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?

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

Although it is a cliche, the old saying that Rome wasn't built in a day is an important one to remember. It can be discouraging to look at a great musician or a successful businessman because it seems like you will never be able to reach the level that they are at. We want to have everything that they have, and it can be hard to deal with the fact that that is not the way things work. If you look back into the pasts of those successful people, you will see that most of them were very average at their beginnings. They built themselves up step by step through hard work; it wasn't one single event that made them into who they are now.

Something that may help to overcome this mindset is to set more short term goals that are geared towards something you really want to improve. That way, you will be more focused on those goals and over time, those accomplishments will add up to something great.

Feel free to share any examples when you felt this way but overcame that mindset and ended up doing something you really wanted to do.

Taking Action

Sometimes when an opportunity comes along, no matter how big or how small, we choose not to act on it. Maybe we are afraid, maybe we are feeling lazy, or maybe it just doesn't sound like a good idea. However, if you have even the slightest idea that you might want to be a part of this opportunity or you want to try this "new thing": ACT.

You will never know what could have been or what might have happened if you don't take action. It is very easy to sit back and go about our normal business, but by simply taking a chance from time to time we may find that great successes or great memories occur when we choose to act. I know I have passed up on a few opportunities and have regretted them. Would you rather live a life of many successes and failures or would you rather live a "plain", but safe life? If you like the sound of the former (I know I do) then the next time something comes your way, take action. Don't pass up a chance to get involved unless you truly have a reason not to.

What do you all think? Is it worth it to take risks, or would you rather stick to what you know?

Brain Power

"The mind gives up long before the body ever will"

I have found this quote to be very true on many occasions. It is most obvious when I am out on a run. While I'm running, I feel my body slowing down, telling me to stop or to take it easy. Yet, I know that I have run harder in the past so it doesn't make sense that I should be tired already. This is simply my own mind attempting to convince me that something is impossible even though my body has already shown me that it is possible.

I think we make our greatest improvements when we push past this mental blockade and force ourselves to keep going. I think many of us suffer from this problem and it can be a difficult one to overcome continuously. Do your best to overcome this thinking; push past the barriers that you know can be broken. If you find that you are telling yourself that you can't get something done, do yourself a favor and do it anyways.

What other situations do you all find are the most difficult to overcome mentally?

Productivity

Often time we find ourselves feeling like we do not have enough time to accomplish everything in our lives. Sometimes all the little things begin to weigh down on us and we don't see a way out. What I find to be most helpful when I have a lot of things on my plate is to make a list. Make a list of EVERYTHING you need to do...from laundry, to work, to getting the car repaired. Once you have made the list, begin with the easiest tasks first. This will do two things for you.

One: It will be easier to start getting things done because the easy tasks don't feel daunting and you are more willing to start working on those.
Two: It will get you over the mental block of having "too much" to do. When you see that your list is dwindling, the bigger tasks don't see so bad because there are not as many.

Really, being productive is all about tricking yourself into getting started. Once you have started, it is easier to keep going. And I love this quote. It really seems to fit in with this topic, so I will end it with this: "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days." -Zig Ziglar

Let your list be your direction and get started!

Live in the Now

Something that always seems to be a struggle for most people is thinking about things that have already happened. Often times we dwell on regrets or moments where we wished something else had happened. This can be a difficult thing to overcome because many of us want to feel sorry for ourselves and like to brood over how bad things have been. I have learned that this behavior only leads to even more regrets or more missed moments of opportunity. This is because we are not focused on what really matters: the present. Instead of thinking about moments that have already passed, we should be thinking about what we can do right now to improve things. The present is the only time where you can actually make changes. And once we make changes in our present, our futures will be greatly improved.

The Importance of Benefiting Others

It seems like in today’s business world, most people are only concerned about making money. This is understandable, but there is another element that I think has gotten lost over the years. B. C. Forbes said, “Business was originated to produce happiness, not to pile up millions.” Many businesses used to start up in order to provide a service or a product that would make its customer happy. Yes, this is still a part of business today, but the bottom line seems to have cast a dark shadow over this vital aspect. If a business places the majority of its focus on serving its customer, the customer will in turn reward the business with loyalty. Money is an important part of every business, but it shouldn’t be the sole focus.

Travel

I'm sorry, but we are traveling for a few days so there will probably not be any posts. Tune in Sunday for the next one!

Judgment

It is so easy to judge the actions of others, but I am going to return to the book Man’s Search for Meaning that I spoke of in an earlier post. Viktor Frankl says that you should not judge someone for something until you ask yourself if you would have done the same in that same situation.

Often times we find ourselves criticizing others, but don’t even realize that we may have taken the same or similar action if we were in their shoes. So, the next time you find yourself judging someone, remember this idea. It is important to strive to make the best decisions we can in the situations we find ourselves in.

Laziness

If there's one thing I have learned in my life it's that laziness always leads to more laziness. I have wasted many days being lazy when I could have done something productive with my time. When you start your day by just lying around the house watching TV or playing video games, you are rarely inspired to get anything done. And if this behavior keeps up, you may find yourself caught in an endless cycle of laziness. I have learned firsthand how difficult it is to get out of this "laziness rut" and get things done. My suggestion to cure laziness is to join a club or group that does something active on a scheduled basis. This way you will be forced to get out of the house and out of your rut. By doing so you will find that you are more inspired to do other things that you have been putting off. Another suggestion would be to make a "to do" list of things you want to do every day (push-ups, running). This will help to remind you that you need to be doing these things. If this doesn't work, have a reliable friend keep you in check. He/She will make sure you are doing the things on the list. Doing these things on your list will help to keep you from going back to your "laziness rut".

I know this may not seem like something you want to do but once you take this step, you truly will find that you are getting more things accomplished.

Inspiration

So I was reading this article about Rocco Mediate (for those of you who don't remember, he is the one who lost to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open last year). The article was talking about how you would never know this was the man that lost because he handled it so well. Since that day, he has received floods of emails, but this was his favorite:

Rocco:

On May 30, 2008, my youngest daughter, Allison, was on the way home from [high school] graduation practice when she was involved in a wreck. I forever lost her that day. Friends and family who had come to see a joyous event … ended up attending a funeral.

Losing a child is every bit the hell people say it is. The days that followed were the darkest of my life. I stayed at home … and I found myself watching the [golf] tournament for some unknown reason.

Slowly, I became captivated. I found myself pulling for you—and I had never even heard of you. I got something out of the way you handled the outcome that I'll never forget. It's something that helps me to this day. You showed me that it is possible to lose and yet not be beaten.

I have lost and lost big, but I am not licked. That Monday was a big day for me. I picked something up that helped me get back on my feet that I still lean on. It was not only what you did but how you did it—with grace, poise, dignity and charm. Watching the highlights made me remember and prompted me to say thank you.

--John Ray, Longview, Texas


This is a perfect and powerful example of what I mentioned in an earlier post about being able to choose your attitude in any situation. Even when it seems we are in the worst possible situation, you always have control over how you choose to respond.


Here is the link to the article on Rocco if you are interested.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=4226689

Persistence

Albert Einstein said, "I'm not so smart. It's just that I stay with problems longer."
This is a great quote because it just affirms that you do not have to be the best or smartest to succeed. Persistence can prevail over natural or learned talent or intelligence. It is a great reminder to me that I can still achieve great success if I just keep working at it. If you find yourself stumped on a problem, or maybe just stuck in a rut, keep pressing on.
There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Subconscious Mind?

Right now I am reading a book called Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. It's fairly old but has some great ideas. One thing I found that was very interesting had to do with the subconscious mind. The author states that if you persistently tell yourself something, eventually your subconscious will believe it to be true and will act on that thought. For example, if you tell yourself over and over that you are going to ace an upcoming test, eventually your subconscious will believe it and force the body to do everything possible in order to make that idea a reality. On the subversive, if you tell youself that you will fail over and over, you will not study and will not be prepared for the test.

I know the idea can seem far-fetched, but according to Napolean Hill, hundreds of studies have been done that prove this to be accurate. He recommends that you write down a sentence to say out loud twice a day ("I am going to ace my Spanish test") and to focus on that idea as much as possible throughout the day. So think of something you want to accomplish and convince yourself that you can do it.

Motivation

Sometimes it can be very difficult to start a project, begin exercising or simply get motivated to do something that isn't our favorite. I have found that when this happens, there is one thing that always helps get you started. Figure out what the first step is and just do that. For instance, if you know you need to go work out, put your shoes on. The simple act of doing this will lead you right into the next step (whether that may be running out the door, or driving to the gym). Convince yourself that you are just putting on your shoes. Then once you have done this, convince yourself that you are just going to get in the car and start driving. Before you know it, you are at the gym and you might as well work out.

When a project or task looks daunting, it is important to take it one step at a time. This helps make the task look less intimidating and it is always easier to take a small step than a big step. So, if you find yourself unmotivated today, ask yourself "What is the first step to take?" and go from there.

Gambling

When I was younger, 12 I think, I learned an important lesson about gambling. My brother, sister, dad and I were biking around the elementary school one weekend. I got bored and started throwing rocks at a lamp post about 50 feet away but could never hit it. My dad came over to me and I said, "Hey dad, I bet you 20 bucks you can't hit the lamp post from here." My dad said, "Sure", picked up a rock, took aim, and drilled the post first try. I remember my heart dropping as I heard the loud "ding" of the rock hitting the post. I mean, $20 at that age was basically my life savings, and I blew it all because I made the mistake of betting on something I thought was a sure thing. This experience taught me that I should learn to take calculated risks rather than just gambling on a whim.

Attitude

One of the most important ideas I learned in college came from a book called Man's Search for Meaning. The author Viktor Frankl was a survivor of the prison camps in World War II. He said that no matter what situation you are in, you can ALWAYS choose your attitude. He said the ones who lost hope in these camps never survived. The ones who tried to think about how long it would be until they got out almost always lost hope. Frankl said that you had to take the situation day by day, hour by hour, and even sometimes minute by minute. Choosing to keep hope alive, kept him alive as well.

I have noticed that choosing to keep a positive attitude in situations that are bad or maybe just aren't our favorite tend to improve the outcome of that situation. If you find yourself down today, remind yourself of the things you are grateful for and see how your day improves.