“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

Each day you live, you write a page in your life story. Each year you live, you add another chapter to your life story. Everything you say and do in your life adds to your life story. Your life story is your message to the world. What will your life story say about you? What will your message tell the world?

Will your message tell of a great odyssey like Odysseus had or will it tell a great tale of overcoming the odds like Earnest Shackleton? Will your message tell the world you lived an unstoppable life or will it tell a tale of mediocrity and a tale of an unlived life?

The truth is that you get to choose what your message will say because you get to write the storyline. Maybe you have been living uneventfully and maybe the message is not telling the story you want the world to read and hear. If that is true, then you can choose TODAY to write a new page in your unstoppable life. Stop for a moment and think about what you want your life to become.

Think about what you want your message to be. Think about the difference, the significance, the impact, and the inspiration your message can bring to others. What will your life message say to the world?

It begins with your how you choose to live you day. How do you wake up each morning? When was the last time you woke up, jumped out of bed, and exclaimed that you were awake, alive, and ready for the opportunities of the new day? Are you ready to face the day’s challenges, excited to make an impact? On the other hand, do you meet the morning with a sense of drudgery and despair?

When was the last time you woke up early enough to watch the dawning of the new day? To see the rebirth of opportunity and possibility as the new day brings light to a darkened world.

When was the last time you stopped to drink deeply of the wonder of the morning and the gift of another day and just be amazed at life? The gift of a new day has arrived for you to proclaim, “I am Awake, I am Alive, and I am ready to take on the World today!” When was the last time you shouted that you were Alive?

I have had the great opportunity and privilege to see the new day arrive in 32 different countries, all 50 States, 500 miles from the North Pole, and deep in the South Pacific and it still amazes me. I still stand in awe as I watch the wispy tendrils of light pierce through the darkness and bring light and new life to the World.

Your journey through life and self-discovery is much like the start of a new day. As you grow, develop, and reinvent yourself, the tendrils of light tear through the darkness of your untapped potential and uncharted territories

The Greek Philosopher Socrates is quoted as saying, “The unexamined life is not worth leading.” The most important investment you can make is in yourself. As you learn more, discover your life’s purpose, and establish a vision for your future, the light shines through on your true self. That investment will determine your unstoppable life.

Each day you choose to operate in your unstoppable nature or we choose to operate out of your mediocre nature. The choice is made when you decide to proactively create your day or just live in the day and accept whatever comes your way. It is a choice of desire and fire or a choice of complacency and just good enough. Living an unstoppable life is a choice and you must make the choice to be unstoppable. Throughout my life and leadership I found eight keys to living an Unstoppable Life.

First Key

BE INSPIRED

            To live an unstoppable life you need to live inspired and live for more than just yourself. When you live an unstoppable life you are an inspiration to others. On October 3, 1889, General Joshua L. Chamberlain said these inspiring words at the dedication of the Maine Monuments at Gettysburg Battlefield Cemetery:

The inspiration of a noble cause involving human interests wide and far, enables men to do things they did not dream themselves capable of before, and which they were not capable of alone. The consciousness of belonging, vitally, to some-thing beyond individuality; of being part of a personality that reaches we know not where, in space and time, greatens the heart to the limits of the soul’s ideal, and builds out the supreme of character. In great deeds, something abides.

On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls. This is the great reward of service, to live, far out and on, in the life of others.

Chamberlain was talking about the reward of service before self, in the ability to live your life – far beyond your own life – through service to others as an inspiration.

Second Key

LIVE GREATLY

            To live an unstoppable life you need to live greatly and not a life of mediocrity. Living greatly means you live a life that counts and live an abundant life. On April 23, 1910, President Teddy Roosevelt spoke these words at the Sorbonne in Paris, France:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

What he was talking about was living greatly and persevering throughout your life. Teddy Roosevelt was an example of an unstoppable life. When he was young, he suffered from asthma and other childhood sicknesses that could have left him weak and fragile throughout his early life. He challenged himself daily, developed his mind and body, and put himself in situations which required him to grow in order to overcome what life had put upon him. He challenged himself to live a life of greatness and abundance instead of a life of mediocrity.

Third Key

CHANGE YOURSELF

            To live an unstoppable life you need to change yourself every year and develop a life development plan. At the beginning of each new day, take the opportunity to start a portion of your life over by establishing new goals and new opportunities to change your life.

Change is not easy and takes some perseverance and will power. Anything is possible if you are determined to make it happen. All change begins with you and requires that you be committed to improving yourself. Dr. Viktor E. Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist who survived the Holocaust.

In October 1944, Frankl and his wife Tilly were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp for internment. Soon after arriving at Auschwitz, Viktor was sent to another concentration camp called Kaufering and his wife Tilly was sent to Bergen-Belsen. They would never see each other again and Tilly would die in the camp at the age of 24.

Viktor’s mom would be murdered in the gas chambers in Auschwitz and his brother would die in the same camp. After being confined for three years and despite all the pain and suffering he endured, Dr. Viktor Frankl would write the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, about his life in the concentration camp and his ability to decide how he would look at his circumstances. He chose his outlook in life.

In his book, two quotes stand out. “When we are no longer able to change a situation we are challenged to change ourselves” and “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

 Fourth Key

CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

            Being unstoppable is a mindset. It is an unwavering belief in yourself, your abilities, and your capabilities. It is a belief in your unshakeable purpose and values. You have to believe in yourself with conviction and commitment. It is an awareness of your strengths and your challenges. It is about self-efficacy, self-awareness, and intentional clarity.

Once you have recognized your purpose and values and ingrained them, you begin to shape your unstoppable life. Unless you have an unwavering belief that you have something of value to offer this world you’ll never be unstoppable.

The unstoppable mindset means that no matter what life tosses in your way, you can overcome it. It is about being fearless. Fear is a creation of your mind. It is a response to an uncertainty or an unknown. You need to be fearless in your life to be unstoppable. Being fearless is overcoming your feelings of fear and pushing through the uncertainty.

The only way to combat fear is to face your fear and take the necessary action to alleviate the fear. To get over fear, you have to take action. Being unstoppable is about making life choices. Life is a series of choices, and every choice you make defines you. The most important choice you can make is who you will become.

If you want to live an unstoppable life, you need to change your mindset and win the war of your thinking. You have tremendous inner strength as an individual and by applying this inner strength you can achieve what you want in life. By changing the way you think and applying different effects in your life, you can create new possibilities in your life.

Fifth Key

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE

            The true key, if you want to live an unstoppable life, then you need to take 100% control of your life. Stop blaming others for your failures and faults and start accepting responsibility for your life.

If you want to succeed in life, then you need to create the outcomes of your life and quit letting others dictate your life. You are the owner of your success, failures, emotions, and feelings. So, take ownership of your life! To be truly unstoppable you must take charge of your life.

As long as you are bound to others for their acceptance and approval, you will not own your life. An unstoppable life is the freedom and liberty to express yourself authentically and unapologetically.

If you are consumed by the need for others to accept you, then you will be consumed trying to prove that you are worthy of their approval. You need to realize that you are worthy and loved in your own right without others justifying your existence. You need to have the courage to be yourself and accept who you are and what you have to offer the world.

It is your life…Own it! No one can change your life. You are the only you that can do it. It is up to you…you are the key to your life! If you want to realize victory in your life, then you have to take charge of your life.      Along my journey through life, I have learned a few things for an unstoppable life.

• First, in order to be happy I must live my life according to my purpose and not what the World wants. I need to live authentically and congruent with purpose, values, and beliefs to live with integrity. This is important because my purpose drives me each day and gives me direction.
• Second, I actively decide not to sacrifice my values and beliefs on the altar of appeasement and enlightenment. My values and beliefs provide me the solid rock on which I stand. They are unwavering and ground me to reality.
• Third, I do not care what others think of my life, my values, beliefs, and my worldview. They are my anchor points in life. I am not trying to live their lives, I am living my own.
• Finally, I respect others for their values and beliefs and accept them for who they are. I am not talking about tolerance, but respect. I do not need to accept everything someone does with their life, but I do need to respect them and accept them for who they are. They are trying to live their life on this planet, too.

 Sixth Key

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE

            To begin taking ownership, you need to realize that each of us is given 24 hours each day to use as we wish–24 hours, no more no less; not a minute more. You can choose to use that time to create or change your life’s outcomes or you can chose to waste the hours. The choice is yours.

How you choose to use the hours will determine if you will be successful or if you are wasting your time on earth. Each day, each hour, each minute is a gift of life and opportunity. You need to unwrap each day as a gift and see what you can do with the gift to make your life unstoppable! If you want to be successful, if you want to “be alive,” if you want to have great passion for living on purpose, then you need to take responsibility for all aspects of your life—successes and failures. They are yours, you own them. Be intentional about your purpose in life.

Your thoughts, attitude, choices, and your decisions are the reason you are where you are today. Your life is the outcome of how you look at life, your attitude toward life, your choices, and decisions you make in life. You are the sum of these four. You are free to shape your attitude, free to change your thoughts, and free to make life choices and life decisions, but you must also understand the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th order of effects/consequences of these four areas.

Seventh Key

YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE

            You are accountable for how you make your choices in life, how well you prepare yourself in life, how you persevere and persist against the odds, but moreover, you are accountable for your outlook or attitude about your life. You need to own your decisions, choices, and mistakes and be ready and willing to take the essential steps to learn from them. You must take accountability for your life or someone else will.

Where you are today in this moment of time is a direct result of your choices and decisions. But, where you go in the future depends on what you envision for your life and what actions you plan to take to make it happen.

You must quit blame shifting and start being accountable for your life. Stop making excuses for your decisions, they are under your control. Stop transferring blame to someone else or something for the outcomes of your decisions. When you blame others for your problems and challenges you deny personal responsibility and you give away your power of choice.

Life is not fair or equal. If it was fair and equal, we all would be living the same lifestyles. Life dealt your cards to you when you were born, now you must shape your life. Life will try to define you. It is your response to life though that will define you.

Eighth Key

NEVER GIVE UP

            To live an unstoppable life you must never give up on yourself, your dreams, and your life vision. You must never give up on believing in yourself, who you are, and what you are capable of doing. On October 29, 1941, Winston Churchill spoke these words at Harrow School after having survived the first major air war called the Battle of Britain:

This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy…There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.

He told the students at Harrow School to never give in and to never give up despite all odds being against them. Winston Churchill provided them a key to becoming unstoppable.

You must not give up on yourself, your dreams, or your desire to be unstoppable. You can choose to live a mediocre life or you can choose to push back on life and live a life of significance and impact. Seek to always be the very best person you can become each and every day.

The degree to which you can realize your dreams is contingent on you taking responsibility and never giving up on your life. No one can live your life or make your decisions. Living an unstoppable life is a choice and you must make the choice to be unstoppable.