Breaking Free of Complacency

Think back to a time in your life when you had a burning desire for more that left you plotting and scheming for a way to achieve your dreams. Were you content with thoughts or were you driven to action that pushed you to the limits of your comfort zone to realize your dreams?

While a certain amount of safety and security is necessary in life, it can often come at an undisclosed price—complacency. Complacency is often disguised as contentment and is what happens when you abandon your ambition and stop challenging yourself to improve. When you reach a level of complacency and settle for what you have, even if it doesn't make you happy, you are preventing yourself from reaching for the stars and realizing your full potential.

Breaking the spell of complacency can be difficult, but if you overcome your inertia, you open the door to surprising yourself and transforming your life! When you feel the creep of complacency lulling you to sleep, embrace these motivating activities to recharge your energy:

Surround Yourself by Inspiration

Create a wall or journal filled with works of art, images or words that inspire you. By turning to this collage of inspiration, you will be reminding yourself that you have work to do.

Rediscover Your Passion

Carve out time in your schedule to pursue your passion once again. Whether your passion is fitness, creative endeavors or community service, put it on your calendar and plan on getting involved.

Challenge Yourself

Once the initial spark of interest is gone, add a new twist to your life and see where it takes you. By mixing it up in this way, you can stay true to your passion while expanding your horizons at the same time.

Share Your Skills

There's no better way to reawaken your passion and interests than by sharing them with someone new. By becoming a teacher or mentor, you will be returning to the roots of what you love, and be refreshed by the energy created when you pass along your love of a subject to a new student.

Many areas of your life are prone to complacency, and very often these are the areas of your life where there is most to lose if you succumb to inertia and apathy. Whether you are settling for less in your career or your relationship, you have little to lose and everything to gain when you decide to take that first step in breaking free from complacency.

In order to live a fully realized life, it's important that you remain alert to new opportunities and ways to grow and improve. If you give into these feelings of complacency, you risk the career you've always wanted or a close relationship with the love of your life. By reconnecting with your passion and desires, you will be able to convert the energy of desire into action and transform your life.