"The Good ol' Days"

Warning – Objects in your memories were worse than they appear.

For centuries, older people have romanticized their youths and insisted that things ain’t what they used to be.  Well, that’s true, but not in the way they mean it.  Most things used to be worse, not better,  But it is extremely easy for people to forget how things really did “used to be”.

Beyond living memory, for some reason, we avoid reminding ourselves and our children about the brutalities of the past.  The truth is to be found in ancient graveyards and burial sites, where archeologists have to get used to discovering that a large proportion of all the remains they dig up are those of children.  Most have been killed by starvation or diseases, but many child skeletons bear the marks of physical violence. Hunter-gatherer societies often had murder rates above 10%, and children were not spared.  In today’s graveyards, child graves are rare.

Things are the best they have ever been today, and are getting better all the time.

Be good to be successful

“Every moral act is another solid brick in the temple of prosperity.” – James Allen

Despite any narrative otherwise, it is very difficult to get ahead if you are immoral, unfair, and mean to others.  Sure, there are exceptions, but they are very few and don’t last long.

Prosperity rests on a moral foundation. Whatever mistakes you may have made in the past, it’s never too late to get it right.

Roots and Wings

“He that would build strong and high must first of all dig deep and low. So rises the spire against the sky, and so doth skill and knowledge grow, so with well-ordered strenuousness, raise thou the structure of success.” – James Allen

Toiling away in the dirt building the foundation may not be much fun, but it is necessary to one day place the flag on the dome.

Keep going, and do what you must.

Real "risk"

“At any given moment we can step forward into growth or back into safety.” 

But is “back into safety” really safe? When we get to the end of our days, we will likely regret the things we did not do, not what we did. We will be sorry that we didn’t have more time to do the things we wanted to experience and be the person we wanted to be in various chapters in our lives. 

But we do have that time. That time is now, and it is ticking away.  

What are you doing with it?

Kindness and generosity

Kindness and generosity – attract others.

Stinginess and meanness – repel others.

What do you want to do?

Waiting on you

“Universal intelligence is sitting there filing its nails, waiting for instructions from you.” – Jen Sincero

Make a decision.

Sprigs of Brilliance

We all can’t be great at everything. We’ll be average at many things, and not so good at others. But there are a few things that we are fantastic at.  

At first, maybe you don’t see those things in yourself, or you don’t think they are valued anywhere. But you should follow what you’re great at, and see where in the marketplace (workplace) this skill or talent is useful and valued. 

Not every talent is one that makes money, but if you are really good at something, it will bring you something better than money – happiness and satisfaction when doing it.

Follow your brilliance!

Default Settings

Is our default setting positive or negative? Do we assume people are trying to get over on us, or do we assume they have positive intentions? Do we assume we will have a great day or a rough one? Do we expect we will make progress today, or have difficulty?  

How we expect things to be influences how they “really” are to us – a lot.

What are your “default settings” for looking at the world?

Finding time to learn

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

All high-performance people who “get ahead” are readers/”full-time” learners. (Newspapers and entertainment magazines don’t count!)

If that’s not you, why not get started now? When you find out it’s interesting and, dare I say “fun,” you won’t have any trouble finding the time for it.

Teaching makes you better

When you struggle to make things more clear for someone else, it makes it clear for you.

If one person listens and one speaks, there is the opportunity for transformation for both the listener to be enlightened and the speaker to be better educated by struggling with the language. 

Words are clumsy sometimes when you try to express what is going on in your head; let alone your heart and spirit. The more you struggle to make it clear, the clearer it gets for you.