The truth is, I already knew I was going to be late and instead of just owning it, the part of my brain that wants to pretend I'm powerless takes over and starts inventing reasoning to take away the supposed sting of personal responsibility.

The good news is that you can take back control, no matter how fast your merry-go-round might be spinning. The better news is that you can start today. It begins, quite simply, with your choice, and just one small step.

Understand that you can be an inspiration to others, no matter what you feel you have or have not achieved. Even if you feel that you have not yet reached the endpoint, and even if you feel like you have reached a low point, you have the ability to inspire.

This kind of "psychological courage" is essential to our health and happiness because it allows us to face up to our lives. To acknowledge and even confront the addictions and lies, fears and mistakes we make so that we can move into them and beyond them.

Success is any field is about lifestyle choices, not life-changing transformations. It's your daily routine that will carry you to wherever it is you want to go.

Do you have many dreams you'd like to make come true? If there's so much you want to do but in reality, so little time to do it, the feeling of overwhelm itself can actually hold you back from accomplishing any of your major goals.

While I truly believe that the choices we make and even the thoughts we think all matter greatly and affect the outcome of our existence, I also believe there is also another force at work and our role is actually more of a co-creator in our own lives.

Maybe not having a list of dreams makes me a cynic. Maybe saying I only ever wanted to be a mother and an author makes me simple. But maybe what it really means is that I know myself well and feel completely content with who I am, and where I am, today.

The most important work you'll do today is planning what you'll do. Here are some key strategies for staying proactive -- and one step ahead of stress.

In his wildly popular 2006 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson defined creativity as "the process of having original ideas that have value." Aside from being wonderfully succinct, this definition implies that any creative enterprise requires two key phases.

Discovering what it takes to lead a life that counts is something that has always fascinated me. Judging from the people I've met who live with a sense of regret and hopelessness, it's obvious that we often make mistakes in the pursuit of a meaningful life. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Positive life choices, carefully selected and added one at a time, act as powerful catalysts to bring you closer to a life that reflects your unique image of contentment.

My attitude in life is this: Everything is perfect as it is, and everything can be improved. Love is the power that makes things grow, mature, and become harmonious and beautiful. Here are four steps to use love in ways that improve your life.

You can discard the beliefs that aren't helpful anymore, and rework others so that they propel you toward your greatest dreams. In the short run, you can also choose beliefs that will leave you feeling better, happier, more peaceful.

The reality stung for a moment. But then... I felt liberated. After all, if I couldn't be the best runner around, then I could just focus on being the best runner I could be. Knowing and accepting I'd never be the best at it actually made me free.

Anyone can learn how to focus -- but only if we decide what is important to us and what we want to commit to accomplishing. The only wrong choice is no choice.

Do opposites attract, as Paula Abdul once assured us in a pop song, or do you need to be similar on 19 dimensions of personality -- as eHarmony suggests -- to find the perfect match?

The truth is, "no" doesn't mean we are a bad person or doomed to failure. It's not evidence of a conspiracy against us by the fates or proof that our parents/teachers/siblings were right about us and we never will amount to anything. It just means "not yes." That's it. "Not yes."

We often hear that in sports or other performance-related activities, the mental game is as important as the physical game. Fair enough. But what exactly is the mental game?

Choosing a career path (or changing one) is, for most of us, a confusing and anxiety-riddled experience. Many will tell you to "follow your passion" or "do what you love," but like Cal Newport argues in So Good They Can't Ignore You, this is not very useful advice.

You can get unstuck. It won't be easy, but the difficulty and trial of this process is the journey that separates the stuck from the unstuck in life.

It's nice to know what you want and having goals gives you a sense of direction and purpose. However, there is one way that your hopes and dreams actually sabotage you from becoming better: Your desires can easily lure you into biting off more than you can chew.

Walking along the straight and narrow, a step at a time, won't get you where you really want to go. Satisfying as it is to complete the "to do" list, it's not enough. Aiming high means exactly that -- look up, grab your magic wand, and imagine your life five years from now.