success

What’s Essential?

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Why is it so easy to get distracted from pursuing our goals?  Even more so, why does it often seem like our progress is moving at glacier-like speed, leaving us feeling like we’ll never get where we’re trying to go in life?  I think it’s possible that we’re concentrating our efforts on tasks that won’t yield the high level of results we’re looking for.

I was reading Pamela Slim’s book “Escape from Cubicle Nation” recently (yes, I’m planning an escape!) about a person who was gaining control over their finances.  When asked what the most important thing they did to gain control over their finances was, they responded with, “Simplify to identify what’s essential, and then eliminate as much as possible everything that isn’t essential.”

That makes perfect sense in the context of personal finance.  It also got me thinking about how this same principle could be applied to the pursuit of goals.  I find plenty of examples in my own life where my focus is on something that is non-essential to an objective I’m trying to achieve.  The result is usually wasted time and delayed results.

For example, I recently signed up and created a user profile on a social networking site for voice overs.  As part of creating my profile, there was an option to add a photo.  A photo wasn’t required, it was optional.  Stated another way, it was non-essential to creating my profile.  Would you believe I wasted close to an hour trying to decide on the right photo to use?  What’s wrong with me?!  I had plenty of other essential tasks to do, instead of wasting time on this non-essential task.  (In my own defense, I learned this concept AFTER the incident I just described)

It’s amazing how quickly an hour can be lost to a non-essential task.  Imagine doing several non-essential tasks over the course of a day, a week, or a month.  Carry that out a year, and it’s staggering to see the negative compounding effect of wasting time on things that aren’t essential.

If you really want to cause something to happen in your life, start identifying what’s essential and what’s not.  Strive to spend the large majority of your time on essential tasks, and seek to eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, the amount of time you spend on non-essential tasks.  You’ll notice a marked increase in the progress you make toward achieving your goals.

Gas Up Along the Way

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I love learning!  Like most people reading this blog, I consider myself a life-long learner and enjoy the process of learning new ideas and skills.  At the end of every year, I want to be able to look back and say that I know more now than I did last year at this time.  Life is more exciting and fulfilling when I’m continuously learning.  What’s not to love about learning?  Well…

Whenever we decide to embark on a new undertaking, one of the first things we do is learn as much as we can about our new adventure.  That makes sense, right?  Any time we pursue something new we need to gain knowledge to identify the path we need to take in order to get started.  At the very beginning, learning is a crucial step. The problem occurs when we have gained sufficient knowledge to get stated and instead opt to postpone action in order to pursue additional learning.

I look at learning like putting gas in a car before a cross country road trip.  Before hitting the road we drive to the gas station and fill the car with gas.  Once the tank is full, we’re ready to embark on our trip.  Do we have enough gas for the whole trip?  No.  Will we need to acquire more gas along the way?  Of course.  Do we have enough gas to begin our journey right now?  You bet!

Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to sit at the gas station after filling the car and think, “You know, I should get another gallon of gas and carry it in the trunk, just in case.”  Imagine doing that and then thinking, “I should probably fill up another couple of gas cans to have because I don’t know what I may encounter along the way.”  Suppose this train of thought played out multiple times.  At the very least, our trip would be significantly delayed.  At worst, we’d never embark on the journey we’d planned.

The answer:  Hang up the pump, put the car in Drive, and get moving!

Likewise, continual learning in place of action, when we already have the knowledge we need to get started, can thwart our efforts to move ahead.

So what keeps us from taking the knowledge we’ve acquired and putting it into action?  Why do we get stuck in the mode of, “Ready… Aim… Aim… Aim…” without ever getting to “FIRE!”?  There could be several reasons such as:

  • Fear of the unknown.
  • Getting outside our comfort zone.
  • Lack of commitment to our goal.
  • Self doubt or discouragement from our own negative self talk or from others.
  • The thought that learning is less threatening than taking action and risking failure.

When you  notice that you’re postponing action in favor of more learning, take a moment to ask “Why?”  Ask this question until you get to the root cause that’s keeping you from that first step.  Once you discover the “why”, acknowledge it, commit to taking the first step, and then do it.

I heard a great quote recently that says,

“Too much learning and not enough doing will turn you into an over-educated under-achiever.”

I don’t want to be like that.  I want to learn with the intent of putting that learning into action to make life better for myself and for others.  Yes, we need to be continuous learners, but not at the expense of taking action.   Once you’ve gained enough knowledge to take that initial step, get started!  Move ahead as far as you can.  When you get to the point where you need more knowledge, pull up to the “gas pump” of learning, “gas up” for the next leg of your journey, and then continue on.

Cause something to happen by putting your learning into action.  Put your dreams in Drive and get moving.  You’ll always be able to “gas up” along the way.

The Garden of Your Mind

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Have you ever thought of your mind as a garden?  I would argue that each of us carry the most fertile plot of land we will ever own, right between our ears. Our minds are capable of producing a harvest greater than that of the most fertile soil or the most efficiently run farm on the planet.  So how do we leverage this valuable real estate we’ve been given?  Are there some “gardening tips” we can apply to the garden of our minds?  I believe there are.

Much like a conventional garden, which produces its crop based on the seeds the gardener sows, our minds also produce a harvest based on the seeds we plant in it.  However, seeds planted in the mind come in a different form than seeds that are planted in the ground.  Seeds for the mind include things like:

  • Books we read
  • People we hang around with
  • Podcasts, blogs, people, and websites we follow
  • Movies and TV programs we watch and the music we listen to
  • Groups we associate with

Anything we see, hear, or experience is a potential seed falling on the fertile soil of our mind.

So when these seeds are planted in our minds and take root, what do they produce?  They produce:

  • Mindsets and paradigms
  • Thoughts
  • Ideas
  • Attitudes
  • Beliefs and ideals

The bigger questions we should be asking ourselves are, “What kind of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and attitudes is my mind producing?”  Are they positive, and taking me in the direction I want to go in life?  Do they encourage me and make me want to learn, grow, and stretch to become even better than I currently am?

What if they’re not good?  What if your thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and attitudes are negative, leaving you feeling defeated, discouraged, frustrated and fearful?  If this is the case, I’d suggest looking at the seeds you’re allowing to be sown, and take root, in your mind.

It is impossible for a gardener to plant seeds of corn and yield a crop of anything other than corn.  Since corn is what the gardener planted, a harvest of corn is what they’ll reap.  If the gardener wanted carrots instead, they should have sown carrot seeds rather than seed that produce corn.  The exact principle is at work within our minds.  If we fill our minds with seeds of positive input, we’ll get a harvest of positive thoughts and ideas in return.  On the contrary, fill your mind with seeds of negativity and defeat, your thoughts and ideas will be negative and defeating.

Just like a garden, our mind requires constant care to ensure that it’s getting proper seeding.  If seeds that we don’t want have taken root, they should be immediately uprooted and disposed of.  Isn’t it interesting (and frustrating) how easily weeds grow?  You don’t even have to plant them and they show up everywhere!  Think of negative thoughts as weeds in your mind.  If you’re being attentive to what you allow into your mind, weed producing seeds can creep in and take root.  Once a weed has been identified in your mind, remove it immediately and plant something positive in its place.  Left untended your mind, much like a garden, will become overrun with weeds.

Let’s be aware of the seeds we’re filling our minds with and the harvest they yield.  If we don’t like the harvest our mind is producing, we need only sow different seeds that will produce a harvest we desire.

What weeds do you need to remove from your mind?  What seeds do you need to begin sowing?  Cause something to happen today, by actively tending to the garden of your mind.

Get Beyond Irritated

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ARRRGH!!  Have you ever been so irritated that you just wanted to yell or scream?  (I hope I’m not the only one who’s ever felt like this!)  There are several things that can drive us to become irritated.  It could be a recurring behavior we keep engaging in.  Maybe we’re irritated by a bureaucratic process or organization that seems incapable of providing reasonable value.  Irritations also come from those we regularly interact with or it could even come from within ourselves due to a gap between our expectations and current reality.

It feels safe to say that at some point we’ve all been irritated.  So what should we do when this occurs?  Do we just brush it off and move on?  What’s the proper response to irritations we encounter?  I like the thought I heard on a recent podcast that suggests we get “beyond irritated”.  So what does that mean?

When we find ourselves irritated we have a few choices.  We can remain irritated, or we can use the irritation as a catalyst to spark an action that leads to a positive change or outcome.  This is the essence of getting beyond irritated.

When irritation strikes I’ve found it rather easy just to remain parked in an irritated state.  This seems to be the default reaction for most folks, as it requires zero effort or thought.  We just naturally seem to go there.  However, as noted above, we have a better choice.

This is where we get beyond just being irritated.  No, we’re not taking about taking our irritation to the next level, where we allow ourselves to go completely berserk.  That would be counterproductive.  Getting beyond irritated is a different way of thinking.  It’s using an irritation to spark action to improve the situation, to cause something to happen.  Think of irritation as the event that strikes the match of positive activity.

Looking back, I realize I’ve used this concept, in a small way, in my own life recently.  I use to get to the end of my workday and leave in a hurry in order to catch the bus on time.  It always felt like I was rushing out and leaving things undone, only to be dealt with the next morning.  I would arrive the next day to a messy desk and loose ends from the day before, irritated that I had, yet again, set myself up to have a chaotic morning.  Not only was it irritating, it was not how I wanted to begin each day.  A few months ago I decided to start blocking out the last 10 minutes of my day to assess what I was working on and schedule my tasks for the following day.  That way, I’d arrive the next morning to an orderly desk with a plan for the day ahead.  So far this plan has been working extremely well.  Since its implementation, I have not been irritated by a chaotic workspace.  That irritation has been removed.

What things constantly irritate you?  Is it being out of shape, stuck in an unfulfilling job, poor relationships with those closest to you?  Be mindful when you become irritated.  When you do, very quickly ask yourself, “What action can I take to get beyond this irritation?” and then take that action.

Never waste an irritation by failing to follow it up with a positive action.  If not, you could be leaving a potentially life changing opportunity on the table.

Paint a Picture

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I was reminded recently of the power of a picture when trying to convey a concept or a thought to other people.

I work at Xerox as a Business Systems Analyst and last week I was trying to explain to a team of 8 people how I thought some messaging should appear on one of our customer facing web pages. The idea of what I wanted was clear in my mind, but as I was explaining it to others, I could tell they weren’t “seeing” what I was describing.  Although I made repeated attempts to explain more clearly, I still wasn’t getting through.  After the meeting I put together a quick Power Point mockup of what my vision was and emailed it to the team.  As soon as each team member viewed the mockup, they instantly understood how I thought this web page should look.  Everyone had the same picture in their mind.  The picture I wanted them to see.

When we’re communicating with someone, we’re never sure what picture of the topic they hold in their mind.  We can’t really be sure if they are on the same page as us, or if they have a picture in their mind that is completely different from what we see.  It would be nice if we could see the picture someone has in their mind.  Sometimes I wish people had cartoon thought bubbles above their heads so I could see what picture they have and what they’re thinking.  Most times I’m glad our thought bubbles aren’t visible, because I’d probably get my feelings hurt a lot.  J

The best thing we can do to ensure that we are communicating clearly, and that people have the same picture in their mind as what we’re attempting to explain, is to paint that picture for them.  There are several ways this can be done, such as:

  • Create a detailed mockup
  • Write out a rough sketch, chart, or drawing
  • Make a comparison to something they’re familiar with
    • It’s as big as a football field
    • It’s the same color yellow as the McDonald’s arches
    • It’s the same shape as the state of Nevada

(Did you have a picture in your mind of each of those items as you read this?)

What are some other ways we can paint pictures for other people?  Where can you start to paint clear pictures for people you communicate with this week?

As we seek to cause greater things to happen, we’ll need to become skilled at sharing our ideas and visions with others.  Look for opportunities in your communication to paint a picture for your listeners to hold in their mind.  You’ll be thrilled with how effective your communication will be and how your influence will grow.

Give a Damn

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Give a Damn

“Whatever!”  Have you heard this phrase recently?  Have you said it in a conversation, or used it as a quick retort?  It can be fun to throw out when joking around with friends.  It can also be used to instantly communicate that your interest in the topic of discussion has been exhausted and you’re ready to move on.  However it’s used, the message it conveys is clear:  “I don’t give a damn.”

It’s become trendy not to care and to be cynical and apathetic as opposed to giving thought to a topic or perspective and actually caring.  Perhaps it’s easier to do so because people are busy or are mentally engaged elsewhere.

I was recently listening to another Entrepreneur on Fire podcast and was struck when the guest gave his favorite success quote.  It was simply, “Give a Damn”.  Something about this quoted really resonated with me.  It reminds me to actually care about the things I’m pursuing, the people I’m with, the effort I give, and the person I’m becoming.  This phrase reminds me to be engaged and committed to what I devote my efforts to.

There’s another thing I love about that quote.  No matter what I’m doing, I can add “Do I…” to the front of it and regularly ask myself, “Do I give a damn?”  That’s a powerful question!  No matter what I’m doing or what I’m engaged with, I can stop and ask this question of myself.   If my response to that question is “Yes” and my effort or engagement is sub-par, then I clearly need to step my game up and engage at a higher level.  If I answer, “Yes” and I am fully engaged, that confirms I’m right on track.

What if the answer to this question is, “No”?  Then what?  It seems like the next logical question might be, “Why don’t I give a damn?”  This question warrants an honest answer beyond simply, “because” or “I don’t know”.  It may be that a bad attitude is to blame.  That’s easy to correct, because we have complete control over that.  What if the attitude is good and the answer to the question of whether we give a damn is still, “No”?  This could be a strong indicator that we’re pursuing something that doesn’t align with our passions, strength, or values.  It could also mean the people we’re with, or activities we’re engaging in are not fulfilling or causing us to grow and be stretched.

Let’s be mindful of what we’re spending our time and effort doing.  Yes, there are some things in life that we need to do, which we may not care about.  However, the point here is not to voluntarily waste significant portions of our lives on things we don’t give a damn about.

Make sure that you give a damn in your efforts to cause something to happen.  Greatness never came from someone who didn’t care.

A Sure Thing

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Everyone wants a “sure thing”.  You know what I mean; it’s that investment or strategy that is guaranteed to provide you with a significant return on your investment of time and money.  We’re not interested in wasting our resources on something that won’t yield a decent return.  So where should we invest our resources that has the greatest potential for the highest return?  Is there even a “sure thing” out there?  If so, what and where is it?  I’m glad you asked.

I’ll give you a hint.  In fact, I’ll do even better.  I’ll show you exactly where to find this guaranteed, sure thing investment.  Ready?  Here it is:  Go find the closest mirror and stand facing it.  You see that person looking back at you?  That’s your sure thing!

We tend to think of investments as deposits of dollars we make in a bank account, a 401k, or some other retirement or savings plan.  While it’s true that those are indeed important investments, have you ever thought of yourself as a worthy investment?  Have you ever thought of yourself as someplace worthy of investing your time and money, with the expectation of a significant return?  You should, because you ARE.

So what does investing in yourself look like?  Does that mean putting an extra sum of money in your wallet or pocket every month?  Not quite.  Investing in ourselves involves committing our time and resources into materials, activities, experiences, and relationships that cause positive growth in our lives.  This is growth that enables us to be better prepared to pursue our goals and dreams and to take advantages of opportunities that align with our goals and dreams when they arise.

Some examples of investing in yourself may include:

  • Purchasing (and reading!) books in an area of interest, vocation, or career.
  • Signing up for a relevant seminar or conference in an area where you are attempting to grow.
  • Enrolling in a class or pursuing a degree.
  • Purchasing training or coaching from a professional that will increase your skills and knowledge in order to help you go to the next level.
  • Finding and fostering a mentoring relationship with someone who has done, or is currently doing, what you’d like to do now or in the future.
  • Traveling to a new destination to learn about a different culture.
  • Creating a growth experience that stretches your understanding, knowledge, and/or comfort zone.

This is certainly not an extensive list, and only offers a small glimpse of the possibilities for investing in one’s self.  Anything you can do that requires effort, resources, or both, which increases your knowledge and understanding in your area of interest is a worthy investment in yourself.

Take advantage of the opportunity you have to invest in a sure thing.  See yourself as the worthy investment that you are and cause something to happen by being committed to regularly investing in yourself.  You will be delighted with the return on your investment!

Cause Something to Happen… For Others

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I’m currently co-leading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU) course at church with my friend Steve.  This is the second FPU course we’ve taught together.  I am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey and solid personal finance principles and am passionate about sharing them with others.

There are 2 things I really love about teaching this course.  The first is the openness and transparency that develops within each class.  I’m always amazed at how willing people are to open up and share what’s really going on in their lives when given a safe environment with caring, supportive people.  The second, is listening to people tell me about the progress they have made, or are making, with their finances and in their marriages as a result of the courses Steve and I have taught.  Every time I hear one of these stories I’m so honored that I’ve had the opportunity to play a small role in adding value to their lives.

Throughout this blog, I’ve talked about causing something to happen that will move us toward our goals and the “ideal life” we desire for ourselves.  I truly believe we have the power to direct and change our lives if we continuously take the initiative to cause something to happen.

As I was thinking about the people in the current FPU class that Steve and I are teaching, and the successes they’ve been sharing with us, I thought about my favorite quote, “Cause something to happen”.  I was thinking how that quote is not only relevant for our own lives, but it’s also relevant for the lives of the people around us.  As we’re causing something to happen for ourselves, we should be mindful of opportunities to do so for others as well.

Steve was the one that caused the latest FPU class to happen at our church.  Through his action, he gave people in church the opportunity to sign up for the course and learn personal finance principles that can change their life.  Steve’s initiative created opportunity for others.  Whether he knew it or not, Steve caused something to happen that is benefiting everyone in the class.  Way to go, Steve!

I want to follow Steve’s example by causing something to happen for others.  How much more satisfying would life be, knowing that as we’ve not only caused something to happen in our own lives, but we’ve also sparked opportunity for others to do the same?

Where can you cause something to happen in someone else’s life, today?

Get Out of the Zone

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We all have one.  For some, it’s pretty big.  For others it can be rather small.  Regardless of its size, the fact is everyone has a comfort zone.  However, what each person’s comfort zone represents to them, and how they view their comfort zone can be quite different.  I believe how we view our comfort zone has a lot to do with how we view life’s opportunities and challenges.

What I especially like about our comfort zones is that they are flexible and can be stretched and made to grow, becoming ever-larger as we gain new skills and experience and seek new opportunities.  My comfort zone also makes me aware of boundaries, either real or perceived, that are holding me back.  Its boarder represents opportunities to try new things, travel to new destinations, to meet new people, to learn and to grow.  Just beyond its boarder represents endless possibilities for a more enriched and fulfilling life.

The best part is that when we continually venture beyond its borders, our comfort zone expands, providing us with additional opportunities just beyond its newly expanded border.  What a great way to live!  I’m excited by the thought of having a comfort zone that grows larger with each year.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.  Where some see a comfort zone a something to be stretched and grown, others see it as the walls of a mighty fortress, never to be breached or crossed.  To this mindset, the comfort zone represents the entirety of whom they are and who they will remain.  Anything beyond its boundaries is for other people, is impossible to attain, or is too far out of reach.  Anything outside of their comfort zone is of no interest.

But there’s one thing even worse than a comfort zone that never expands.  That is a comfort zone that has begun to contract.  This can occur when, for whatever reason, a person gives up trying to stretch and actively pulls back from activities that cause growth and development.  In this scenario, the comfort zone becomes the walls of a prison, within which our growth and potential serve a life sentence.

This is not how our comforts zones should be.  As we continually seek to cause something to happen that betters our life and the lives of others, we can be assured that our comfort zones will be stretched as part of the process.

John Maxwell gave a similar illustration with a rubber band in one of his Maximum Impact lessons.  His question was, “When is a rubber band the most useful?”  The answer:  when it is being stretched.  How true of our comfort zones as well!

Commit to regularly stretching your comfort zone just beyond its borders.  Be mindful of daily opportunities to do so and take advantage of them.  Perhaps begin journaling each opportunity you take to expand your comfort zone.  Do this and, in the future, look back and see how much you and your comfort zone have grown as a result.

We Get to Choose

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Some things are so small that we don’t even recognize them in our daily lives.  Take the untold number of cells that make up our physical being.  So tiny, yet they have a huge impact on our very existence.  The time it takes to blink our eyes is also tiny, yet each blink is necessary for our eyes to function properly.

Another thing that is tiny is the amount of time between a stimulus and a response.  Think about how many times each day we are presented with a stimulus that we then respond to.  In most cases, the time between the stimulus and our response is extremely small.  Sometimes it feels instantaneous, but no matter how small this time is, it is always present.  For example, you hit your thumb with a hammer (stimulus) and then scream out in pain (response).  The response happens almost instantly, however, there is still a measure of time between these 2 events.

Here’s the part that I think is empowering:  in that sliver of time between stimulus and response we get to choose how we respond.  We can’t always control the stimulus, but we can control our response.

Take the scenario of being cut off in traffic.  When this occurs, we have a choice of how to respond.  We can lay on the horn, blurt out some expletive, or offer any number of obscene hand gestures.  Sometimes these responses feel automatic, but we always have a choice.  Instead, we could choose not to become angry and lash out, or we could also choose not to get worked up by it and overlook it all together.  We can choose a better response.

This is one of a number of scenarios we face daily where we can choose to respond in a positive manner instead of defaulting to a negative response.  We can choose to be offended by an inconsiderate comment, or we can choose to overlook it.  We can choose to respond harshly to a spouse or loved one, or we can choose to extend grace, compassion, and understanding.

Be mindful of these moments where we can decide how to respond to a stimulus.  Use them as opportunities to cause something to happen that is positive, instead of automatically responding negatively and see if it doesn’t begin to have a positive effect on your outlook and attitude.