The other day, while we were lying in bed, my wife had a headache and asked me to get her a Motrin. I grabbed a bottle of water on the side table, went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, took a Motrin, and I swallowed the pill myself. Say what? Yes, I did.

Sometimes, we are so much hypnotized by our habitual thoughts that we are not connected to the now, doing things automatically, missing the next “big” turn on our lives, or simply taking the wrong pill. We are so anchored into our past experiences or worrying and daydreaming about the future that we lose our sense of time and our present vanishes along with the opportunity to live, to create and to appreciate.

Amazingly, very often we ask ourselves if there is life after we die, but, given our current lifestyle of deep trance and distractions that overwhelm, the question we should be asking is: Could I truly live before I die?

The past is a canceled check and your future is an illusion unless you decide to step out of the habitual trance and make it your own … intentionally. For this reason, I want to share 18 things you can do to help you accomplish just that:

1. Take 100% responsibility of your life experience by committing to be the director of your own movie. Only the director can choose who is the victim and who is the hero … choose wisely.
2. Don’t live from memory but from your potential. Set amazing goals and discover how far you can go.
3. Goals are there to reveal how powerful you already are, not to test your worth. Set the “What,” learn the “How,” and make it happen.
4. Dream big, but start small. Your goals should be outside of your comfort zone, but the small actions that will lead you to your dreams don’t need to be.
5. Have a relentless focus. Learn to control distractions from people, from technology and, yes, from your own thoughts.
6. Reward your efforts … don’t wait to achieve your goals to feel good, and you will achieve them faster.
7. “Leave the drama to your mama.” Yes, sometimes things are tough. Don’t think of them better than what they are, but don’t make them worse, either.
8. Let it go. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? Ed Forman once said that all the water in the world will never sink a ship unless it gets inside.
9. Turn the phone off! When you are with someone, BE with that someone.
10. When you hug someone, feel their heart. Smile and fully enjoy their presence.
11. Identify and confront your fears. Don’t allow an emotion to keep your dreams hostage. If you need help, consult a professional.
12. Discomfort is the currency to your dreams. Not feeling good about doing something is not an excuse to avoid taking action toward your dreams.
13. Every morning and night, think about three things you can feel grateful about. Feel it.
14. Meditate. For many years, I was reluctant to try it. Oh, how wrong I was. Now I have more focus and better control of my emotions. You can try apps such as “Calm” or “10% Happier.” You will be happy you did. Pun intended.
15. From your past “bad” experiences, you either get the pain or learn the lesson. If you learn the lesson, the pain tends to disappear. If you don’t, sometimes you might find yourself, unconsciously, repeating the class.
16. Identify and confront your limiting beliefs that prevent you from creating the life you want. Yes, you can. Yes, you deserve it. And, yes, you are worth it.
17. Pause your “busyness” and enjoy the silence. In a great symphony, you will find highs, lows and pauses; so it is in life. Enjoy it.
18. Forgive. Do it for you. It will liberate you.

I hope that from the above list you found a few points you can use right now to live, to create and to appreciate. Every experience should help shape a better version of you. It’s all about who you are becoming. As someone once said: Live every day like your last because one day you will be right.  

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Edward A. Rodriguez is a coach, co-author and transformational trainer. He is founder and CEO of Better Graphics (a promotional products company) and In-Powerment! Center (an international training company for productivity and personal development). He is an NLP, HNLP, and neuro-strategy certified trainer. He has many certifications as a life and executive coach, serving clients in different countries. Edward has developed internationally known transformational programs and has co-authored books like La Biblia de la Motivación (The Bible About Motivation) and Empowered, which was co-written with other authors such as Wayne W. Dyer, John Assaraf (from the movie The Secret), Brian Tracy, etc. For more information, call 1-888-2-IN-POWER or write to info@EdwardRodriguez.com.