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by Bert Oliva

Stop making excuses for yourself.

Stop saying, “What if.”

Stop saying, “Yes, but…”

Own your choices. Own your successes. Own your failures.

Fully own yourself and who you are.

Respect yourself. Love yourself. Know yourself.

You are the only you that exists on this planet.

Your actions and choices have the ability to affect everyone and everything around you.

Start tapping into your power and make the changes in your life you want to see.

Stop waiting for things to happen.

Start making things happen.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Do You Feel Lucky?

by Bert Oliva

Did you wake up this morning feeling lucky to be alive? You should. Over 183,000 people didn’t wake up this morning.

Did you feel lucky to have something to eat this morning? You should. Over 792 billion people in the world are undernourished today.

Do you feel lucky to have a roof over your head or a place to lay your head at night? You should. Over 3.5 million people in the U.S. experience homelessness each year.

Being alive, having food to eat, and having shelter are three very simple things that we take for granted all the time. Yet we are luckier than a lot of people. However, we still feel unlucky and hopeless. That we don’t have everything we want.

Take the mindset of hopelessness and lack out of your mind. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and focus on what you do have. When you change your mindset from scarcity to abundance we attract more abundance.

You have everything you need. And everything you want is coming to you, as soon as you change your mind and know it.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

I’m Afraid

by Bert Oliva

How much of your life is spent in fear? Fear of disappointing others? Fear of being disappointed? Fear of not being good enough? Fear of missing out? The list goes on…

Our society seems to stress what we’re missing. Just look at TV commercials and you will see what I mean. You always have to look for the next big thing. The next new adventure. Now is never good enough. You are never good enough. You have to be thinner, happier, smarter. No wonder we all feel anxious and fearful.

Stop worrying about what others think of you. Stop thinking you may disappoint people. Stop. These negative thoughts become self-fulfilling. If we just stop putting ourselves in these negative states, then we will stop attracting the negative and there is no reason to live in fear.

Hate to break it to you—you are not perfect. None of us are. Accept yourself as you are. Make steps to change what you do not like, but do not beat yourself up over your imperfections. That is some of the most unproductive behavior you can participate in.

What do you have to be scared of? Anything may happen, but allowing ourselves to be paralyzed and driven by fear only leads to half-lived lives and resentment.

Stop living in fear and live in gratitude instead. You woke up this morning. You are alive and have another day to live, laugh, and make positive steps toward your goals.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Professional Who?

by Bert Oliva

Do you ever wonder what happened to the professional people?

Here are some characteristics of a TRUE PROFESSIONAL:

1) They call people back no matter what, even if it is to tell them they are not interested.

2) They keep neat and organized work environments.

3) They are conscious of time for themselves as well as others.

4) They produce results, not make excuses.

5) They do their homework or necessary research.

6) They turn in their projects or reports ON TIME.

7) They are self-driven.

8) They dress appropriately.

9) They are courteous and responsive to co-workers and clients.

10) They are reliable, responsible and competent.

11) They focus on the end result, FOCUS being the key word.

Professional people are the ones that succeed in life, whatever their industry is. Where do you honestly rate? Most people lie to themselves about these things but expect GREAT results in their lives. What you put out in life is exactly what you get back, no exceptions. Live to your true potential and reap the rewards.

Live Life,

Bert Oliva

Are You Being Judged?

by Bert Oliva

The short answer, yes. Every time you meet someone you form your opinion of him or her, either consciously or subconsciously. The same is happening to them towards you. First encounters usually set the pace for the duration of a relationship.

Here are some tips on how to make a good first impression:

– Be on time.
– Be yourself; be at ease.
– Present yourself appropriately.
– Engage in the small talk.
– Be attentive.
– Have a winning smile!

The above tips will help you make a good first impression, but what about our first impressions of others? Though we may always subconsciously make judgments of others, it is important for us to make a conscious effort to not make a judgment on someone’s situation unless we have made a serious effort to discover all the facts. The phrase, “A little information can be a dangerous thing” is very appropriate when it comes to making judgments. Oftentimes what looks like one thing on our first impression can be discovered to be something else once we have more information.

Moreover, remember that life has quite a sense of humor. Many times a person who judges another for a situation they are in will find themselves in a very similar, and often worse, situation. Never look down on people. You could be next.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

How To Take Action

by Bert Oliva

Are you a social lurker? Do you find yourself reading people’s posts on social media and never commenting? Perhaps you will hit a “like” or a “favorite” now and then, but for the most part, you stay quiet? This seems to have become a trend nowadays. We tend to watch everyone’s lives, but never actually interact.

The question is, why aren’t you interacting? Why aren’t you taking action and telling people what you think? And how much are your online actions a mirror of your real-life actions or inactions? Are you truly living your life or are you just a spectator?

Today, I challenge you get off the bleachers in your life and get into the game. Stop being a lurker, online or offline. Reach out, take action, connect. You will be surprised at how much these small actions have a ripple effect in your life.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

How to Stay Focused

by Bert Oliva

In today’s world of email, texts, tweets, likes, snapchats, and instagrams, how do you stay focused? It seems like every time I’m focused on a project, invariably my phone will ring or ding or someone will come and interrupt me. Before I know it, my attention and focus is being pulled to something else. Can you relate to this?

There have been numerous studies in the past decade on how distractions affect our productivity. One study found that after an interruption it takes an average of 25 minutes for someone to return to the original task, if they do at all. Another study showed that always being connected to technology impacts your IQ equivalent to losing a night’s sleep. Moreover every time you change you focus, you use metabolic resources. So the more you change your focus, the less resources you have available. Thus, the more we change focus, the more resources we use, and the less productive we are. So, the question is, how do we stay focused?

The way our brains work is interesting. Once we choose to allow a distraction to take our focus, it is much harder to go back, but if we stop the distraction before it takes hold, we are much more successful. Thus, the main thing about maintaining focus is inhibiting distractions. This can be difficult, especially if we have conditioned ourselves for distractions; that is, opening the email as soon as the notification pops up, getting up for a cup of coffee every half hour, etc. You have to focus on what you are focusing on. Choose to observe yourself and inner monologue; catch the impulse to pick up your phone or to get up, before you actually do it. When someone comes and interrupts you, tell them nicely that you are in the middle of something, and will be with them as soon as you finish. Moreover, do not leave the tasks that take the most focus to the end of the day; focus on these first when you have the most energy and focus available. Making these minor changes may not be easy as first, but once you start working on it, you will find it easier.

You might find yourself asking, “But why do I need to stay more focused? No one else is.” However, the main question is, how do you feel at the end of most of your days? Do you feel accomplished or do you feel drained and overwhelmed? We have all gotten so accustomed to working at a small fraction of the focus level that we are capable of that it has become the norm. But we are capable of so much more. Do not allow mediocrity and the status quo to keep you from achieving your true potential.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

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