The Sixteenth Secret Ingredient of Life (16 of 10 or more)

Stay active!

Stay active in the various areas of your life.  Stay active physically, mentally, spiritually. Don't quit, don't retire, keep going!  It's said that: a ship left in port will decay faster than one that is used at sea  and a house that is uninhabited will fall down sooner than an occupied one.

Don't just stay active, stretch and stress yourself.  Try to make today's workout tougher than your last.  Try to read books that challenge your mind with bigger words and bigger ideas.  Try to increase or expand your spirituality, investigate other religions/faiths.

I have heard too many stories about people who work their whole lives for a single company and then within weeks of retiring they die!  Their whole lives were dedicated to just one thing - their jobs and when that ceases to exist they cease to exist.

The variety and activity will keep you young and fresh.  It will strengthen you.  It will allow you to have a longer, happier, more productive life.

Have a great day!

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
 

Be like a sandcastle!

I think that we should all be like sandcastles.

You've been to the beach, right.  You're laying there getting all golden because it's sunny and relaxing.  You are having a great day!   Then your kids ask you to build a sandcastle with them.  Little did they know that you've been waiting for them to ask (you packed a "pro" sandcastle kit in your beach bag)!  The tide is out and everyone is having fun as you start to build something magical.  But you aren't paying attention, you're just building away.  Everyone is getting into the "build" and, in fact, you are probably building the greatest sandcastle of your lives!  You're proud of yourself and you know that your kids couldn't be more impressed ... 'cuz you got some mad sandcastle skills!

Fast forward one hour ...

You're still not paying attention, the tide has come in and all of a sudden ...Crash! An unexpected and giant wave comes in, soaking you, washing away your sandcastle and some of your professional grade sandcastle building tools.

What do you do? Do you pack up and go home?  Maybe.  Do you never go back to the beach again? Unlikely, you love the beach.  Do you NEVER build another sandcastle as long as you live?  NO ... that would be stupid.

YOU BEGIN AGAIN!  It may not be until next weekend (surely you need time to literally lick the salt from your proverbial wounds).  But you DO COME BACK to the beach and you DO START OVER!  You've now got experience, you now know about tides, you're now thinking of ways to better protect your creation (Portland cement maybe?).

I've heard the expression "life is a beach" ... but I prefer to think of life as the ocean.  There are waves, some of them pretty big and they will knock you down.  But you need to be like a sandcastle.  Even after the waves (life) has washed the sandcastle (you) away ... everything and more is still there!  All the sand and rocks are still there, PLUS, you now have experience!.  Be a sandcastle!

The Great Equalizer

Are we are all different or are are all the same?  Depending on your philosophy or what is called "conventional wisdom" ... the answer to both is YES!

We are all very different.  In our habits, in our likes, in our dislikes.  No two of us are exactly alike, even if you are a twin. And we are all very similar.  We need food, water, air, challenges and we need to grow.  We all have hearts, blood, brains. It just depends how deep you want to look for the similarities or the differences.  You will find many of each if you are looking hard enough.

But we each have at least 86,400 things in common.  WOW! That is a lot of things ... what are they?  They are the seconds in a day.  We each have 86,400 seconds in a day.  But each of us differ in how we use them. This is the great equalizer!  Regardless of your current situation, who your parents are, how much is in your bank account, we each still have 86,400 seconds in our day and we each get to choose how to spend them!

Some of us, like the seeds of a dandelion, will float aimlessly through life, land and 'plant' ourselves wherever the wind (a.k.a. life) takes us.  Others, will be purposeful and careful with how we spend these precious moments.  We will be more like a ship on the ocean.  With a sail and a compass, regardless of which way the wind is blowing we will keep our eyes on our destination.  We will tack and adjust until we ultimately reach our destination.

Which type of person are you?  Will you choose to be purposeful with your time today?  Or, will you choose to be the dandelion and see where 'life' blows you?

"Dream as if you will live forever; Live as if you will die today." ~ James Dean (Cultural Icon, Actor: "Rebel without a Cause")

Some of life's toughest battles happen between ...

Some of your life's toughest battles will happen between your own two ears!  Most of us will not join the military, we will not need to go to a foreign land to fight an unknown enemy.  Fortunately, most of us will not get cancer or contract a life threatening disease.  But we will fight many lesser battles, mostly in our minds.  And for some of us, we will fight tens, if not hundreds of these battles each day.

The battle is "Needs versus Wants".  Whether you are battling weight loss, financial problems, character problems, or all three (as well as many other enemies!)  When you step back and look at the battlefield from 30,000 feet ... it will be plain to see that it is a battle of "Need v. Want"

I face these battles every day and, sadly, many times I lose the battle.  Many times want wins over need.  I can predict which battles I will win and which I will lose.  And it is really quite simple ... I lose every battle where my desire or passion that I hold for the "want" exceeds that which I hold for the "need".  I lose every battle where I am not focusing on what is most important to me.  I lose every battle that I take my eyes off of my goals. 

My goals must became my "wants"; "wants" always win over needs. If I really want to accomplish my goals I must change my mantras from "I need to lose weight, I need to lower my cholesterol, I need to exercise, I need to pay off debt, ..." to "I WANT TO ..."

I have been losing the "battle of the bulge" because I want a beer after a hard day at work.  I justify it by saying to myself that "It's just one ... and besides it's a light beer, it's like drinking water!"   I know that it's a bad idea and goes against one of my most important goals, but I do it anyway because it's what I wanted at that moment ... I lost focus on what I really want, which is to lose weight and become healthier.  Salad and yogurt for lunch (two steps forward) and a beer and two much pasta for dinner (three steps back).  I need to want to lose weight more than I want the beer ... it's that simple.  Want will always win over need!

Another goal that is extremely important to me is becoming debt free.  Once this goal is achieved I would like to be able to drive the family up to Nashville so that the family and I can scream "We're debt free!" on the air with Dave Ramsey!  But the problem is ... I also want to enjoy things that other people around me are enjoying - NBA basketball games, MLB Spring Training, nice cars, nice clothes and fancy dinners out.  I want my children to have everything they want for Christmas and their birthdays, I want them to be able to do all the activities that they want (competitive cheer, dance, baseball lessons, etc).  In order for me to succeed with money and teach my children the need to delay gratification - I need to want to delay gratification myself.  I must want to be be debt free more than wanting all these things now.  I must want to wait for the nice things in life. 

I could go on with many other examples of how my wants or desires for things today are putting off my long term goals, but I won't.  The good news is, that while I (and you) may lose a lot of the battles ... I/you can still win the war!  "Fight the good fight!"  It will take time, but I (and you) can do it if we want it bad enough!

Paraphrasing Zig Ziglar, "I didn't put on 40 pounds too many overnight, I did it one spoonful at a time, I will have to lose the weight the same way in order to keep it off."   So, when you are trying to reverse the effects of negative habits ... don't expect them to be corrected overnight.  Maintain focus on what you really want, be patient and give it the time that it deserves!

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Law Defined: The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.

 Most people have never heard of the "The Law of Unintended Consequences."  And, even if you were aware of it ... it's probably not something you actively think about and/or apply in your everyday life.  However, the law affects you every single day!  

If you are a coach, sports analyst, CEO, surgeon, business consultant, etc. you may make consider the law in your normal workday.  An offensive coordinator may find his team in a 4th down situation, on the 3 yard line, with 10 seconds left in the game ... needing three (3) points to tie and four (4) to win.  He's thinking that he wants to run a particular play [let's call it "Zebra 88 Amazon Blue"].  But first, he uses his last time out so that he can talk to his offense and discuss their options and what the defense may do if they run Zebra 88 Amazon Blue. 

A surgeon may be operating on a gunshot victim and has to look at all the potential consequences if he removes a bullet that is in a delicate spot or ... what if he leaves it in?  What will the victim's future quality of life be, will the bullet shift, will it have to be removed eventually anyway?

A CEO of a large company may be considering what will happen if his company suddenly drops a dying product line that their distributors count on for income ... or is phasing it out slowly going to suck up company resources and prevent the successful launch of a new product.  What will the customers think, can they afford to lose 30-50% of their customer base?

Being aware of the law and applying it on occasion is one thing ... applying it fully to every decision that you make is another.

Think of you as an individual, you are up later than usual and your stomach starts to growl.  Do you walk to the refrigerator and take a peek inside?  What harm could having one scoop of ice cream at 11:00 pm do ... just this once?  Would it start a habit of having a snack every night at such a late hour?  If so, will you switch to healthier snacks ... an apple perhaps?


As it turns out, if you give enough proper consideration there are very few consequences that you aren't able to predict.  Remember, everything matters, somethings just matter more.  So every decision that you make (or choose not to make) deserves some consideration ... make sure that you give your decisions enough proper consideration!