Throwing away the good

If your life or something in it is “good”, but you want “great”, you’ll have to leave it behind.

You can’t be the new you and the old you at the same time.

You have to be willing to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.

Stop waiting for permission

When we are kids we have to get permission for everything.  Then we may join various institutions such as college, the military, social groups, etc which have their norms and codes of conduct and lots of people who exemplify “what we’re supposed to do”.

If we wait for someone to give us permission to go for our dreams and break the mold and do something unusual, we’ll be waiting forever.

You don’t need a cosigner to pursue your dreams.  You go it alone, but you have to give yourself permission.

Know what you want

To get what you want you have to know what you want.

If you don’t know what you want, you’ll take anything.

What do you want?

Afraid to ask questions

We don’t ask enough questions, and we stay ignorant or live with no information,  first information, bad information, or our biases.

The number one reason we don’t ask questions is we are afraid to reveal we don’t know something.

Don’t be afraid.

In my office, I have a big sign that’s been around for years that says “The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask.  So ask!”

Life – your choice.

An old native American man sat on a hill with his grandson.  He spoke to him.

“There is a battle going on inside me.  Two wolves are fighting.  The black wolf is full of fear and anger, hate and revenge, envy and sorrow.  The white wolf full of kindness and gratitude, peace and joy, love and forgiveness.”

The old man stopped talking.  The breeze wiggled through the high grass and moments passed.  The old man stared out over the valley as his grandson processed what he had said.  The old man waited.

Finally the boy spoke.

“Which wolf wins?, he said.

The old man replied. 

“The one I feed.”

How far can you go?

Only when you risk going too far can you find out how far you can go.

Try and see what you can do!

Don't manufacture regrets

Say “I’m glad I did”, not “I wish I had”.

Live your life to minimize regrets in the end.

Having no regrets is a precious well-earned thing.

So what are you going to do?

Imagination comes first

Only when you can imagine a bigger and better life, can you hope to have one.

What can you picture for yourself?

How "useful" are you?

When it comes to serving others,…ok let’s unpack that first.

Because we live in a society that provides us (the means for survival) benefits and the ability to live a high standard of living, we should contribute to this system that we make withdrawals from, by employing our talents and accumulated skills to do our part and preferably more to help others live well.

In this regard, how useful are you?

What your friends are doing….

If your friends do X, you’re more likely to do X too.

What are your friends doing?