From the invisible…

I was listening to an interview with Kyle Maynard who was born with only half of his arms and legs (arms ended at the elbow and his legs ended at the knee; no hands or feet). When he was young his parents put him on the wrestling team.  Yes, the wrestling team.  

He lost every match for a year and a half.  Some adults were saying it was borderline child abuse.  But in his senior year Kyle was undefeated and today he is in the wrestling Hall of Fame.  Wow.  

Kyle said that some kids made fun of his handicap – they could see it – it was so obvious. But many people have handicaps you can’t see – they don’t believe in themselves, they think negatively, they identify as victims in one or more areas of life, or they fail to learn good useful things each day and put mental junk in instead.

From the inner – comes the outer.

This is why you and I need to work on us as much or more than we work on anything outside us.

From the invisible – the visible.

Give thanks for those that made this world possible

“Live honestly and honorably within the limits and to the limits of your own ability – and give thanks to the men and women whose greater ability has made such a magnificent world possible for you.” – Ayn Rand

I am talented, and so are you.  But together you and I could not have created this easy, fascinating, safe, and wonderful world by ourselves.  Just the computer you are reading this on…I mean, holy smokes!

Let us strive to make our life count by using what we have been given to make the world even better, and give thanks for those who have come before us, with less than we have and in very different circumstances, who made our current life possible.

Should you "go with the flow"?

As a life strategy – probably not.  Going with the flow means being like everyone else – and that means average.

You can do better.

Make a decision for yourself.

Don’t be “normal”.  

Why inflation is a bad thing

In the last 12 months, inflation has gone up by 10%.  This is the highest number in many decades.  But many things have gone up more than that; houses by 17%, gasoline, etc.

When inflation goes up, the buying power of your money goes down.  People that have money saved, have lost 10% of that money’s value.  People that don’t have a home and want to buy one, find it less affordable.

Here are some comments by Steve Forbes commenting on a book by Nathan Lewis –

“Why is monetary policy so fundamentally important?

A modern economy is ultimately “a vast network of cooperation”…in which hardly anything is created without combining goods, services and labor and capital from all over the world…The network of cooperation is organized through the use of money, with information transmitted via prices, interest rates, and profit and loss.  These seemingly simple bits of information direct all economic activity.

Unstable currencies are like viruses in your computer – they corrupt those bits of information.

Everyone understands the basic need for fixed weights and measures in daily life – number of ounces in a pound, minutes in an hour;  just as we use money to measure the value of products and services.  If the measuring stick itself becomes unstable the smooth functioning of an economy is disrupted just as our lives would be if the  number of minutes in an hour constantly fluctuated.”

Imagine 10% inflation year over year?  In 7.2 years prices would double.  In 14.4 years, prices would quadruple.  

We should all care about inflation and pay attention to who and how it is being caused.

Will you marry me?

I am so excited to announce that SHE SAID YES!

I am now engaged to my love Marie, and we are so happy together!

Life takes twists and turns.  Ups and downs.  Tragedy and triumph.

We’ve both seen a lot of them.  

But today I am grateful for all of it.  

Keep going.  Be a good human being.  Stay open to goodness and love. 

You will be rewarded.

Nobody gives you power, you just take it.

You take it by being responsible and trustworthy and of good character.

You take it by developing your talents and using them in service to others.

You take power by solving problems and helping other people in a significant way.

You take it by stepping up – for you and for others.

Nobody gives you power, you just take it.

You can't call "no fair"

Doing difficult things teaches you something.  In Baja for example, you can’t say “this is too hard” and give up.  You are 80 miles from the nearest town, and if you stay there you will die.

In life, you can’t call “no fair”.  If you do, you are blaming others and making an excuse.

You don’t have to call “no fair” anyway.  Life is not fair – for anyone.  You have to play the hand you were dealt.  After age 18, you are responsible for what happens.  

We are all lucky to live in this age.  It is no fair. 

It’s skewed heavily in your favor.

Who is in charge of your life?

I’ll give you a hint.  Nobody else.

“As one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” – Katherine Hepburn

Develop your strengths

In school, we have to pass each class.  Most people will do well in some and struggle in others.  We may learn a lesson that is not a good one to learn – that we aren’t a good student because we have weaknesses, and that we should spend our time fixing them.

But we should not spend our lives trying to fix our weaknesses, but rather develop our strengths.  We should get jobs where our strength is valued and grow our talents, and let others fill in for our weaknesses.

Often when someone has very strong talents, they can be quite inept at other things.  That’s ok.  

Better to develop your strengths than to try to fix your weaknesses in vain forever.

Of course, if our weaknesses are ones that are holding us back, then we should shore them up enough so they don’t hurt us.

What are your strengths?  Have you been focusing on them?

(This advice is for individuals.  Businesses will rise to the height of their key weaknesses such as sales, marketing, operations, finance, etc. so fixing weaknesses in businesses is important.)

Imagination – part 2

If someone sees you sitting still in your office staring at nothing, you could be dozing or you could be using a tool that will transform your business or life in a profound way; your imagination.

Imagination takes us out of what is and into a realm of what could be.  It is the preview of coming attractions.  It is the first tool to use on a creative journey.  

Using your imagination to try out different scenarios takes a lot less time and is less expensive than actually trying each alternative.  It can leapfrog you results way ahead of where you are now.  It can be fun, and stimulating.  

“To imagine the unimaginable is the highest use of the imagination.” – Cynthia Ozick

Using your imagination makes new things possible for you.  Because if you don’t think a thing first, you cannot do it.  All action is preceded by thought, and thinking things that don’t exist yet or haven’t happened yet is to imagine.

How would you rate your use of your own imagination in your life?

What problems do you need to solve?  What adventures could call? 

What should you imagine now?