Don’t Maintain – Gain
Is it possible to gain every day?
Why gain?
In what ways can we gain?
How do we gain?
Why Gain?
A gain mindset creates an ever-expanding experience of life.
No matter what level we are at, we can always gain. Even if we lose we can gain.
A gain mindset looks at all aspects of life with the thought “In what areas of my life do I want a richer experience?”
In what ways can we gain?
Health
Strength
Wealth
Knowledge
Wisdom
Skill
Fulfillment
Relationships
Giving
Love
If you have a gain mindset, you will look for ways to gain and take action to achieve those gains.
I would much rather focus on what I can gain, than tell stories about what I’ve lost, or what I might lose. This mindset goes nowhere.
How Do We Gain?
Develop a mindset of gain — A mindset is simply a set of beliefs about something. It’s as simple as: “I believe there areas of potential gain in my life.” and “I believe it will add zest to my life if I hunt for these areas.” and “I believe my life will be even better if I actualize the gains I seek.” It should be fun, challenging, and exciting.
Know what you want to gain — Pick one or two areas where you want to see gain, and work on it as a lifestyle. Write down what you want to gain and track your progress annually.
Reject status quo — Every day, where I want to see gains, I ask myself one thing “Are my actions going beyond (my) status quo?” This gives me a check to evaluate if I am really committed to a specific gain. If my answer is yes, then good. If my answer is no, then I decide what I’m going to do about it, and do it. I even have my phone send me daily reminder messages about habits I’m trying to build. Use every tool at your command.
There are many areas I work for gain. Health is one of those areas. I want to gain strength, lose weight, and improve my diet. My goal is to get healthier and stronger as I get older. I want a quality life. I want to stay mobile. I want to think clearly. I want to be creative every day of my life. Other areas I work for gain are creativity, wisdom, and teaching. There are so many possibilities to pursue!
What About Loss?
What if I lose? Won’t I be let down? Won’t I be bitter?
Yes, life can hand us bad things. I don’t like that, never have. I don’t agree with it. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t want to struggle, but none of this changes the fact that things can happen that influence us negatively. If we constantly look for reasons why we can lose, we will never find one reason why we can gain.
Even if we lose ground, we can gain it back. And if we lose ground in one area, we can still gain in other areas.
Caution
Don’t covet your gains. This can set us up for major emotional pain. Gains come and go. Gains are the side effect of effort. Some losses are out of our control.
Hold everything we have with an open hand. Enjoy immensely the things that we have.
I Made It!
Will there ever cease to be challenges?
No. Shall I list my current challenges? I’m always tempted to do so. Just to let you know. But you have challenges too. We all have challenges.
Practice Gratitude
The other day I was thinking how wealthy I was to have clean water. I can only imagine what it’s like to not have clean water within arms reach. Or to be dependent on the government to bring me fresh drinking water. Or to live in a war zone or to live in poverty and drought. There is nothing that says I am owed clean, fresh water. But I have it daily, I can reach for it and drink it. It tastes wonderful. It’s refreshing and it hydrates and cleanses my body. I am so grateful to have fresh clean water.
Give
I believe self gain without the desire for others to gain is a recipe for an unfulfilling life and a path to regret.
Ultimately, I want to gain in all areas of life in order to experience the richness of life. And I want to gain in every way in order to help others gain also.
We gain so we can freely give.
No Competition
From early childhood, most of us are taught by example to compete with each other. In business we are taught to compete and capture. Life is one big competition. Dog eat dog. This is a belief system, a mindset, a view of life.
I don’t ignore the reality of competition. I don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. But I reject it completely. I refuse to promote it, or contribute to it, because…
There is more than one way to view life. I choose abundance. I choose to contribute and support the view of abundance. There is more than enough.
An abundance view takes the human compulsion of competition and directs it toward personal growth. I compete with myself to grow more, gain more, and give more.
Is It Possible to Gain Every Day?
Yes. Even if we lose, we can still gain. We are always in a state of gain and loss. There really is no status quo. But if we have a gain mindset we are always looking at the possibilities. Always looking for good.
We live in a flow of possibilities.
There is always something good coming our way.
The best is yet to come.
With God, all things are possible.
Finally
People who have powerful beliefs have powerful benefits.
To your success!
James Wilder
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