In these tough times, it’s easy to get discouraged. Don’t use your energy to be down. Use your energy to be determined. Here are nine quick tips to give you a boost.

1. Refresh and reprogram your mind. Your subconscious mind is most amenable to suggestion your first hour upon awakening, and that last hour before bedtime. Be careful what you watch on tv and what books you read. I’ve actually had some friends say they’re no longer watching the news first thing in the morning because it’s too depressing. Think about reading some inspirational or motivational literature, or going for a walk.
2. Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due. Learn to overcome procrastination. Do the thing you like least first thing in the morning. If you can do something in 10 minutes, just do it. The longer you procrastinate, the harder it is to get started.
3. Focus on what you can control. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Ever notice that when you’re driving, if you keep looking in a certain direction, that’s the direction your car goes? Same thing with your mind. Focus on where you WANT to go.
4. Don’t let the past dictate your future. See your failures as a stepping stone to your personal progress. Don’t take it personally. You did the best you could with what you knew at the time. Let go the mistake but don’t lose the lesson.
5. Energy goes where attention flows. Think about….what you’re thinking about! This is important because the average person has 50,000 thoughts a day. 77% of those thoughts about ourselves are negative. Thoughts influence how we feel. How we feel influences our actions.
6. What you focus on the longest becomes the strongest. What you think about and focus on becomes your reality. This isn’t anything new. But sometimes we need to be reminded of it again.
7. The people you surround yourself with, and the books you read, determine 93% of your success.
8. Do something nice for someone else each day. It gets your mind off your circumstances and on to helping others.
9. Take an occasional day off. Do something you love. For example, yesterday I was in Sedona, Arizona enjoying the beautiful snow on the towering red rocks. We continued driving up highway 89 to Flagstaff which was blanketed in white and resembled a winter wonderland. It gave me renewed energy.

It’s never too late to change your thinking and change your circumstances. Change your thinking and you can change your life. Change is the only constant in a challenging economy. Make changes now. Don’t wait another day. The future is now.