The Power of Words
Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...Simplicity
Ocham’s razor states that “In the absence of a clear solution, the most obvious solution is likely the best solution”. And yet each and every day we unnecessarily complicate our lives by spending countless hours trying to come up with elaborate solutions to the challenges we face.
Johnny’s doing poorly in school. So we hire tutors, bribe him with gifts, call in the counselor and so on. How about if we take away Johnny’s iPhone and let him know that he won’t be participating in travel soccer anymore? Instead, he’ll be at the kitchen table reading and studying from the time he comes home until the time he goes to bed?
You can’t lose any weight. So you go on line and search for the latest diet, join a gym, hire a trainer and so on. How about if we make a menu on Sunday evening of EXACTLY what we are going to eat each day? We also block off one hour each day where we are going to spend the time walking. What do you want to bet that we’ll see incredible results in one week?
Now I’m not suggesting that simplicity is easy. To the contrary, it’s often the most difficult thing to do. That’s because it forces us to realize that we hold the solutions to our problems and that we are the only thing standing in the way of learning, growing, and living better.
With that in mind:
What’s the simple solution to the biggest problem you are facing today?
As always, thanks for the time.
Scars
Sometimes life does not go exactly as planned. As a result, we sometimes tumble and skin our knees — or even worse. The result is often a scar that stay with us for the rest of our life. Some of these scars are physical, some mental. They’re all real and shape our appearance.
Now many look at scars and immediately see their ugliness. Me, I take them a bit differently. Whenever I notice a physical or mental scar, I try and understand what situation led to the scar. Because I can be pretty darn certain that the individual carrying the scar is damn knowledgeable in that area and can be counted on to do the right things in that area. While scars may seem to be “ugly”, the reality is they’re actually a beautiful testimonial to the fact that the person carrying them has learned, grown and lived.
With that in mind:
What’s the life lesson associated with your most beautiful scar?
As always, thanks for the time.
Hustle
I’m proud to say that during both my junior and senior years in HS I won the “best hustler” award for my baseball team. While I may not have had the most talent, I made darn sure that I busted my backside at every opportunity to maximize my potential for success. Did it always work? No. But did I always feel like I had done everything within my power to help the team? Yes.
Each day we have to make choices on where we focus our energy and effort. Sometimes it’s easy to go after things in a half-aXX manner. Rarely does that work out well. The reality is there is always somebody out there pushing just as hard — if not harder — than you are. Ultimately it often comes down to who is willing to hustle a little bit more. And buy hustle I mean, make the extra phone call, help the extra friend, write the extra article, make the extra sacrifice, work the extra minute, and try a little bit harder.
With that in mind:
How much did you hustle yesterday?
As always, thanks for the time.
Intangible
It’s really strange the way the mind works. I can still remember my introduction to the word “intangible”. I was around 9 years old and watching the NFL pregame show. The announcers would have a big board with a number of comparison items: offense, defense, quarterback, special teams, etc. And at the bottom of that list was “intangibles”. As a nine year old, it just didn’t click what they were talking about at the time. For some reason that one word stuck in my mind.
Some time later it clicked what they were talking about when they said the one team had the “intangibles” on their side. It was that magic that you can not define, but that you just “know” is there. It’s the ability to take folks from different backgrounds and meld them in to a team that clicks. It’s those things that are deep inside that allow certain folks to succeed. It’s that thing we are all searching for continually.
Now I don’t have a magic formula that will give you that “intangible”. But I would offer this: I’ve rarely seen someone who has that special “intangible quality that does not have faith and focus. Interesting that neither of these are easy to “see” either.
With that in mind:
How does your faith and focus affect your intangibility?
As always, thanks for the time.
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