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We all make choices every day. Some choices are small and some choices can change the direction of our lives. We don't get to choose everything that happens to us, but we do get to choose what we are going to do about what happens. That is where change begins. We make choices because we are trying to meet a need. We want to move away from pain and toward something that makes us feel better. Sometimes we make good choices and sometimes we make choices that only give us tempora

A person can learn a better way to meet their needs. Once we make the decision to change a behavior, we have to put a plan into motion. Change does not happen just because we want it to. We have to be willing to do something different. When we change our behavior, our thinking begins to change. When our thinking changes, our attitude can change as well. That is part of our responsibility. We may not be responsible for everything that has happened to us, but we are responsible

From the outside, everything looks successful. The career is stable. The bills are paid. People respect you. Friends tell you how lucky you are. By every outward measure, you should feel accomplished. So why do so many high performers quietly ask themselves the same question: "Why do I still feel stuck?" It's a question many people never say out loud because they're afraid they'll sound ungrateful. They wonder why they feel restless when others would gladly trade places with

Let's be honest—none of us gets through life without experiencing pain. It may come from losing someone we love, going through a difficult relationship, struggling with disappointment, or facing challenges we never expected. Pain is something we all have in common. The one thing we do get to choose, however, is what we do with that pain. We can let it keep us stuck, or we can let it help us grow. I know that's easier said than done. When you're hurting, it can feel like no on

Life has a way of changing our plans. Sometimes it's gradual. Sometimes it happens in a single phone call. A divorce. The loss of a career. A financial setback. An addiction. A betrayal. The death of someone you love. Or simply waking up one morning and realizing the life you've been living no longer feels like your own. Every one of us will face fire. The question isn't whether it will happen. The question is what happens after it does. Why the Phoenix? Throughout history, t

I’ve had Henry Ford on my mind for the past couple of days. There are a lot of stories and phrases associated with him, some I have talked about earlier. There is a story about when he was hiring people to work on his idea of the assembly line. He would always have the interview during a meal. Right after the meal was brought to the table was when he knew whether he was going to hire or decline the candidate. What he was looking for was an open mind, one that was open to ne

Have you ever had something to do and you just did it, almost in automatic mode? What about something you had to do and you KNEW you couldn’t do it? Well, you were right in both instances. Henry Ford said “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” The reason you were right in both instances is because you KNEW the result before you even started. You KNEW you could get it done, and the only thing you were thinking was “what can I get done after this?” In

Michael Barnes Building Life Foundations How does your comfort zone keep you from attaining greatness in your life? Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “expecting a different result after doing the same thing over and over is the truest form of insanity”. So that means you will get nowhere in life doing the same thing over and over again. I can think of a lot of times in my life where I was expecting things to change but they never did. And it was all because of my unwilli

Michael Barnes There are many times in my life I have failed at something. From little instances to life changing actions, I have made a lot of mistakes, had lots of failures, but in the end, I learned a lot about what I was doing, and most importantly, myself. There are people out there who profess to never fail at what they are doing. I am one of those people who believes every word of that statement. It’s all in your perception. Did you fail, or did you learn something so

Thomas A. Edison quote Michael Barnes Building Life Foundations If we did all the things we are capable of, we would truly astound ourselves. When I was preparing my presentation, I was stopped dead in my tracks. I took a lot of time just reflecting on this quote because it has so many lessons to impart. For one, we do limit ourselves when it comes to what we can accomplish. Sometimes from a fear of failure, other times it is because we don’t know what resources there are av