The World Wide Mirror

Online, which is most of what is presented to us, the world is as we think it is – and that is a problem.

Because of algorithms, Google and other platforms know what we are interested in.  They know what we’ve searched for.  They know what we clicked on and how much time we spent there.  They even listen to us talking when we are not using our devices.  

Then when we go to our device it shows us what we already have looked at with the same world view.  This is nice, but it’s problematic too.  We don’t get a diverse view of the world.  We get reinforcement that the world is the way we have thought, even though it isn’t.  We are looking at the world in the mirror, our reflection coming back to us.

Our internet experience is not representative of the real world or the whole world.

Happy Birthday Think Daily!

I wrote my first Think Daily message in April of 2009 – 13 years ago.  This first Think Daily for Businesspeople message went out a month later.  That’s 13 years at 500 messages a year!

6500 times I sat down with my laptop and said “what am I going to write today?”  The process of “teaching” has made me a far better student.  I don’t want to say anything dumb, false, not useful, or insulting, though I am sure I have done all of those things.

To get better is to change.  But our egos don’t like change.  They are fighting to defend your identity that you act out each day and they don’t want to be challenged, exposed, called out or replaced with a new one.  But real change demands it.

Helping someone else change from afar without upsetting them and having them simply unsubscribe is a delicate matter.  

Walking my own talk has made me better.  But one thing has gotten easier.  Deciding what to do, or rather knowing what to do when the chips are down and the tests come.  By being a student and learning each day, when the occasion or crisis comes you know how to act ahead of time.  

Knowing what to do in so many of the situations life brings is not the result of reading (learning) it one time, but from repetition and being a practitioner to master ourselves.

I will keep going because the sun keeps coming up and you are still there.

Happy 13th Birthday Think Daily!

You can't fix it all

“You will never accomplish your goals if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

These days you can find lots wrong with the world, especially against the high standards of civility we have established.  But if we spend all our time focusing on ALL that is wrong, we become bitter, seeing the world through poorly colored glasses.

Make a difference in your area, your community and areas you can control – and be proud you are making the world a better place.

You are abnormal…hopefully.

Being normal in all areas is not a good life plan.  You’ll die with your talent left unused, and your joys left unrealized.

In what area are you abnormal?  Where do you spend a disproportionate amount of time and energy developing a talent (interest) that makes you a confident expert/pro who can teach or serve others?

Double down on something you would do even if you weren’t being paid.  Go deep on the things that are hard for others but easy for you.  Deviate from everyone else and become a freakish expert on something.  

Be proud of your abnormality.

Who do you want to be?

For some of us, it’s an easy question.  

For others, who might say “I already am who I want to be”, you should probably be asking “Can I be better?  Do more?  Serve more?  Become more?”  Don’t get stuck.  If you are breathing, you can continue to grow and make more of the potential you had put in you.

For others, “Who do I want to be” is a question that they have never answered.  Is that you?  If you don’t aspire to a higher ideal, then you have no reason, no aim, and your days will be wasted in distraction without purpose.

Who do you want to be that you aren’t yet?

Was "misfortune" really bad for you?

“If it takes apparent misfortune to turn us into true philosophers and doers of good to receive good, then apparent misfortune is our greatest fortune.”  -Vernon Howard

Most “bad things” that have happened to me turned out to be good.  I didn’t realize it at the time and this cause great pain, especially on the big ones – and there were big ones.  

But now, the next time something “really bad” happens, I feel like I’ll resist it less, and look for the good sooner.

In order to have a breakthrough, something’s got to break.

Keep going. 

There are many wonders waiting for you if you don’t give up.

It's not "who can", it's "who will".

Today, “getting ahead” is easier than ever.  

How to do it is known.

This is good news.  In America, anything is available to anyone.

It’s not the “have’s and the have nots”, like some would like you to believe. 

It’s the “wills” and the “will nots”.

Will you?

Be courteous to people you've never met.

Put good deeds and energy into the world – and it will come back to you.

That’s how it works.

How to change your life

“You cannot change your life until you change something you do everyday” – John Maxwell

You can learn something new.

You can hang around with different people.

You can go to new places.

You can do different things.

You can stop doing some of the things you are doing now.

What should you change?

Have you traded risk for certainty?

Have you sacrificed growth, adventure, and realizing your potential for safety and the certainty of knowing how the next week/month/year is going to go?

Are you sure you want to make that trade?