A Complete 180: Is The Glass Half Full, Or Half Empty

Posted on June 30, 2010 Written by Leave a Comment

June 30th.  The end of the 2nd quarter, but more importantly, the half-way point between 2010 and 2011.  6 months ago you resolved to change something about yourself.  You had lofty and ambitious goals.  You had your eye on the prize…you were…motivated.

Most people peter out by the 45th day of the year.  I attribute this to speaking your resolutions (which I don’t believe in) without realizing that you need to set goals, and more importantly, you need to write them down.  Just telling someone about what you “resolve” to do sets you up to “resolve” to fail.

Oh sure, you’re thinking, “no…not me…I’ll get around to it before the end of the year.”  Sorry, no you won’t, unless you write it down, and become more intentional about the way you live your life.

I set one master goal this year.  That’s it, just one.  It involved little goals along the way, but for the most part, it’s a huge goal.  My goal, as stated and written, as evidence here, again, is to pay off everything but the house.  Guess what?  I’m almost there.  I set my sights on it, I wrote it down, and it will happen. I also set some other goals that are a continuation of good habits that I have been forming over the past few years.  I’m still swimming 3000+ meters each week, I’ve danced more, I’m playing the piano more, I’ve increased my income, I hosted a party for the first time in years, I sold my car, I learned some new recipes and cook for myself more often now…

…basically, I’m being completely intentional about changing my life from that of a rather immature person, to one who takes responsibility for what’s going on around him.  Things no longer happen to me…I happen to them.

Did you say you wanted to achieve something on the 1st day of 2010 that you haven’t even attempted yet?  Why not?  Why haven’t you done it?  What’s stopping you?  Is it fear?  Stop it!

Get it done.  Do it.  Stop making excuses.  It’s hard work.  Nothing worth doing or having in your life comes easily.  Just get off your butt, and do it. If you don’t, you’ll probably be staring yourself in the face with a realization that your glass is half empty.  You started the year with a full glass, and you’ve slowly drained it to the half-way point, and you feel exhausted.  Those of us who started the year with written goals started with an empty glass and slowly filled it with accomplishments.

By the end of this year, I will have a full glass, and I will drink it in with glee! (Literally, not the TV Show.)

So, here we are, 180 days into the year, and we’re about to begin the 2nd half.  Make certain, if you’ve traveled the past 6 months without achieving any of your resolutions, that you not beat yourself up about what you haven’t done.  Instead, adjust your expectations, and start climbing the mountain you told yourself, and everyone around you that you would be climbing.  There is no shame in starting NOW, but you have to start.  Nobody is going to do it for you.

Don’t say:

“I want to lose weight.”

“I want to spend more time with my family.”

“I want to work less.”

Rather, say things like:

“I will lose 3 lbs every week for the next 26 weeks.”

“I will set aside my Saturdays between whenever and whenever to spend time with whomever and whomever.”

“I will say no to working beyond what I agreed to when I was hired and make sure I’m done by 6PM.”

“I will set personal boundaries in my life, and most of all, I will learn how to use the word ‘NO.’”

Your progress must be measurable, quantifiable, and noticeable by yourself and others (as though those aren’t the same things.)  If you don’t measure your progress, which requires recording the state of being at the beginning, then you won’t have a clue as to how far you’ve actually come.  Don’t be embarrassed, we all have goals we haven’t achieved yet.  Most of them were never written down.

Get up, get going, and I’ll see you in 6 months, debt free, and if you’re daring enough, write your goal in the comments here so someone can ask you if you’ve reached it.

Filed Under: A Call To Action, Baby Step 2, Hey! Wake Up! Tagged: , , ,

For a Better, Or a Worse

Posted on March 24, 2009 Written by Leave a Comment

…part of my life, I have depended upon what other people think, about me, my actions, my talents, my surroundings, and the overall environment I live in.

Existing is a part of life that I can no more understand than the greatest of philosophers, if you should call a philosopher so great. Identity is something that has eluded me for too long, and not being able to put a name to the face has pushed me further and further towards an unbalanced life.

When we first began meeting as a group, prior to our first service, during New Valley’s conception, there was an evening where I was able to eloquently express who I am. If only I could remember the words I spoke that night. I’ll try to explain where I was then.

I am a romantic. I am an artist. I feel deeper than most feel but not without consequence. I speak as I think, but not without consequence. My identity has been defined by the reflection of me in those around me and my perception of their responses to me.  But not without consequence.

The result in me has become someone who has depended on others to define what I need to do in my life to be successful as a Man, a Friend, a Son, a Father, a Lover, and a child of God.  I am not yet a father, and only recently in life do I feel that I have qualified as a Man.  I have been a good Son, and I cannot claim that I have never loved, else I would not feel as I do.

There are people in life who do what they do because they thought it would be cool to do that.  There are people in life who do what they do because they don’t see any other way.  There are those who would find a passion and pursue it with all of their heart until they reach the pinnacle of their career, only to realize they have nothing.  Then there are those, like the previous, who find that passion, live with passion, and learn how to truly live.

I am as human as the next person, and I would assume that the possibly imperfect picture of people that I’ve painted is something you have also noticed in life.  I would not assume that you know that someone like myself faces all of these things as well, but with an added challenge of coping with a very real disorder.  Attention Deficit Disorder is something that I have, and it is something that I will live with for a better, or for a worse part of my life.  Knowing that there is a name to the face, I can pursue a solution, and choose for a better, and finally start listening to me, and trusting in Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a verse in the Bible that is widely known by many, and can be claimed by many as their favorite.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Filed Under: Attention Deficit Disorder, Hey! Wake Up!, On Spirituality and God Tagged: , , , ,

How To Series: Writing Valuable Content

Posted on January 26, 2009 Written by Leave a Comment

You’re sitting there thinking, “I wonder how to do _______,” or “I need to find ‘X.’”  Where do you go?  Google.com.  Are you going somewhere else?  Probably not, and if you are, you’re not in the majority.  Never mind that.  The point is, you want to know how to do something, or where to buy something, etc.  You’re probably looking for the information free of charge, and you need it fast to solve an immediate problem.

Let’s say, for example, you wanted to know how to install malibu lighting systems because the concept is completely foreign to you and you have no idea where to begin, short of walking into one of those large do-it-yourself warehouses like Lowe’s or Home Depot.  Would you call your landscaper?  Well, that depends on your personal economics.  If you have money to burn on a task that is very simple to repeat (I’ll explain later) then feel free to hire someone to repeat it.  Many people would tackle it themselves and screw it up.  You’re searching for valuable content to help you avoid repeating the same mistakes, and valuable content is probably where you’ll stop searching when you find it.

You Need to Know How to Write

Before you get excited about thinking of a thousand things you can show people how to do, consider whether or not you actually know how to write.  Are you good with words?  Do you express your ideas fluidly?  Do you end sentences with adverbs?  Bad grammar and punctuation will lose a reader faster than a dirty magazine, so know how to write.  If you don’t write well but you can provide quality, valuable information to someone who can write, then maybe it’s time to team up with someone to help them build their business and vice-versa.

You Must Provide Value

When you write an article on your blog, it must provide value to the reader.  If it doesn’t, it will be glossed over and ignored.  If it does provide value, chances are the reader will contact you to thank you or leave a comment.  In some cases they’ll even write about your article on their website and permanently link back to yours, increasing your exposure on the world wide web and giving more creedence to Google’s mystical calculations, pushing you higher and higher on the search results.

How To Articles

Think about how many times you’ve taken on a project that took you a fair amount of time and energy to complete, and ultimately became a total pain in the butt!  You know, one of those tasks during which you cursed the DIY gods and wished you had the money to afford a professional.  Think about this… Every one of those experiences could become a How To Article. You just have to remember when you start a project to document it in detail, from start to finish, with photos.  If you do, you’ll have inspired content and will be the expert on the topic.

The trick to the How To Article is to be able to demonstrate what you’re teaching.  If you cannot, you will lose the reader.  Remember that the reader is there to leech as much free information as possible (I welcome leeching, but don’t copy) so make sure you can keep them interested by showing them you actually know what you’re doing.

Simple to Repeat

I remember when I remodeled my kitchen, I installed  ceiling fan.  It took me over an hour because I wasn’t familiar with the basic motor skills involved with this particular fan, nor any fan for that matter.  At the end of the installation, I was ready to throw my tools across the room because I knew I had another fan to install.  I would have to simply repeat the action again, and I expected the same frustration.  Boy would I have loved to have found an article on installing ceiling fans that gave me the common tips and tricks that professional handy men have learned by simply repeating it. Rather, I became the guinea pig and had to learn the skill without help.  The best part about installing two of the same thing is that the first one takes forever, but the process production curve swerves favorably in my direction when I tackle the same task again.  The second fan took me only 30 minutes, and the third was installed in 15 minutes (there’s obviously a limit to how quickly one can install a fan.)

The bottom line here is that in order to attract valuable readers to your blog, it’s imperative that you write well, that you know what you’re talking about, and that it provides them with value.

Filed Under: Blogging, Tips and Tricks Tagged: , , , , ,

For Those Who Don’t Know About History

Posted on November 27, 2008 Written by 4 Comments

The following was sent in an email from an unknown author. If you know the author of this post, please let me know so I can site this entry properly

For those who don’t know about history … here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals
2. Conservatives

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiti ng for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to  B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the Conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q’s and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these Liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.&n bsp;

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn’t fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today’s lesson in world history:

It should be note d that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute  truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self…

Filed Under: Hardy Har Har Tagged: , , ,

Jack Of All Trades, Master of None

Posted on February 27, 2008 Written by Leave a Comment

A pilot flies the plane.  He doesn’t fix the engine.  The technician installs the indicator lights, but the pilot needs only to know one thing.  What does it mean when it’s on, what does it mean when it’s off…

Finding yourself wasting time on tasks that you, to be frank, suck at?  Quit doing those tasks.  When you’re building your business, there’s something to be said for knowing what the indicators are, but that doesn’t mean you need to know how to take them apart and put them back together again.

In the world of blogging, which is basically marketing through copy editing, it’s critical that you find your place and pursue it.  Some of us design templates, some of us program features, some of us can do a little bit of everything.  While it’s nice to be able to say, “I know how to do that,” it can very easily become your downfall.

There are only so many days in a week, and so many hours in a day.  Spending your time working on a wider variety of tasks will make you a well rounded individual with an average compensation.  Why?  Because the more you show you know, the more they’ll demand, and likely without increased return on your invested time…and then you lose one important opportunity, the opportunity to strive for excellence in one area.

People who focus on one thing develop their craft to a much higher degree than those of us who attempt to do it all, and therefore are worth more.  In the search for purpose in this life, it’s fun to explore many different ideas.  It’s exciting to apply your talents to more than one area, but it will be even more rewarding if you become an expert in your field.  You might even find that focusing on one path opens up doors you thought would never appear.

The key to financial wealth and freedom in this economy is developing a support network and farming out the tasks that you just plain suck at.  Anyone who has built a successful business can tell you that.  Don’t spend your time doing what you don’t know how to do.  Evaluate your processes, make sure you understand how they work to help your business, but find the right person who is an expert at that task…or machine :) .  Robots never talk back!

Filed Under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: , , , ,
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