Control the inputs into your life

I wrote about this on January 23, 2015.  It’s a really important idea.

What if you had crappy ingredients – could you bake a good cake?

What about the inputs into your life?

Food? 

Fluid? 

Sensory inputs – what you read, watch and listen to? 

Voices – friends, people around you?

(Tonight I had pizza. The first piece tasted good. But I felt like crap afterwards.  Dang.  And I worked all day (Sunday) doing heavy carpentry work in my barn – but you can’t outwork a bad diet.  No more dang pizza!) 

I did listen to two audiobooks this weekend while I was working.

If I can have quality inputs, I can build a quality life.

It’s pretty hard to have a quality life if we have poor-quality inputs.

How are yours?

Thank YOU.

Not everyone looks to get better.  Not everyone wants to.

But one thing I know about you.  You are an exception.  You aren’t like most people.

I have been writing Think Daily for 16 years.  We have a core of loyal readers, and you are one of them.

By showing up each day and reading Think Daily, we know you want to do better.

I just want to say thank you for that.

Thank you for being a person who is striving for more and wants to get better for yourself and the people around you.

The world appreciates you.

Fear – what holds you back

Fear is simply the belief that something bad will happen in the future.

Maybe it’s losing something we worked to get.

Maybe it’s looking foolish, or being embarrassed.

Maybe it’s getting hurt in some way.

Fear is holding us back from doing cool things, from adventure, and from playing bigger games.

Fear is not outside of us though.  It is only manufactured inside of us by us.  Fear is mostly a choice.

What have you said no to that stopped you from something good?

What are you afraid of?

What if you stopped being afraid, or at least feel fear and do it anyway?

The surest way to stop fear?  Do the thing you fear.

Failure is feedback

“Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right.” – Marian Wright Edelman

“Good people are good because they have come to wisdom through failure.” – William Saroyan

“Failure is nothing but success trying to be born in a bigger way.  Most seeming failures are just installments toward victory! – Catherine Porter

Installments toward victory!

It’s not over!  Let’s go!

You don't change until you have a crisis

When things are going pretty well, people don’t change.  Why should they?  There is no reason to change.  We like habits.  Habits make it easier because we don’t have to think much.

But things happen in two ways.  Slowly….and then suddenly. 

Slowly we become unhealthy.  Suddenly we have a crisis.

Slowly we become broke.  Suddenly we are out of money.

Slowly we lose friends.  Suddenly we are alone.

Slowly we spend our reputation.  Suddenly we have no credibility.

When things happen slowly, we don’t change.  Then we have to and it is not fun.  

In some cases, we don’t get a second chance.  The accumulated mistake is fatal.

The wise among us will see what happens when we do this or that and look ahead and see what will happen one day if we keep doing that and change – before they have to.

What do you need to change now – before you HAVE TO?

How much should you achieve?

I love this idea from Jim Rohn –

“Your goal is the development of your full potential.  Why not see who you can become?

How far should you go?  As far as you can.

How much should you learn?  As much as you can.

How much should you achieve?  All you can.

I’m in.

You?

High Hanging Fruit

Did you know the term “sour grapes” came from the idea that if you couldn’t reach fruit because it was too high, that you’d justify it by telling a lie to yourself to make yourself feel better- “they were probably sour anyway”.

You lost – “Ah, I didn’t want to win that bad anyway.”

You’re not doing good? – “It’s not important to me anyway”. 

Somebody else is doing good? – “They probably cheated”.

Sour grapes.

Anybody can pick the low-hanging fruit.

While the high-hanging fruit is harder to reach, it can be the most plump, sweetest reward.

Reach.

Strap on your cape!

Got problems?  Got projects?  Got issues?

Somebody else need help?

Nobody else coming to save you or them?

Get mad, get determined, get whatever you gotta get and summon what you got.

Strap on your cape and let’s go!

Face it, do it, crush it – WIN it and feel good.

Today!

Be the exception

Habits, attention, friends, how you spend your time…

You can’t be normal if you want to be above average.

Be the exception.

Produce Results

Your ability to produce results that someone is paying for is how you will get paid. 

What abilities do you have that people will pay for?

The person/people (customer) you are helping is always the judge as to how much value you bring.

How have you developed your skills to do this very well?