Uncertainty oftentimes feels unsettling and uncomfortable. Whether it’s ambiguity about your next career move, where you want to live or how you want to spend your time, indecision can strip you of your confidence and cause you to doubt your abilities, talents and self-worth.

While it’s important to keep a positive attitude as you sift through uneasy times, we all know that it can be difficult. Someone telling you to smile and cheer up isn’t really what you want to hear when you’re struggling just to keep your head above water. What does work, is building the necessary skill set that will allow you to manage your racing thoughts and impulsive actions when times get tough. I’ve outlined tips that will keep your thoughts in line, so you can turn them into productive action with laser focused energy.

Set A Daily Intention

The act of setting a daily intention is not hard, and telling yourself that you have no time to set one is just an excuse. What’s hard, is making it a habit to mindfully set an intention each morning. Once you get past the initial struggles of remembering to set your intention, you’ll see what a difference it makes in your life, and be on your way to a happier and healthier you.

For example, yesterday I set the intention to keep my focus on whatever it was I was doing or working on that day, and bring my attention back to the present moment when I veered off. And you know what, it worked! Because I started my day by intentionally setting and acknowledging a small goal, I was able to carry it out.

Exercise & Eat A Balanced Diet

It’s true that you can’t have a positive mind with a negative attitude, and it’s also true that you can’t have a positive mind with an unhealthy lifestyle. As much as you want to tell yourself that your to-do list is what’s going to get you on the right track and feeling better, it’s not. Sure, it’ll clear your schedule a bit, but it won’t nourish your mind and body. Daily exercise and eating a balanced diet is way too low on many people’s priority list. I bet that if you move it to the top of your list, your health will improve and so will everything else.

Surround Yourself With People Who Lift You Up

Negative vibes and people will bring you down, and if you’re not careful will spread like wildfire to other parts of your life. Surround yourself with it long enough, and eventually you’ll find yourself stuck in a downward spiral of negative thoughts and harmful behaviors. It takes intentional effort on your part to love yourself enough to distance yourself from people and things that aren’t doing you any good, and in fact could be harming your health. It’s worth the tough decisions and uncomfortable feelings that separating from old things and people may bring, in order to find everlasting peace and joy with your new surroundings.

Open Up

It amazes me how our culture and society can make it seem like everyone lives an amazing and lavish lifestyle and never has any problems. We all know this isn’t true, yet we get caught up in foolish assumptions and generalizations about how everyone out there has it so great but us. In turn, we end up putting on a brave face for the world and isolating ourselves from sharing and dealing with our problems.

We’d all be a lot happier and healthier if we were open and honest with each other and felt comfortable turning to one another for support. I’m going to say it just because many times we forget, but we’re all human and most of the time we’re dealing with similar struggles.

Be Mindful Of Your Own Judgement & Criticism

Our own self-talk is the very thing that can move us to do great things, and the very thing that can hold us back from ever reaching our full potential. Mindfulness teaches non-judgment of self and others and, unfortunately, that’s not always an easy task. We’re taught to judge and measure ourselves, others, our performance, our intelligence and our talents from a very young age.

If you get too caught up in the results and fall into a trap of constant comparison to others, you’ll find yourself quite unhappy. Love and respect for yourself comes from the inside, and only when you become your own cheerleader will you realize that whatever happens on the outside can’t, and will not, stop you from moving forward and following your dreams.

Clear Your Head

We all have so much going on each day that it can feel like we never have time for ourselves and are living in a constant state of chaos. This isn’t a healthy way to live and at some point your mind and body will tell you no. Whether it’s yoga, a long walk, meditating or reading, clearing your head is something you should do once, if not several times a day. Review my article, 5 Benefits Of A 3-Minute Mediation, to see the science behind how beneficial clearing your head is for you and your health.

These are just a few ideas that’ll help you get to where you’re going with confidence and strength. If you’re anything like me, when I’m feeling overwhelmed or confused about where to head next, it’s hard for me to just “try harder” or think happier thoughts. I need to have daily habits and skills in place I can use to keep a level-head and make me feel empowered to take action. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!

Katie Carlson

Katie Carlson is a seasoned professional with skills and experience in education, training, event planning, social media, blogging, technology, marketing and customer service.

In her free time she loves playing soccer, golfing, running, cooking, volunteering, reading, traveling, having dinner with friends, being creative, writing, engaging in stimulating conversation, going to the beach, sunshine and of course, blogging. She resides in Chicago with her loving husband, James.

Katie created The Social Being721 in order to make sure she practices what she preaches and takes time each day to reflect and give thanks and gratitude for the very special moments in life. She thought she’d have some fun doing it and share content her readers can connect with and embrace. It doesn’t have to be complicated or a place to make judgments, it just IS. Inspiration, laughter and human connections keep Katie grounded and motivated. She’s always hungry to learn and grow!

Connect with Katie… www.thesocialbeing721.com, www.thesocialbeing721lifestyle.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,Pinterest, Google+