Slight Edge

Recently, I have been reading a book called the Slight Edge. If you have not read it yet, I highly recommend it. The book is centered around one main idea that is extremely powerful. The author talks about success being lots of little decisions that are easy to make, compounded over time. For example: To get in shape, it takes many workouts over an extended period of time. You can't go to the gym once and expect to get ripped. It is the same with anything you want to accomplish. You have to start somewhere and you have to keep choosing to make the right choices. If you are intrigued, I suggest you pick up the book. This quote represents the idea extremely well.
"The journey of 1,000 miles beings with a single step." -Chinese proverb
So take that first step today towards whatever your goal may be.

Risky

You may be familiar with the saying "high risk, high reward". While this can be very true, we should not forget what the "high risk" part actually means. Look at a roulette table for example. If you were to choose just one number and color (31 black), your chances of winning would be very small. However, since it is so risky to gamble on just one number, the payoff is very high if you actually do win. The same can go for something like stock values. A company that people may not trust to do well might be selling shares for low prices. If you were to buy stock in this company and their business took off, you would have done very well for yourself.

Keep in mind, there is a very big difference between gambling and buying stocks, which brings me to the main point of this post: You can research risky business decisions before you make them. Going by chance is not a very smart thing to do. Yes, it can be good to make high-risk decisions, but make sure you do the proper research and preparation before actually following through with them.

Remember, it's always better to take a calculated risk than a blind lead.

One Step at a Time

This post may touch on ideas from a recent post, but I wanted to maybe explore it further. I find that sometimes I know I have to get something done or I have an extra long work day in front of me and it just seems unbearable. Maybe it is the nature of the project or simply the amount of time that it will take, but some things just look too daunting. I had a recent work experience where I knew I would be putting in at least 10 hours of hard manual labor after already doing this all week.

Normally, it is situations like these when I just get my mind stuck on how hard it will be or how long it will be and it makes the situation very unpleasant. However, I tried to put to practice some of the ideas we have been talking about in these posts. Remember: you can always choose your attitude in every situation! I decided to just take the day one step at a time. (Rome wasn't built in a day you know...) From the moment I got up I just thought about what I had to do next: whether that was taking a shower, eating breakfast, shoveling concrete or moving mass amounts of lumber.

I did not let my mind get ahead of itself and by the end of the day I realized that by only focusing on the task at hand, the day went by much quicker and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I have learned that many things in life are almost all mental. It's all about how you look at the situation and I have found that by keeping a positive attitude and not getting bogged down, life is SO much easier!

Does anyone else have a similar experience to share?

Break

Sorry there have been no new posts over the last few days. We hope to be back up and running within the next day or two, so keep tuning in!

Comfort Zone

I'll never forget my first day of college. This is because it was the furthest I had ever stepped from being in my comfort zone. I had lived at home for 18 years, had the same friends and gone to the same school for a very long time. All of the sudden, all of that was changing and wasn't sure I would be able to handle it. While it was a very dramatic change, I quickly realized everything that I could gain from the situation. I could be a new person and I could live how I wanted (to an extent). Looking back, that was one of the greatest days of my life; I grew more on that day than I had ever grown before.

Being outside of your comfort zone is a good thing. When we become too relaxed with the way we live, we get lazy and start to lower standards for ourselves. If we get out of that comfort zone, we are constantly forced to adapt, change, and better ourselves. Sure, it's nice to have security and to know that there are things we can always rely on. But, it is also important to constantly challenge ourselves with something new and foreign as well.

Can you think of a time when stepping outside your comfort zone helped to improve your life in some way?

Admitting to Your Own Mistakes

Nobody ever wants to make mistakes, but we all do at one point or another. I think that one of the most important things that a person can do is to realize his wrongdoing and admit to his mistake. This is not an easy thing to do, especially if the mistake is a big one. Often times we will want to place blame on somebody else because we don't want to be embarrassed or to have our pride hurt. However, I feel that being able to recognize your own mistakes and fixing them earns you far more respect than putting the blame somewhere else. So next time you want to accuse someone else for an error, ask yourself if it was somehow your fault and what you can do to fix it.

Do you find that you have more respect for those who can admit to their own mistakes?

100%

Do you ever find yourself going through the motions. Sometimes we can get into a pattern or a routine and we find ourselves just kind of doing something to do it. This happens to me frequently during workouts. After a while, I become accustomed to the workout and do not push myself as hard as I should.

This is not a good thing. It is important that you commit to something 100%. You can never get the time back that you are putting into the task. With some things, you will never get a second chance, so it is important to give it your all. Why spend time on something if you aren't going to completely commit to it? I have found that whenever you put all your efforts into a project or workout, the outcome is so much more rewarding. Whether it be better results or the genuine feeling of self-satisfaction, giving 100% is important. You really learn a lot about yourself and grow stronger as a person if you can teach yourself to always give 100%.

Has anyone else found that when you give your all, the rewards are so much greater?