How to Control Your Life
I just watched a very brief video by Derren Brown, and I thought it worth passing on the message it contained.
The two things in your life that you can control are
- your thoughts, and
- your actions.
That’s it, entirely. You cannot control what other people think, or do. You can’t control your friends. Or your family. Or your neighbours. Or the government. All you can ever control are your own thoughts and your own actions.
Control your thoughts and your actions
In fact, that’s all you ever need to control. If you focus on thinking productively and effectively and sensibly, and if you follow up with sensible and focused actions, then you’re winning, big time.
Everything else, other than your own thoughts and your own actions, you cannot control. Stop all the needless worrying about that ‘everything else’ and focus on those two important things.
When something frustrates you, decide which side it’s on. If it’s on the side of ‘everything else’, then decide that it’s okay, it’s fine. Really fine. You’re okay with it. In fact, you’re happy with it. It’s important to be sincere in this thought, not just reciting some remembered words.
Focus on what’s important
Then it stops being a frustration. Why would you be frustrated with something that’s fine? Forget about it, and then just get on with focusing on what matters, the two things, the only two things, you can actually control: your thoughts … and your actions.
Take a look at the video: