Create Greatness

"Things you do today impact and set up a future for your children, your grand children and those beyond. So develop greatness today." -Dean Sweetman

To think that when I was 20 years old, my belief was that there was plenty of time to make changes in how I approached life. There was a sense of responsibility to excel in my work, to be a great service provider and to be friendly and out going. But not all of the facets were in place. It took quite a bit of time to force myself into change.

All of us go through it, procrastinating in the belief that the days ahead of us are limitless. We try to fool ourselves into believing that each of us will live to be 110 years old. Believing that there is plenty of time for change. You then wake up one day and realize you have lost many a day. You figure out that you could have been enjoying the fruits of change for many years.

Do not linger on those thoughts for very long. Change can happen right now just as it could have many years ago. The things you do today can have as much impact as it would have so long ago. So do not wait, develop greatness today. Create impact upon your life and others. You can do this!

Stay inspired my friends.

Spinning Your Life

What a wonderful picture to describe many of our lives. We are running around trying to accomplish so much, just barely staying ahead of the wobbling plates. In a quote from David Lassiter, in a book in which he talks about our lives at times, he says, "we all spin all those plates. We've got the work plate, the family plate, the health plate and the friends plate. We spin too many plates. We need to pick the most important plates and begin to slow down."

Our lives are so busy and I can not say it is any worse today then it was many, many years ago. What I tend to think is that it is the same as it has always been. In Dean Sweetman's teachings on the Wheel Of Life, we need to find balance in all parts of our lives. This wheel is not the cure all and end all to our life problems. It is a tool you can use to find out where you are and to identify those areas you may need to work on.

If you want to better your own life, you need to identify those areas most important and to strike a balance. Some plates may fall and the crashing may be painful. But know that your life can be greater. Spin the plates that matter.

Stay inspired my friends.

Start Now

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

At the start of a new year, many people like to make resolutions. They decide that January 1st is the best time to start on a path to accomplish some particular task or goal in their lives. It could be a goal to lose weight, exercise more or eat better on a daily basis. Others may decide to quit smoking, drinking or try to simply moderate any excesses in their lives. Still others have financial, relationship, college and a host of other goals.

Whatever type of vision or dream you might have, what are you waiting for?

You are probably telling yourself that January 1st is nearly a month behind us. You could be saying internally, "I'll plan during the year and get a start on things next January 1st." The problem with this thinking is that it will never happen. Unless you push the start button now and start moving, year after year you will keep repeating the same thing. You will never advance from that worn spot on the carpet where you pace, constanly planning but never doing.

Anything you decide to do in the new year can not be accomplished if you do not begin moving towards it today. And guess what? There is nothing magical about January 1st. Yes, you read that correctly. January 1st is a date on a calendar, a moment in time. What that means is that you can start now, today, this hour, this minute.

There is no special alignment of the stars.

There is no perfect economy.

There is no fool-proof business model.

There is only YOU and this moment in time.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Standoff

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I happen to be a fan of the old Clint Eastwood western movies and maybe you have seen one or two of them as well. Many times he plays the unknown gunslinger who might have a checkered past but somehow has the redeeming quality of doing what is right. One of my favorite movies is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

It is a movie that pits three men against each other in the search for a treasure. In a crucial scene near the end, the Clint Eastwood character declares that only he knows the real name of a grave in which the treasure is buried. He then writes the name on a rock, placing it in the middle of the graveyard.

He proceeds to tell the other two characters that "two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're going to have to earn it." The three then begin to stare each other down in the circular center of a cemetery, calculating alliances and dangers in a Mexican standoff before suddenly drawing their guns.

A Mexican standoff, as I am sure you have heard before is a stalemate, no one with an advantage, and no way to make a decision. In its most precise definition, it is a confrontation among three opponents. Popular usage would refer to only two opponents in which neither side has an advantage by attacking first. The interesting thing is that each of us create this standoff in our own minds daily.

We conspire against ourselves, weighing the decision to get out of bed early versus staying snuggled in bed warm, sleeping another 20 minutes. We could get up early to read, meditate, exercise or we could simply stay in bed sleeping. You might think is is an easy decision to make but it can stifle you.

Better yet, you might be thinking of taking that one college course to advance your skills. Yet it means sacrificing time with friends and additional effort in energy or less sleep while you study. The results could mean a better paying job, advancement or any other number of postivie outcomes. But we create that standoff, a Mexican standoff within our mind. Do I or do I not pull the trigger on moving forward in life?

How does one "win" the standoff when allow both sides of our mind have equal advantage? To answer, let us go back to the three men standing in the circle. Each has what seems to be no advantage but that is not quite so. You also have an advantage that you may not thought of, an advantage in which you have stacked the odds in your favor.

In the movie, the Clint Eastwood character had done just that. He had taken the bullets secretly from one of the men. The decision to pull first and which man to shoot first was easy. He had stacked the deck in his favor and so can you.

In your own standoff, you get to stack the deck by doing some things before hand. You get to make the decision and by believing in yourself, the deck is stacked in your favor. You know the benefits of making the right choice, of where you want to be in life and believe that you will get there.

So when the standoff occurs, you have the gun of decision already in hand and get to pull the trigger first. When you believe in yourself, no matter the outcome, the decision becomes easier each time. You will be the one to pull the trigger first.

Sounds easy, right?

Setting yourself up for success is never easy. It takes hard work and consistency in your daily habits. There will be days when you fail to pull the trigger first and the day will fall from a bullet of indecision. You mourn the decision and then let it go and move forward.

The next decision to be made will come around soon enough. This one you will pull first and have the advantage within your own Mexican standoff. The accomplishments and success will be your's to have. And all it took was making a decision to keep your life moving forward.