Authenticity

People know when you are trying to be something you are not.  They respond with suspicion.

Authentic people, provided they have good intentions for others, are attractive.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be someone you aren’t YET, but you can still be authentic as you grow.

Being inauthentic to gain an advantage or to deceive people will usually and eventually backfire.  

Emails are other people's priorities

Email is a great way for other people to put their priorities into your life.

Their priorities are NOT yours.

An email from them is NOT an obligation on me.

An email from someone is a tax on your time.  But time is all you have.

Control your inbox, your attention, and your actions – stay on your priorities.

It’s ok to ignore, delete and block – quickly.

People I care about have my phone number.

Made for us…do we complain about it?

Excerpts from “Living Untethered” by Michael Singer –

“You are being given a unique show that took billions of years to create; it’s right in front of you and you’re complaining about it.  We all think we have a very good reason to complain.”

“Stop letting yourself get annoyed by arguing with reality over insanely trivial things that are obviously out of your control.”

“Suffering is caused by the contrast between what you mentally decide you want and the reality unfolding in front of you.  To whatever degree they don’t match, you suffer…

It’s just a question of your level of commitment.  Every single time you start to get disturbed, are you willing to relax and release?  Or do you still need to go through another round of expressing and defending blockages?”

In charge of you

Who has the power to make the decisions that determine how your life goes?

Leaping at opportunities

Some say successful people are “lucky”.  But we all have some luck.  It’s what you do with it that matters.

Opportunities cross our paths every day.  We need to recognize them when they come.  

If we are just starting out, these opportunities are not large, but by seizing them and working on them, we earn larger opportunities.

“Any man who has been successful has lept at opportunities chance provides.” – A. Lincoln

What opportunities have you ignored or seized?

Rewards in Life

Your rewards in life will be based on your contribution.

Want to know why someone is not doing well?  Follow them around on an average day and observe their levels of real contribution.

Want to know why someone is doing very well?  Follow them around on an average day and observe their levels of real contribution.

On an average day, what are you contributing that is valued by others?

Friends

“The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man’s success in life.” – Edward Everett Hale

“Friends are the thermometers by which one may judge the temperatures of our fortunes.” – Lady Blessington

“Fortify yourself with a flock of friends.” – George Matthew Adams

“A real friend refers their friends to ThinkDaily.com.” – Larry Janesky

High Melting Point

They say the measure of a man is by the things that make him angry.

Do small things upset you, or does it take a lot to throw you into a tizzy?

Avoid "the second dart" syndrome

When something shocking happens and we react with a swell of emotions, we’ve been hit by the first dart – which we can’t control.  But most pain in life comes from the “second dart” – our spiraling thoughts about the first dart.

Do you have a voice in your head that is long suffering from the second dart?

The Pursuit of Happiness

There is nothing wrong with pursuing what you want and pursuing it each day with zeal.

But taken to extremes, we can form a habit of chasing things and lose sight of why, and get lost in the striving.

“Happiness – a butterfly, which when pursued seems always just beyond your grasp: but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Daily Crescent, June 1848