Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The 90 Day Mental Fitness Challenge!
After years of studying leadership and personal development, I've come to the conclusion that it really boils down to being in constant pursuit of PERSONAL EXCELLENCE!
To some people that might sound stressful but it really isn't! It's simply a matter of developing a few new habits, like reading and listening to some positive input on a consistent basis.
If you do nothing more than those two things consistently, you will automatically begin to grow and change simply because what your mind takes in begins to affect your thought processes and thereby begins to produce better, more positive results!
It can be just that simple or become a much more involved process of study, discovery and implementation.
Either way the end result is progress!
So how do you know where to start, how to keep yourself motivated to continue the process and where do you find the best materials?
That's where I have to introduce you to The 90 Day Mental Fitness Challenge!
Top 15 Leadership Gurus, Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, have finally created a program that's really designed for the way that we adults actually learn and retain info the best!
I highly encourage you to click on the RED CHECK MARK link under our photo on the right side of this page and watch their video intro to the Mental Fitness Challenge!
No matter where you already are in your personal development journey, take this challenge with me and I promise you that your life will never be the same...in a very good way!
Live A Great Life!
Eldon
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Search For Truth!
Finishing up the single best book I have ever read! (outside of the scriptures) It's called L.I.F.E. Living Intentionally For Excellence by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady.
It is designed to make you think and man is it ever working! I've been reading it for several weeks now and literally every day, it gets me looking at my life from another direction and asking myself some significant questions.
Today it's got me thinking about how adverse we are sometimes to wanting to know and learn to apply truth in our lives!
I don't think that's even what I was specifically reading about but you know how one thought leads to another...
Why is it that we are so unwilling to listen to truth at times?
Usually because it upsets our carefully constructed little "comfort zone". Or as Orrin and Chris say, it's not really a "comfort" zone as much as it is a "familiar" zone because it usually isn't really all that comfortable, just familiar!
It really has more to do with our innate resistance to the principle of change than almost anything else!
That, for most people is probably the need to feel "right" about what we think in our own little inner sphere of who we are.
We are attacked so often from the outside world telling us that we are making mistakes or beating us down for one reason or another that we feel compelled to jealously guard our own little inner self image of who we are. That image is largely created out of our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us.
After all, how many of us just naturally think that everything we believe is wrong? Naahh...I don't think so!
So how does that play into the search for truth? Why can't we just operate from our current perception of things and be just fine?
The glaringly simple answer to that is...because there is truth in this world in all it's many different facets.
Isn't this obsession we have with "victim-hood" (and complaining about everything under the sun) in our world today a classic example of being unwilling to accept truth and adjust our actions to deal with it properly?
How many of us are looking around us and listening to the news and deploring the current state of affairs but are doing nothing but talking about it?
Isn't that exactly the same thing as any other form of "victim-hood" that we see in the world today?
Another example; here in Idaho (and many other places too) one of our favorite pastimes is complaining about the weather! Isn't that another form of "victim-hood"?
If we would really embrace a full picture of the truth...Don't like the weather? Then quit being a victim and...move to somewhere you do like it!!!
I know, I'm as guilty as the next person! I think I'll work on that one!
Let's explore another example. Suppose I was born with the genes to become 7'10" tall. Remember that the standard door height all across America is 6'8". So all of my life I would be required to duck my head every time I walked through a door or walk around with a permanent bruise on it!
At this point I can either accept the truth and learn to use it to propel myself forward and upward with my unique gift or I can continually proclaim my "victim-hood" and spend the rest of my life complaining about the unfairness and mistreatment I am required to endure because millions of thoughtless people refuse to change their doorways to accommodate me.
I can become a martyr to my cause by refusing to accept the truth of the situation around me . I can proudly refuse to duck my head when attempting to negotiate conventional doorways. I can proclaim my bruised forehead as a symbol of the injustices of the rest of the human race against me. I can seek to legally make the entire rest of the world conform to my particular set of circumstances.
OR...
I can accept truth! I was blessed with my own unique set of talents, abilities and circumstances from which to build my life. I can use my uniqueness to bless the rest of the world by my contributions to it. I can build on the truths I've been given and make my life a continual search for more and more truth to build upon!
When we learn to build with building blocks of truth, our walls will never crumble because of the cracks of imperfections in them.
The quality of our lives has a direct correlation to our willingness to seek out, recognize and act upon complete truths in the world around us.
Our lives and the world around us are full of partial truths that hamper our ability to excel in every important area of our lives.
Many of our problems arise from partial truths or even outright untruths in our view of the world around us.
Many of those mistaken ideas come from some of the most seemingly benign places. Our peers, our education, our family or ethnic or cultural traditions, our political or even our religious backgrounds can all be sources of some partial truths that are maybe even almost right...but not quite.
If you build an entire castle of belief and action on a foundation that has an occasional faulty block in it, can you begin to see how the integrity of the entire structure can be at risk of failure?
I challenge each of us to become avid seekers after real truth.
Learn to apply the same standard across the board to all of your beliefs. Often we hold different beliefs about different subjects that if we were to stack them up side by side we would find that we were applying an entirely different and sometimes even opposite set of standards to come to our conclusions!
Those are the hidden places that cause us problems in our lives!
You've got a left foot and a right foot that are similar yet different. It's like trying to run a marathon with a nice comfortable running shoe (truth) on the one foot and a fancy, 4 inch, spiked heeled, formal, dress shoe (partial truth, it's still a shoe) on the other!
It's going to cause you a lot of pain and discomfort because of the lack of wisdom in applying complete truth in both cases!
So here's the reality! Until we begin pulling the weeds of untruth out of our own lives and begin banding together as a community of people all dedicated to the pursuit of truth and right, we will never be able to fix our society today!
As long as the forces of untruth can keep us divided and grumbling among ourselves while they shout their untruths in organized unison long enough, they will win. It's that simple.
We need to be united in our pursuit of personal excellence based on truth.
Striving for excellence in every area of our lives is what allows us to begin avoiding the pain that comes from taking action on a faulty assumption.
Excellence in ourselves builds excellence in our families, which builds excellence in our communities, which builds excellence in our states, which leads to excellence in our country, which...I think you get the picture!
Learn more about the LIFE book by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady on our Products page!
Have an awesome day!
It is designed to make you think and man is it ever working! I've been reading it for several weeks now and literally every day, it gets me looking at my life from another direction and asking myself some significant questions.
Today it's got me thinking about how adverse we are sometimes to wanting to know and learn to apply truth in our lives!
I don't think that's even what I was specifically reading about but you know how one thought leads to another...
Why is it that we are so unwilling to listen to truth at times?
Usually because it upsets our carefully constructed little "comfort zone". Or as Orrin and Chris say, it's not really a "comfort" zone as much as it is a "familiar" zone because it usually isn't really all that comfortable, just familiar!
It really has more to do with our innate resistance to the principle of change than almost anything else!
That, for most people is probably the need to feel "right" about what we think in our own little inner sphere of who we are.
We are attacked so often from the outside world telling us that we are making mistakes or beating us down for one reason or another that we feel compelled to jealously guard our own little inner self image of who we are. That image is largely created out of our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us.
After all, how many of us just naturally think that everything we believe is wrong? Naahh...I don't think so!
So how does that play into the search for truth? Why can't we just operate from our current perception of things and be just fine?
The glaringly simple answer to that is...because there is truth in this world in all it's many different facets.
Isn't this obsession we have with "victim-hood" (and complaining about everything under the sun) in our world today a classic example of being unwilling to accept truth and adjust our actions to deal with it properly?
How many of us are looking around us and listening to the news and deploring the current state of affairs but are doing nothing but talking about it?
Isn't that exactly the same thing as any other form of "victim-hood" that we see in the world today?
Another example; here in Idaho (and many other places too) one of our favorite pastimes is complaining about the weather! Isn't that another form of "victim-hood"?
If we would really embrace a full picture of the truth...Don't like the weather? Then quit being a victim and...move to somewhere you do like it!!!
I know, I'm as guilty as the next person! I think I'll work on that one!
Let's explore another example. Suppose I was born with the genes to become 7'10" tall. Remember that the standard door height all across America is 6'8". So all of my life I would be required to duck my head every time I walked through a door or walk around with a permanent bruise on it!
At this point I can either accept the truth and learn to use it to propel myself forward and upward with my unique gift or I can continually proclaim my "victim-hood" and spend the rest of my life complaining about the unfairness and mistreatment I am required to endure because millions of thoughtless people refuse to change their doorways to accommodate me.
I can become a martyr to my cause by refusing to accept the truth of the situation around me . I can proudly refuse to duck my head when attempting to negotiate conventional doorways. I can proclaim my bruised forehead as a symbol of the injustices of the rest of the human race against me. I can seek to legally make the entire rest of the world conform to my particular set of circumstances.
OR...
I can accept truth! I was blessed with my own unique set of talents, abilities and circumstances from which to build my life. I can use my uniqueness to bless the rest of the world by my contributions to it. I can build on the truths I've been given and make my life a continual search for more and more truth to build upon!
When we learn to build with building blocks of truth, our walls will never crumble because of the cracks of imperfections in them.
The quality of our lives has a direct correlation to our willingness to seek out, recognize and act upon complete truths in the world around us.
Our lives and the world around us are full of partial truths that hamper our ability to excel in every important area of our lives.
Many of our problems arise from partial truths or even outright untruths in our view of the world around us.
Many of those mistaken ideas come from some of the most seemingly benign places. Our peers, our education, our family or ethnic or cultural traditions, our political or even our religious backgrounds can all be sources of some partial truths that are maybe even almost right...but not quite.
If you build an entire castle of belief and action on a foundation that has an occasional faulty block in it, can you begin to see how the integrity of the entire structure can be at risk of failure?
I challenge each of us to become avid seekers after real truth.
Learn to apply the same standard across the board to all of your beliefs. Often we hold different beliefs about different subjects that if we were to stack them up side by side we would find that we were applying an entirely different and sometimes even opposite set of standards to come to our conclusions!
Those are the hidden places that cause us problems in our lives!
You've got a left foot and a right foot that are similar yet different. It's like trying to run a marathon with a nice comfortable running shoe (truth) on the one foot and a fancy, 4 inch, spiked heeled, formal, dress shoe (partial truth, it's still a shoe) on the other!
It's going to cause you a lot of pain and discomfort because of the lack of wisdom in applying complete truth in both cases!
So here's the reality! Until we begin pulling the weeds of untruth out of our own lives and begin banding together as a community of people all dedicated to the pursuit of truth and right, we will never be able to fix our society today!
As long as the forces of untruth can keep us divided and grumbling among ourselves while they shout their untruths in organized unison long enough, they will win. It's that simple.
We need to be united in our pursuit of personal excellence based on truth.
Striving for excellence in every area of our lives is what allows us to begin avoiding the pain that comes from taking action on a faulty assumption.
Excellence in ourselves builds excellence in our families, which builds excellence in our communities, which builds excellence in our states, which leads to excellence in our country, which...I think you get the picture!
Learn more about the LIFE book by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady on our Products page!
Have an awesome day!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Life Lessons From My "Career" In Sports!
This recent focus of mine to run 1000 miles in a year has had me thinking a lot about my "career" in sports!
I've often pondered some of the great life lessons that I've learned from all of my years of playing sports competitively and for fun.
I thought it would be fun to share a series of posts here on some of my personal victories and defeats and some of the principles that they have driven home to me over the years!
It could sound like a lot of boasting (and honestly there is probably a little bit of that) but I hope you will listen for the lessons I've learned and forgive an old guy a few trips down memory lane for the sake of a teaching moment!
First of all, I'm well aware that I'm no Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice etc! I was probably only a little above average as a high school kid and I never did make the college sports scene.
I grew up loving football and in elementary school I was introduced to track and field and did pretty well at it. I never was any good at baseball and eventually found that basketball neatly filled the empty time in the winter between my other two favorites.
I was good enough to letter in 3 sports for 3 or 4 years in high school and to start on the football and basketball teams 3 of those years but that's about it. There were lots of personal victories and defeats along the way and those are what I want to share with you and see if I can convey what they have taught me.
I'll start with what I have always considered my greatest personal victory in sports.
Interestingly, it came in a team event in what is normally a sport dedicated to individual performances.
I've won many ribbons, medals and awards over the years including a medal at the state track meet, but the one that has always stood out to me happened in 8th grade in a tiny little town called Bowie, Az. Why, because I learned more about myself in one minute there than maybe at any other time in my life!
It was towards the end of my first year in a new school. We had a track meet at our neighboring rivals with 5 or 6 different schools there. I actually had a good day there, I think I won 4 blue ribbons in all now that I think about it. But I don't have any memories of the other events.
One of those blue ribbons though still occupies an honored place in my office even today.
One of the last events of the day was the 4 X 440 yd relay. It's a race where a team of 4 guys each runs a full lap around the 1/4 mile track before handing off the baton to the next teammate. First team to complete 4 laps wins!
I think I was the only one of the four on our team who had much experience running this race. The other guys were more accustomed to the shorter sprints or other events. So I was the one whose job it was to run the final, or anchor leg.
Normally, in high school, the 440 is almost an all-out sprint for the entire lap and is strategically a very difficult race. However in junior high it requires an even more disciplined approach. You have to figure out how to run as hard as you can but still have enough energy left to finish at a full sprint. Finding that balance is the real challenge!
I had the opportunity to run a lot of relays through the years with some really talented athletes. But this one taught me a personal lesson about "how bad do you want it"!
My teammates performed admirably, but when my turn came to take the baton for the final lap, there was one team that had pulled ahead of us by some 10-15 yards.
Now that doesn't seem like a lot until you realize that you only have one lap to make it up in and you are trying to do it against the other school's best runner who has his heart set on maintaining that lead for his team.
On top of that it just happened to be our arch rivals who we had to catch!
As my teammate was racing towards me, I realized that I had a split second decision to make. I could either run my normal race strategy and hope for the best at the end, which would probably result in a second place finish or I had to think of something quickly!
With a lead like they had, nobody was going to be angry at me if I couldn't overcome it. But it's at times like that when you need to learn to ask yourself one of life's defining questions...
What If?
Are you willing to "leave it all on the field" for the chance at a victory? Or will you allow yourself to be content with second place?
I knew second place was in the bag, but...What If...I could catch him???
The chances of having enough gas left to overtake him at the finish line were slim and risky at best.
So I made the decision that if we had any chance at all at winning, I had to catch him right now and hope to out-last him to the finish line.
With a successful hand-off from my teammates who had given it their all to put us in a position to have any chance at all...I took off at a dead sprint as hard as I could go!
I actually caught him at about the 100 yard mark and in my young junior high mind, I thought I had him beat! I thought that when he saw me catch him so fast, it would be so demoralizing that he would just give up and I'd breeze right on by to a victory!
But I had forgotten to count on his own intense competitive spirit! There was no give in this guy! He wanted to win as badly as I did!
So rather than settle into a nice easy reserved pace until the final 100 yard sprint for the finish, he took my challenge! It immediately escalated into an all-out sprint with over 300 yards still to go!
This was the part that I hadn't counted on! I had not prepared myself for this obstacle! I had thought that my initial sprint from a fresh start would assure me a victory.
Isn't that how life usually works? We sprint off after a new victory, thinking that we will get it done in the initial rush of effort, only to find that almost anything worth while requires real time, effort and perseverance!
Back to the race. I now found myself locked in one of the defining battles of my life!
We were both good sprinters so nobody could gain any significant advantage for the next 250+ yards. It really settled down to a contest of who could hold on to this killing pace for the longest.
You're running all-out, lungs screaming for air, legs beginning to turn to rubber, brain telling you to STOP torturing yourself, it's only a stupid junior high track meet for heaven's sake! Can I keep going longer than him? Is he going to give up first or am I?
But something deep down in the human spirit is programmed to win! To become the best we possibly can! To give our all to something we deem worthy of our efforts! Can we endure to the end? Can we win at what's important to us no matter what the naysayers and competition may throw at us?
On that day I learned that if I could hold on long enough, if I wanted it bad enough, if I could keep going even when it seemed impossible, I could win at what was important to me!
We came into the final 100 yard straight-a-way neck and neck, then somewhere about the 50 yard mark, I saw him begin to fade. Somehow I had been blessed with a little bit more stamina or a little bit more adrenalin that allowed me to keep going just a little bit longer than my challenger!
I don't know how much we won by that day because that was not what was important. The victory was what was important for our team. I don't know if any of my teammates or my opponents even remember that day because in the grand scheme of things it was really almost irrelevant.
It was an obscure little junior high track meet at an out-of-the-way little school somewhere in the Arizona desert. But for me it was a day that will probably live forever in my memory, not necessarily for the victory in the race, but definitely for the lessons that I'm reminded of every time I see that little blue ribbon on the wall in my office!
I can win! I can persevere even when it's extremely difficult! You have to keep going UNTIL IT'S DONE! If it's worthy of your time, never, never, never give up!
I've often pondered some of the great life lessons that I've learned from all of my years of playing sports competitively and for fun.
I thought it would be fun to share a series of posts here on some of my personal victories and defeats and some of the principles that they have driven home to me over the years!
It could sound like a lot of boasting (and honestly there is probably a little bit of that) but I hope you will listen for the lessons I've learned and forgive an old guy a few trips down memory lane for the sake of a teaching moment!
First of all, I'm well aware that I'm no Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice etc! I was probably only a little above average as a high school kid and I never did make the college sports scene.
I grew up loving football and in elementary school I was introduced to track and field and did pretty well at it. I never was any good at baseball and eventually found that basketball neatly filled the empty time in the winter between my other two favorites.
I was good enough to letter in 3 sports for 3 or 4 years in high school and to start on the football and basketball teams 3 of those years but that's about it. There were lots of personal victories and defeats along the way and those are what I want to share with you and see if I can convey what they have taught me.
I'll start with what I have always considered my greatest personal victory in sports.
Interestingly, it came in a team event in what is normally a sport dedicated to individual performances.
I've won many ribbons, medals and awards over the years including a medal at the state track meet, but the one that has always stood out to me happened in 8th grade in a tiny little town called Bowie, Az. Why, because I learned more about myself in one minute there than maybe at any other time in my life!
It was towards the end of my first year in a new school. We had a track meet at our neighboring rivals with 5 or 6 different schools there. I actually had a good day there, I think I won 4 blue ribbons in all now that I think about it. But I don't have any memories of the other events.
One of those blue ribbons though still occupies an honored place in my office even today.
One of the last events of the day was the 4 X 440 yd relay. It's a race where a team of 4 guys each runs a full lap around the 1/4 mile track before handing off the baton to the next teammate. First team to complete 4 laps wins!
I think I was the only one of the four on our team who had much experience running this race. The other guys were more accustomed to the shorter sprints or other events. So I was the one whose job it was to run the final, or anchor leg.
Normally, in high school, the 440 is almost an all-out sprint for the entire lap and is strategically a very difficult race. However in junior high it requires an even more disciplined approach. You have to figure out how to run as hard as you can but still have enough energy left to finish at a full sprint. Finding that balance is the real challenge!
I had the opportunity to run a lot of relays through the years with some really talented athletes. But this one taught me a personal lesson about "how bad do you want it"!
My teammates performed admirably, but when my turn came to take the baton for the final lap, there was one team that had pulled ahead of us by some 10-15 yards.
Now that doesn't seem like a lot until you realize that you only have one lap to make it up in and you are trying to do it against the other school's best runner who has his heart set on maintaining that lead for his team.
On top of that it just happened to be our arch rivals who we had to catch!
As my teammate was racing towards me, I realized that I had a split second decision to make. I could either run my normal race strategy and hope for the best at the end, which would probably result in a second place finish or I had to think of something quickly!
With a lead like they had, nobody was going to be angry at me if I couldn't overcome it. But it's at times like that when you need to learn to ask yourself one of life's defining questions...
What If?
Are you willing to "leave it all on the field" for the chance at a victory? Or will you allow yourself to be content with second place?
I knew second place was in the bag, but...What If...I could catch him???
The chances of having enough gas left to overtake him at the finish line were slim and risky at best.
So I made the decision that if we had any chance at all at winning, I had to catch him right now and hope to out-last him to the finish line.
With a successful hand-off from my teammates who had given it their all to put us in a position to have any chance at all...I took off at a dead sprint as hard as I could go!
I actually caught him at about the 100 yard mark and in my young junior high mind, I thought I had him beat! I thought that when he saw me catch him so fast, it would be so demoralizing that he would just give up and I'd breeze right on by to a victory!
But I had forgotten to count on his own intense competitive spirit! There was no give in this guy! He wanted to win as badly as I did!
So rather than settle into a nice easy reserved pace until the final 100 yard sprint for the finish, he took my challenge! It immediately escalated into an all-out sprint with over 300 yards still to go!
This was the part that I hadn't counted on! I had not prepared myself for this obstacle! I had thought that my initial sprint from a fresh start would assure me a victory.
Isn't that how life usually works? We sprint off after a new victory, thinking that we will get it done in the initial rush of effort, only to find that almost anything worth while requires real time, effort and perseverance!
Back to the race. I now found myself locked in one of the defining battles of my life!
We were both good sprinters so nobody could gain any significant advantage for the next 250+ yards. It really settled down to a contest of who could hold on to this killing pace for the longest.
You're running all-out, lungs screaming for air, legs beginning to turn to rubber, brain telling you to STOP torturing yourself, it's only a stupid junior high track meet for heaven's sake! Can I keep going longer than him? Is he going to give up first or am I?
But something deep down in the human spirit is programmed to win! To become the best we possibly can! To give our all to something we deem worthy of our efforts! Can we endure to the end? Can we win at what's important to us no matter what the naysayers and competition may throw at us?
On that day I learned that if I could hold on long enough, if I wanted it bad enough, if I could keep going even when it seemed impossible, I could win at what was important to me!
We came into the final 100 yard straight-a-way neck and neck, then somewhere about the 50 yard mark, I saw him begin to fade. Somehow I had been blessed with a little bit more stamina or a little bit more adrenalin that allowed me to keep going just a little bit longer than my challenger!
I don't know how much we won by that day because that was not what was important. The victory was what was important for our team. I don't know if any of my teammates or my opponents even remember that day because in the grand scheme of things it was really almost irrelevant.
It was an obscure little junior high track meet at an out-of-the-way little school somewhere in the Arizona desert. But for me it was a day that will probably live forever in my memory, not necessarily for the victory in the race, but definitely for the lessons that I'm reminded of every time I see that little blue ribbon on the wall in my office!
I can win! I can persevere even when it's extremely difficult! You have to keep going UNTIL IT'S DONE! If it's worthy of your time, never, never, never give up!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Final Update - 1000 Miles!!! & Life Lessons
It's June 1, 2011 and one of the biggest physical goals of my life is in the bag!
I ended my running year yesterday with a nice easy 5 miles to finish off the past year with a grand total of 1016 miles! Mission accomplished!
The real crowning victory came on Monday May 16,2011 when I put myself over the 1000 mile mark with my 2nd ever full marathon! It was pretty pathetic as marathons go because I hadn't done a full training program to prepare for it. But I got it done and even beat my previous time by over 7 minutes!
The feeling of passing that 1000 mile mark at mile #21 was exhilarating! I've known for a couple of weeks that I was going to make it. But still, you never know what might come up that could stop you. So actually being able to cross that finish line left me with a huge sense of accomplishment!
Be sure to read the series of posts immediately following this one for the full story.
As I've mentioned elsewhere the most important thing about this personal victory is not even the physical accomplishment itself, but the incredible life lessons that I have learned in the process!
I have to add one more important piece of the puzzle that I learned just this last week! That is, that one important piece of the goal setting process is that you MUST give yourself the reward that you promised yourself at the end.
Lest you think that this is my own personal wisdom, relax, it's not! I learned this important principle from a gentleman named Dan Hawkins.
If you set a goal and attached a reward to it for when you actually achieve it, absolutely do not deny yourself that reward for any reason.
The real crowning victory came on Monday May 16,2011 when I put myself over the 1000 mile mark with my 2nd ever full marathon! It was pretty pathetic as marathons go because I hadn't done a full training program to prepare for it. But I got it done and even beat my previous time by over 7 minutes!
The feeling of passing that 1000 mile mark at mile #21 was exhilarating! I've known for a couple of weeks that I was going to make it. But still, you never know what might come up that could stop you. So actually being able to cross that finish line left me with a huge sense of accomplishment!
Be sure to read the series of posts immediately following this one for the full story.
As I've mentioned elsewhere the most important thing about this personal victory is not even the physical accomplishment itself, but the incredible life lessons that I have learned in the process!
I have to add one more important piece of the puzzle that I learned just this last week! That is, that one important piece of the goal setting process is that you MUST give yourself the reward that you promised yourself at the end.
Lest you think that this is my own personal wisdom, relax, it's not! I learned this important principle from a gentleman named Dan Hawkins.
If you set a goal and attached a reward to it for when you actually achieve it, absolutely do not deny yourself that reward for any reason.
Even if it sounds honorable, (i.e. we really can't afford to do that right now and besides the goal got done anyway...etc) the reality is that ultimately, you will have lied to yourself!
More importantly, you will have lied to your subconscious self.
The problem is that your subconscious will have gone out of it's way to help you achieve the goal only to ultimately find out that you tricked it.
The problem is that your subconscious will have gone out of it's way to help you achieve the goal only to ultimately find out that you tricked it.
The next time you go to set another big goal, a big part of you will be reluctant to get involved and push for it because, after all we really don't like being lied to, right!
Sounds crazy, but this is a powerful point! Build your own inner honor and integrity so that all parts of you will be in harmony and willing to give 100% to whatever it is that you deem worthy of your efforts!
For me it was a brand new pair of nice running shoes! That ended up being the perfect exclamation point to a great personal achievement!
Sounds crazy, but this is a powerful point! Build your own inner honor and integrity so that all parts of you will be in harmony and willing to give 100% to whatever it is that you deem worthy of your efforts!
For me it was a brand new pair of nice running shoes! That ended up being the perfect exclamation point to a great personal achievement!
It has left me now looking forward to the next big life changing personal goal!
After all, I've heard it said over and over that the real glory of reaching a goal is not what you accomplish so much as it is who you become along the way! Amen to that!
Running 1000 miles, while it has been good for me, is not nearly so important as the life lessons that I have learned along the way and that will impact everything that I do for the rest of my life!
What's on your "Bucket List"? What great life lessons can you learn from the pursuit of your dreams?
(Continued Below)
After all, I've heard it said over and over that the real glory of reaching a goal is not what you accomplish so much as it is who you become along the way! Amen to that!
Running 1000 miles, while it has been good for me, is not nearly so important as the life lessons that I have learned along the way and that will impact everything that I do for the rest of my life!
What's on your "Bucket List"? What great life lessons can you learn from the pursuit of your dreams?
(Continued Below)
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Value And Price Of Personal Victory!
What do you do when the economy deals you a blow like it has so many of us in the last couple of years?
As we look around us we see so many people who have allowed the loss of a job or a career to wreck their lives.
Let me tell you my story of how, when one door closes in your face, there is always another one somewhere else that opens for you!
Sometimes the way God catapults us out of our comfortable complacency is to completely jerk the rug out from under our feet! It's the definition of a "wake up call!"
So what do we do when that happens? It can seem like our whole world is falling apart, especially when it's a financial problem.
I've learned that the best way to keep our attitudes up and keep pressing forward is to realize that finances, as important as they are, are only one part of our lives.
What has helped me tremendously is to make sure that I don't stop moving forward in all the other areas of my life.
This is the story of how, this past year, I've been able to set and achieve a huge goal for myself even while other parts of my life weren't perfect.
The funny thing is, I have never been a big goal setter before. I think that's going to change after this experience!
It all started about 5 or 6 years ago when the basketball team I played with kind of dissolved. I needed something to do to stay active, so I took up running.
I've never really been a distance runner before, but I figured that I could work into it and maybe even one day run a marathon.
For several years I did it fairly regularly but never very consistently. I had fun keeping myself motivated by keeping track of my Personal Records (PR's) at different distances.
Occasionally, I would run in a 5K race, just for fun, but the longest distance I had ever gotten to was 12 1/2 miles. That's a far cry from a full-blown marathon.
As we look around us we see so many people who have allowed the loss of a job or a career to wreck their lives.
Let me tell you my story of how, when one door closes in your face, there is always another one somewhere else that opens for you!
Sometimes the way God catapults us out of our comfortable complacency is to completely jerk the rug out from under our feet! It's the definition of a "wake up call!"
So what do we do when that happens? It can seem like our whole world is falling apart, especially when it's a financial problem.
I've learned that the best way to keep our attitudes up and keep pressing forward is to realize that finances, as important as they are, are only one part of our lives.
What has helped me tremendously is to make sure that I don't stop moving forward in all the other areas of my life.
This is the story of how, this past year, I've been able to set and achieve a huge goal for myself even while other parts of my life weren't perfect.
The funny thing is, I have never been a big goal setter before. I think that's going to change after this experience!
It all started about 5 or 6 years ago when the basketball team I played with kind of dissolved. I needed something to do to stay active, so I took up running.
I've never really been a distance runner before, but I figured that I could work into it and maybe even one day run a marathon.
For several years I did it fairly regularly but never very consistently. I had fun keeping myself motivated by keeping track of my Personal Records (PR's) at different distances.
Occasionally, I would run in a 5K race, just for fun, but the longest distance I had ever gotten to was 12 1/2 miles. That's a far cry from a full-blown marathon.
(Continued Below)
Inspiration From Past Victories!
So last spring I was talking with another friend who was kind of a casual runner too and they suggested that we start training more seriously and do a half marathon at the end of the summer.
That sounded interesting, but I didn't think it would be much of a challenge. I figured there was a pretty good chance I could run one right then if I wanted to.
So the next day being a Saturday, I decided to give it a try. I made it 14 miles, slightly more than the 13.1 required for a half marathon, but it took everything I had!
As I was recovering from that, I was still being driven by the desire to set some kind of a big fitness goal for the next year to push myself towards.
With my construction business falling apart, I really needed a win in my life right now.
It was then that I remembered my grade school P.E. teacher Mr. Ken Harris and a contest that he created for all the kids in school from 5th through 12th grades. He called it the Mullinville 500!
The object was to start tracking our running and walking mileage and see if we could accumulate 500 miles, no matter how long it took. No pressure. You could totally do it at your own pace.
The funny thing was, I was one of the first 10 kids to finish out of the whole school! I also held the record for several years of being the youngest one to finish by more than a year.
It took me 2 years to do it back then as a fifth and sixth grader.
So fast-forward to 2010, almost 40 years later. Could I, at 49-50 years old possibly do it again, but this time in only 1 year?
As I started calculating what it would take, I realized that if I'd just do a 4 mile run with a half mile warm-up and a half mile cool down walk 3 times a week, I'd easily get it done in a year. That would even allow for several bad weather days in the winter and spring!
Hmmm... so why not?
Plus, by being consistent, maybe I'd be able to get in good enough shape to do a half marathon a little easier. Then the big one! Wouldn't it be cool if I could actually finish a full marathon? That would be a big check mark off of the ole "bucket list" for me!
So I created for myself what I called the IPFC 500! The International Personal Fitness Challenge!
As part of my goal I created several different charts and then some award certificates with my IPFC 500 logo on them, that I could earn for reaching certain milestones along the way.
That sounded interesting, but I didn't think it would be much of a challenge. I figured there was a pretty good chance I could run one right then if I wanted to.
So the next day being a Saturday, I decided to give it a try. I made it 14 miles, slightly more than the 13.1 required for a half marathon, but it took everything I had!
As I was recovering from that, I was still being driven by the desire to set some kind of a big fitness goal for the next year to push myself towards.
With my construction business falling apart, I really needed a win in my life right now.
It was then that I remembered my grade school P.E. teacher Mr. Ken Harris and a contest that he created for all the kids in school from 5th through 12th grades. He called it the Mullinville 500!
The object was to start tracking our running and walking mileage and see if we could accumulate 500 miles, no matter how long it took. No pressure. You could totally do it at your own pace.
The funny thing was, I was one of the first 10 kids to finish out of the whole school! I also held the record for several years of being the youngest one to finish by more than a year.
It took me 2 years to do it back then as a fifth and sixth grader.
So fast-forward to 2010, almost 40 years later. Could I, at 49-50 years old possibly do it again, but this time in only 1 year?
As I started calculating what it would take, I realized that if I'd just do a 4 mile run with a half mile warm-up and a half mile cool down walk 3 times a week, I'd easily get it done in a year. That would even allow for several bad weather days in the winter and spring!
Hmmm... so why not?
Plus, by being consistent, maybe I'd be able to get in good enough shape to do a half marathon a little easier. Then the big one! Wouldn't it be cool if I could actually finish a full marathon? That would be a big check mark off of the ole "bucket list" for me!
So I created for myself what I called the IPFC 500! The International Personal Fitness Challenge!
As part of my goal I created several different charts and then some award certificates with my IPFC 500 logo on them, that I could earn for reaching certain milestones along the way.
(Continued Below)
Can Your Goal Become An Obsession?
Now I had a goal! To run/walk 500 miles between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011! I also had the means to track myself and reward myself for achieving it.
What happened next has literally boggled my mind!
What started out as a simple goal to keep up my basic normal pace, except to become consistent with it, soon became an obsession!
I started out the first month on my 4 miles 3 times per week plan with some longer runs thrown in on the weekends.
Then the second month two things happened. Because of my consistency, I started getting in better shape and consequently started breaking some of my long time PRs!
Secondly, I ended up going over 100 miles for the month! I had never really planned for that to happen.
So in August, I decided to step up the pace to 5 miles 3 times a week. Nothing that spectacular happened and I didn't quite hit 100 miles that month but it did set me up for a great September!
I was cookin' in September! I broke 9 personal records that month, almost 1 every other time I ran! I was feeling great!
Then as the end of the month drew nearer, it dawned on me that if I could step up the pace just a little bit more, I was on track to hit my 500 mile goal by the end of October! That was only five months into my year!
What happened next has literally boggled my mind!
What started out as a simple goal to keep up my basic normal pace, except to become consistent with it, soon became an obsession!
I started out the first month on my 4 miles 3 times per week plan with some longer runs thrown in on the weekends.
Then the second month two things happened. Because of my consistency, I started getting in better shape and consequently started breaking some of my long time PRs!
Secondly, I ended up going over 100 miles for the month! I had never really planned for that to happen.
So in August, I decided to step up the pace to 5 miles 3 times a week. Nothing that spectacular happened and I didn't quite hit 100 miles that month but it did set me up for a great September!
I was cookin' in September! I broke 9 personal records that month, almost 1 every other time I ran! I was feeling great!
Then as the end of the month drew nearer, it dawned on me that if I could step up the pace just a little bit more, I was on track to hit my 500 mile goal by the end of October! That was only five months into my year!
(Continued Below)
Chasing A Dream!
This is where the real obsession began!
I'd tried a couple of times to run a marathon on my own around our area, but had only made it 16 and 20 miles respectively. By the end of September I felt I was ready to try again.
On the morning of October 1, I headed out. The area we live in is laid out in 1 mile square blocks, so it makes it pretty easy to track your distance.
5 hours and 8 minutes later I put a big fat check mark on one of my lifetime dreams of completing a full marathon!
It really went fairly well too. I didn't experience running into "the wall" that most people talk about. But rather, just kept plugging along till it was finished!
A lot of my friends were amazed that I could do it by myself without the pressure of competition to keep me going.
But I was just getting rolling!
On my next 2 runs I smashed a couple of more PR's again! I ended the month with 6 new PR's including running a half marathon on each of the 4 weekends after the full marathon!
I closed out October with 510 total miles on my charts!
Mission accomplished!
I had never pushed so hard for a goal in my life! I couldn't believe that I had actually run 500 miles in 5 months! That was a huge morale booster!
It also proved to me that I could actually set a goal and be driven to achieve it! Maybe there were some lessons to be learned here!
I'd tried a couple of times to run a marathon on my own around our area, but had only made it 16 and 20 miles respectively. By the end of September I felt I was ready to try again.
On the morning of October 1, I headed out. The area we live in is laid out in 1 mile square blocks, so it makes it pretty easy to track your distance.
5 hours and 8 minutes later I put a big fat check mark on one of my lifetime dreams of completing a full marathon!
It really went fairly well too. I didn't experience running into "the wall" that most people talk about. But rather, just kept plugging along till it was finished!
A lot of my friends were amazed that I could do it by myself without the pressure of competition to keep me going.
But I was just getting rolling!
On my next 2 runs I smashed a couple of more PR's again! I ended the month with 6 new PR's including running a half marathon on each of the 4 weekends after the full marathon!
I closed out October with 510 total miles on my charts!
Mission accomplished!
I had never pushed so hard for a goal in my life! I couldn't believe that I had actually run 500 miles in 5 months! That was a huge morale booster!
It also proved to me that I could actually set a goal and be driven to achieve it! Maybe there were some lessons to be learned here!
(Continued Below)
Pursuing Excellence Has A Price!
But wait... We are not done yet!
I still had 7 months left in my year! Could it be possible that even with Idaho's nasty winter and spring weather, that I could get in another 500 miles and actually hit 1000 before my original deadline?
Hmmm... let's go for it!
Almost immediately I hit some huge obstacles to that goal.
I hadn't done enough studying to know that you are supposed to take a 3 week break from running after you finish a marathon to give your body adequate recovery.
Oooops! I don't think that running 110 miles including 4 half marathons in the next four weeks, quite fits that proper training picture!
I quickly found out that I had hugely elevated my lactic acid levels and that my potassium and electrolyte levels were seriously depleted.
For the next 3 months, I literally could barely run and ended up with pulled muscles in my legs 3 or 4 times. It was frustrating!
But I kept on persevering. When I couldn't run, I would walk. Unless the temperature was below zero, I'd still get out and do 4 miles or so. I learned not to listen to "Eye of the Tiger"and other motivational music on my iPod because it would get my adrenaline up and I'd blow another muscle out!
By the end of January, I had only added another 116 miles in three months, but I was starting to feel better.
The next problem was that February in Idaho is a very cold month and then March through May tend to be cold, very windy and miserable.
How bad did I want this goal? 1000 miles in a year was something that I never imagined I could do, even when I started this journey.
Here it was, well within my reach if I could just buckle down, deal with the weather and stay healthy.
I needed to put together almost 4-100 mile months to put this thing in the bag!
So I settled into just disciplining myself and getting consistent.
Bad weather... Oh well!
I managed my way through February and ended up right at 100 miles.
Then into March. At first it was still really cold but then it started to warm up. Unfortunately with the warmer temperatures (if you call low to mid 30's warmer) also came the spring winds. Most days in the spring here there can be anywhere from 5 to 45 mph "breezes" and usually on the higher end of that scale.
Let me tell you, running into a stiff breeze in the cold weather of spring is way worse than running in a snowstorm in January.
When the wind feels like it's a hand on your chest holding you back, those miles can take forever to add up!
I still had 7 months left in my year! Could it be possible that even with Idaho's nasty winter and spring weather, that I could get in another 500 miles and actually hit 1000 before my original deadline?
Hmmm... let's go for it!
Almost immediately I hit some huge obstacles to that goal.
I hadn't done enough studying to know that you are supposed to take a 3 week break from running after you finish a marathon to give your body adequate recovery.
Oooops! I don't think that running 110 miles including 4 half marathons in the next four weeks, quite fits that proper training picture!
I quickly found out that I had hugely elevated my lactic acid levels and that my potassium and electrolyte levels were seriously depleted.
For the next 3 months, I literally could barely run and ended up with pulled muscles in my legs 3 or 4 times. It was frustrating!
But I kept on persevering. When I couldn't run, I would walk. Unless the temperature was below zero, I'd still get out and do 4 miles or so. I learned not to listen to "Eye of the Tiger"and other motivational music on my iPod because it would get my adrenaline up and I'd blow another muscle out!
By the end of January, I had only added another 116 miles in three months, but I was starting to feel better.
The next problem was that February in Idaho is a very cold month and then March through May tend to be cold, very windy and miserable.
How bad did I want this goal? 1000 miles in a year was something that I never imagined I could do, even when I started this journey.
Here it was, well within my reach if I could just buckle down, deal with the weather and stay healthy.
I needed to put together almost 4-100 mile months to put this thing in the bag!
So I settled into just disciplining myself and getting consistent.
Bad weather... Oh well!
I managed my way through February and ended up right at 100 miles.
Then into March. At first it was still really cold but then it started to warm up. Unfortunately with the warmer temperatures (if you call low to mid 30's warmer) also came the spring winds. Most days in the spring here there can be anywhere from 5 to 45 mph "breezes" and usually on the higher end of that scale.
Let me tell you, running into a stiff breeze in the cold weather of spring is way worse than running in a snowstorm in January.
When the wind feels like it's a hand on your chest holding you back, those miles can take forever to add up!
(Continued Below)
What Is The Price Of Your Victory?
But... How bad did I want that goal? Apparently, pretty bad!
I found myself drawn to be out running the roads no matter how bad the weather got. I remember one day trying to go 14 miles on a cold, windy, rainy day. I just couldn't make it. I totally ran out of gas at 12 miles and had to call home for a ride. But two days later, I was back out running again!
Then towards the middle of April and beginning of May I realized that I really was going to make it!
I finished another 100+ mile month in April and that left me less than 75 miles to go in May! That should be a piece of cake!
Plus, by now my body was fully recovered and back in great shape again! On my second run in May, despite the cold weather, I completely obliterated my best 6 mile time ever by almost a full minute. The funny thing was I didn't set out to do that. I just realized at about the 3 mile mark that I was ahead of my fastest pace ever!
So here it is May 12th. Yesterday I did a 6 miler that put me at 979 miles! That leaves me almost 3 weeks left to either run a marathon or put in less than an average week of running! I'll finish up what's probably the biggest, toughest physical goal that I've ever set for myself!
Now, I realize that a lot of big-time marathon runners probably put in a lot more miles than that every year to keep themselves in shape.
But I am just an average guy who took up running for fun and has done something that most people can't even fathom! Almost everyone I talked to about it just shakes their head in disbelief. It's one of those things that allows me the sense of accomplishment of having done something that most people aren't even willing to try!
Those are the kinds of victories that change your life!
Not necessarily that you were the best that ever lived at something, but that you proved to yourself that through a lot of discipline and hard work, that you could accomplish something you never thought possible!
I found myself drawn to be out running the roads no matter how bad the weather got. I remember one day trying to go 14 miles on a cold, windy, rainy day. I just couldn't make it. I totally ran out of gas at 12 miles and had to call home for a ride. But two days later, I was back out running again!
Then towards the middle of April and beginning of May I realized that I really was going to make it!
I finished another 100+ mile month in April and that left me less than 75 miles to go in May! That should be a piece of cake!
Plus, by now my body was fully recovered and back in great shape again! On my second run in May, despite the cold weather, I completely obliterated my best 6 mile time ever by almost a full minute. The funny thing was I didn't set out to do that. I just realized at about the 3 mile mark that I was ahead of my fastest pace ever!
So here it is May 12th. Yesterday I did a 6 miler that put me at 979 miles! That leaves me almost 3 weeks left to either run a marathon or put in less than an average week of running! I'll finish up what's probably the biggest, toughest physical goal that I've ever set for myself!
Now, I realize that a lot of big-time marathon runners probably put in a lot more miles than that every year to keep themselves in shape.
But I am just an average guy who took up running for fun and has done something that most people can't even fathom! Almost everyone I talked to about it just shakes their head in disbelief. It's one of those things that allows me the sense of accomplishment of having done something that most people aren't even willing to try!
Those are the kinds of victories that change your life!
Not necessarily that you were the best that ever lived at something, but that you proved to yourself that through a lot of discipline and hard work, that you could accomplish something you never thought possible!
(Continued Below)
Victory Brings Belief In Yourself!
For me, the take-home lesson from this past year, is to look at the rest of my life and determine in what other areas I can set similar goals. Goals that will drive me almost to an obsession to get better and accomplish some more things that I really dream of making happen!
Life is out there for the taking. Many people just naturally take to the goal setting process and it becomes a way of life for them.
There are a large percentage of the rest of us though for whom goal setting is not a part of our lives.
Some of us find it so uncomfortable, or have never found something we wanted bad enough to discipline ourselves to get it. Others of us, like me for instance, have found that the simple act of setting a goal would trigger some unfathomable rebellion response deep down inside us and we just wouldn't do it. Strange... I know... But real.
What I learned from this experience is that the goal has to be 100% completely my own, not something that someone else imposed on me or even suggested. But instead something that, deep down inside of me, I really wanted to accomplish whether it made any sense to anyone else or not.
When it was my own real heartfelt dream, then I would chase it until it became an obsession to get it. No pulled muscles, nasty weather, or disbelieving naysayers would keep me from getting it!
What is it in your life that you secretly want that badly? If you don't have something like that, I challenge you to start digging. Find something! Rekindle an old dream! Find something that you have to stretch to get and then create a plan for yourself. Create some charts and track your performance. Reward yourself.
Take my word for it, the sense of accomplishment that you feel from a victory like this will bolster your belief in yourself tremendously!
That's what we need in these times that try men's souls, the self-respect and sense of accomplishment that comes from the victories that we can all have in our lives!
Each one of us is capable of winning and excelling at something in our lives! Whoever you are, what ever your situation may be, you can have a victory in your life! In fact, you can have as many victories as you choose because you don't have to beat someone else to do so.
And...who knows? You might just inspire someone else along the way!
You only have to overcome yourself!!!
Life is out there for the taking. Many people just naturally take to the goal setting process and it becomes a way of life for them.
There are a large percentage of the rest of us though for whom goal setting is not a part of our lives.
Some of us find it so uncomfortable, or have never found something we wanted bad enough to discipline ourselves to get it. Others of us, like me for instance, have found that the simple act of setting a goal would trigger some unfathomable rebellion response deep down inside us and we just wouldn't do it. Strange... I know... But real.
What I learned from this experience is that the goal has to be 100% completely my own, not something that someone else imposed on me or even suggested. But instead something that, deep down inside of me, I really wanted to accomplish whether it made any sense to anyone else or not.
When it was my own real heartfelt dream, then I would chase it until it became an obsession to get it. No pulled muscles, nasty weather, or disbelieving naysayers would keep me from getting it!
What is it in your life that you secretly want that badly? If you don't have something like that, I challenge you to start digging. Find something! Rekindle an old dream! Find something that you have to stretch to get and then create a plan for yourself. Create some charts and track your performance. Reward yourself.
Take my word for it, the sense of accomplishment that you feel from a victory like this will bolster your belief in yourself tremendously!
That's what we need in these times that try men's souls, the self-respect and sense of accomplishment that comes from the victories that we can all have in our lives!
Each one of us is capable of winning and excelling at something in our lives! Whoever you are, what ever your situation may be, you can have a victory in your life! In fact, you can have as many victories as you choose because you don't have to beat someone else to do so.
And...who knows? You might just inspire someone else along the way!
You only have to overcome yourself!!!
To wrap up this article here are the stats from a couple of my charts just for fun!
Cumulative Total Miles By Month
June 1,2010.................0 miles
June 30,2010..............71 miles
July 31,2010..............174 miles
August 31,2010..........268 miles
September 30,2010.....373 miles
October 31,2010.........510 miles!!!
November 31,2010.....550 miles
December 31,2010.....578 miles
January 31,2011.........626 miles
February 28,2011.......726 miles
March 31,2011............826 miles
April 30,2011.............929 miles
May 12,2011..............979 miles
21 more to go!!!
My Personal Records (PR's)
100 meters.............13.56 sec '06
200 meters............28.06 sec '06
1/4 mile...................1:03 min '06
1/2 mile...................2:42 min '07
1 mile...............................6:15 '10
2 miles..........................14:36 '08
5 kilometers................25:02 '08
4 miles...........................31:41 '10
5 miles...........................41:45 '10
6 miles...........................50:13 '11
8 miles........................1:11:47 '10
12 miles......................1:57:26 '10
14 miles......................2:16:57 '10
16 miles.....................3:09:26 '10
20 miles.....................3:48:22 '10
26.2 miles.................5:08:00 '10
(First ever Marathon!)
Best Distance In 1 Hr...7.1 miles
Max Distance..............26.2 miles
Most miles Per Month..........137
Most Miles 7 Days...................45
Total 1/2 marathons/yr..........9
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Power Of A Compliment
Reading this morning about the power of a sincere compliment!
Why are we so gullible and foolish?
Do you think people will respect you more if they always have to wonder if they will be your next victim, or if they know their name is sacred with you?
So take every opportunity you get today to give someone a sincere compliment! Watch how it affects them and ask yourself if that doesn't make you feel good or what?
So have a great day today and help someone else do the same!!!
The Power Of Association
One of the most powerful principles I've ever learned is called the "power of association" It says you become like those you most associate with!
Are the people we spend the most time with the types who are always encouraging us to excel at whatever we are trying to accomplish? Or do we spend our time with "friends" who are constantly telling us that we can't accomplish something because we are "this"... or we are "that"?
Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, find someone who already has it or something like it and will be your cheerleader or mentor and spend as much time around them as possible!
Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, find someone who already has it or something like it and will be your cheerleader or mentor and spend as much time around them as possible!
Things will begin to change when you put yourself in an "Atmosphere of Achievement"!
You can do anything you set your mind to! If you are surrounded by people who try to tell you otherwise...RUN!
Common Denominators
Ran into an old friend the other day and they spent the entire 15 minute conversation telling me how they had "told off" this person and that person and some other person.
If your life seems like a never ending series of rotten experiences, maybe it's time to wake up and look at the common denominator in all of the problems....you?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Please and Thank You
All right everybody! Back to kindergarten! Or maybe back to Barney! Yeah the purple dinosaur!
Incidentally that's not back for me it's forward...and yes, I realize that makes me older than a dinosaur!
Please and Thank You ARE the magic words!
I was reading this morning about the power of sincerely using the words Thank You daily as often as possible! Seems to me that this is getting to be more and more of a lost art. My kids mumble it like it tastes bad and I see so many of us adults forget to say it on a daily basis that it amazes me!
This goes along so well with the idea of praising people that we talked about yesterday! Think about how it makes you feel when someone sincerely tells you thanks, sometimes even when you didn't totally deserve it!
When someone gives you credit for a great idea and thanks you for it, doesn't that just make you want to perform a little bit better next time! I know it does me!
I think that saying Please goes a long way towards changing our orders into requests too! Especially with our spouse and kids!
Big weakness there for this Dad! How about you?
Seems to me like for some reason we have really gotten away from these simple little common courtesies.
Please, Thank You, Good Job! All are great motivators and definitely build people up which is always a good thing!
Common courtesy, it's a good old fashioned value we need to build back up!
By the way, a big THANK YOU to all of you for your positive feed back and compliments on my posts! It's tremendously rewarding to interact with all of you!
Have an awesome day!
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