Enjoyment

Are you enjoying yourself today?

Enjoyment gives you an enormous competitive edge. If you truly love what you’re doing, and the person next to you absolutely hates what she is doing, who is going to do the best job? You are, of course. So what happens when you have to do something that you hate? That’s easy — stop hating it and start finding a way to enjoy it. Realize that enjoyment exists in your mind, and you are in full control of your mind. No outside condition can prevent you from enjoying life when you choose to do so. There is nothing you need for enjoyment other than your own choice.

If you have trouble making that choice, take a step back from yourself and objectively consider the alternatives. At any given time, you can choose to be miserable or you can choose to enjoy the moment. If you choose to be miserable, you’ll make more mistakes, you’ll drive people away, and you’ll have trouble getting anything done. Why would you ever choose to put yourself in that condition?

Certainly, there will be difficult, painful and unpleasant things coming into your life on a regular basis. And yet, the question you must ask yourself is this. Do you really want to add your own negative energy to the pain and difficulties, making them even more burdensome? Or would you rather begin to rise above those difficulties as quickly as possible? Choosing to enjoy life will put you in a position to most effectively deal with whatever comes along.

A commitment to enjoyment does not mean pursuing a hedonistic life filled with nothing but empty pleasures. To be sure, many of life’s greatest pleasures can be transformed into sheer misery if you become so obsessed with them that they control your life. True enjoyment goes beyond mere pleasure. True enjoyment comes when you choose to be at peace with the moment and with who you are. True enjoyment comes when you value life simply because it is.

Though life is not always enjoyable, you can always enjoy being alive. By allowing yourself to enjoy the moment, whatever the moment may hold, you put yourself in a position to move positively and powerfully forward. The more you enjoy life, the more you’ll find to enjoy. Enjoy life, and you can truly make it great.