The Power of Words
Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...
Rocks
One of my favorite exercises/demonstrations is completed with a mason jar, some rocks, some gravel, some sand, and some water:
- The demonstration begins by putting a number of rocks in to the jar and asks “Is it full?”
- The audience says “yes” and the speaker proceeds to add in the gravel. Again, he asks “Is it full?”
- The audience hesitates but normally says “yes” and the speaker proceeds to add in the sand. Again, he asks “Is it full?”
- The cycle continues one more time as the speaker adds the water
The lessons from the story are three-fold and are metaphors for life:
- We must put the “big rocks” (i.e. important things) in our life first.
- Even after putting the “big rocks” in our life, there’s still time/space for the other important things in our life.
- We tend to underestimate the “space in our jar” / space in our life.
Every time I see the demonstration, it causes me to reflect on what I’m putting in my personal jar first.
With that in mind:
What rocks are you putting in your jar first?
As always, thanks for the time.
A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two. My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully. Thanks!
React
It’s almost always easier to react. It’s also almost always less productive. When we react, we are following someone or someone else’s agenda. We’ve turned over the possibility of self-determination to another entity. And that’s why so many prefer to react – if things go wrong, it’s not OUR fault, it’s the other person that made us do it. You know better.
Moving from a reactive to a proactive state of mind requires focus and discipline. It’s not easy. And you will likely fail the first several times you try. But over the long term do you really want to give up your God given right of free choice by reacting versus planning your own course of action.
With that in mind:
Is it better to act or react?
As always, thanks for the time.
A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two. My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully. Thanks!
Nagging
No, I’m not going to talk about my wife today – after 26+ years of marriage I’m too smart to take THAT angle on today’s topic!!! What I am going to talk about is the little voice that is continually nagging you. It could be saying a number of things:
- Work less
- Work more
- Spend more
- Spend less
- “This” less
- “This” more
Whatever the topic (hence the “this” above), it’s a good bet that when the voice is nagging you’ve gone too far one way or the other in that particular facet of your life. And, it’s normally a good idea to re-center yourself before the nagging boils up in to a full scale, yelling, screaming, knock-down, drag out, fight with yourself.
With that in mind:
What’s your little voice nagging you about?
As always, thanks for the time.
A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two. My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully. Thanks!
Intentional
Sometimes things just happen. That’s OK. However, I’d argue that learning, growing, and living is more fulfilling when we are intentional in the process. By intentional I’m referring to the process where by we recognize a priori what we could do and take steps to actually follow through on those steps.
Now being intentional doesn’t always mean accomplishing some great or wonderful goal. Sometimes being intentional is about making time for “other things” – like exercise, resting, talking with friends, and spending time with family. I put “other things” in quotes as all too often these activities are NOT something we take the time to focus on intentionally.
That’s a shame as over the long run they’ll likely be the ones we find most valuable and most rewarding.
With that in mind:
What intentional actions are you taking?
As always, thanks for the time.
A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two. My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully. Thanks!
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