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Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.

Zero Dean

Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker

You were meant for greatness.

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You are stronger, smarter, and more resilient than you think. You are capable of achieving far more than you believe.

You were meant for greatness — like all of those who have achieved it.

But it takes persistence. It takes determination. It takes facing your fears and doing that which is hard & necessary, instead of what is quick and easy. It takes skipping the mythical shortcuts & using your imagination as a map and preview of life’s coming attractions.

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Stress is caused by trying to have power over things that are beyond your control.

Excerpt from: What stress is caused by and why you should give a damn

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Stress is caused by trying to have power over things that are beyond your control.

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Don’t give power to those who don’t have your best interest in mind

Excerpt from: The freedom to be

Don’t give power to those who don’t have your best interest in mind. Reclaim the freedom to be your true self by defining your own identity and wrestle back control of your thoughts, feelings, and sense of self-worth from those you have inadvertently given power over you.

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Learn to let go.

When one learns to let go of the non-essentials that contribute very little value to their life, they create more space for things of higher value.

And sometimes what one values most from the removal of something from their life is the time & space that’s created by its absence.

Many people surround themselves with things that may, at one time, have been useful, but no longer serve the purpose for which they were acquired. They hold onto this “stuff” with the hope that it may one day once again be useful, but for most things, that day rarely comes. Think of fitness equipment gathering dust. Bottles. Old clothes.

Others remain habitually obligated to ongoing activities or functions that they’d no longer commit their time, energy, or resources to if they were to start over.

In both cases, people’s lives are adversely affected by a commitment to things they no longer value.

As one only has one life to live, it’s important to not waste it caught up in things that no longer matter — or in the acquisition and subsequent storage of items that add little to no value to their life.

Isn’t it time you take inventory of the things you value in your life and to let go of those things that are simply taking up your time or space and no longer serve you?

Use it or lose it.

Dramatic life changes can occur when one makes a conscious & deliberate effort to surround themselves with only those things that they truly value in life instead of being weighed down and exhausted by things that they don’t.

It’s not about how much the things that one has are worth, it’s about how much one values the things that they have.

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Fueling one’s fire from within

Excerpt from: Motivation & achievement

When one’s motivation is dependent on external sources, the moment those sources are absent is the moment one’s motivation begins to fade. This is because motivation is a state of mind.

And if a particular state of one’s mind is dependent on the availability of things it doesn’t always have control over, it can be difficult to attain the state of mind associated with those things when they’re unavailable.

This is why it’s important to learn how to develop the mental discipline necessary to be one’s own source of motivation.

When one is able to motivate themselves, they light a kind of fire that can burn indefinitely.

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Crossing paths with an idiot is not an excuse to also act like an idiot.

Excerpt from:

Crossing paths with an idiot is not an excuse to also act an idiot.

Crossing paths with an idiot is not an excuse to also act like an idiot.

How you handle yourself is your responsibility. The less you let others control your emotions, the happier you will be.

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Every little step you take towards a goal, no matter how small, is progress.

Every little step you take towards a goal — no matter how small — is progress.

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Discoveries from difficulties

Whenever life challenges you, remind yourself that there is a lesson to be learned from the experience and that it will likely not become evident until after the experience is over.

We rarely learn what a difficult experience is truly teaching us as it happens, but reminding ourselves that there is value in it can make it easier to bear.

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True value

Excerpt from: Today is day one.

The more that you incorporate things that you truly value into your life — from knowledge to skills to people to activities — the more value you not only bring to your own life, the more value you bring to the people and places you encounter on a daily basis.

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Steering the rudder of your own life

Excerpt from: What it means to “live life to the fullest”

Living life to the fullest means taking an active role in your own development. It means steering the rudder of your own life and taking advantage of your unique and powerful potential as a person.

It’s about how the things you do in your life motivate & inspire others to do something motivating & inspiring in theirs — and, if you’re lucky, leave a legacy that long outlasts you.

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