What limits you?

What if tomorrow you wake up and quit your job? That probably sounds scary. What if you had only a week left to live when you quit your job? Not having somewhere to work probably sounds less frightening. The danger of the unknown is relative to what we have to lose. Quitting your job without prior planning is scary if you're going to have to make ends meet for the next half-century, but if you don't have a future to worry about, your priorities change. Don't plan for what you cannot know, challenge yourself to make the most of the only time-frame you can control-the moment you're living in.

You might not consider yourself an imaginative person, but when it comes to the unknown, your mind has more power over your choices than you might realize. Don't let your thoughts make your decisions for you. The likelihood of the worst you can imagine happening is very low, and even if it does, you'll find ways to make it through it, just like you do every day when little things don't go like you want. We can imagine things being pretty bad, but our minds have more power to make us afraid than we let ourselves believe.

I like routines; and in many ways, habits are helpful in making us more productive and effective at what we do. But they are also addictive. Now, this isn't the kind of addiction that we normally are encouraged to fight, because a healthy habit-like waking up early and eating a healthy breakfast-isn't something that will consume us in the same way as alcoholism. Sometimes, though, we get too comfortable in our habits; additionally, some habits aren't as obviously healthy as awaking early. Television to help you relax each night before bed can be seen as a healthy habit, but might there be a healthier alternative. I'm not saying that you need to switch your favorite TV show each night for painting and classical music. But try breaking your routines-and see what you can do without, and why you do what you do!