You probably realize by now that a decent sized chunk of my life revolves around challenging preconceived notions. Today is certainly no exception.
It is a commonly held belief that, our accomplishments in life are what really matter and that the road traveled is less important than where we end up. But that is simply not true. For one, because there are a lot of unsavory ways of reaching perfectly good goals. And the second and more important point has less to do with morals and more to do with psychology.
When are children happier and more excited about Christmas, the day after Christmas or the day before?
For many of us the whole month of December is filled with the magic of the approaching holiday. The temperatures start to fall. People smile a bit more to one another. There is this inexplicable feeling of mystery and something positive in the air. There are fond thoughts of spending time with our relatives, and other people we never seem to see enough of. The anticipation is tremendous and awesome and drives us to do many great things for those we care about.
But what about December 26th and after? Once it it's all over, that feeling vanishes and people go back to being jerks to one another. Anticipation 1 Accomplishment 0
How about students in school advancing towards a degree?
There's all this talk of what they are going to be and all the energy devoted towards accomplishing that goal. Tons of fun and creativity go into getting the desired degree. But once they have it, what then? The excitement about that particular thing vanishes and a new goal is then made.
What about several hours before vs several hours after a sexual encounter?
Are you noticing a pattern? Anticipation is really where its at. When we are working towards a goal we are inspired. Our imagination and creativity are fully engaged. There is more passion, desire and focus than at any other time in our lives.
What do we have afterwards? Some fond memories, pictures and maybe a plaque upon our wall. Speaking from experience, I can certainly say that, yes it does feel good to be able to look back and remember a thing that I have accomplished, to be able to point to a thing and say I did that. But what I remember most strongly are the things that happened along the way, the challenges that sprang up, the fun that was had brainstorming, while searching for a way around the obstacles. I remember the experiences that were involved in getting to the goal and the time I shared with the people that worked with me to meet those accomplishments.
Our accomplishments themselves pale in comparison to the path we walk to achieve them. They serve as great milestones at varying points in our life and help us to determine what we should work towards next. But the real joys in life are to be found on our way to and not at the finish lines of each race.
Showing posts with label goal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goal. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A few more words on gratitude pt2
Now imagine that every person on the planet is born with a certain
internal reserve of energy and at that person's birth a certain amount
of the energy in the universe is set aside to handle working with that
person to assist them in making all their hopes and dreams come true.
Assume that the amount of energy the universe puts aside for each person
is an order of magnitude higher than the amount that any person can
ever achieve, so that the universe can always adequately reflect the
amount that the person gives off no matter how their emotions and
thoughts fluctuate. What a person gives out the universe will give back.
Like breeds like.
With this in mind, imagine that a person is working towards a goal that requires 100 units of this energy to achieve, getting homeowner's insurance for example. Positive energy is a creative force and negative energy is a destructive force. Achieving a goal is about making an improvement or about building something, gaining or increasing. So we will need 100 units of positive energy to achieve this goal. Each point of negative energy in what we say do or think will decrease the amount of positive energy. They cancel each other out.
So the person working towards this goal is excited and happy about their vision and puts out their maximum effort that they can at one point in time and let's say that's five units of positive energy. You as the universe see this person with that vision, are impressed with their excitement and positivity and you reflect their energy with five units of positive energy.
Now they are ten percent of the way there. The next day occurs and they are working more towards their goal and everything looks great. They provide five more units of positivity and so do you. Then they are twenty percent of the way there.
Day three comes around and while they are working towards their goal an obstacle comes up. The insurance agent tells them that there is going to be a delay because inspections need to be done. The best thing for the person to do would be to say okay cool how do we do that. Let's get it done. Then today could be another day of ten percent achievement. Instead the person gets frustrated with the delay and becomes negative. Here is the important part of this lesson.
You as the universe are saying we're about a fifth of the way to you having this goal are you sure this is what you want? And the person's reply is totally negative. Five units of negative energy are generated by the person and you as the universe decide that the person does not want what they have said they do. You respond by applying five more units of negative energy. Now they are back to the 10% of the way towards their goal that they were on day one. And the way this will show up is by more obstacles and challenges occurring as the universe again asks what they really want.
As you can see, in order for any real forward progress to happen, the person is going to need to focus all of their thoughts, words and deeds positively towards accomplishing their goals.
If a person is putting their best effort forward, while living with faith that they will receive that for which they are working towards and are grateful for those things which they have yet to receive there can be no doubt about the results. The universe is constantly being updated with the truth that they want exactly what they have asked for and they are sure to receive it.
Keep in mind also that things will sometimes not happen on the timetable that you would like due to the fact that you as a person do not know the amount of energy required to bring you what it is that you desire. But, often when things do not happen when you want them to, when they finally do, something about them will be even better than that for which you had originally planned.
Be persistent in maintaining an attitude of gratitude,while putting your best foot forward and faithfully believing you will get what you want, and all your dreams will come true
With this in mind, imagine that a person is working towards a goal that requires 100 units of this energy to achieve, getting homeowner's insurance for example. Positive energy is a creative force and negative energy is a destructive force. Achieving a goal is about making an improvement or about building something, gaining or increasing. So we will need 100 units of positive energy to achieve this goal. Each point of negative energy in what we say do or think will decrease the amount of positive energy. They cancel each other out.
So the person working towards this goal is excited and happy about their vision and puts out their maximum effort that they can at one point in time and let's say that's five units of positive energy. You as the universe see this person with that vision, are impressed with their excitement and positivity and you reflect their energy with five units of positive energy.
Now they are ten percent of the way there. The next day occurs and they are working more towards their goal and everything looks great. They provide five more units of positivity and so do you. Then they are twenty percent of the way there.
Day three comes around and while they are working towards their goal an obstacle comes up. The insurance agent tells them that there is going to be a delay because inspections need to be done. The best thing for the person to do would be to say okay cool how do we do that. Let's get it done. Then today could be another day of ten percent achievement. Instead the person gets frustrated with the delay and becomes negative. Here is the important part of this lesson.
You as the universe are saying we're about a fifth of the way to you having this goal are you sure this is what you want? And the person's reply is totally negative. Five units of negative energy are generated by the person and you as the universe decide that the person does not want what they have said they do. You respond by applying five more units of negative energy. Now they are back to the 10% of the way towards their goal that they were on day one. And the way this will show up is by more obstacles and challenges occurring as the universe again asks what they really want.
As you can see, in order for any real forward progress to happen, the person is going to need to focus all of their thoughts, words and deeds positively towards accomplishing their goals.
If a person is putting their best effort forward, while living with faith that they will receive that for which they are working towards and are grateful for those things which they have yet to receive there can be no doubt about the results. The universe is constantly being updated with the truth that they want exactly what they have asked for and they are sure to receive it.
Keep in mind also that things will sometimes not happen on the timetable that you would like due to the fact that you as a person do not know the amount of energy required to bring you what it is that you desire. But, often when things do not happen when you want them to, when they finally do, something about them will be even better than that for which you had originally planned.
Be persistent in maintaining an attitude of gratitude,while putting your best foot forward and faithfully believing you will get what you want, and all your dreams will come true
Monday, August 12, 2013
Persistence
You can accomplish anything that you really really want to do.
However, if what you want to do has never been done before or has been
done by very few, you may need to focus every ounce of effort in your
entire being for a long period of time before you achieve success. How
many times have you started towards a goal and given up at the first
signs of failure? Or maybe you managed to get past the first obstacle or
two but by the fifth or sixth you just throw in the towel.
How many professional athletes sink every shot, score every time or win every game? Which ones have a 100% success rate? None of them. Take for instance an example from basketball. A field goal percentage of 50% is considered good. That means a player can miss half the time they take a shot and it is still a good thing. What about baseball? A batting average of .300 is considered very good.
Now hold on a second. That means seven out of ten times at bat they strike out. Their failure rate is more than twice their success rate and they are still doing better than many other players out there.
What do you think would happen to the baseball player who struck out his first six or seven at bats and then said to his coach "hey man, this is too hard. I don't think I can do this" ? If he walked away from the game right then, he would be a failure as a baseball player. But if he just persisted through a few more attempts he would achieve his goal.
American inventor Thomas Edison often went through thousands of experiments before achieving his intended goal. If he had given up after the 1st or the tenth or even the thousandth time that he did not succeed, our modern world would be a much different place. There would probably be no electric lights and no movie theaters at the very least.
Edison though did not see any of those experiments as failures. He said he just found a whole lot of ways not to do what he was attempting to do. And each time he would change some minor thing and try again. He did not give up until he reached his goal even when other people told him he was crazy or wasting his time.
If you want to be successful in your endeavors, you get to model his behavior in your life. First decide what it is that you want. Then formulate an action plan designed to achieve that which you want. Then put the plan in motion. As things proceed challenges, breakdowns and obstacles will occur. This is natural. Nothing worth doing is easy and it is not possible for you to foresee all of the difficulties that will arise ahead of time. Do not get discouraged and quit. The key is to work through each issue one by one, molding your plan to fit the circumstances as necessary until you arrive at your goal.
Persistence leads to success. Lack of persistence guarantees failure.
How many professional athletes sink every shot, score every time or win every game? Which ones have a 100% success rate? None of them. Take for instance an example from basketball. A field goal percentage of 50% is considered good. That means a player can miss half the time they take a shot and it is still a good thing. What about baseball? A batting average of .300 is considered very good.
Now hold on a second. That means seven out of ten times at bat they strike out. Their failure rate is more than twice their success rate and they are still doing better than many other players out there.
What do you think would happen to the baseball player who struck out his first six or seven at bats and then said to his coach "hey man, this is too hard. I don't think I can do this" ? If he walked away from the game right then, he would be a failure as a baseball player. But if he just persisted through a few more attempts he would achieve his goal.
American inventor Thomas Edison often went through thousands of experiments before achieving his intended goal. If he had given up after the 1st or the tenth or even the thousandth time that he did not succeed, our modern world would be a much different place. There would probably be no electric lights and no movie theaters at the very least.
Edison though did not see any of those experiments as failures. He said he just found a whole lot of ways not to do what he was attempting to do. And each time he would change some minor thing and try again. He did not give up until he reached his goal even when other people told him he was crazy or wasting his time.
If you want to be successful in your endeavors, you get to model his behavior in your life. First decide what it is that you want. Then formulate an action plan designed to achieve that which you want. Then put the plan in motion. As things proceed challenges, breakdowns and obstacles will occur. This is natural. Nothing worth doing is easy and it is not possible for you to foresee all of the difficulties that will arise ahead of time. Do not get discouraged and quit. The key is to work through each issue one by one, molding your plan to fit the circumstances as necessary until you arrive at your goal.
Persistence leads to success. Lack of persistence guarantees failure.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Working together pt2
The home that I live in was bought by a group of supposedly like
minded individuals who all agreed to a certain vision for the world.
Originally there were six of us who intended to use this home as a
springing off point to bring our vision to the world. And for awhile it
seemed like things were going well. The number of people living under
our roof increased to I believe twelve at one point. We had weekly group
meetings to handle all of the issues that came up each week.
It became evident over time though that nearly all of the people living here were only concerned about petty day to day things and not at all interested in the group vision and goals. We were unable to have conversations that revolved around our vision because certain people would not let us get past simply ridiculous daily problems. Meetings that should have taken no more than a few minutes routinely started taking seven hours or more. People dreaded Sunday evenings and did not want to be there at all. These meetings which were absolutely essential in making it so that our group could continue to exist became something that nobody wanted to attend.
Most of those people are gone now. Of the original six only three remain. There are a couple of other people living with us as well but those are people who are not ready yet to share our vision of change for the world. They are still at the point of focusing inward on themselves and getting themselves the way they want to be first.
My vision has not changed and nor is it likely to. But in the beginning I did not see the power of harmony. I felt that it was okay for people to disagree and have different overall goals as long as they were still willing to contribute to the group when asked to, whether in the form of rent, chores, or simply imparting their knowledge and experience whenever necessary. I have learned that if we are all facing different directions we will not end up going the same way. We all need to be focused in the same direction. I see now that harmony is a necessity. Without harmony group goals are impossible.
The point of this is that we have lived in this house for about seven years. And in the last two years, with less people, we have made more progress towards our vision than we did in the five years before it.
Before inviting a person to work with you to accomplish a goal, find out if that goal is important to them. Find out if they are interested in the goal just because it seems like a cool thing be able to say that they did or if it is something they find truly worthwhile. If they are not into what you are doing for the same or very similar reasons as you are the chances are good that you should not have them as part of your mastermind group.
To sum up. Harmony is what makes it possible for a group to handle issues better and more efficiently than the same number of individuals that make up the group could. And with even one person causing discord your group once again simply becomes a series of individuals.When in a group, seek harmony where possible. Where it is not, be okay with the results not being any greater than whatever you could accomplish on your own. Or find another group.
It became evident over time though that nearly all of the people living here were only concerned about petty day to day things and not at all interested in the group vision and goals. We were unable to have conversations that revolved around our vision because certain people would not let us get past simply ridiculous daily problems. Meetings that should have taken no more than a few minutes routinely started taking seven hours or more. People dreaded Sunday evenings and did not want to be there at all. These meetings which were absolutely essential in making it so that our group could continue to exist became something that nobody wanted to attend.
Most of those people are gone now. Of the original six only three remain. There are a couple of other people living with us as well but those are people who are not ready yet to share our vision of change for the world. They are still at the point of focusing inward on themselves and getting themselves the way they want to be first.
My vision has not changed and nor is it likely to. But in the beginning I did not see the power of harmony. I felt that it was okay for people to disagree and have different overall goals as long as they were still willing to contribute to the group when asked to, whether in the form of rent, chores, or simply imparting their knowledge and experience whenever necessary. I have learned that if we are all facing different directions we will not end up going the same way. We all need to be focused in the same direction. I see now that harmony is a necessity. Without harmony group goals are impossible.
The point of this is that we have lived in this house for about seven years. And in the last two years, with less people, we have made more progress towards our vision than we did in the five years before it.
Before inviting a person to work with you to accomplish a goal, find out if that goal is important to them. Find out if they are interested in the goal just because it seems like a cool thing be able to say that they did or if it is something they find truly worthwhile. If they are not into what you are doing for the same or very similar reasons as you are the chances are good that you should not have them as part of your mastermind group.
To sum up. Harmony is what makes it possible for a group to handle issues better and more efficiently than the same number of individuals that make up the group could. And with even one person causing discord your group once again simply becomes a series of individuals.When in a group, seek harmony where possible. Where it is not, be okay with the results not being any greater than whatever you could accomplish on your own. Or find another group.
Working together pt1
What is harmony and why is it so important? When referring to a group
of people and their attempts to accomplish a goal, harmony is the
spirit of unity of purpose that the group has in working together to
make that goal happen.
It has been found that, two or more people working together in harmony can create results that are vastly superior to the results that those same people could have accomplished on their own, right next to one another but not working together. Whenever a whole group of people are working together in harmony, something automatically forms as a result. It is called a mastermind, which is kind of like an extra mind that encompasses all of the ideas and thoughts of everyone in the group. It allows for new levels of creativity and progress that can not and do not exist withing the minds of each individual. In this particular case, it is actually true that the sum is greater than the parts which make it up.
Notice above that unity is mentioned. It would seem to one that knows even the basics of mathematics that five people working towards a goal and one person working against that goal would really just count as four out of the six working for the goal due to the one negative person cancelling out one positive person. But that simply is not how things work. If even one person is out of harmony with the others, the mastermind and all of it's potential stop existing until harmony is restored.
Our federal government when it was brand new, was filled with people who were all committed towards accomplishing the same goals. There was fire and passion and drive towards freedom and independence. The results were nothing short of amazing. We quickly became one of the youngest, most powerful, influential countries in the world.
But when the circumstances changed and we were no longer under the heel of tyranny people relaxed and stop being focused so much on working together. Look at our federal government now. It has grown so large and chaotic that one hand never knows what the other hand is doing much less how to work together in a spirit of unity to get it done.
In a business, a group of ten people can not come up with new and innovative ways to solve the problems that exist within their company if they are not all working together towards that common goal. A single person out of ten can cause the whole thing to fail because their doubts and naysaying inevitably affect others and bring them down too. That is not to say that everyone needs to be thinking the same things or in the same ways. In fact, it is often better if everyone has completely different ideas in many different directions. The key is that they all need to be committed to accomplishing whatever it is that the rest of the group is committed to and honestly and diligently working towards those goals.
Any group of two or more people working together in harmony can accomplish great things. Those that are not committed need to either be persuaded to join the group way of thinking or persuaded to leave. Whether in government, a business or your own home it works out the same. I know this from personal experience.
It has been found that, two or more people working together in harmony can create results that are vastly superior to the results that those same people could have accomplished on their own, right next to one another but not working together. Whenever a whole group of people are working together in harmony, something automatically forms as a result. It is called a mastermind, which is kind of like an extra mind that encompasses all of the ideas and thoughts of everyone in the group. It allows for new levels of creativity and progress that can not and do not exist withing the minds of each individual. In this particular case, it is actually true that the sum is greater than the parts which make it up.
Notice above that unity is mentioned. It would seem to one that knows even the basics of mathematics that five people working towards a goal and one person working against that goal would really just count as four out of the six working for the goal due to the one negative person cancelling out one positive person. But that simply is not how things work. If even one person is out of harmony with the others, the mastermind and all of it's potential stop existing until harmony is restored.
Our federal government when it was brand new, was filled with people who were all committed towards accomplishing the same goals. There was fire and passion and drive towards freedom and independence. The results were nothing short of amazing. We quickly became one of the youngest, most powerful, influential countries in the world.
But when the circumstances changed and we were no longer under the heel of tyranny people relaxed and stop being focused so much on working together. Look at our federal government now. It has grown so large and chaotic that one hand never knows what the other hand is doing much less how to work together in a spirit of unity to get it done.
In a business, a group of ten people can not come up with new and innovative ways to solve the problems that exist within their company if they are not all working together towards that common goal. A single person out of ten can cause the whole thing to fail because their doubts and naysaying inevitably affect others and bring them down too. That is not to say that everyone needs to be thinking the same things or in the same ways. In fact, it is often better if everyone has completely different ideas in many different directions. The key is that they all need to be committed to accomplishing whatever it is that the rest of the group is committed to and honestly and diligently working towards those goals.
Any group of two or more people working together in harmony can accomplish great things. Those that are not committed need to either be persuaded to join the group way of thinking or persuaded to leave. Whether in government, a business or your own home it works out the same. I know this from personal experience.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Power up
The world constantly bombards us with data from every possible angle.
First there is all the commercials on TV with all of the latest fashion
trends for make-up and clothing, not to mention the shows
themselves.Then there are infomercials, health alerts as well as local
and world news. Then in our personal lives we have all of the
relationships both ours and the statuses of others. Finally on the
internet there are things like email, Facebook and Twitter. With all of
these things combined, we are always being hit with tons of raw
information. Informative as most if it is, it is also mostly useless
junk, that serves no purpose other then to clog up our minds and keep us
distracted from our goals.
If we are going to focus our minds on any one specific goal, we get to learn how to tune most of the noise out and feed our heads what we want going into it. What you put into your mind determines what you get out of it. So while it may not be possible to shut everything out, you can streamline things. IF, like me, your goal is to constantly improve your life and the lives of those around you, then whenever possible, what goes into your head should be positive and uplifting. You should watch, read and listen to things that support your vision.
Do not watch hours a day of uneducational television. Instead of watching all of the depressing things going on in the news, watch inspirational movies like Pay It Forward, The Freedom Writers, Dead Poet Society, Gran Turino or The Pursuit of Happiness.
Read books by authors that have accomplished things that you want to do. If you are into sports read books that were written by successful professional athletes. If you aspire to be a world renowned chef, read books by people like Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck. Whether you want to be a motivational speaker or even just to improve conditions in your own life, read books written by people who have accomplished these goals, people like Les Brown, Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn and W D Wattles to name a few.
I personally do not watch much television, but I do love to read. And I have started reading works by authors that have made their life about self improvement and empowerment. The ideas in these books have caused some changes in the way I think about things and have caused me to look for ways that I can make more positive change in my life.
Earlier today I was thinking about the impact that music has on my life and realizing that I should make a list of empowering motivational songs and then put them together into a playlist. It took me about two hours of online searching, through lists of songs that other people had put together, to create a list of around 85 songs that I both like and find motivational and empowering. While doing this I noticed a couple of things that I found amusing. First, many people were suggesting the same songs. Second, due to my eclectic taste in music, many of the songs people were suggesting I already have on my hard drive. And I am sure when I go through my music to build the playlist the size will probably double. This playlist will help me focus on my goals and assist me in creating the future I want for myself and my family.
I challenge you to make these same choices in your life. If you do, I promise you will see a massive shift in your ability to focus on the things that matter to you.
If we are going to focus our minds on any one specific goal, we get to learn how to tune most of the noise out and feed our heads what we want going into it. What you put into your mind determines what you get out of it. So while it may not be possible to shut everything out, you can streamline things. IF, like me, your goal is to constantly improve your life and the lives of those around you, then whenever possible, what goes into your head should be positive and uplifting. You should watch, read and listen to things that support your vision.
Do not watch hours a day of uneducational television. Instead of watching all of the depressing things going on in the news, watch inspirational movies like Pay It Forward, The Freedom Writers, Dead Poet Society, Gran Turino or The Pursuit of Happiness.
Read books by authors that have accomplished things that you want to do. If you are into sports read books that were written by successful professional athletes. If you aspire to be a world renowned chef, read books by people like Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck. Whether you want to be a motivational speaker or even just to improve conditions in your own life, read books written by people who have accomplished these goals, people like Les Brown, Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn and W D Wattles to name a few.
I personally do not watch much television, but I do love to read. And I have started reading works by authors that have made their life about self improvement and empowerment. The ideas in these books have caused some changes in the way I think about things and have caused me to look for ways that I can make more positive change in my life.
Earlier today I was thinking about the impact that music has on my life and realizing that I should make a list of empowering motivational songs and then put them together into a playlist. It took me about two hours of online searching, through lists of songs that other people had put together, to create a list of around 85 songs that I both like and find motivational and empowering. While doing this I noticed a couple of things that I found amusing. First, many people were suggesting the same songs. Second, due to my eclectic taste in music, many of the songs people were suggesting I already have on my hard drive. And I am sure when I go through my music to build the playlist the size will probably double. This playlist will help me focus on my goals and assist me in creating the future I want for myself and my family.
I challenge you to make these same choices in your life. If you do, I promise you will see a massive shift in your ability to focus on the things that matter to you.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Judgement and value judgement
A conversation about judgement happened, the other day, in our home.
We were discussing whether or not we were still in agreement about the
vision statement that we had formed for our home a few years back. One
person said that they felt that a certain part of the statement should
not be there because it seemed to be there for the express purpose of
using it to judge people.
Our mission statement is as follows:
But as I think about it now, this statement is also a yardstick through which we can measure how we are living our lives, individually and as a group. We can measure our vision against our recent actions and see if we are living up to it. It occurs to me that it IS a tool for judging how well we are doing. And I can see where someone that fears judgement could see it as a potential weapon that could be used against them.
The kind of judgement this person fears is that they will somehow be unworthy of acceptance or labeled a bad person or something along those lines due to not measuring up. The things is that just is not the way the others of us think. We believe that it is not any man's right to judge another person for you never know what is truly in their heart or mind. One can only fairly judge themselves.
Now having said that, it is really not possible to interact with other people on a regular basis and not place value judgements on the things that they say or do. Those value judgements do not say anything about that person as a whole. You are not making them out to be a villain, subhuman or in some way unworthy of being liked or loved. You are just more or less describing whether or not you agree with the choices that other people make.
The intentions of our statement are clear. And from time to time, we will be using our mission statement to determine whether or not we are doing what we say is important to us. If we are not, we will be talking about that and deciding whether or not what we want has changed. If it has, we will get to renegotiate our agreement one way or another. If it has not then we will discuss how our actions get to shift so that they are back in line with our vision.
Value judgement will occur and things that one might not like to hear may need to be said. If this does happen it will be in a spirit of love, with an intent towards constructive criticism in the hopes of either keeping the harmony within our home and vision or restoring it as the case may be. Harsh destructive criticism and judgements intended to tear a person down and make them feel small have no place in our home.
Our mission statement is as follows:
We the people of "Grok the Planet " are committed to changing the world, one soul at a time. Our goals are to constantly continue to grow and improve ourselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially as well as physically and to encourage others to do the same. We will achieve these goals by each one of us being a leader, living in excellence, being impeccable with our word, not making assumptions, not taking things personally and striving to do our best in all things.This fear of being judged brings to mind several other fear based issues that this person seems to have, self esteem and possibly acceptance as well, things we can discuss at another time. We quickly assured this person that judgement was not at all the reason for that part of the statement. And it really is not. The whole vision statement is a declaration of intent. It speaks about what we stand for and a little about how we intend to reach our goals.
But as I think about it now, this statement is also a yardstick through which we can measure how we are living our lives, individually and as a group. We can measure our vision against our recent actions and see if we are living up to it. It occurs to me that it IS a tool for judging how well we are doing. And I can see where someone that fears judgement could see it as a potential weapon that could be used against them.
The kind of judgement this person fears is that they will somehow be unworthy of acceptance or labeled a bad person or something along those lines due to not measuring up. The things is that just is not the way the others of us think. We believe that it is not any man's right to judge another person for you never know what is truly in their heart or mind. One can only fairly judge themselves.
Now having said that, it is really not possible to interact with other people on a regular basis and not place value judgements on the things that they say or do. Those value judgements do not say anything about that person as a whole. You are not making them out to be a villain, subhuman or in some way unworthy of being liked or loved. You are just more or less describing whether or not you agree with the choices that other people make.
The intentions of our statement are clear. And from time to time, we will be using our mission statement to determine whether or not we are doing what we say is important to us. If we are not, we will be talking about that and deciding whether or not what we want has changed. If it has, we will get to renegotiate our agreement one way or another. If it has not then we will discuss how our actions get to shift so that they are back in line with our vision.
Value judgement will occur and things that one might not like to hear may need to be said. If this does happen it will be in a spirit of love, with an intent towards constructive criticism in the hopes of either keeping the harmony within our home and vision or restoring it as the case may be. Harsh destructive criticism and judgements intended to tear a person down and make them feel small have no place in our home.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
The blessing of obstacles
When we set out to meet a goal, no matter how big or small, there are
always challenges. If this were not the case there would be no need to
set a goal. We could just have what it is that we want with no effort
whatsoever. But sometimes, for whatever reason, we lose sight of our
goal and stop focusing on it.
Then for some reason something happens. Someone else notices that our life would probably be better if we accomplished that goal and they suggest it to us. Maybe they know you had that goal before and maybe they do not. They just see the improvement to your life associated with the accomplishment of the goal.
You start to think about it and on some level you agree with them. But, that is when the excuses start. You come up will all the reasons why you can not or could not do it. A good friend will stand by you and shoot them down one by one until you start to get to the real reasons why you failed to accomplish your goal.
All of the things that a person can say as justification for failure really translate into, the result is not important enough for me to do everything possible to ensure success.I forgot really means, it has not been important enough to me to make sure that I remember. I don't have the time becomes, I have failed to set the time aside. I do not know how turns into, I have not put the time into learning how. I can not afford it becomes, I have not come up with and enacted a plan for raising the money.
Every excuse that a person comes up with, every challenge, every stumbling block is in fact the very beginning of a personal blueprint for success. And for each person, the excuses that they come up with are exactly perfect for their success. My excuses for not having a million dollars in my bank account are not the same as yours(and I am working through mine)
Say you have a friend that wants to be a doctor. You tell them how wonderful that is and ask why they have not accomplished that goal. They tell you that they know quite a bit of schooling is necessary and they are bad at taking tests. Your friend knows that they can not have this dream come true due to this fact. They have taken this limiting belief and used it to close the door on their dream.
Being a good friend you could help them eliminate this belief and reopen that door. How? Well you could start off by suggesting that they begin to change their mind set by changing the words they use both out loud and in their head. Perhaps they could say that up until this point they have been bad at exams but they are taking steps to change that. Then figure out why they are bad at taking tests. Is it the fact that many of them are timed? Is it because they are bad under pressure? Is it because they really do not know the material? The answer to each one of these questions gives you a springing off point for how to handle the issue.
Then maybe it comes up that your friend thinks nobody believes your friend is smart enough to be a doctor. You obviously do or you would not be inclined to help your friend pursue this dream. You could find out where this limiting belief comes from and create a plan to overcome it. After that it comes out that school is too expensive. Then a conversation about student loans, grants and other forms of financial aid can be had. After you work through that you say what else is stopping you? And wonder of wonders, you friend has no more excuses.
Verify that they do in fact still want to be a doctor. If they say yes inform them that their dream is still a possibility. If the things that your friend has discussed with you are the only things holding them back, they can use their conversation with you to create a workable plan for having their dream come true.Explain to them the importance and necessity of obstacles. Without them we would have no direction in forming a plan to help us succeed in getting where we want to go. On our way to the heights, we need pitfalls. They weed out those that are not committed and help us truly appreciate our success.
Then for some reason something happens. Someone else notices that our life would probably be better if we accomplished that goal and they suggest it to us. Maybe they know you had that goal before and maybe they do not. They just see the improvement to your life associated with the accomplishment of the goal.
You start to think about it and on some level you agree with them. But, that is when the excuses start. You come up will all the reasons why you can not or could not do it. A good friend will stand by you and shoot them down one by one until you start to get to the real reasons why you failed to accomplish your goal.
All of the things that a person can say as justification for failure really translate into, the result is not important enough for me to do everything possible to ensure success.I forgot really means, it has not been important enough to me to make sure that I remember. I don't have the time becomes, I have failed to set the time aside. I do not know how turns into, I have not put the time into learning how. I can not afford it becomes, I have not come up with and enacted a plan for raising the money.
Every excuse that a person comes up with, every challenge, every stumbling block is in fact the very beginning of a personal blueprint for success. And for each person, the excuses that they come up with are exactly perfect for their success. My excuses for not having a million dollars in my bank account are not the same as yours(and I am working through mine)
Say you have a friend that wants to be a doctor. You tell them how wonderful that is and ask why they have not accomplished that goal. They tell you that they know quite a bit of schooling is necessary and they are bad at taking tests. Your friend knows that they can not have this dream come true due to this fact. They have taken this limiting belief and used it to close the door on their dream.
Being a good friend you could help them eliminate this belief and reopen that door. How? Well you could start off by suggesting that they begin to change their mind set by changing the words they use both out loud and in their head. Perhaps they could say that up until this point they have been bad at exams but they are taking steps to change that. Then figure out why they are bad at taking tests. Is it the fact that many of them are timed? Is it because they are bad under pressure? Is it because they really do not know the material? The answer to each one of these questions gives you a springing off point for how to handle the issue.
Then maybe it comes up that your friend thinks nobody believes your friend is smart enough to be a doctor. You obviously do or you would not be inclined to help your friend pursue this dream. You could find out where this limiting belief comes from and create a plan to overcome it. After that it comes out that school is too expensive. Then a conversation about student loans, grants and other forms of financial aid can be had. After you work through that you say what else is stopping you? And wonder of wonders, you friend has no more excuses.
Verify that they do in fact still want to be a doctor. If they say yes inform them that their dream is still a possibility. If the things that your friend has discussed with you are the only things holding them back, they can use their conversation with you to create a workable plan for having their dream come true.Explain to them the importance and necessity of obstacles. Without them we would have no direction in forming a plan to help us succeed in getting where we want to go. On our way to the heights, we need pitfalls. They weed out those that are not committed and help us truly appreciate our success.
Be the source
There is a quote that many people attribute to Gandhi. It goes like
this. "Be the change you want to see in the world". There is much
disagreement about whether or not he ever spoke those exact words. Does
that really matter though? It is obvious from the way he lived his life
that this was his philosophy.
Here was a man who looked around himself, at the state of the world, and more directly at the state of affairs in his own country. What he saw appalled him. He thought that the way things were sucked. And he was right. Things were terrible. He took a stand and changed them.
In your own life, what do you do when you look around you and you find that you do not like what you see? If you are like many people, you close your eyes and simply stop looking. Or if you are like most people, maybe you complain about it to your friends, family and co-workers. You see all the things around you that you do not like, but you tell yourself that there is nothing you can do. You say that it is always going to be this way or worse.
The philosophy of being the source of the change you want to see in the world is very powerful, because the odds are that other people are just as unhappy and just as fed up with the way things are as you are. There are always others who are waiting to rally behind a cause that will improve their lives. Yet, the world is a mess because people generally do not do anything to make it better. Each person is always waiting for someone else to take charge and be the leader. Statistically speaking, eventually someone will take a stand for change. But why suffer until then? Why wait to rally behind someone else that decides they have been hurt and frustrated for long enough?
Be like Gandhi. Take stock of your situation and decide what you are okay with and what you are not. Ask yourself some questions. Decide what sacrifices you are willing to make to have the things that you want. Look inside of yourself and find out what needs to change. Find out who you need to be in order to make the changes in your world that are necessary for you to be satisfied with the outcome. Surround yourself with people that want the same things that you do. Then create a set of actionable steps that you can do to get what you want. After that, follow the plan until you accomplish your goals or goals.
It doesn't matter what your goal is. It could be as simple as having a garden in your yard, getting more money or improving situations where you work or as complicated as getting into a serious relationship and starting a family. You can even have a goal that has a huge impact on your home country or the whole world, such as abolishing all bans on gay marriage or creating a single universal currency. If you truly believe that it should happen then you should be the one to make it happen.
The only way you can ensure that the changes that you want in life occur is to be the source of those changes. What are you waiting for? Make the world a better place.
Here was a man who looked around himself, at the state of the world, and more directly at the state of affairs in his own country. What he saw appalled him. He thought that the way things were sucked. And he was right. Things were terrible. He took a stand and changed them.
In your own life, what do you do when you look around you and you find that you do not like what you see? If you are like many people, you close your eyes and simply stop looking. Or if you are like most people, maybe you complain about it to your friends, family and co-workers. You see all the things around you that you do not like, but you tell yourself that there is nothing you can do. You say that it is always going to be this way or worse.
The philosophy of being the source of the change you want to see in the world is very powerful, because the odds are that other people are just as unhappy and just as fed up with the way things are as you are. There are always others who are waiting to rally behind a cause that will improve their lives. Yet, the world is a mess because people generally do not do anything to make it better. Each person is always waiting for someone else to take charge and be the leader. Statistically speaking, eventually someone will take a stand for change. But why suffer until then? Why wait to rally behind someone else that decides they have been hurt and frustrated for long enough?
Be like Gandhi. Take stock of your situation and decide what you are okay with and what you are not. Ask yourself some questions. Decide what sacrifices you are willing to make to have the things that you want. Look inside of yourself and find out what needs to change. Find out who you need to be in order to make the changes in your world that are necessary for you to be satisfied with the outcome. Surround yourself with people that want the same things that you do. Then create a set of actionable steps that you can do to get what you want. After that, follow the plan until you accomplish your goals or goals.
It doesn't matter what your goal is. It could be as simple as having a garden in your yard, getting more money or improving situations where you work or as complicated as getting into a serious relationship and starting a family. You can even have a goal that has a huge impact on your home country or the whole world, such as abolishing all bans on gay marriage or creating a single universal currency. If you truly believe that it should happen then you should be the one to make it happen.
The only way you can ensure that the changes that you want in life occur is to be the source of those changes. What are you waiting for? Make the world a better place.
Friday, July 5, 2013
If you can believe it...
You can do it. In 1954 an Englishman, named Roger Bannister did
something that had never been recorded before. He ran a mile in just
under four minutes. The interesting thing about this is before that, in
the 1940's, scientists and doctors had reams of statistics showing that
due to the physics of motion and the general make-up of the human body
running the mile in under four minutes was a physical impossibility.
Many people believed this with absolute certainty. And those people were
right. Until they weren't.
For a great many years the four minute mile was an unobtainable goal. What changed? For the longest time the athletes themselves believed it could not be done. After all nobody they had ever heard of had been able to do it. Their trainers could not do it and did not know anybody that had. Medical science said it could not be done. But all successful athletes are constantly working to improve themselves, striving to be stronger, smarter and faster. They train with other athletes and learn new techniques for pacing and breathing. Their minds are always looking for what is next. They never get to the finish line and say okay that's it, that's the best I will ever be able to do, now i'm gonna take up fishing. Each time they meet a goal they are looking forward to the next one. And each time they prove to themselves that it is possible to be just a little better than the last time.
Regardless of what other people told them, it was only a matter of time before the athletes running the mile had enough focus and strength of purpose to start believing that a four minute mile was possible. All that had to happen for that belief to become a reality is that the person accomplishing the goal had to have a stronger belief than the people telling him it could not be done.
Ultimately, the belief of someone that is actually in the process of accomplishing something is much stronger than the belief of someone sitting on the sidelines. A runner has more knowledge of what their body can do in a race than a doctor or scientist. What the runner has is practical knowledge, gained by doing. Everyone else just has statistical data based on what has been observed. In most cases what science tells us is possible or not is based on a generalization surrounding the "facts" about what has and has not been done.
We used to live in a world where the four minute mile was an impossibility. So was wireless communication. We used to know for a fact that such a thing as an airplane could not ever possibly exist. We used to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the world was flat and were prone to murdering or locking away people that had PROOF to the contrary.
Take a minute and imagine if you will telling someone a thousand years ago about how one day they would be able to get into their car and drive to the movie theater. And you could go on to tell them that one of their friends would be able to pull out their wireless phone and buy tickets for the movie, while another friend bought a ticket for a flight to Memphis that they were taking the next day. It would probably take you twenty minutes to describe all the concepts contained in those two sentences. By the time you finished explaining all the simply ridiculous things that you were talking about, the person you were talking to would certainly be looking at you like you were a madman, an idiot or both. You would be hitting them with thing after thing after thing that they know to be impossible. And in their world with their limitations, they would be right.
Until they weren't.
For a great many years the four minute mile was an unobtainable goal. What changed? For the longest time the athletes themselves believed it could not be done. After all nobody they had ever heard of had been able to do it. Their trainers could not do it and did not know anybody that had. Medical science said it could not be done. But all successful athletes are constantly working to improve themselves, striving to be stronger, smarter and faster. They train with other athletes and learn new techniques for pacing and breathing. Their minds are always looking for what is next. They never get to the finish line and say okay that's it, that's the best I will ever be able to do, now i'm gonna take up fishing. Each time they meet a goal they are looking forward to the next one. And each time they prove to themselves that it is possible to be just a little better than the last time.
Regardless of what other people told them, it was only a matter of time before the athletes running the mile had enough focus and strength of purpose to start believing that a four minute mile was possible. All that had to happen for that belief to become a reality is that the person accomplishing the goal had to have a stronger belief than the people telling him it could not be done.
Ultimately, the belief of someone that is actually in the process of accomplishing something is much stronger than the belief of someone sitting on the sidelines. A runner has more knowledge of what their body can do in a race than a doctor or scientist. What the runner has is practical knowledge, gained by doing. Everyone else just has statistical data based on what has been observed. In most cases what science tells us is possible or not is based on a generalization surrounding the "facts" about what has and has not been done.
We used to live in a world where the four minute mile was an impossibility. So was wireless communication. We used to know for a fact that such a thing as an airplane could not ever possibly exist. We used to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the world was flat and were prone to murdering or locking away people that had PROOF to the contrary.
Take a minute and imagine if you will telling someone a thousand years ago about how one day they would be able to get into their car and drive to the movie theater. And you could go on to tell them that one of their friends would be able to pull out their wireless phone and buy tickets for the movie, while another friend bought a ticket for a flight to Memphis that they were taking the next day. It would probably take you twenty minutes to describe all the concepts contained in those two sentences. By the time you finished explaining all the simply ridiculous things that you were talking about, the person you were talking to would certainly be looking at you like you were a madman, an idiot or both. You would be hitting them with thing after thing after thing that they know to be impossible. And in their world with their limitations, they would be right.
Until they weren't.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
The right vehicle
The world is full of different ways to get from place to place. For
every different type of circumstance there is a different type of
vehicle. In places with no roads you can ride a horse or take a bicycle.
To get to and from school you could take a bus or ride in a car. If you
want to go from Seattle to Miami you could take a bus, train or
airplane. Every different type of vehicle has its good and bad points.
The key here though, is how much time do you want to spend getting from
point A to point B?
There are many different ways you can make money as well. You can have a 9-5 office job. You can do contract work. Or you could sell watermelons by the side of the road, hold bake sales, auction off your junk, charge fees for any personal services you want to provide, or even extort money from others.
In order to be successful you are going to have to have a goal. How much money are you trying to make? Any of the job ideas listed above can probably bring you to your goal. But they each work in totally different ways and will have different degrees of speed and success. The question, with each method, is how long is it going to take you to get from where you are financially to where you want to be?
Now personally my goal is to set up a residual form of income, something that is going to pay me as long as I am alive. None of the methods above, except maybe extortion is going to have even the remotest possibility to make that happen. So what options are there to get me where I want to be? There are a couple of professions that provide royalties such as being a musician or an actor but I am a pretty private guy and not all that happy in the spotlight.
Now let's take a look at network marketing. Most network marketing programs provide some form of residual income. And while you do need to sponsor people into your network you can still have a private life without being mobbed by adoring fans. You get the freedom of being your own boss and working when you decided to. You do not need to commute to work. Your office can be anywhere you decide to work.
So let's compare this idea with the transportation idea above. I have decided that network marketing is the vehicle that I want. It is the only vehicle that has the potential to meet my needs. But just as there are thousands of different makes and models of car, there are thousands of different network marketing companies as well. How do I know which one is the right one for me?
Well that has been my personal demon for the past twenty years. I have tried just about everything. There have been some with fees that were $1.99 per month to $500 per month. Some had great products that I loved and others had things that I could not stand. There were great compensation plans and terrible compensation plans. But in the end they were all the same. Several times I had great vehicles but still couldn't get anywhere.
I still get tons of emails everyday about great new programs that are gonna change the face of network marketing. And every day I send dozens of those emails to the trash folder. But recently I read one email that changed everything for me. It pretty much blew my mind. This guy says he made over 700k in one month basically doing the opposite of what everyone else has been doing. And it drew me in. I had been spending all my time and energy trying to copy what the so called "gurus" were doing and getting nowhere. This guy is so down to earth and real. You have got to check it out for yourself. It might just be the most awesome thing on the internet today
http://bigideamastermind.com/secret/
This is not an affiliate link. I do not make any money when you click on it. I just want to share this great video with you and have you share it with others.
See you next time
There are many different ways you can make money as well. You can have a 9-5 office job. You can do contract work. Or you could sell watermelons by the side of the road, hold bake sales, auction off your junk, charge fees for any personal services you want to provide, or even extort money from others.
In order to be successful you are going to have to have a goal. How much money are you trying to make? Any of the job ideas listed above can probably bring you to your goal. But they each work in totally different ways and will have different degrees of speed and success. The question, with each method, is how long is it going to take you to get from where you are financially to where you want to be?
Now personally my goal is to set up a residual form of income, something that is going to pay me as long as I am alive. None of the methods above, except maybe extortion is going to have even the remotest possibility to make that happen. So what options are there to get me where I want to be? There are a couple of professions that provide royalties such as being a musician or an actor but I am a pretty private guy and not all that happy in the spotlight.
Now let's take a look at network marketing. Most network marketing programs provide some form of residual income. And while you do need to sponsor people into your network you can still have a private life without being mobbed by adoring fans. You get the freedom of being your own boss and working when you decided to. You do not need to commute to work. Your office can be anywhere you decide to work.
So let's compare this idea with the transportation idea above. I have decided that network marketing is the vehicle that I want. It is the only vehicle that has the potential to meet my needs. But just as there are thousands of different makes and models of car, there are thousands of different network marketing companies as well. How do I know which one is the right one for me?
Well that has been my personal demon for the past twenty years. I have tried just about everything. There have been some with fees that were $1.99 per month to $500 per month. Some had great products that I loved and others had things that I could not stand. There were great compensation plans and terrible compensation plans. But in the end they were all the same. Several times I had great vehicles but still couldn't get anywhere.
I still get tons of emails everyday about great new programs that are gonna change the face of network marketing. And every day I send dozens of those emails to the trash folder. But recently I read one email that changed everything for me. It pretty much blew my mind. This guy says he made over 700k in one month basically doing the opposite of what everyone else has been doing. And it drew me in. I had been spending all my time and energy trying to copy what the so called "gurus" were doing and getting nowhere. This guy is so down to earth and real. You have got to check it out for yourself. It might just be the most awesome thing on the internet today
http://bigideamastermind.com/secret/
This is not an affiliate link. I do not make any money when you click on it. I just want to share this great video with you and have you share it with others.
See you next time
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