Enjoy Life Podcast w/ Nick Maizy: Live Your Best Life

If you haven’t, then do it. That’s it. Just decide to enjoy life. But, there is a bit of a catch.

Decision requires actions. Otherwise, it’s not really a decision is it.

“There were 5 frogs sitting on a log. One decided to jump off. How many are left.”
Well, there are 5. That is until the one that decided to jump follows that decision with action.

How can we apply the simple lesson from the frogs to goals and enjoying life? Easy. Make a decision & take action.

You can choose what you do and how you view it. Decide what you want to do in this life and do it. Choose if you want to be happy or not and then focus on that.

Is enjoying life something that happens to you?
Or, is it something you can decide to do?

I believe you can choose to enjoy life. Is it always be easy? No! In fact, I’ll probably be a bigger challenge than staying miserable. But, the payoff is beyond worth the effort.

Now that you’ve read this the choice is yours. If you choose to decide not to pursue your goals and try to make the most of your life, that’s your choice. But, choosing to do nothing is a decision in itself.

Are you going to let your situation and surroundings determine the quality of your life? Or, will you choose to make the most of where you’re at while you strive to create the life you want?

The choice is yours. And you will end up deciding. Your action are what will show your choice. So, decide in your mind and then act on your decision. 

I think the best answer is clear. Make the absolute most of what you have and what you’ve been given. You are capable of so much. All you need to do is choose to do your best, make the best of what you have, and enjoy it as much as you can. 

______________________

Get ‘5 Daily Choices That Create Your Mindset’ cheatsheet: NickMaizy.com/5DC

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL

My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books

More material at: NickMaizy.com

I certainly have. The problem isn’t in being afraid. At least, I don’t think so. The the real issue is how we choose to respond when we are afraid. There will always be something. Somethings might scare you, somethings may be frightening, and that’s just life. Fear happens. I say don’t worry about being scared. Life can be scary. Change can be really scary. Anytime you stepped out of your comfort zone and try to make an improvement or better yourself in any way there can be something that scares you. Just don’t let that stop you. To be honest, I get a little scared all the time.

In fact, a little bit of fear can be a great thing. When you’re little fearful, you’ll pay close attention to what is going on. You’ll do your absolutely best to make sure you do all that you can do to prevent that thing you’re scared of from happening. Let’s just say that you want to start a new business. Well, that can be scary. the real question is are you going to take that fear, that emotion, and use it for the positive to conquer your goal. Or, will you choose to see it as a negative & not even attempt your goal?

I like false evidence appearing real. It seems quite often that the things I’m scared of either don’t end up happening or I’m able to make an adjustment to reduce its impact.

Some people feel at though it’s safer to not try to forget everything and run away from setting goals. If they run away, then they don’t risk trying and failing. But, they also never even have a chance to succeed and become what they could become. Give your best to achieve your goals. Try your best even if your best isn’t enough to achieve your goal right now. When you give your best, your best can get better. And improvement will keep you moving forward. Never really trying to achieve your goals probably won’t lead you to the life you want. I’ll probably just lead to more unhappy complaining. If you’re anything like me, then being stuck living the life you don’t want is a lot worse than trying. Yes, there is risk whenever we try to do anything. But, the real risk is often far less than is seems. You can face your fears. Take action toward you goals. As long as you try your best you can be happy with your actions and choices. You’ll probably enjoy your life more just by trying too.

______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL
My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books
More material at: NickMaizy.com

I certainly have. The problem isn’t in being afraid. At least, I don’t think so. The the real issue is how we choose to respond when we are afraid. There will always be something. Somethings might scare you, somethings may be frightening, and that’s just life. Fear happens. I say don’t worry about being scared. Life can be scary. Change can be really scary. Anytime you stepped out of your comfort zone and try to make an improvement or better yourself in any way there can be something that scares you. Just don’t let that stop you. To be honest, I get a little scared all the time.

In fact, a little bit of fear can be a great thing. When you’re little fearful, you’ll pay close attention to what is going on. You’ll do your absolutely best to make sure you do all that you can do to prevent that thing you’re scared of from happening. Let’s just say that you want to start a new business. Well, that can be scary. the real question is are you going to take that fear, that emotion, and use it for the positive to conquer your goal. Or, will you choose to see it as a negative & not even attempt your goal?

I like false evidence appearing real. It seems quite often that the things I’m scared of either don’t end up happening or I’m able to make an adjustment to reduce its impact.

Some people feel at though it’s safer to not try to forget everything and run away from setting goals. If they run away, then they don’t risk trying and failing. But, they also never even have a chance to succeed and become what they could become. Give your best to achieve your goals. Try your best even if your best isn’t enough to achieve your goal right now. When you give your best, your best can get better. And improvement will keep you moving forward. Never really trying to achieve your goals probably won’t lead you to the life you want. I’ll probably just lead to more unhappy complaining. If you’re anything like me, then being stuck living the life you don’t want is a lot worse than trying. Yes, there is risk whenever we try to do anything. But, the real risk is often far less than is seems. You can face your fears. Take action toward you goals. As long as you try your best you can be happy with your actions and choices. You’ll probably enjoy your life more just by trying too.

______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL
My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books
More material at: NickMaizy.com

Let me tell you about Jerry. Jerry says he wants to lose weight. Jerry says he wants to be healthy and have energy to be a better father. Jerry decided to start with exercising. Jerry knows that he needs to exercise more and that it is a good way for him to be healthier, have more energy, and be present with his kids more. Jerry says he’s going to exercise. What does Jerry do? Jerry starts to go to the gym on Monday mornings. This is a great thing. Exercise can be a great way to improve health, have energy, and enjoy life. It can be a great thing. But, the only change that he made was starting to go to the gym for a little bit on Monday mornings. Jerry maintains all the other unhealthy things in this life such as drinking a little bit much, eating fast food all the time, not drinking much water, not getting much quality sleep,

Is Jerry going to make much of a difference in his health by going to the gym for a little bit on Monday morning? I don’t know. I’m not the health expert. But, what I can tell you is that if you want to achieve goals, if you want to make improvements, then you got to give it a real shot.

If you have been around this podcast or my website material for any amount of time, then you know I’m all about taking small steps to achieve your goals. But, there’s one huge part that I want to highlight. The word steps. It’s plural. That means it takes more than one. Not take one small step and stop there. If Jerry’s first initial step is to start going to the gym one day a week in the morning for a few minutes, that can be a wonderful first step. It just probably can’t be the last step.

If you want to:
Make any sort of change or improvement –
Achieve any big goal –
Change your life for the better –
Then you’ll need to keep taking steps.

Yes, start with one small step. Then, give your goals a real shot by continuing to take steps, moving forward, and improving . Don’t confuse taking small steps with only taking one step.

What was your goal?
What do you want to achieve or become?

Are you willing to give it a real shot?
Are you willing to really go all in and dive in and make it happen?

Take that first small step.
Take it. Start.
Start taking action.
Start moving forward.

And above all else don’t give up. Keep taking steps. Keep moving forward.
The continual progress is what will get you to your goal.

Here’s a post of getting specific on the steps you take:
I Need Specific Steps Sometimes – Do You?(Opens in a new browser tab)

______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL
My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books
More material at: NickMaizy.com

Let me tell you about Jerry. Jerry says he wants to lose weight. Jerry says he wants to be healthy and have energy to be a better father. Jerry decided to start with exercising. Jerry knows that he needs to exercise more and that it is a good way for him to be healthier, have more energy, and be present with his kids more. Jerry says he’s going to exercise. What does Jerry do? Jerry starts to go to the gym on Monday mornings. This is a great thing. Exercise can be a great way to improve health, have energy, and enjoy life. It can be a great thing. But, the only change that he made was starting to go to the gym for a little bit on Monday mornings. Jerry maintains all the other unhealthy things in this life such as drinking a little bit much, eating fast food all the time, not drinking much water, not getting much quality sleep,

Is Jerry going to make much of a difference in his health by going to the gym for a little bit on Monday morning? I don’t know. I’m not the health expert. But, what I can tell you is that if you want to achieve goals, if you want to make improvements, then you got to give it a real shot.

If you have been around this podcast or my website material for any amount of time, then you know I’m all about taking small steps to achieve your goals. But, there’s one huge part that I want to highlight. The word steps. It’s plural. That means it takes more than one. Not take one small step and stop there. If Jerry’s first initial step is to start going to the gym one day a week in the morning for a few minutes, that can be a wonderful first step. It just probably can’t be the last step.

If you want to:
Make any sort of change or improvement –
Achieve any big goal –
Change your life for the better –
Then you’ll need to keep taking steps.

Yes, start with one small step. Then, give your goals a real shot by continuing to take steps, moving forward, and improving . Don’t confuse taking small steps with only taking one step.

What was your goal?
What do you want to achieve or become?

Are you willing to give it a real shot?
Are you willing to really go all in and dive in and make it happen?

Take that first small step.
Take it. Start.
Start taking action.
Start moving forward.

And above all else don’t give up. Keep taking steps. Keep moving forward.
The continual progress is what will get you to your goal.

Here’s a post of getting specific on the steps you take:
I Need Specific Steps Sometimes – Do You?(Opens in a new browser tab)

______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL
My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books
More material at: NickMaizy.com

Raising your level of expectation of yourself can be a good thing. But, what about when it’s not?

Let me tell you about Johnny. Johnny had high expectations. He wants to succeed, achieve his goal of being healthy, fit, and financially free. Jonny has great goals. He even set out the specifics of each goal and how he will know when he achieved them. His goals appear to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Johnny even knows what he needs to do for his goals to become a reality. But, Jonny isn’t making any progress toward his goals. And can’t seem to get much closer to achieving them. You want to know what is going him back?

The double edge sword of high expectations. Johnny’s high expectations aren’t just for the end result he wants for himself. He has high expectations for any action he takes toward his goals. When he is working toward saving money so that he can invest it, he gets bogged down trying to figure out the perfect plan to make it happen. He ends up spending so much time figuring it out that he delays getting started.

The same happens with his health. He has such high expectations for his health regiment and routine that he doesn’t just start exercising and eating better. Also, Jonny is busy. Finding the time for a robust exercise routine is difficult. His high expectations are holding him back here too.

Jonny could benefit from lowering the bar.

Let me tell you about Jane next. Jane also wants to be healthy, fit, and financially free. She has defined her goals too and knows what needs to happen for her to achieve them. Jane knows that in order for her to achieve her goals she will need to start making progress and keep at it. She has accepted that the progress won’t be perfect or fast because she knows she can improve it along the way. So, what does Jane do? Jane starts today. She doesn’t have a ton of time available for planning a new health regiment. She just starts with a healthy breakfast and lunch. Simple. She will make an improved plan and refine it. But, for today she made a little progress. She also know that getting her finances on track and saving money are a big part of her goals. She doesn’t really know the best starting place, though. What does she do? She decides to setup a weekly automatic transfer from her checking to her savings account. It’s only a couple dollars each week. She picks a small amount that she is comfortable with and knows she can increase it once she works through a better plan. For the time being she is making some progress, though.

Lower activation energy
Smaller requirements to start
Just get moving

 ______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL

My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books

More material at: NickMaizy.com

Raising your level of expectation of yourself can be a good thing. But, what about when it’s not?

Let me tell you about Johnny. Johnny had high expectations. He wants to succeed, achieve his goal of being healthy, fit, and financially free. Jonny has great goals. He even set out the specifics of each goal and how he will know when he achieved them. His goals appear to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Johnny even knows what he needs to do for his goals to become a reality. But, Jonny isn’t making any progress toward his goals. And can’t seem to get much closer to achieving them. You want to know what is going him back?

The double edge sword of high expectations. Johnny’s high expectations aren’t just for the end result he wants for himself. He has high expectations for any action he takes toward his goals. When he is working toward saving money so that he can invest it, he gets bogged down trying to figure out the perfect plan to make it happen. He ends up spending so much time figuring it out that he delays getting started.

The same happens with his health. He has such high expectations for his health regiment and routine that he doesn’t just start exercising and eating better. Also, Jonny is busy. Finding the time for a robust exercise routine is difficult. His high expectations are holding him back here too.

Jonny could benefit from lowering the bar.

Let me tell you about Jane next. Jane also wants to be healthy, fit, and financially free. She has defined her goals too and knows what needs to happen for her to achieve them. Jane knows that in order for her to achieve her goals she will need to start making progress and keep at it. She has accepted that the progress won’t be perfect or fast because she knows she can improve it along the way. So, what does Jane do? Jane starts today. She doesn’t have a ton of time available for planning a new health regiment. She just starts with a healthy breakfast and lunch. Simple. She will make an improved plan and refine it. But, for today she made a little progress. She also know that getting her finances on track and saving money are a big part of her goals. She doesn’t really know the best starting place, though. What does she do? She decides to setup a weekly automatic transfer from her checking to her savings account. It’s only a couple dollars each week. She picks a small amount that she is comfortable with and knows she can increase it once she works through a better plan. For the time being she is making some progress, though.

Lower activation energy
Smaller requirements to start
Just get moving

 ______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL

My recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books

More material at: NickMaizy.com

For a moment imagine you got a really really deep cut on your arm. You look at it and think “I’m just going to cover this up.” So, you take a Band-Aid and you covered up. You don’t clean it. You don’t put any disinfectant on it or even any ointment or cream to help it heal. Does it sound like a smart idea? Oh no it doesn’t. Of course, you want to clean and disinfect and allow that wound to heal properly from the inside out. Yes, you want to protect the outside. The outside is important. But, without that inside being right without that inside healing and becoming what it needs to be that outside isn’t as going to matter as much. If it’s there in an infection growing, if the inside isn’t right, if the inside is unhealthy, then even if that outside heals a little bit and starts to look good that inside is going  to be rotten and will fester becoming be very infected. And it will eventually show right through to the outside. You can’t heal that wound from the outside in. If that infection is deep in there, you need to get it out. You gotta let it heal from the inside out.

So how does this infected arm relate to achieving your goals, becoming who you want to be, having the life you want, and enjoying life? Simple. Remember to change the inside when you are making any changes to the outside. Let just say you want to have more energy to achieve your goals. You know that taking action will take energy. So, you start drinking a lot more coffee to get more energy. That would be focusing on the outside. Or, you could choose to focus on addressing the inside. work on the inside you decide to improve your sleep habits, get a little exercise, and eat healthier foods. Over time, you start to have more energy and you don’t have the crash of tons of coffee. Thats changing from the inside out.

What if you want to be healthier? Pretty much that same example works here too. You can exercise to improve your health. Exercise is great. But, if maintain an unhealthy diet full of donuts, candy, and junk food, then you could be just as unhealthy even with exercising. Change works when you change the inside too.

What is it that you want to achieve? How can you become the person who achieves it? What you put into your body? Mind? Do you need to change your mindset to become who you want to be?

 ______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL

Find my recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books

More material at: NickMaizy.com

For a moment imagine you got a really really deep cut on your arm. You look at it and think “I’m just going to cover this up.” So, you take a Band-Aid and you covered up. You don’t clean it. You don’t put any disinfectant on it or even any ointment or cream to help it heal. Does it sound like a smart idea? Oh no it doesn’t. Of course, you want to clean and disinfect and allow that wound to heal properly from the inside out. Yes, you want to protect the outside. The outside is important. But, without that inside being right without that inside healing and becoming what it needs to be that outside isn’t as going to matter as much. If it’s there in an infection growing, if the inside isn’t right, if the inside is unhealthy, then even if that outside heals a little bit and starts to look good that inside is going  to be rotten and will fester becoming be very infected. And it will eventually show right through to the outside. You can’t heal that wound from the outside in. If that infection is deep in there, you need to get it out. You gotta let it heal from the inside out.

So how does this infected arm relate to achieving your goals, becoming who you want to be, having the life you want, and enjoying life? Simple. Remember to change the inside when you are making any changes to the outside. Let just say you want to have more energy to achieve your goals. You know that taking action will take energy. So, you start drinking a lot more coffee to get more energy. That would be focusing on the outside. Or, you could choose to focus on addressing the inside. work on the inside you decide to improve your sleep habits, get a little exercise, and eat healthier foods. Over time, you start to have more energy and you don’t have the crash of tons of coffee. Thats changing from the inside out.

What if you want to be healthier? Pretty much that same example works here too. You can exercise to improve your health. Exercise is great. But, if maintain an unhealthy diet full of donuts, candy, and junk food, then you could be just as unhealthy even with exercising. Change works when you change the inside too.

What is it that you want to achieve? How can you become the person who achieves it? What you put into your body? Mind? Do you need to change your mindset to become who you want to be?

 ______________________

Listen on YouTube: NickMaizy.com/YTL

Find my recommended reading: NickMaizy.com/books

More material at: NickMaizy.com

Have you ever been driving and go to change lanes and that moment the split second before you actually go into that next lane you see a car you didn’t see before. You even looked over your shoulder. You looked in your mirror. But, you didn’t see it. It was there, though. There was a car and you almost got into a terrible car wreck. How did that happened? You’re a good driver, you know what you’re doing, and you even looked.

Well, the other vehicle was in your blind spot. You know vehicles have blind spots. That particular place around a vehicle that is very difficult to see. It’s very easy for a car to hind in a blind spot and not be seen at all. At the same time, that hiding vehicle is there even if we can’t see them.

What’s all this blind spot talk have to do with making improvements and achieving goals? Just like a vehicle, just like my car I have blind spots. There are some areas of my life that are tough for me to see. That doesn’t mean there is anything wrong, deficient or broken with me. It’s just an area of life in area of myself that’s difficult for me to see myself. It’s just me and I can’t see everything about me.

So, what I need to do? I have to make sure that I’m checking in with people that I know that are close and dear to me and are willing to be honest to give me some feedback. That way I can make the changes I need and improve. Before you think this is some sort of rosie fun wonderful thing easy thing to do, let me go ahead say it’s not. When I hear about things that I’m doing that I just don’t notice because they are things that I’ve always done or how I’ve always looked at life it tends to not be the most positive things in my blind spots. Hearing about what I do unintentionally can sting a little bit. Being told about what’s in my blind spots isn’t particularly fun. But, let me go ahead and tell you it is well worth it. It’s often the exact things that we don’t want to do and are a little bit uncomfortable and don’t feel so good in the moment that get us exactly what we want. I want to make improvements and I want to become a better person and I want to achieve my goals have for life and in order to do that I got to make sure that I’m improving myself.

Self-improvement can be a great thing. In order to really improve myself sometimes I need an outside perspective. Sometimes I need a little bit of help. And a little bit of help can just be a viewpoint from someone that’s outside of myself, outside of my own life, and my own head. I need someone to tell me the things that I’m missing.

Are you up for it?

Is there somebody in your life that knows you well, spends time with you, and you really trust. Is there someone who honestly and accurately give you a little bit of feedback on some of the areas that you might want to improve that you’re missing? It may not be the most fun and enjoyable thing that you’ve done. But, the payoff, those benefits that you can get to improve in ways that you couldn’t before.

You get to carry those benefits and improvements with you for the rest of your life. That ways you can make the adjustments, changes, and improvements and enjoy life.

__________________________

You can now listen on YouTube at: NickMaizy.com/YTL