Jared Akers

Attitude Is Everything: Chang Your Brain, Change Your Attitude

by Jared Akers

Are you a pessimist or optimist?

If you’re a pessimist, there’s hope. Thanks to neuroplasticity you can change the physical makeup of your brain by the way you think.

Most of life is about perspective and attitude. Things you have control over.

Transcription of the Video:

I have a medallion in my pocket that says attitude is everything. I’ve had this in my pocket, carrying it around for 17 years.

I got it in 1995, when I started in a restaurant they hired me as a manager. I got this then and I’ve been carrying it around ever since.

But it got me to thinking that some people are just not born optimist, they’re born naturally pessimistic about everything.

You know, “the world’s out to get them” and their circumstances or why they’re not happy so on and so forth etc but one of the things that I’ve seen is I know that people can change, and one of the very exciting things that I’ve learned about recently is is the science called neuroplasticity.

And that basically means that the physical makeup of your brain can change based on what you think, which is amazing. I mean that something physical can change its shape or it’s makeup basically from thoughts from energy and things that I think, which is amazing.

Now we’ve all known that the power of positive thinking is huge and is very popular and that it works.

But I know a lot of people, myself included, at certain times, certain points in my life, I couldn’t just sit around and think things and intuitively know how to make things happen.

Or just by thinking stuff my life didn’t just automatically get better. I had to take actions.

And it’s like Francine Ward one of her great sayings is you get a self-esteem from doing esteemable acts, and it’s one of my favorite things because it’s so true.

You know the important thing being action. You know, taking action and doing something. So you know if you’re having trouble having a positive attitude and you know that attitude is everything, if you had a crappy attitude then everything you see is going to be crappy.

Everyone’s going to be out to get you.

So anyway, if you’re filling down or you don’t have a very good attitude, think about it. And work on it, because attitude is everything.

And be honest, be loved, and be happy.

Want Happiness? Get off Your A#$!

by Jared Akers

The first major shift in my thinking happened in 1997. The realization that I was responsible for my own failure’s in life. That I wasn’t entitled to anything and that if I want success and happiness, I had to get off my ass and go get it!

Although I would reach another bottom in 2006, I realized that I hadn’t put in the necessary work to obtain sustained happiness. Previously all I had done was change some things on the surface and neglected to really dig deep and work on myself. This time, I was desperate enough to really dig deep and work hard on myself.

That’s when the real change and path towards sustained happiness and inner-peace happened.

It’s natural human tendency to want the greatest reward for the least amount of work.

Are you willing to put in the work?

What is Your Authentic Self?

by Jared Akers

You hear people say it all the time, “be true to yourself,” “to thine own self be true,” “find your authentic self.”

What does that mean exactly? What is your authentic self?

For me, part of it was having my outsides match my insides. That is, portraying the same person externally to the world as the man I am inside.

For example, showing the world one thing (having your crap together) on the outside while being completely scared sh#tless on the inside.

It also means finally living up to the ideal self that I believed (but sometimes doubted) I could be.

Do You Want it More Than You Are Afraid of It?

by Jared Akers

Hanging out on Facebook the other day I saw a quote posted by Henri over at Wakeup Cloud. The quote was from Bill Cosby and it said, “Decide that you want it, more than you are afraid of it.”

Henri’s comment on his FB post was, “When you make this shift, everything changes.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Real change starts when we decide that no matter how great the fear, the possible payoff is worth it. Moreover, with this perspective and attitude, we have the open-mindedness and perseverance to turn obstacles into challenges.

The Convergence of Emotional and Financial Support [Read more…]

HTBH 019: Dealing with Unhappy People

by Jared Akers

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Last week after talking to my mother about dealing with unhappy people, she forwarded me an email with a story about The Law of The Garbage Truck. After some research, I discovered the story is from the book The Law of the Garbage Truck: How to Stop People from Dumping on You (Amazon) by David Pollay. Here’s the story:

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. [Read more…]