What do you really want in your life?

To play any game you have to start.

To win you have to keep going.

To make your dreams come true you have to play the long game.

On what goals are you taking action on and playing the long game?

Results that actually help people

“Life tends to reward results-producing actions.  You don’t build a great reputation by talking about what you are going to do – you do it by helping people.” – Joe Polish

Your reputation lives in the minds of others.  What do they say about you?

Life is a one lap race!

You have one go-around.

You will never be this age again, or any younger.

Make the most of it!

The color of truth is gray

There’s scientific truth – often absolute.  But then there is truth with people – social truth; that’s different.

People have different experiences from where they stand, thier culture, their education, what they went through, what they saw and how they processed it all as only they could.

Trying to make people wrong about their version of the world is would not be very effective and likely a futile, frustrating, lifelong endeavor.

What you can do for a very small number of people is create great experiences that help or serve them, and they will begin to add those interactions to what they already had, and start to change their ideas and beliefs about how the world is.

Advice is context-dependent, questions are not.

Yesterday we said, “Advice is context-dependent”.  Good advice for some people may not be good advice for others.  

Questions are not context-dependent.  So here’s a great question for anyone, and one that will help you recognize good advice for you – 

What are you optimizing for?

Some people may be doing all they can to get good grades and graduate.  Some are trying to get a promotion.  Some may be trying to raise great kids, or finish a marathon or to compete in an event.  Some are spending most of their time and attention trying to buy a house, or get married or learn a new skill.  Some want adventure, some want to travel right now, some want to save money and learn how to invest, and so on.

What are you optimizing for right now?

Energizing goals keep the shrink away.

Advice is context-dependent.  There are different points of view that could be true for one person and not for another.  Here’s one- 

Today we have as I have heard, record levels of depression while the amount of free time people have is at an all-time high.  It takes fewer hours than ever in our modern society to take care of ourselves.

Here’s something from George Bernard Shaw –

“The secret to being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. So don’t bother to think about it. Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating, your mind will start ticking – and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind.

Get busy.  It’s the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth – and one of the best.”

Social enemies

It has always been the tactic of our social enemies to make us feel we are not enough and do not have enough.

There are some well-meaning friends, coaches and teachers that encourage us to live up to our potential, and that is different.  But for social enemies who operate from jealousy and insecurity, this is how they can feel superior over us.  Anyone that tried to do that is not your friend and does not want the best for you.  

Treat them as irrelevant, because to you, they are.

"Finding Joe"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8nFACrLxr0

I hope you will take the time tonight to watch this movie.

It’s about you, and was made for you.

-Larry

Stop living so safely!

“Life is an ongoing process in choosing between safety out of fear and the need for defense, and risk for the sake of progress and growth.  Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.” – Abraham Maslow

I can say that I have taken far more “risks” than the average person.  I have lived a wonderful life, accomplished many things, and had many adventures.  If I played it safe, I would be moving toward the ultimate risk – arriving at death without fully living.

How about you?

What are you intentional about right now?

When you make a decision and act, you move in that direction.

Direction over time equals destination.

What are you intentional about right now?