The Power of Words
Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...Believe
How many time have you heard someone exclaim “That’s Unbelievable!”? My guess is more than a few. And yet when we take a look at the situation that they are describing, it’s really not that unbelievable at all. What we often see in these instances is a disciplined individual that has accomplished something amazing through dedication, hard work, and strength of mind. The particular situation is unbelievable to us as we would never prioritize the requisite tasks high enough to accomplish the achievement. Yet when we break it down, we see that it’s not really hard to believe at all. Rather, it’s simply a case of discipline and dedication to that person’s vision of the future. That someone has just taught us a huge lesson and given us a wonderful gift that is right there for the taking…
So the next time you utter “That’s Unbelievable!” Ask yourself this — Is it that the situation/action is unbelievable or is it that believing it forces you to face your own self-limiting behaviors?
With that in mind:
Do you believe enough to change the way you behave?
As always, thanks for the time.
Landmarks
Sometimes you get that feeling that you have absolutely no idea where you are at. Your stomach starts to churn, your eyes become wide, and you begin to worry about what’s out there that’s going to “get you”. And then it happens. You see a familiar landmark or reference point that allows you to reorient yourself. The uneasiness subsides, your body relaxes, and the sensation of being lost goes away.
It’s hard to get lost when you have a good set of landmarks close at hand. These good landmarks are normally friends, family, purpose and faith.
With that in mind:
What’s your landmark?
As always, thanks for the time.
Freedom
It’s interesting to reflect on the collective psyche of the US. If we go way back to 1776 we encounter a bunch of scallywags (my Grandpa loved that word so I’m using it in memory of him) that wanted freedom from the Brits (no offense intended to my friends in the UK in using this term). That desire for freedom has permeated American society over time: freedom to self-govern, freedom from taxation (oops that one’ gone a bit awry!), freedom to vote, freedom from judgment based on skin color, freedom of choice.
What’s interesting is that through out time there’s always been Americans who identified something that they felt was inherently theirs who took the risk, stood up, and claimed their freedom. Normally staking the claim resulted in a short term pain, but there’s almost always been a long term gain. There’s always been Americans around that had the courage to claim their freedoms.
What’s interesting about today is how many people have grown complacent and are unwilling to claim their freedom. Go back to the Declaration of Independence:
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —–
Why in the hell if we went through all of the trouble to fight a revolution are so many people sitting around at home each evening whining about their situation and actin like victims? Why aren’t folks will to step up and claim their freedom?
With that in mind:
Isn’t it time you claim your freedom?
As always, thanks for the time.
Limits
“I’m a ‘B’ student”, “I could never shoot that score on the golf course”, “That job’s too hard for me”, “I couldn’t retire early”.
While you may not have uttered any of the above specifically, chances are that at one time or another you have expressed doubt about your ability to achieve something. At that point in time, you’ve created a self-imposed limit on your ability to achieve. What a shame! No don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that a 47 year old male telling himself “I can pitch game 7 of the World Series” is going to suddenly make it a reality. However, even this seemingly absurd statement is not totally beyond the realm of possibility….
Suppose our hero decided he wanted to accomplish this. He’d need to start exercising, start stretching, start throwing. He’d need to find a local baseball league to play in. He’d need to start competing. He’d need to focus on finding some MLB team that was interested in a publicity stunt and had him throw in pre-season, then in the regular season — maybe just a single pitch! Now is any of this realistic? Probably not ALL of it. But the first several steps — exercise, stretching, throwing, getting back in to the game — are absolutely realistic. Maybe our hero won’t make it to the World Series. But he’s darn sure going to be a lot better off having focused on the positive, actionable steps related to the goal than simply saying “I could never”.
The key is to focus on a long term goal, break it down in to chunks, at take them one step at a time. When you do that, your limits are a lot less constraining than they appear initially.
With that in mind:
What limit of yours are you going to discard today?
As always, thanks for the time.
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