The first full week of a new year and in reality...when you look at the change in years..the day before...the day of...and the day after...the start of a new year...are just days in a continuum! Let's open our eyes and wake up to reality...new year's day is of no real significance...it's significance exists because we mentally say it is...and agree to it...
It is the "agreement of the significance" of new year's day that influences the behaviors of many people of this society and many other nations annually...
It is simple agreement...and nothing else...
There is a lesson to be found in the power of agreement...a mental exercise...that all true leaders must fully grasp, appreciate and utilize...
It is not a secret ingredient of success...just simply a subtle and an overlooked characteristic of success...because we take this for granted...we often miss this critical component!
We can not afford to do that any longer!
Don't simply accept things at their face value...strive to understand them!
And have to resolve to bring this into our conscious efforts...
Change does not occur unless there is agreement to change!
Time to wake up!
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Resolutions...
I know you already realized this...but...
I also noticed that most of the new year's resolutions that people make are driven by remorse...
They focus on stopping doing stuff...or starting doing things because of the associated regrets...
The negative feelings are a powerful motivator...and we tend to fixate on them rather than those which are more directive towards beneficial behaviors...
As I thought through my resolutions, on my list...I included things that I wanted to "do more of"...because they were the right things to do...
More importantly...
I realized that...
...if I filled my life with positive activities...this simple change would leave no room for the negative things that I normally focus my resolve on eliminating from my life...
Which leads to...How can one be successful with resolutions...
As I reviewed all of the great resolutions that I made (but failed to accomplish) in the past...I realized that I a major reason for the failures was that I simply resolved to stop...
and I stopped...but I left a void...which needed to be filled by something else...
Lacking that "filler"
...the old behavior simply came back to fill the void that it left...
I woke up to that reality and asked myself what did I do when I was successful?
The answer was simple!
A great resolution should include 2 parts...
1 - I want to stop "X"
2 - I will replace "X" with "Y"
I will focus on "Y" as its replacement...
My failures have generally resulted from eliminating "X" resulting in a void...that in turn is filled by "X+++"...
Which actually subconsciously made me realize that the act of making resolutions are counter-productive...
Why?
Because I came out worse for having attempted!
This awakening has lead me to make the two-part resolutions and now I am highly successful!
The message is that your resolutions have to fit your personality...
Some people can simply quit...
Some people can simply replace them...
Some people have to quit and replace...
DO WHAT WORKS!
It is time to wake up!
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Life and the Bell-Curve...
Did you know that 97% of the species that have ever existed on this planet are extinct?
Did you know that these life forms were wiped out across 6 natural catastrophes?
What further boggles my mind is that each catastrophe set the sage for an entirely new species...
Most agree that the latest caztestrophe was 65 million years ago...however I believe that there was one more recent one...approximately 40 thousand years ago...that event caused the ice age...which nearly eliminated the human species!
That in and of itself boggles my mind...
Then I began thinking about the fact that life exists from the depths of the oceans, to the highest points on the earth....in different forms...in the coldest and hottest regions...the earth is not devoid of life...
If you plot the count of "types" of life (simply based on altitude above and below sea level)...you find a bell curve...
The human species lives within a narrow and tenuous portion of this bell curve...
Any minor change of conditions could spell disaster for our species...
Our species is following the normal course of most living species...
It scares me to think that we may be at our peak...and as condition slowly change our numbers will start declining...and finally...we will disappear...
We generally think of extinctions as occurring as a result of a single catastrophic event that happens quickly...
But the fact of the matter is...the concept of time is something created by man...it (like new year's eve) is by an agreement and not something real!
A catastrophic event could be something that "quickly" happens over the course of 100 million years! A slow and lingering change...death by long-term torture!
It is funny how something like the concept of time can mess with perception and behaviors!
I was reflecting on a world devoid of mans' creative consciousness...a world devoid of humans...
This is kind of a mind blowing thought...
When we (as a species) become extinct...what will the world be like?
It almost feels like the "if a tree falls in the woods...?" question!
For me...the realization of the fact that we live on such a narrow piece of the bell-curve changes my behaviors related to the "impact" that I have on the narrow band...
Most people are living an arrogant or clueless existence...with no thought for our future generations...or the survival of our species...
We have been given the gift of creative consciousness...and we are misusing it...at worse...rejecting it...and this behavior is causing our own slow...lingering catastrophic event...leading to our extinction!
We are going to suffocate!
We need to focus on our air!
We are burning up our oxygen at rates that can no longer be replaced!
Where?
...in car engines...and highly efficient jet engines...you get the picture...
We need to be thinking about requiring everyone who either makes or uses combustion liable for replacing the oxygen that they use...
Then we need to focus on fresh water...
We take air and water for granted...and have not protected these "rights" as much as we should...
They are precious to life...
If people...or companies...or countries are going to use the world's resources to their advantage...let it be that they borrow the resources...and replace them with interest...
If someone pumps ground water and sells it for a profit...the society from which they take it from should be equal partner in the proposition...
The same holds true for air...
Burn our oxygen...you need to planting trees or plants that replace the air that you are burning at a rate equal to or greater than the use and a portion of the profits should be shared with the people from which you have taken the air from!
Just some thoughts...we are allowing people to use our resources because we perceive them to be plentiful and limitless...when the fact of the matter is...they are finite!
We need to do something about it!
This is about global responsibility and stewardship...
What are you going to resolve to do before it becomes a detrimental event?
I would not want to wake up to that day!
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The BIG Picture...
This week a good friend sent a message to me...(it is at the end of this section in its entirety...slightly modified to make it applicable to everyone)
Those who have been following these blogs or personally know me...know that I promote "envisioning" your image and success...it is an essential characteristic of leadership success!
I love creating my mental image...and then putting substance to it...
One such image that I now envision, I found in his message...
...Be the kind of person that when your feet hit the floor each morning the
devil says "Oh Crap, He's up!"
For those who have a different perspective...allow me to edit it a bit...
Be the kind of person...that when your feet hit the floor each morning...anything that stands in the way of your life's mission says, "Darn! He/she is awake. Now what are we going to do?"
Envision yourself as a threat to failure...
Ask yourself...
"When I wake up...what does the part of the world that opposes me say?"
Does it say...
"OH BOY! They are up...Today is going to be fun!"
or...
"Darn...here comes trouble again!"
or...
"Who did you say was up?"
...And They don't even care!
That "lead-in" to my friend's message creates an awesome mental image of the reputation that we should aspire to have!
The important word is REPUTATION...it can not simply be talk...or dreams...it has to be what others believe you to be because of your actions...YOUR ACTIONS...
We make a difference and everything that stands against us either follows our lead and survives...or it is trampled...it rues every moment that we are awake...because it means that we are making a meaningful, significant, positive difference and it is powerless to stop us!!
That is what I am going to strive for this year!
"DARN...He is awake!"
...and I hope that you do too!
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Your Reputation...
Let me share the message that my good friend sent!
Read it and make it your resolution and the reputation that you will live up to from this day forward...
Be the kind of person that when your feet hit the floor each morning the
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
- So love the people who treat you right.
- Forgive the ones who don't...just because you can.
- Believe everything happens for a reason.
- If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
- If it changes your life, let it....
- Take a few minutes to think before you act when you're mad.
- Forgive quickly...do not second guess this gift...
- God never said life would be easy, He just promised it
would be worth it...That is...if you try!
To everyone who has touched my life.
Here's to you!!
Remember...A real friend walks WITH you when the rest of the world walks on you.
Pura Vida!!!!!!
For those who have a different perspective...allow me to edit it a bit...
Be the kind of person...that when your feet hit the floor each morning...anything that stands in the way of your life's mission says, "Darn! He/she is awake. Now what are we going to do?"
Envision yourself as a threat to failure...
Ask yourself...
"When I wake up...what does the part of the world that opposes me say?"
Does it say...
"OH BOY! They are up...Today is going to be fun!"
or...
"Darn...here comes trouble again!"
or...
"Who did you say was up?"
...And They don't even care!
That "lead-in" to my friend's message creates an awesome mental image of the reputation that we should aspire to have!
The important word is REPUTATION...it can not simply be talk...or dreams...it has to be what others believe you to be because of your actions...YOUR ACTIONS...
We make a difference and everything that stands against us either follows our lead and survives...or it is trampled...it rues every moment that we are awake...because it means that we are making a meaningful, significant, positive difference and it is powerless to stop us!!
That is what I am going to strive for this year!
"DARN...He is awake!"
...and I hope that you do too!
*************************************
Your Reputation...
Let me share the message that my good friend sent!
Read it and make it your resolution and the reputation that you will live up to from this day forward...
Be the kind of person that when your feet hit the floor each morning the
devil says "Oh Crap, He's up!"
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
- So love the people who treat you right.
- Forgive the ones who don't...just because you can.
- Believe everything happens for a reason.
- If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
- If it changes your life, let it....
- Take a few minutes to think before you act when you're mad.
- Forgive quickly...do not second guess this gift...
- God never said life would be easy, He just promised it
would be worth it...That is...if you try!
To everyone who has touched my life.
Here's to you!!
Remember...A real friend walks WITH you when the rest of the world walks on you.
Pura Vida!!!!!!
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