The Seventh of Life's Secret Ingredients (7 of 10 or more)

Serve!

Serving others ... fulfilling a need or a want.  This is something that comes with multiple rewards.  There is a tremendous feeling inside when you are able serve others.  There can also be financial rewards too.

Many of us "serve" just for the sake of giving back or contributing to our community. Such as volunteering at a soup kitchen, helping at church, raking an elderly neighbors leaves.  All of which are absolutely wonderful things.  (Remember not to expect anything in return for these)

But when you are being paid to do a job do you have the attitude of servant-hood?  Or, if you were to start a business is it only with the intent to make gobs and gobs of money?  There are many people that believe that if you are profiting from an endeavor then you couldn't possibly be serving.  I disagree ... this is when servant-hood is most important!

As proof I offer you the relate-able example of a waiter or waitress.  We've all had an experience at a restaurant where we were simply wowed by the waitstaff ... and sadly, examples of being underwhelmed also.

Waitperson #1: Has an attitude of servant-hood and wants your experience to be so memorable that you want to come back and ask for him or her.  He or she greets you promptly after being seated and discloses their top-secret name, offers up the specials of the day, takes your drink order and gives you a few minutes to look over the menu.  Upon their return with your drinks he/she asks if you are ready to order or have any questions and offers suggestions.  You order, you get your food, he/she returns periodically to make sure your drinks and other needs are taken care of.  When you are done eating he/she makes sure the table is cleared, without you feeling rushed and offers dessert ideas.  You say yes or no ... fast forward to when the bill arrives.  He/she says "my name again is and it's been my pleasure serving you today, I hope you've enjoyed your meal/experience, when you return (not if!) please ask for me I would love to wait on you again!"

Waitperson #2: Insert almost any other dining experience that you've ever had.

There is no comparison between Waitperson #1 and #2.  If the experience were the same, with the exception of the last line, you would still tip Waitperson #1 a lot more and you would definitely return to that restaurant (regardless of the food quality).  Not only did waitperson #1 give you great "service" ... they also told you that they loved "serving you".

Why not bring this attitude to everything you do?  Have a great day!

The Sixth Secret Ingredient to Life (6 of 10 or more)

Gratitude.

No matter where you are in life, no matter what has happened to you, be thankful for what you have and who you have in your life.  Be thankful for what will be coming in your life and be thankful for those who will be entering your life (you truly do have a lot to look forward to).

Unless you are that one very unfortunate person in the world that is really living in the worst circumstances (and you have a computer or smart phone, so I know you aren't that person) ... things could always be worse.  So be grateful for what you have.  Don't be envious of others and what they have.  Rather, be happy for them and if you want  to be like them then you need to study them, learn from them.

The good news is you have tomorrow, be thankful for that.  You may remember the motivational line that Apollo Creed says to Rocky Balboa in Rocky III "There is no tomorrow!"  Well it doesn't apply to us, for us there is a tomorrow!  The sun comes up every morning.  You always have a chance to begin again or continue or finish.  Be thankful that you have that.

If you don't like your present circumstances, be thankful that you have tomorrow to look forward to and tomorrow to work on becoming the person you want to become!

God wants you to have more, to do more, to be more.  Be grateful for what you have now, what you've done and be grateful for the ability to do more, to get more and to give more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Fifth of Life's Secret Ingredients (5 of 10 or more)

Courage is the fifth of life's secret ingredients!

Courage can come out in many areas of our lives and in small amounts or great big amounts.  Your courage might appear when you are at a friend's house and you are presented with something new and different to eat.  Have you ever had frog legs? They taste like chicken ... really!  Your courage might show up when you are walking down the street and you see someone trying to snatch a woman's purse.  Have you ever jumped into action to stop a crime or save a life?

Yes, courage comes in many forms and in many sizes.  The most important courage to have though is "the courage of your convictions!"  What is meant by this as defined in freedictionary.com:

   "To have enough courage and determination to carry out one's goals."

Secret #3 (Passion) will help you find your courage and feed your courage as you pursue your dream or goal.  You must be prepared for the naysayers, for those who don't truly believe in you or your ideas.  So many people in life will hold you back because they will project their beliefs on you.  They assume that if something scares them a lot, or looks like more work than it's worth ... well, then you should be scared too, or that you won't get out of it nearly what you put into it.

      [1) don't be one of those people;  and B) ignore their fears and place your own value on your own goals]

I am not saying to be stupid about pursuing your dreams/goals.  Courage and stupidity do not have to go hand in hand!  You may not have the education or training to cure cancer, so you don't cash in your retirement accounts and open a lab in your garage.  But you can have the courage to start your own charity 5K run to raise funding and awareness for a cure, learning as you go and donating the money to a research team that you believe can move the needle.  You may not have the training to own a restaurant, so you wouldn't buy a building, lease equipment and open one tomorrow.  But you can start working in one, get the knowledge, be a student of the industry and work towards that goal.

Metaphorically, having courage will not only allow you climb mountains, it will allow you to move mountains!  Have a great day!

The Fourth of Life's Secret Ingredients (4 of 10 or more)

Focus.

Oh, if we only had more focus in our lives.  Can you imagine all of the things that you could accomplish in life if you had the ability to focus on one thing at a time?  Remember that big idea that you had a half dozen years ago?  The one that you started to mess around with, the one that you thought "this is it!"  But then you got distracted (lost focus) and never went back to or perhaps did, but then lost focus again.

Well, I am telling you now that focus is one of "Life's Secret Ingredients".  You don't need focus to live, but you do need focus to accomplish more or much of the things that you want to accomplish in life.

Is it easy to stay focused? No.  Is it simple to stay focused? Yes!

Staying focused on what is important to you really is simple.  All you need is a piece of paper, something to write with and about ten minutes of time (daily, at first).  Once you have all of those things together you can begin to focus.  Here are the instructions:

Step 1:  In one minute, quickly right down the things that you most want to accomplish in life
Step 2: Categorize them (health, spirituality, professionally/career, family, fun)
Step 3: Take the most important one from each category and put it on it's on piece of paper (3x5 index card is a good choice)
Step 4: Tape them to your mirror in your bathroom
Step 5: Read them out loud to yourself in the morning when you get up and at night when you go to bed
Step 6: Once you are thinking about these goals and start to focus on them you will need to spend more time planning and working towards achieving them.  Depending on your goal it could simply mean that you carve out 'real' vacation time (no phone, no email, completely disconnect).  Others might take additional planning and resources (ex. building a zero friction, zero input, continuous energy plant).  Once you are focused, staying focused will be as easy as keeping those cards posted on your mirror. While you are at it, why not make a set to keep in your planner or coat pocket?


Super Top Secret:  Write them down, do not just type them into your electronic device.  Believe it or not, the act of physically writing them on paper activates something in your mind that makes it real.

The Third of Life's Secret Ingredients (3 of 10 or more)

PASSION!

This really should be a one word entry; as I believe everyone knows what passion is and how important it is ... hopefully? You should understand the difference that it makes in your life, as well as the lives of others ... right?  Well, just in case ...

Passion is a key ingredient of achieving your goals ... but you don't have to have goals to have a "life".  Some goal-less people meander through life and let 'it' happen to them.  I believe you should have goals and you should strive to contribute to society and to serve others ... but again these aren't requisites for living.  I believe you should be purposeful with your life and the secret ingredient called passion will give your actions magnitude!

Passion is energy, gravity, emotion and excitement!  Passion is that thing that other people can see and feel and it energizes them.  Your passion is so strong and so contagious that when others are nearby it pulls on them and they can't help but want to join you in whatever the cause or activity is.

And if your activity isn't public or others aren't close enough to feel the pull of your passion ... your passion is what will keep you going even when the going gets tough.

Bring your passion with you today and have a great day!

"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting." ~ Napoleon Hill

The Second of Life's Secret Ingredients (2 of 10 or more)

The second of life's "Secret Ingredients" is:

             DISCIPLINE

What do I mean by discipline and why is it important?  To some discipline means "punishment" but that is not what I am referring.  In the realm of fulfilling your dreams or destiny discipline is defined as: having self-control that molds or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.

Jim Rohn explains in his teachings that every "discipline" effects the other disciplines.  He illustrates by saying that if you are sloppy with your accounting/budgeting then you are probably sloppy with your nutrition ... and your relationships ... and your housekeeping.


I can't say that he means there is a 100% direct correlation from one discipline/task/ability to the next or just that the confidence and habit that you develop bleeds into or influences the other areas of you life.  Either way ... he's right.


The fact is that if you can conquer health (develop a discipline of eating well) then you can conquer finances, gardening, grilling, housekeeping, etc.

Being able to exercise self-control or discipline will help you accomplish your goal and it will also prevent you from being distracted; or if you are distracted it will help you refocus and get back on track towards your goal.

Have a great day!

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment" ~ Jim Rohn
 

The First of Life's Secret Ingredients (1 of 10 or more)

Having the secret ingredients in your hands is like being the keeper of the holy grail.  All you need to overcome any of life's hurdles is the "secret ingredients."

You toil and you struggle, you step back and you stare at your problem until your eyes go crossed ... and then suddenly someone walks by and hands you the secret ingredient and "BAM!"  ... problem solved, mission accomplished, game over!

Yes, that does happen with some of life's challenges.  And usually the person that walked by and handed you the secret ingredient only possessed that "secret" because they had to overcome that same problem the week before or  last year and kept it in their "secret ingredient fanny-pack" for future use.

But, why were you still there working on your problem when that kind person walked by and handed you their secret ingredient?  It's because [ALERT - SECRET INGREDIENT #1] you had DETERMINATION.  Yes it's an oldie, but a goody!  Determination is a secret ingredient and it is required to solve many of life's harder puzzles and to jump life's highest hurdles.  It's also what my dad use to call "sticktoitiveness" (pretty sure it's not a real world, but I'll hashtag it at the bottom of this blog anyway).

Determination is NOT required for easy challenges or ones with tiny rewards, although it won't hurt.  But if you are interested in the bigger challenges (like slaying dragons or curing cancer) and bigger rewards in life (like making children laugh or curing cancer) then determination will come in handy.

** CAUTION ** Determination isn't the only secret ingredient.  It is an important one, but without the others you can be blinded by your determination and will set yourself up for a life of misery.  Picture yourself being trapped in a cave due to a rock slide and you have to dig out with the only thing you brought with you spelunking ... a wooden spoon (Really? This is what you brought?).  All the determination in the world won't keep that wooden spoon from being whittled away by the first rock you attack.  Officially stuck.

There's a happy thought to leave you on ... Have a great day!

1. DETERMINATION (#sticktoitiveness)
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