“Ever Changing Truth”

As we grow, what we thought was true, changes.  If we keep growing and learning, this pattern becomes so obvious, that we learn to hold onto what we think is true quite loosely – because we understand we are likely to change our mind in the future.

Are there things you used to believe that you don’t anymore, have learned were not true, or replaced with somethng else?

“Good with people”

You know a few – people who are half as smart as you and half as talented – but they get twice the results with others.

Chances are they are just better with people.  Attitude, respect, communication, personality, caring, optimism – and just plain smiling.

Are you “good with people”?

Overwriting

Years have passed and we learned a lot of stuff through experience.  We made some of it mean things about ourselves – “I can’t”, “we can’t”, “I’ll never be…”, “I’m just a…”.

But it’s never too late to learn new things and make new decisions about ourselves.

If you don’t like it, don’t accept it.

The age of infinite wisdom

What age is that? It can be 10, 17, 23, 44 or 68.  It’s whatever age you find yourself saying “I know” a lot.  And because you know it all, there is simply no way you can learn more.

How would that work for someone?

How to be an effective, happy human

That’s what we have to learn.  How does our mind work?  How do we produce feelings of happiness and fulfillment and satisfaction?  When we feel things go wrong, how do we correct it inside us?

Learning how to operate what we are – there doesn’t seem to be much more important than that.

Blinded by being right

As soon as you are convinced you’re right, you lose your ability to find out what right is.

Instead we could say “This is my best (guess, interpretation or position) now, but I’m open to understanding more about it.”

Are your positions fixed?

Why we want the income gap to INCREASE

People at the bottom earn zero.  Zero will always be zero, and there will always be people who do things or don’t do things that cause them to earn zero.  (This is not to say we shouldn’t help and teach them so they can produce more than zero).

At the top are people who earn the most.  You can’t get lower than zero, but you can get more than a lot.  

Do we want the people who earn the most to earn less so we can say they are closer to zero than they were?  Would it be a sign of a healthy growing economy for all if the top did worse? Or do we want everyone to do better no matter who they are, understanding there will always be some people at zero?

Self Confidence

Nobody knows what you’ve been up to, whether you can be trusted, or what your abilities are better than you.  Other people figure that you know you best, and if YOU aren’t confident in yourself, then why should they be?

Prepare, do things you are proud of, and maintain your integrity to yourself and others.  Then, when you are confident in yourself it will show, and others will have confidence in you, too.  

Urgency and Deadlines = Productivity

If a flood was coming, you get the sandbag wall built NOW.  If you’re having a party tomorrow night, you get the house clean NOW.  If the paper is due tomorrow, you get it done NOW.  It’s amazing what you can get done when you HAVE to.  

But the opposite is true.  The idea that we have plenty of time lulls our brain into low gear and delays action.  The most productive people create self-imposed deadlines.  They expect a lot out of themselves – and they get it.

Are you moving your agenda forward with urgency every day? 

Leadership begins with you

If people see that you can’t manage your own affairs, you can’t put clean trouble free days together, have bad habits, and don’t take care of yourself, then why would they follow you, give you more responsibility, or give you a leadership position?

Lead yourself first.

Me first – it’s okay

The world can’t be a happy place unless you are happy.

Take care of yourself first.  Go ahead.  It’s ok.

No Pressure, No Growth

“A gas or a liquid or a person will move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure”

No pain, no gain.  No discomfort, no action.

In the future we can look back and recognize what’s happening now as a gift.

How are you going to eliminate the pressure?

When?

Do the things you know you need to do.

When is now a good time?

Who are my mentors?

I get this question often.  I never went to college – so whom did I learn from?  While there are hundreds or thousands of authors I’ve listened to or read, let me tell you some of my favorites so you can get their work, too.

Jim Rohn and Earl Nightingale – They become your second dads.

Tony Robbins – I’ve listened to him for years.  Then when I saw him speak live to a small group of 150, I thought he was the best speaker on the planet.

Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich – you must have it!

Brian Tracy – The master of how to do things – lots of things!

Steven Covey, Michael Gerber, Marianne Williamson, Eckard Tolle, Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell, George Gilder and Zig Ziglar.

That should keep you going for, oh, a decade or so! 

Rolling toward your goals

I lived 21 minutes from my office for ten years.  Then we moved and I still lived 21 minutes away in the other direction. I listen to audiobooks in my vehicle all the time.  It’s time that I’m alone, uninterrupted, where I can absorb the words of others.

Twenty-one minutes each way is 182 hours a year, or 4.55 solid 40 hours weeks a year.  That’s a lot of inspiration, education and information on a wide array of subjects.

Do you think that would make a difference in your life? 

Failure is the gatekeeper of success

You can’t meet success unless you meet failure first.  They’re in the same office.

Action!

You’ve been thinking about fixing this or improving that for some time. 

How’s that thinking (alone) working for you?

You are what you eat

Consider what you swallow is affecting how you feel and what’s happening to your body than you think.

Experiment.  Change your habits.  Cut this out for a while…see how you feel.  Then cut that out and add this…

You’ll see.

What’s a fact?

A fact is only a fact until someone comes along and changes it.

Is that you?

Soon we will be older…

When are you going to make it work?