6 Ways to Take Charge of Your Life

Do you ever feel like your life is out of your control?  Does it seem as though your days are spent meeting other people’s needs?  Is your time consumed with responding to one problem after another?  Have your needs and desires fallen by the wayside?  If so, then it is time to take charge of your life.

Realize this: Life is short.  The years go by all too quickly.  So, your time is valuable.  You can’t waste it doing things that you don’t want to do.  Your time can’t be consumed with other people’s agendas.

That is why it is critical to learn to take charge of your life.  Being in charge of your life effectively means being in charge of how you spend your time. 

Below are 6 key ways to take charge of your life so that you can live the kind of life that you want.

Take Charge of Your Life by Making Your Health a Top Priority

An important way to take charge of your life is to take charge of your health.  That means spending some time each day caring for your body.  Taking care of your health should come before any other demands on your time.

In fact, your health should be your top priority.  After all, it is only when we are healthy that we have the energy to meet our responsibilities and to tackle our goals. 

Taking care of your health, in part, requires spending some time each day exercising.  That doesn’t have to be onerous.  You don’t have to spend 2 hours a day at the gym.  As little as 30 minutes a day of exercise, whether it be walking, riding a bike or doing yoga, is terrific!

You also want to be careful of what you put in your body.  Your focus should be on eating healthy, non-processed foods.  Realize that there are many approaches to creating a good diet.  I’m a fan of the Mediterranean diet, but there are others that are equally good at making sure that you eat the right foods.

Add to that taking care of your skin with sunscreen, and you will feel great.  So, take charge of your life by first taking charge of your health.  The better you feel physically, the more productive and happier your life will be.

Give 100% Only to What Really Matters to You

I am a big believer in being a person of excellence.  I truly feel that the key to having a successful life is to do your best in everything that you do.  However, there are limits to that proposition.

When you are in charge of your life, you are in charge of your time.  And unfortunately, you don’t have infinite amounts of time each day.  So, you should only be giving your 100% effort to those things that are truly important to you.  The rest of life can get 80%! 

For example, I don’t give 100% of my effort to cooking.  I view cooking as a necessary task and nothing more.  If I were to give 100% to cooking, I would be searching for interesting recipes.  I also would be spending my time trying to learn new cooking techniques. 

But cooking doesn’t interest me.  When it comes to cooking, my limited goal is to cook healthy, nice tasting food, with the least amount of effort possible.  So, cooking gets 80% of my effort. 

By contrast, I love writing.  Writing feeds my mind and soul.  It gives me a great deal of joy to know that people read the “Create A Great Life” blog, and that they find it to be helpful.  As a result, I give my writing and this blog 100% of my effort.

So, figure out what you truly care about.  And then take charge of your life by giving your best effort to what is really important to you.

Don’t Do Things for Others (Unless You Really Want to)

Often in life, we do things for others out of obligation.  We may feel obliged to do things to make our spouse’s life easier.  Or we may do things to make our children happy.  And all the while, we are wishing that we could be doing something entirely different with our time.

Realize that doing anything out of obligation is a recipe for misery.  Trust me.  You will not look back on your life and think, “Thank goodness I made all those sacrifices for (fill in the name).”  You will just look back on your life and think, “Well, that was time wasted.”

If you want to take charge of your life, don’t do anything out of obligation.  Do things for others only when you really want to! 

For instance, when my daughter was growing up, I spent a lot of time chauffeuring her to extra-curricular activities.  I didn’t do that out of obligation.  Rather, I loved it!  I enjoyed our car rides and the time we had to chat with one another.  We had a lot of fun together! 

The fact is that you can’t live a good life if you don’t spend some of your time serving others.  However, the key is to serve others in ways that you enjoy. 

Figure Out Your Weaknesses and Fix Them

If you want to be in charge of your life, it is critical to take charge of your personal development.  That means figuring out your personality flaws and fixing them.

Most of us know where we are lacking.  However, if you don’t know what your flaws are, ask a trusted friend or relative.  Trust me.  If that person thinks that you are going to handle the information well, he or she will tell you!

Once you know what your flaws are, work at fixing them.  Fox example, if you have a temper tantrum every time people don’t agree with you, work on your self-control.  If you have an addiction to food, alcohol, tobacco or drugs, address that addiction head on (perhaps with professional help). 

Realize that if you don’t take charge of your flaws, they will take charge of you.  Your anger management issue will control your response to every situation.  Your addiction to food will control your weight.  Your bad attitude will dictate how you view your life. 

So, work at fixing your weaknesses.  Don’t ruin your life by stagnating.  Instead, grow.  Mature.  Improve yourself so that you can become fully in charge of yourself and your life.

Take Charge of Your Life by Eliminating the Distractions That Waste Your Time

A big part of taking charge of your life is taking charge of your time.  The challenge is that life is full of distractions that keep us from spending our time in the ways that we truly want.  For instance, other people’s dramas can consume our time, as can the Internet and television.

I will admit that it is hard to manage life’s distractions.  It is easy to have other people drag you into their personal problems.  And then there are the daily distractions of the Internet and television that keep us from doing those things that matter most to us. 

Admittedly, it takes self-control to say “No” to life’s distractions.  But if you really want to live a great life, your need to spend your time doing those things that matter most to you.  So, treat your time as the precious thing that it is.  Don’t let your time be consumed with nonsense.

That means learning how to shut out the distractions so that you can spend your time doing what you love. 

For instance, right now, I am writing this article in my kitchen while listening to classical music.  I am not watching the news or worrying about current events in the Middle East.  Nor am I trying to see if my husband or daughter need anything from me at the moment.  I’ve shut everyone and everything out, and I am doing what I enjoy – writing.

So, if you want to take charge of your life, learn how to shut out the distractions.  Shut out the world when necessary, so you can focus on doing those things that are most important to you.

Don’t Fear Declaring What You Want from Life

Sometimes in life, we make the mistake of putting aside our desires so that we can be liked or loved by others.  We instead focus on what others want.  And in doing so, we stop being in charge of our lives, and instead we become “people pleasers.”

Admittedly, if you live your life being a people pleaser, people will like you.  Heck, they’ll probably love you.  But realize that if you sacrifice your own needs and desires to please others, you’ll be miserable.

The key to taking charge of your life is to stop worrying about what other people want.  Instead, declare what you want out of life.  And then, devote your efforts to getting exactly that.

For example, I spent parts of my life putting my desires on the back burner.  I did this all in an effort to be “accommodating” and “easy-going.”  And I ended up wasting years doing the opposite of what I wanted to do with my life.  Don’t let that be you.

If there is one thing in life I have learned, it is this: Don’t accommodate.  Don’t live your life trying to please others.  That is a recipe for regret. 

Instead, take life by the horns.  Seize it.  Declare what you want from life, and go for it. 

The only way to create a great life is to take charge of your life.  Spend your time doing what it most important to you.  Make life choices that reflect what you truly care about, and see how much happier you become. (To read about the power of taking responsibility for your life, click here.)