A Classic…
By · CommentsThe Lion and the Gazelle
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
The moral:
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.
Are You Ready For The Test?
By · CommentsI was reminded of this great video this evening. This is one of my all time favorites.
Test your awareness. I hope you enjoy.
Click here to watch the video.
Tell me what you think about it in the comment section.
Discipline and Willpower Are Overrated
By · CommentsWhoa!?! Discipline and willpower are overrated? For most people, yes. It is human nature to be an instant gratification junkie. To be lazy, to seek comfort, to do what is convenient has become a habit for many. We tend to have great intentions then do not follow through and conjure up great excuses. I have caught myself doing this too many times. If you are like me and routinely find yourself doing things that do not align with your long term vision, then you probably are probably a little bit frustrated and need some help.
So I had to take a closer look at what was holding me back from the living a better life. I wrongly assumed that discipline and willpower would be the answer. Unfortunately, I am not that strong. After I admit that I am not perfect and realize discipline and willpower are a weakness of mine, I follow a simple strategy.
2 simple things you can do:
- Remove yourself immediately from an environment where it is easy to make poor decisions
- Prepare your environment with only good options from which to choose
- Want to stop smoking? #1) Do not hang out with smokers #2) Throw away cigarettes and never buy again
- Want to stop watching endless TV at night? #1) Remove the TV from your bedroom #2) Put a book on your nightstand
- Want to stop eating fast food? #1) Forbid yourself from driving into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant #2) Pack your lunch
- Want to stop snacking on junk food? #1) Eat only at home #2) Throw away all junk food in your house
- Want to stop drinking? #1) Stay away from bars, parties where alcohol is served #2) Throw out all alcohol and replace with healthy beverages
This strategy will take some practice. These tactics may seem drastic to some. But if you are serious about changing your behavior, then it is necessary. No one said it was easy.
Leave a comment and tell me what you do when discipline and willpower are not enough.
2 Simple Ways to Save Money This Week
By · CommentsDo you feel like you don’t spend “a lot” of money but wonder where it goes every week?
Here are two simple ways to save money this week.
1. Eat Dinner At Home: Eating out is a sure fire way to ruin your budget. Restaurants can be expensive and charge inflated prices on meals that could be made from home at a fraction of the price. Instead of wasting your money eating out, eat at home.
Here’s how:
• On Sunday, plan all of your dinners for the rest of the week. Write down all of the food items you will need for each dinner: easy on the lobster and caviar, Mr. Big Bucks. Go to the grocery store and buy only the things on your list. If you are like me and convenience is important, then you may want to make a large quantity of your favorite dish on Sunday and store the extras in the fridge for the other dinners. Pasta with grilled chicken is a favorite inexpensive dish that is easy to warm up in the microwave later in the week.
2. Do Not Buy Anything at a Convenience Store: These stores are “conveniently” located on every corner and make it very easy for us to get separated from our hard earned money. They are convenient but we pay for the convenience. The three biggest money wasters at a convenience store are food, beverages and tobacco.
- Not only is most food marked up by at least 50% but also, there is rarely healthy options in a convenience store. GO TO THE GROCERY STORE INSTEAD.
- A 20 ounce diet Coke at a convenience store is $1.49. To contrast, a 2 liter of Diet Coke at the grocery store can be had for $1.25. Better yet, skip the soda and get a water bottle and fill it for free at the water fountain.
- Cigarettes are expensive. Besides hurting your lungs, smoking hurts your wallet. Smoking will make you so unhealthy that your medical bills will pile up when you get older too. That is, if you do not die first.
Leave a comment with ideas about what you do to save money every week!
3 Words That Will Change Your Life
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STOP, START & CONTINUE
Have you ever felt lost? Have you ever felt like you were on track to hitting your goals only to find yourself stuck in the mud spinning your wheels and not knowing how to get out. I know I have. Countless times…
Three words have made a huge difference in my life: STOP, START & CONTINUE.
Decide what you want then keep it simple.
Simple instructions:
- List 2 things you must stop doing
- List 2 things you must start doing
- List 2 things you must continue doing
- Do not over think this. Just pick two actions for each. Then focus on those actions for the next seven days. Nothing more, nothing less. With this exercise you will simply identify what is holding you back (STOP), what you must do (START) and lastly, what you are doing well (CONTINUE). Talk to your mentor or someone you trust. Ask for his or her input to correctly identify where your focus should be. Finally, ask them to hold you accountable to do these things. Ask them to give honest and timely feedback.
Leave a comment on how this works for you.
Trash Your Weak Goals
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You seek a better life.
You are ambitious.
You are competitive.
You desire to get ahead at work.
You write down your goals and dreams.
You are motivated and ready to get to work.
Now what?
Look at your goals and make them personal. Trash your weak goals and instead make them matter.
Our minds are powerful. They can be our ally or our enemy if we do not pay close attention. Our minds will allow us to fight through seemingly impossible situations and then trick us into easily giving up during a moment of weakness. When do most people decide to put forth the effort, intensity and follow through necessary to accomplish their goals? Sadly, the answer for most is when it is personally convenient. Nothing worthwhile is convenient.
After you trash your weak goals, do these 3 things:
- Make your goals very detailed, specific and personal. You have to “feel” your goals in your soul. No one will put forth the necessary effort and energy for vague, nondescript goals.
- List the positive and negative consequences of not achieving your goals. I make the consequences drastic. I have noticed that if there is little to gain or lose, then I tend not to follow through.
- Get yourself fired up: Failure is not an option. I do not take the easy way out and quit. This matters. My future depends on this task.
Remember: Play now and pay later or pay now and play later. Either way, you will pay.
Leave a comment and tell me how you get fired up?
I Don’t Have Enough Time…
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I will show you how to find an extra hour every day so you can enjoy your life more.
If only I had one more hour in the day. If you are like me, you wish you had more time. 24 hours is not enough. Work alone takes up so much of our time and energy. The only thing most of us want to do is relax when we get home from a hard day’s work. Who can blame us for being tired? We just gave 100% at our job and now we can barely keep our eyes open.
We want more time to do all of those things that we have been meaning to do. You know, like exercise or clean the house or pay the bills or read all of those books that have been collecting dust for a while or write an old friend a letter or simply just get some “alone” time.
Like a fool I have been looking to add an extra hour to the other 24 hours we have. Unfortunately, I have realized that twenty four is all we have and we have to make the best of it. Every day is different, one day I wish I had more time to read. Another day it would be to catch up on my email. Another day it would be to set personal and professional goals. If only I had the time to exercise… Sound familiar?
I am going to ask you to take a moment and think about one thing you would do if you had one free hour tomorrow. Seriously, if you were given one “extra” hour what would you do to make your life better? Be creative, be daring, be reasonable, be boring. It doesn’t matter what you want to do but it can’t be sleep. No one is going to judge.
Whatever you do, be careful what you wish for because I am going to show you how to find that extra hour. Once I show you how to “find” that “extra” hour, you will not have any more excuses for having a better life.
If I had one free hour tomorrow, I would _______. (Fill in the blank)
How can you find an extra hour a day to make your life better?
Answer: Wake up one hour earlier than you normally do. Ugh! You were hoping for something a little more sexy or complex? Me too. For 15 years I was searching high and low for that extra time when it really was there all of the time. It really is that simple. I had to keep it simple.
Simple Instructions:
- Before you go to bed, set your alarm one hour earlier than you typically do
- Get out of bed immediately when the alarm goes off in the morning (no pressing snooze)
- Repeat
Try it for a few days. Wake up an hour early and do whatever you want except lay down and go back to sleep. Just get out of bed. You don’t even have to read, write, exercise etc… Just get out of bed one hour early. Guess what will begin to happen at night? You guessed it, you will begin to go to bed earlier because you need your sleep. So you will get the same amount of sleep! Unfortunately, this will mean you will watch less reality TV, do less channel surfing and spend less time checking out Facebook late at night. That is what happened to me.
Think of it this way: You are trading excessive TV and excessive internet for a better life.
Ohh, and one more thing. No one is going to be awake at this time in the morning. Nearly everyone will be asleep. No one will call, no one will text, there will be nothing to distract you etc… That is the beauty of it. You are in control of that hour and you can invest it any way you please. It is just you and your future.
Now what are you going to do with that extra hour to make your life better. Leave a comment and tell me about it…
502 feet…
By · CommentsI started a blog to share interesting stories and relay interesting advice. Now what?
“What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” - Buddha