Great takes time.

To be great, it takes consistent good habits, inputs, and outputs over many years.

Unsuccessful people think in terms of days.  

Successful people think in terms of decades.

Most people have a patience problem.  

You must be able to delay gratification for a long, long time.

You must have self-discipline when you do not have motivation.

You must not have moments of weakness and throw it all away in one stupid night.

Day in, day out.  Doing the right things.  

Learn and do more than is expected, and more than average.

Let it accumulate and compound.  

Day in, and day out….

Great takes time.

Raising tough, resilient kids

In our quest to be comfortable, well-fed, shock-free, and entertained, we have made life easy.  That’s what we were supposed to do, right?

Most things we complain about are very small.  

But this life, free of adversity, has made a lot of weak kids.

I believe in trials, disappointments, and hard work of necessity, for what it makes of us.

“Your job as a parent is not to prevent your kids from experiencing setbacks and failures, but to give them the tools and emotional resilience they need to weather life’s storms.” – Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

If we always have it easy, we develop weak minds, and those weak minds will prevent us from facing what is necessary to get through a lifetime of what gets thrown at us without being crushed under a world that is “unfair” and “cruel”.

“Don’t wish life were easier, wish you(r kids) were better.” – Jim Rohn

“I can give my kids anything except desperation.  And for that, I apologize.” – Billionaire

Work hard on you

Many people think that if they want to get ahead they need to work more.  Working hard is a good thing.  It will help your career far more than not working hard.  And by hard, I mean diligently, with the right motives and focus.  But there is a limit to effort and hours.  

If you don’t possess higher levels of knowledge, character, people skills, then the value you bring to the hours worked is limited, no matter how many hours you work.

If you work harder on yourself and your own character, understanding, and knowledge, your job will improve.

I listen to perhaps three books a month, and read lots of other good stuff every day.  I subbed out TV, listening to music in the car, and social media to make time for it.

Your brain is hardware – and it will run the dominant software program you load in.

I work on myself.  And from inside my brain, come my outer results.

It’s the same with you.

Eat, move, and sleep well.

If you eat junky food, drink a lot of alcohol, smoke anything, don’t exercise to keep some muscle mass and your heart and lung capacity strong, and do not get enough sleep, then you will have earlier troubles with your health than you want.

If you eat badly today, you won’t die.  So you think, well, I can do that again because nothing bad happened.

But biology does not offer free passes, only delayed invoices.

Better the pain of self-discipline than the pain of regret.

Rock Bottom is fertile soil

Hit Rock Bottom?

Congratulations – maybe.  You are at a place that can create despair and misery or fuel strength, resilience and success.

Your poison or your fuel – it’s up to you.

Rock Bottom has built more champions than privilege ever could.

People who have had it easy are often weak.  Challenges crush them.

But a person who has been in the gutter, in desperation, and had their heart broken, can be uniquely positioned to succeed IF they have a vision and burning desire to be better and do better, and are willing to do the work.

Had trouble?  Made some mistakes?  People messed with you and caused all kinds of problems?

So long as you are breathing, it’s not over.

Stand up. 

Determine to win.

Get busy.

Let’s go!