Friday Nights

How do you spend your Friday nights?
Come to think of it, how do you spend most nights of the week?
Before you say "come on, give me a break, it's been a long week - I need a break"
I will simply say this: how you spend your evenings is how your life will be defined.
Do you spend most nights sitting down watching the TV because you need a "break"? Or down the pub because ... insert random comment ...
Or do you spend time working on spending quality time with your family or working on your better future?
I love working out on a Friday night. It gives me an energy boost at the end of my long week. Not that I get to do that very often at the moment because I seem to be spending most of my "free" time giving driving lessons to my kids (read students or neighbour's kids). Tonight was raining and ink black with numerous "idiots" playing dodgems as they raced home because their cars were going to disintegrate in the rain or something, so it was excellent practice. And because both my learner drivers were home on a Friday night we connected over dinner half way round.
We're home, safe, sound, showered and ready to do some work. Well I am, the kids are in their rooms, stuffed to the gills watching TV :-D they don't miss their parents.

As Steve Jobs said (and I paraphrase) "if you treat each day as if it were the last day of your life, would you be happy doing what you are doing right now?"

Why give up?

At his famous Stanford graduation talk Steve Jobs said, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool that I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Are you following yours, or are you still following someone else's plans for your life?
Given the subject line of today's message from Winston Churchill, I will ask you whether or not you are willing to get to the end of your life without fulfilling your greatest dreams and goals?
I hope you said "NO" to the latter question.
Let's face it, it doesn't matter if your greatest dreams and goals takes you  5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years or 5 decades to reach. It's really what you are doing every day that will determine your success or not. So what did you today to ensure you moved just 1 step closer to that point?
Case in point, I read an article today that proves just what you can do if you want something badly enough, and you are willing to do the work, day after agonizing day. Would you spend 16 days completing the London Marathon at just 3 and bit kilometers per day? Or would you decide it was all too hard and not worth the time and effort? What would you do if you hadn't been able to walk at all for 5 years after an accident, and the chance of walking was slim to nil. Well that was the goal of a paralyzed woman who with the aid of a bionic suit (think RoboCop) finished the course - walking with the suit and 2 canes, despite being completely paralyzed from the chest down. You can read more at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8464396/uk-woman-completes-marathon-in-bionic-suit
"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao TzuAt his famous Stanford graduation talk Steve Jobs said, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool that I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Are you following yours, or are you still following someone else's plans for your life?
Given the subject line of today's message from Winston Churchill, I will ask you whether or not you are willing to get to the end of your life without fulfilling your greatest dreams and goals?
I hope you said "NO" to the latter question.
Let's face it, it doesn't matter if your greatest dreams and goals takes you  5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years or 5 decades to reach. It's really what you are doing every day that will determine your success or not. So what did you today to ensure you moved just 1 step closer to that point?
Case in point, I read an article today that proves just what you can do if you want something badly enough, and you are willing to do the work, day after agonizing day. Would you spend 16 days completing the London Marathon at just 3 and bit kilometers per day? Or would you decide it was all too hard and not worth the time and effort? What would you do if you hadn't been able to walk at all for 5 years after an accident, and the chance of walking was slim to nil. Well that was the goal of a paralyzed woman who with the aid of a bionic suit (think RoboCop) finished the course - walking with the suit and 2 canes, despite being completely paralyzed from the chest down.

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao Tzu

Good night - Sleep tight !

Did you know that Warren Buffet uses the philosophy of going to bed smarter than he was when he woke up that same morning.
I've attempted to do that since I learned to read, though I didn't realise that was what I was doing until I read an article on Warren and his business partner - another octogenarian by the name of Charlie.
I know I promised you 100 things that I had read and hoped would inspire you in the last 100 day challenge. Truth is I managed about 40 decent items in that time frame (given I was away for nearly 3 weeks) - and I still need to finish posting the items to the list. But the point I am trying to make here, I read masses of stuff every single day, and if I can pick out a sentence (quote) or an idea that I hadn't thought of before reading the item, I consider the reading to have been worthwhile.
I also use training programs and courses in the same way. Of course I would like to get more than a single idea or ah-ha moment you understand, but it depends on the course / book and my prior knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. As it would be for you of course.
So a couple of challenges for you:
* I would like to challenge you to go to bed smarter every day than when you woke up that morning.
* Keep a journal of your good ideas. If you are in the habit of writing down "your day" and you may be wondering why your days aren't getting any better. Consider this an alternative way of looking at your life. What lessons did you learn? What can you share with your world, your family, your work colleagues - as a result of your reading / attending a course?
* Take action on the idea as soon as you possibly can. If you listen to audio books in your car, or when you are out running - it can be very hard to take action on an idea at that precise moment in time - but you can as soon as you get home / back to the office.
* Take a walk every day - I like to walk during lunch breaks - that allows my mind to sift through the information I have and it allows me to do what I call the "mental filing." Walking also gives me the space I need to get my break through ideas - most of which I share with you. So - walk - every day and see how many more great ideas you can come up with to move your business forward.

Power of Now

Things said, things not said
Things done or not completed
Exams, tests, assignments to complete, parties to go to - study or not? Party or not?
Will there be enough money?
What will happen if the bus is late?
What will happen if ...
Worry, fear, sleepless nights, comfort eating, have a drink to calm the nerves after a "bad" day, go to bed, toss and turn, look dreadful the next day, nothing fits, back to black - low self esteem, barbed comments ...
Truth is, most of us worry over things that may never happen.
It is also the truth that most of us are far stronger than we ever give ourselves credit for, because when the proverbial hits the fan - guess what, not only do we cope, but we find strength we didn't know we possessed - until we had no other choice.
Why?
Well some of it could be put down to our environment, our upbringing, our relationships with family members, co-workers and "bad" neighbours. But a lot of it is because we are afraid.
What are you afraid of? We are not talking about phobias but:
    People who are Afraid of Failure - rarely start anything,
    People who are Afraid of Success - worry about how they will sustain it,
    People who are Afraid of Change - you like your comfort zone - sort of,
    People who are Afraid of Truly Living - are usually afraid of all of the above.
Does this sound like you? I know it sounds like me, because I lived it - day in, day out. And where did it get me?
I became an overweight, worried insomniac.
So how can you stop this fear?
I feel that because it is a learned behaviour, we can unlearn it and move through fear into our personal strength and power. Think of the baby learning to walk, climb stairs, empty cupboards, stick sandwiches in the DVD player - they don't care what the outcome will be - they're too busy getting on with their lives.  They don't care how many times they fail, they will master the art of - what is that standing on 2 feet thing called again - oh yes, walking, after all what use is that padded thing following me around all day if it's not to land on and cushion my butt.
But like all patterns of behaviour it may take a little it of time. So what happens if you need to stop worrying NOW?
2 things to try.
Be in the NOW - don't worry about tomorrow, you can't do anything about tomorrow, except prepare as best you can. That means forgoing the party for the extra bit of studying and the hope of a decent nights sleep. Accept that what happens tomorrow you will handle it, well or not - but you will handle it, because you have to.
Step into someone else's shoes. Think of a childhood super hero, how would they handle your problem? How would your coaches, mentors, trainers, parents - handle it? How can you incorporate the way they would do something to your situation? Step into their power and move through fear into action.
And as you handle each situation, your self esteem grows. If you can handle THAT what else can you handle?
Step into your own power and you can eliminate your fear of not being able to cope.