included them this would be a very long podcast!
Have a listen, and think about your own principles. Do they serve you? Do they help you grow? And what are some principles you’d like to adopt? I hope this episode inspires you to define your principles, and use them to create a happier, more fulfilling life for yourself!
Christina’s 12 Principles For Success
1. Health comes first
I find that when I take care of your health, everything else follows. So make an effort to prioritise healthy eating, regular exercise and mental health practices like meditation. You can’t be your best self for other people if you don’t take care of yourself first!
2. Do your work before responding to the world
I learned this from Chris Guillebeau, in his book The Art of Non Conformity (not an affiliate link). “Your work” is work that is purely for YOU. It could be a side project, writing a book, learning to meditate, or going to the gym. Whatever is for YOU and you alone. Do this before “responding to the world” – that is, checking email, texts, social media; anything that requires a ‘reactive’ response.
When you can do this, you will be more productive and you will achieve more outcomes that are important to you, and not just urgent.
3. Do more of what brings you joy
As children, we’re really good at doing things we love. You watch kids play and you can see the joy in their eyes when they jump around in puddles, or draw, or sing, or dance. We tend to lose this as we get older, and do stuff that we think we should be doing, or what others tell us we should do.
Write down what brings you the most joy – it could be something creative, or going for walks, or spending time with your family or friends – and MAKE time to do more of it.
4. Cultivate an abundance mindset
This is very powerful. If I didn’t work on cultivating an abundance mindset, I would be a quivering heap in the corner. I would absolutely see myself as a failure. And I probably wouldn’t be doing this podcast! When you have an abundance mindset, you see yourself as already being successful, you don’t need any material thing or person to complete you – you are full and complete, just as you are.
One way to create an abundance mindset is to practice gratitude for what you have. So write your gratitudes everyday, and write affirmations around the abundance in your life.
5. Don’t scroll
This is a simple productivity principle I’ve adopted in the last year or so. I noticed that whenever I scrolled through social media feeds, it would deplete my energy levels and I would get a nagging sense of FOMO. So I’ve stopped. Also, scrolling does horrendous things to your ability to focus and concentrate. If you want to train your mind to be more focused, stop scrolling.
6. Adopt a growth mindset
I did a whole podcast on this in Episode 114. Also check out the book ‘Growth Mindset’ by Carol Dweck. Adopting a growth mindset has really helped me to get through challenges, and take something useful from each experience, whether good or bad.
7. Is it from place of fear or love?
When I catch myself feeling a negative emotion, whether it’s anger, jealousy, hurt, sadness…I stop and I ask myself “Where is this feeling coming from? A place of fear or love?” Upon reflection, it’s usually because of something I fear, like rejection or not being likes. And it’s the same with other people: if they get angry or sad or jealous, it’s not that you MADE them feel that negative emotion, it’s probably coming from a place of fear too. I wrote a blog post about this here.
8. Practice radical empathy
This is absolutely fundamental to helping me feel confident before a big presentation or a speaking gig to a new audience. When you empathise with your colleagues, boss or audience, you realise they are just human like you, and they have their own stuff, issues and insecurities to deal with. You then start to make it less about YOU and more about your audience.
9. Get comfortable with discomfort
If you want to achieve anything worthwhile, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Growth is painful, but there’s magic on the other side of fear. This is one of the cornerstones of my training at The C Method, whether it’s with 1:1 clients or in a training workshop or keynote.
10. Care less about what others think
This was instrumental in the exponential growth of my confidence with speaking. I realised I didn’t have time or energy to care about what my audience thought of me – I was too busy creating great content and delivering it in a way that would engage and inspire.
Read the blog post that started it all: Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**ck.
11. Surround yourself with good people
Be aware of the toxic people in your life, and make an effort to spend more time with good, positive people who support you (sometimes you may need to find new people….which will require you to get comfortable with discomfort. See Principle 9)
I chatted with double amputee Mike Rolls on the podcast. He shares the story of how he was able to live a happier, more fulfilled life after he had his second leg amputated. Click here to listen.
12. Feed your mind with success
If you eat crap food, what happens to your body? You get overweight and diseased. In the same way, if you feed your mind with crap, what do you think will happen to it? These days, I am very sensitive to toxic and negative messaging that comes from the news, advertisements, trashy TV shows and the radio. I turn it off. Instead, I listen to podcasts, watch videos, and read books that help to feed my mind with success. If you want to stay focused, motivated and feeling good about where you’re at in life, you MUST keep negative messaging out of your head!
Those are 12 key principles I live by, that have helped me to stay positive, creative and motivated in my business, my relationships and in life. If you found this useful, please share this post with someone who is striving to create a better life for themselves, whether it’s being more confident in the workplace, or being a happier human being in general!
Leave a Reply