Enough sleep requires discipline

When we settle down for the night it’s a habit for many of us to turn on the TV or, more commonly these days, to open up our digital device.  This entertains/occupies us far past the point where we’d fall asleep without it.

Right?  

We need the discipline to shut everything off and go to sleep.  When we have enough sleep we are healthier, feel better, are more patient and creative and productive the next day.

You’ll never catch up on the amount of entertainment, interesting things, and going’s on of the world – it’s limitless. You, however, are not limitless.  You need enough sleep to live well.

Be strong.  Go to sleep.

Angry footprint

Just as you should not talk to anyone when you are angry, you should not post on social media for the same reason.  You’re going to say something you can’t take back – and it is there forever.

Ask “does this help both me and others?”  If not, don’t put it out there.

Worry – Part 2

Next month I will be at the starting line of the longest non-stop cross country race in the world in my third attempt to finish it solo on a dirtbike, and be the oldest person of fewer than fifty riders to ever accomplish the feat.

For the months before the race, the last two years I worried.  It will be difficult.  It will be dangerous.  It will be painful.  This year I have decided in advance – if I do not finish it’s not a problem.  I will just go back the next year and finish.  If I don’t finish then, I will just go back again. And again.

I have resolved in advance to accept the worst that can happen if it happens.  Now I can work to make sure it does not happen.  I am nearly worry-free as I prepare.

What are you worrying about?  Can you resolve to accept the worst if it happens, so you can move on and work to make sure the outcome is good?

Worry

When you are living a bad outcome before it happens, you worry and cause suffering for yourself.  If you think about it vividly and put emotion behind it, your mind and body don’t know the difference between the real event and your imagined one.  You are doing damage to yourself.

Instead, resolve to accept the worst.  This is different than expecting the worst.  Just say “If the worst happens, I’ll accept it, I’ll live, and I’ll move on.”  Then you don’t have to be afraid of it anymore.  

Then work to make sure the worst outcome does not happen and create a good outcome instead.

“Die first. Then you can go on with the business of living.” – Eckhart Tolle

The wrong road?

“No matter how far down the wrong road you are, turn back.” – Turkish Proverb

Is there an area of your life where you are going down the wrong road? 

Going farther won’t help.  

Turn back today.

A Scout is…

Trustworthy

Loyal 

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean

Reverent

This is the Scout Law.  I learned this there.  And now that I think of it, I don’t recall any discussion of being “loyal” or “trustworthy” or “brave” in school.  And since people don’t learn these things in school, where do they learn them?  (Certainly not on television.)  Something is missing and this is where parents, churches, civic organizations, and elders must fill in. 

How do you model and actively teach character?

Thinking problems = Problems

When you don’t think right, you make the wrong decisions, say the wrong things to the wrong people and do things that cause undesirable results.  When you don’t think right you cause problems for yourself.  When you have these problems, you can blame it on someone else if you like, but if you are honest and take responsibility, you can trace it back to your own thinking problems.

This is why we need to work on ourselves a lot – so we can think straight.  Learn, exercise, sleep, meditate, follow a compass of character, and zoom out and think about what you are doing and why and how fairly often.

Think better, live better.

Excel at Arithmetic

Most times it is not complex algorithms or equations we need to know to get ahead – it’s basic math. 

To succeed at personal finance you can’t follow the crowd and popular wisdom.  You need to know when “that don’t add up!”

Credit card debt.  Mortgage interest.  Taxes.  Investments.  Income.  Expenses.  

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Excel at arithmetic. 

Practice enough

Practice enough so you can get it right, then practice enough that you can’t make a mistake.

Mastery requires lots and lots of practice.

Don’t compete with the wrong people

If you try to look good by making your teammates look bad, you have it wrong. If your goal is to compete and win over your teammates, you can never influence them, and they will not want to cooperate with you. 

The competition is the other team, not yours.   

Who is on your team at home, at work, and at play?