There are those who work like a dog to make things happen, there are those who watch things happen, and then there are those who wonder what happened. Be the person who makes things happen.

Sometimes you have to work like a dog. If you want to be extraordinary, you must do the things that ordinary people are not willing to do.

Success does not occur through merely wishing for success. But it also doesn’t occur through force. Trying to force success to happen, or getting incredibly frustrated when things are not happening exactly the way you would like, demonstrates an unawareness of the perfection of the universe.

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann

The first step in simplifying, and living with less, is to identify the essential – that which you want to keep in your life. Then eliminate as much of the non- essential as possible.

I go into much more detail on this process in The Power of Less (please buy it to read more on all these topics – see ThePowerofLess.com), but basically you want to create a Short List of 4-5 things in your life that you value most – people you love or things you’re passionate about, things you want in your life. These are your essentials.

You are an accumulation of your habits. From how you get out of bed, how you shower, how you dress, how you shop for food and eat meals, how you exercise, how you walk, sit, and talk, how you respond to the world, how you act in front of others, and how you think; you are living out your habits.

Habits are necessary. Because they typically come naturally and automatically (“through habit”), they free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to survive day to day. You don’t have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you’re going.

Gay Hendricks is an internationally famous author, seminar leader, web entrepreneur, and filmmaker.
He is the author of more than 20 books, including the national bestseller Conscious Loving and the founder of the Spiritual Cinema Circle. He resides with his wife, author and seminar leader Kathlyn Hendricks, in Ojai, California.

Five Wishes describes a conversation that changed your life. Who was it with and what happened?

It was a brief conversation at a party I didn’t even want to be at. I went to the party with Kathlyn, who would later become my wife (now 27 years into a great marriage that probably would not have occurred had I not gone to the party.) I met a man named Ed Steinbrecher, who seemed about as uncomfortable at the party as I was. We decided not to engage in any small talk, so he asked me a question that definitely qualified as Big Talk.