"Target Practice"

This from Darren Hardy – 

Target Practice –

0) Accept your current reality.

1) What do you want? (be clear)

2) What can you do right now to get more of what you want?

3) Take action.

A calm mind, a fit body and a house full of love.

A calm mind, a fit body and a house full of love.

These things can not be bought, they must be earned.

Are you earning them?

Wealth, health and happiness

We pursue the big 3 wants in life – wealth, health and happiness – and we pursue them in that order.

But the importance is in reverse.

Happiness, health and then wealth.

Of course, it is far easier to be happy if you have your health, but if you don’t, you can still be happy.

(I would have trouble understanding this if I didn’t see it myself from a dear friend.)

Do you have your pursuits in the right order?

Consistency

What if you were great at work four days a week and one day a week you slacked off?

What if you kept your promises most of the time?

What if you were nice to your spouse five times out of six?

What if you worked out only when you felt strong and energized?

The answers are that it would be very different than if you were consistent.

When you are consistent at a thing you become that habit.  People know it and rely on you for it.  You build discipline and results that only consistency over time can bring.

Are you consistent in the areas that matter? 

Being a problem solver

One way to earn respect and advance in any group is to be a problem solver.

Problems always come up, and the more we are trying to change things (the greater the goals) the more problems there are to solve.

Some people complain and whine, and many wait for someone else to solve a problem.  The person that steps up and takes the problem on gets a lot of attention and admiration from the rest – they are leading.

Find out what the problems are.  What stands in the way of it getting better?  Ask leaders what needs to be solved.  

Then learn all about the problem – what caused it, what’s been tried, what a good solution might entail, etc.  Then take initiative.

By being a problem solver, you can get what you want.

The world needs more problem solvers.  The world needs you.

Defects in conversation

Building rapport with someone is how you connect with them to get cooperation, build personal and professional relationships, and be able to get things done in the future by knowing so many people, and just the right one to call in any given situation.

Conversation is how we start.

Some people are not comfortable with themselves, and it shows when speaking to others.  (You can be an introvert and still be comfortable with yourself.)

Some people don’t talk.  Maybe they think they have worthy nothing to talk about. 

Some people talk too much, and don’t let others speak much, dominating the conversation.

Some people only talk about themselves and show little/no interest in others lives.

Having a great conversation isn’t very hard. 

Smile, ask questions with great interest, try to be helpful, match their body language and tone of voice/volume, and pay attention to how they are responding and adjust accordingly.

A good conversation with another person leads somewhere….

Are you likable?

Being likable is the gateway to connections and relationships.

Are you likable?

Opportunities come by creation

“Opportunities in life come by creation, not by chance.  

You yourself, either now or in the past…have created all opportunities that arise in your path.  Since you have earned them, use them to the best advantage.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

What opportunities have you created for you?

In the coming years, what opportunities will you have created for you?

The Ultimate War

The ultimate war for each of us is the war within. 

Each of us fights it – a battle between good and evil.

The constant struggle to do the right thing or the wrong thing; the thing that is decent/kind/respectful/useful or the thing that feels good in the short term.

It’s the fight to present our higher selves to any moment or situation, or to surrender to our lower impulses.

If we are to have any shot at winning in the world, of influencing it as leaders, and of living to our potential, we must win the war within.

How is your battle going?

Deleting a bad habit

This idea is from James Clear from the book Atomic Habits (great book).  

To delete a bad habit, remove the prompt.  No prompt/trigger/cue, no behavior.

So for example changing your environment to not tempt you into the behavior.  Don’t bring anything you should not eat or drink into the house.  Delete your ____________ account.  Unsubscribe.  Don’t spend time with people who are doing something you don’t want to do anymore. Don’t go to the old places that trigger ______ behavior. Get rid of anything that reminds you of _________ .

Make the trigger invisible.

Set up your environment so it’s difficult to do the wrong thing and easy to do the right thing.

What habit do you need to break?