"If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it."
Anthony J. D'Angelo


When I recently found this suggestion/ motivational quote about going 24 hours without complaining, it really stroke a chord, because I had to really think about that matter for about 5 minutes to come up with a reason and a time when I had complained about something the last time.

Honestly I can´t remember.

However, when I read the comments to the facebook post it feels like I am the only one without a reason to bother. This brought me to think deeper about that matter and what effective people probably do differently than others. No, I´m not promoting a book here or one of these countless blog posts that give you 10 random things you could do on any day to be more succesful, etc.

Well, the first thing to note is that my text on the image above reads a bit different, and while it seems funny, it still holds truth. It seems to be a ridiculous amount of time, but the timeframe is more realistic than to expect a change from just 24 hours without complaining.

That leads me to a very hard conclusion; If you have to complain within 24 hours more than once, you certainly have a serious problem, that can cause a lot of issues along your way, health issues included.

• Adjust Your Mindset
  The first thing to change is the mindset. I have some relevant posts about how to adjust your mindset. Worldview changes everything, whenever we find us in a position where we would usually complain, it can be divided in 2 groups: those situations that we can change and those situations that we can not change. The latter is harder to deal with and only a different mindset helps to get over this. The first step to a better mindset is to learn empathy and how to see beauty in everything.
  

• Change Things Immediately
  This one is tough and is relevant for the things "You Can Change". How we deal with things that happen to us is a result of routine, routine comes from habits. You have control over habits.
  It is important to immediately take action to shape habits the way you want a routine to be like. One example would be that you react to emails directly to keep your inbox clean, answer directly or move mails into a "TODO" folder if you need to get to them later. It is not that hard, really.
  
  
• Turn Away From Things You Can´t Change
  Seems like a no-brainer, but there are many things around us, issues that we can not change by ourselves, such as a hurricane that destroys your home, or taxes, or the mood of your boss. What you can do is to turn away from the issues, find a different perspective and turn towards solution that change a whole situation. Most often these are radical changes such as quitting a job or change profession or seeking a new home. But somewhere in your life there was something that led to that dilemma and either you face it and find a solution or you stick with it and will always keep complaining about things. Change is always about minimzing possible complaints.
  
  
• Avoid Time-Thieves And Energy-Parasites
  There are people who profit from other peoples energy, time or talent. I don´t mean that in a way of tipping of others, but in a way that some people are energized with a positive power and others with some negative power. As soon as these two persons are in one room they clash. Complaints and frustration is in order. Avoid these people (your guts help you) and you have another reason less to complain or to procrastinate.
  
  
• Take Your Time
  One often overlooked asset is time. It takes time to implement a new mindset or to positively change your habits, autosuggestion also takes time (sometimes years). You´ll notice that impatience is your biggest enemy. This literally is the number one answer to many things in life. Give yourself and others time. No one is all evil, give them time and they´ll show you a good side. With the right attitude you are able to see it (worldview). The same goes with applications, once you submitted your application for this job or that position, simply forget about it. Sure, in 7 out of 10 cases you won´t get an answer, however, the more you are able to forget about it, the more answers you will get.
  
  
• Control Through Responsibility
  You control your life. If you don´t - you are remotely controlled - and that is a very bad thing to happen, the murder of John Lennon was remotely controlled. Whenever you find yourself in a situation that makes you feel upset, repeat the following words:" I am in control of my life and this is where I want to be, everything else is too expensive in my humble imagination." This may sound harsh, but you won´t repeat that autosuggestive sentence 2 weeks in a row, twice a day without changing anything, believe me. But the change must come from within you, no one else then you is responsible for your situation.