My take on a Life well lived.
Archive for Life Skills
The Problem Solver
The Problem Solver
The picture below is a text conversation I had with my 14yr old son when he was flying home from school by himself. His plane had gotten in late to the terminal and he was waiting for his bag plane side with only 15 minutes to spear to get across DFW airport to catch his next flight. This conversation occurred because he was unsure how to navigate the airport.
The Ability to Problem Solve sets us apart from other people!!
Yes, yes it does.
I don’t think I have much more wisdom on that today. As Red Green would say, “Keep your stick on the ice.”
You are the ceiling or the lid to what God wants to do in you and through you
You are the ceiling or the lid to what God wants to do in you and through you.Take a child for example, all wide eyed and expectant of the dreams they have can come true. When was the last time someone asked a child what they wanted to do for their lives and they answered, sit in a 5×5 cubical and stare at a box for 8 hours a day.
No, they said they wanted to be something great.
Why, because they haven’t learned to hold themselves back yet, that’s why.
Let me ask it this way; “If fear wasn’t an option what would you do?”
I know it seems like a hard question, but is it? Here are some thoughts on fear that may help you.
If you listen to your fears you will die, never knowing what a great person you might have been.
- Robert H. Schuller
Our doubts are traitors, and make us loose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
- William Shakespeare
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. -Helen Keller
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” —Harry S. Truman
At some point in your life you took a detour and allowed fear to move you in a different direction than maybe the one you should have been traveling. God puts gifts and talents in each and everyone of us, but through our fears we put a lid on them. We create a ceiling that stops us from reaching the next level. As the Shakespeare quote states, “Our doubts are traitors.”
My encouragement today, take some time and reflect on your life and allow yourself to see the gifts that you have. Then get ready to take your first step. As Martin Luther King Jr. said“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Super Bowl
My eight-year-old son’s comment to the Super Bowl game last night. “The Seahawks must have practiced harder.”
Hall of Fame American Basketball coach John Wooden believed games were won in practice and preparation. The game was just an extension of what they had already perfected.
I’m not trying to analyze the game last night by any means. It’s the comment by my eight year old that brings a great teaching moment into play.
Ask yourself some questions today.
What am I doing to be better at my craft?
What new things have I learned lately that make me better than I was yesterday, last week, last month, or last year?
Lastly and most important questions.
How can I improve today?
Just taking the time to read this post is a step in the right direction. Just like Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
Today’s Your Victory Day!!
How are you Playing?
Recently I attended one of my nephew’s pewee hockey game, they were struggling to keep up with the opposing team that they had beaten night before. I had to stand and watch the game because I was getting a little excited about how they were not in the game, “once a hockey player always a hockey player”. As I stood in the moment of watching that game I was reminded of a mind set most people get into when the game of life starts heading in the wrong direction.
“Are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose”?
The out come of that statement can be the same thing, but it’s the mind set that makes the difference. When we play to win we think in a way that is totally different then when we play not to lose.
Playing to win is an active response to our situation.
Playing not to lose is a passive response to our situation.
Activity takes a few ideas to process.
1. Recognition of the choices we are or are not making. That’s whats interesting about activity verses passivity they are both choices if you like it or not.
2. Using your God given ability to make a new choice in how you will respond to the situation. That is one thing that separates us from the animals is we don’t live on instinct, but rather by choice.
My encouragement for the day is take an active role in your life. Stop playing the game not to lose and start playing to win. Oh and by the way, my nephew’s team came out in the 3rd period ready to play to win and almost tied the game in the last few seconds. How are u playing?
Life of Learning the only way
Life of Learning the only way
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. – Anthony Robbins
Attitude for the day, Attitude for every day:
Always in school learn everything.
Never stop learning.
Learn as much as you can.
Read as much as you can.
Listen to as much as you can.
Observe as much as you can.
Learning needs to be ingrained in your life as something that you do every single day and you don’t stop until the day you go home. There is a story that President Theodor Roosevelt was still reading and learning up until the day he died, and when they found him dead in his bed they found a book underneath his pillow that he had been reading the night before.
Never stop learning!
As my mantra goes: “No new information in, no new decisions out.”
The Art of Note Writing
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“You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for which you get not pay but the privilege of doing it.” - Albert Schweister I just shared this concept yesterday with a friend and then again at the dinner table with my family. I was telling them about the lost art of note writing. Note writing meaning sending someone a note of encouragement or thanks. I’m talking about a hand written note! You would be amazed at the bridge it will build between you and the other person.
I was telling this person and my family, that in this world we live in people are starved for encouragement and that if we can just be a small light in the world it makes mountains of difference. To you it may be a $2.50 card and 5 minutes of your time, but to someone dieing of thirst in the desert it’s a life line.
Go out and do Good Today! Today is your Victory Day!!! |