Love your family, Choose your friends

You can’t choose your family.

Some family members are good people doing well, and some not so much.  Love them anyway.

You don’t have to spend lots of time with the ones who make things difficult, but you should love them and let them know you do.

Your friends, on the other hand, you can hand-pick them.  And you should.

The quality of the people around you is very important to how your life turns out. 

Be sure to include people who will call you out when you are messing up, and ones who are doing better than you in areas so they can challenge and stretch you.

Who are your five closest friends?

Wisdom =

Wisdom = Knowledge + Experience + Reflection.

Knowledge is not wisdom, although plenty of education helps.  Experience is where you test the education, and see in what measure it is applied to this situation and that, and how it is best mixed with various disciplines and people skills.  Reflection is where you can see why things worked or didn’t, and learn from it all.  

With wisdom, we can understand, and develop intuition based on memory of our knowledge and experience in action.

Wisdom is the gradual revision of one’s expectations through learning and trial, aligning them with current and future reality.

With wisdom, we are seldom surprised and never shocked by what happens.

How much wisdom have you acquired?

How we view things will drive how do things.

A person’s values explain how they view and respond to the world.

Two people see the same thing and think different thoughts.  Thoughts drive action.

When your values change, your world changes.

There is value in everything.  Some see it and some do not.

It depends on the lens they are looking at it from.  

Perspective, reference, experience, knowledge, character, and ambition all drive the value of what you see in the world.

What do you see in what you see?

Love thyself

Someone who doesn’t love themselves has lots of problems.  They don’t respect or love others, they don’t try (why bother?), and won’t work for a better future for themselves or anyone else.

Do things that make you proud.  Make the right choices, starting with the small things.  Invest in you.  Appreciate your unique talents and abilites even if others do not take the time to see them.  

The degree you care for yourself will be the degree that you care for others, that others care for you, and that you can live a productive, fulfilling life.

Did you know?

The average tax rate for a single childless worker in Europe is over 50%.

In the United States, it is 31%.

I think that this would encourage people to do well when they can keep more of their income.

I am glad I live here.

How about you?

(Though I know there are plenty of people getting Think Daily who do not live in the U.S.)

What are your thoughts?

Thoughts on Aging

At age 60, I am feeling great (today, lol) and am doing well at taking care of myself.  I am 60% done, with a whopping 40% to go!  I have a giant jar of marbles on my vanity – one for each week until I am 100.  Each week I take a marble out.  The space reminds me of the time passed, and the marbles left remind me that I will not be here forever – and if I have something to do or say (and I do!) – I better get to it and not waste any time.

When we are young, we have energy and health, but no money and little wisdom.

When we are very old, hopefully we have wisdom and some money.

The era those overlap, when we have money, health, and wisdom, is the best time – when all our options are on the table.

“Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Garson Kanin

“The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of life, the clearer we should see through it.” – Jean Paul Richter

“To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent – that is the triumph over old age.” – Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Feelings aren’t facts

Just because you feel offended or hurt doesn’t mean something is wrong.  

You have your history, ego, and sensitivities…

Learn to challenge your thoughts.

The world needs more leaders. Can you help?

The world needs more leaders – the kind with titles and the kind without.

A leader brings out the best in other people while accomplishing goals.

On your team at work, in your department, on your block, in your family, in a Scout Troop, in the community, on the sports team, in church, with kids, with teenagers, in your company, and everywhere.

Anyone can be a leader if they want to.  And being a leader opens doors.  If you do well leading a small team or initiative, you will get an opportunity to lead a bigger one, because there is a shortage of leaders.

Will you help?

Are you trustworthy?

Trust is a big deal.  If people do not trust you, opportunities do not come your way, people will avoid you, and it is difficult to get people that know you to help or cooperate with you.  Your bridges are burned.

If you are trustworthy, becoming successful is far easier.

Trustworthy – If we say we are going to do something, we do it when we say.  Make your word the law. If you tell yourself you will do something, follow through.  Others can trust you not to do something unpredictable, irrational, or harmful.

Are you trustworthy?

How to get people to like you

To get more people to like you, you have to like more people.

People like people who like them.  They can’t help it.

Don’t you?

I bet you really do not like people who you feel do not like you – right?

So to get people to like you, you have to like them first.