Wake up! You’re still reasonably young! Don’t wait until you’re 90 years old and unable to do anything. You need to realize this today!

Don’t let your procrastination stop you from going after what you want. And especially do not let any fears stop you. The sooner you face your fears, sooner you’ll improve yourself and eventually get what you want. You need to go out there in life and realize that if you want to achieve any success you’re going to have to experience failure. If you don’t believe me then read following quote:

"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take game winning shot, and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed." -- Michael Jordan

Failure is not final. So stop waiting around for that perfect opportunity to come by your way. Stop procrastinating! Go out there, face your fears, and go after what you want. If you need more tips visit my website to read more of my articles.

Next time you are confronted with other people’s rudeness, remind yourself: “It’s not about me.” Make that sentence your “Easy Button.”

How will this help? By voicing sentence to yourself, you automatically shift perspective. Your attention is diverted away from you and your hurt feelings, so that you can be more objective, and less prone to overreacting. You remain cool-headed. Your inner brat has little chance of taking over and ruining your day by dwelling unnecessarily on situation.

“It’s not about me” works most of time to calm you down when feeling hurt or insulted. Occasionally, however, you might need something extra to help shift your perspective. If so, follow up with this question: “Would I expect anything else from this person?” Your answer will likely be “No, such behavior is quite characteristic of this person.”

Once you shift your perspective, decide what you’re going to do about other person’s rude remark or behavior. That will vary, depending on situation and person. In any case, just act of making a decision will reinforce your feeling in control -- even if decision is to do nothing.

Now that you are armed with your own new Easy Button, you are well prepared to keep other people’s inner brats from triggering your own.

Pauline Wallin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in Camp Hill, PA, and author of "Taming Your Inner Brat: A Guide for Transforming Self-defeating Behavior" (Wildcat Canyon Press, 2004)