Category: Philosophy

My father-in-law was in the habit of saying goodbye with ‘have a great one…’.  He was a thoughtful man and truly wanted you to have, not a ‘good’, but a ‘great one’.  However, phrase ‘have a great..’ anything has always struck me a bit passive, almost submissive.    Why be satisfied with ‘have a great one’ when you can ‘MAKE a great one’?

You’re in control of, and responsible for, yourself.  How you think about and perceive things.  How you act and react.  If you want a great day why wait for fate, or destiny, or someone else to give it to you.  No one can make it great, or crappy, except for you.  You choose.

Every minute of every day you are presented with challenges.  Opportunities to excel.  How you perceive them dictates how you will respond.  Will you allow them, or someone, to control the outcome?  Should you? Why would you?

If you are going to resolve to do anything this new year, commit yourself to taking charge of yourself and MAKE a great one….

And in the world we live in today I’d be remise not to include my Dad’s succinct goodbye… ‘watch out for the crazies…’  I’m just glad he didn’t say ‘watch out; you’re crazy…’

MAKE A GREAT ONE….It’s crazy not to…..

#watchoutforthecrazies  #makeagreatone  #neverfearthedream

Know Your Why; Plan Your How…….

We are being inundated by social media, newspaper editorials and comics, radio and tv commercials, coaches, managers, friends, neighbors, and family imploring us to set our New Year’s goals.   There is not passion in goals.  They will leave you unsatisfied if too low, disillusioned if too high, and/or are rendered meaningless and summarily dismissed if too much of your environment changes. Let’s not spend any time on something we’re going dismiss; so, just say NO to goals.  What, no goals?….that’s right;  NO goals.

Rather than goals; know your why and plan your how.  We’ve been taught and browbeat to establish ‘SMART’ goals.  However, nothing in a ‘SMART’ goal is from your soul, no commitment, no understanding of WHY that’s your pursuit, your dream.  Look deep inside and clearly determine why you want to commit to accomplish anything.  Without a clear WHY, you can’t really focus, will miss your mark and fail.

Keep asking yourself why until your motivations and aspirations are clear. Once you articulate WHY, plan your HOW.  Your plan should acknowledge your strengths, weaknesses, fears, and confidences.  Bolster your strengths and focus on your weaknesses.  Include regular opportunities to benchmark your progress.  Strive for constant improvement, ok, maybe that’s your goal; but not your end.  With a WHY and a PLAN there is no end.  There is a cycle Plan-Do-Check, repeat.  You can adjust your plan to account for changing circumstance, as long as it squarely addresses your dream.

Don’t limit yourself by setting goals.  Dig deep; know your why and plan your how and get better and better and better…..

#NeverFeartheDream

It’s all in your perspective, and yours to control.   Every day we hear someone ask “what’s wrong” or, comment “what’s wrong is…”.  But how many times do you hear, or more importantly think, ‘What’s, right…”?  It’s engrained in us to look for and expect the negative; but, why?  From my perspective, there’s a lot which should and could be changed.  From someone else’s, maybe not so much, or not at all. Therein lies the conundrum and the opportunity.

Every day is filled with infinite opportunities to ask, and answer, ‘what’s right’.  It’s within your control to do so.  It’s up to you how you react to comments and actions.  Your reactions are not the responsibility of the tormentor; they are yours and yours to control.  Focus, find something you enjoy in every situation, and enjoy the hell out of it.  Everything else associated with a pretty poor situation can be managed.  Managed, not condoned or tolerated; but, accepted for what it is, not how you’re going to react.  If you can’t think through the situation, you’ve stopped thinking and are now just emotional and reactionary.  You’ve lost control and yielded to that which is your very torment.

Start with what’s right with you.  If you don’t get any further, that’s ok, you don’t need to.  Knowing what’s right with you will get you through a lot.  A lot more than you can imagine.  Accept yourself.  It’s who you are; not necessarily who you want to be.  But, today, at this moment, it’s who you are.  Recognize those ‘rights’ and use the strengths to your advantage as you move forward. If you focus on what’s wrong, everything you encounter will only reinforce the ‘wrong’.  Stop asking the wrong question.

What’s, right?  I’d say you are, and today is another day to excel.

#NeverFeartheDream

Ok, as a lot of you know we’ve recently moved and that means the indignation of having to review and retake the new state’s driving test.

I’m really ok with it because laws for different areas need to be known.  After all, who knew I had to know the hand signals for a horseback rider sharing the road.

But seriously, I’m 59, half deaf, half blind and have been wearing bi-focals for almost 20 years; and guess what, I can see well enough to pass the vision test without glasses…..Seriously…Now, I’m really scared about the other drivers and that dang cowboy….good grief…

#NeverFearTheDream