Running in the human race

The human RACE … sometimes it feels like a race, a race that keeps getting faster and faster and faster and faster.   It is no wonder that so many people feel defeated and worn out being in the human RACE.

 

Racing around in every which direction, but racing to what end?   Who has stopped long enough to ponder what it means to be in this human race?   Where does it end?  What does it mean?    So, pause …. take a deep breath, and stop racing and start reflecting.   What did you miss today?   A birthday!   A word of kindness!  A word of encouragement!   A word of thanks!

 

At the end of the day what matters most – the race – or the relationships?

 

Try these questions.

Imagine if I truly made a difference in the world, what would I be doing?

Or

Imagine if  (fill in your greatest dream) then  _________________.

Or

Play imagine if with another person and their response would be the “then” phrase.

 

Example:

 

Imagine if I had a million dollars then I would build a home for the homeless.

Imagine if I built a home for the homeless then with the money I had left over I would buy them new clothes.

You can repeat the imagine if story until you can’t imagine any thing new.

 

What race are you in?   Are you making a difference?

Feed forward

Focusing on solutions, rather than mistakes, on the future, rather than the past, will enhance your self-image, enabling you to become more of who you desire to be.

Here is an exercise that you can try.  Find someone you know fairly well and ask them to help you with an area that you’d like to get better at.   Ask them to give you some suggestions that might help you get better in that area.

Before you begin record in a journal your experience and the goal you are trying to achieve and write in the suggestions they provided.  Work on following their suggestions.   Are those suggestions working for you?  Track your results in the journal.  

Try using feed-forward with others and focus on what is ahead of you.

“Every day is my best day; this is my life; I’m not going to have this moment again.
Bernie Siegel, “Love: The work of the soul, handbook of the soul.”

You can

 

Do you believe that?  You can!  You will!

 

The power of positivity can transform a life.  The words we use – I can – I will – I am – are words of power.

Start your day with an action – “I will”, or “I can” or a belief “I am”.   Those are words that you own that can not be taken away from you.   I own my destination – I own this minute.  

I can make a difference.  You can!

I am and I will.

You might be missing one thing – a plan!   How will I do what I need to do?

What steps do you need to take to make it happen?

Here is a simple rule to apply to that plan.  Make it a SMART plan.

Make it Specific.

Make it Measureable.

Make it Actionable.

Make it Realistic.

Make it Timely.

That is right make a specific plan – focus.

Make it measurable – how are you going to know you are done?

Make it actionable – the plan has to be something doable.

Make it realistic – do something that is going to matter, has value, and meaning.

Make it timely – start today, and have a date to complete the plan.

Yes, you can!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What would make today remarkable?

What would make today a remarkable day?   Imagine if you could make today a remarkable day what would it be like?    Would that be enough for you?

Now, imagine if you made someone else’s day remarkable?   “The deepest need in human nature is the craving to be appreciated”, is what Williams James wrote.   If that is so, what could you do to make someones day remarkable?

All it would take would be to say a word of thanks, a word of encouragement, or in some cases a word to apologize and mend a fractured relationship.  All acts of kindness take courage, the courage to act and the courage to appreciate and acknowledge someone else.

Imagine if it was you that made someones day remarkable.   What would that be like?

Passion and skill

“Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.” Twyla Tharp “The creative habit: Learn it and use it for life”

Skill and passion linked together create a powerful potion for success. Passion and opportunity linked together create a powerful elixir for success.

What happens when the passion is missing?

Perhaps the skill is there but the passion isn’t, or the passion is there and the skill is missing. It might happen often that one of the two, passion or skill is missing but we forge ahead without one of them and that is when we find that something is missing. Joy emerges when we are able to put both passion and skill into the crucible in the presence of a catalyst.

Too often both skill and passion are mixed together and nothing happens and as a result people walk away wondering if they are doing the right thing. The catalyst might be a bit of encouragement, or a person who continue to push for a result but it is an external force that ignites the passion and skill mixture. The catalyst might be bit of inspiration, a bit of wisdom, a kind word, a challenging word, a flash of insight or hard work late into the night.

What do you use as a catalyst for action? When are you able to use both your skills with your passions? Do you encounter joy when you are able to use both skill and passion?

Smile brightly

Paul Loeb wrote this about Rosa Parks journey “suggests that change is the product of deliberate, incremental action, whereby we join together to try to shape a better world. Sometimes our struggles will fail, as did many earlier efforts of Parks, her peers, and her predecessors. Other times they may bear modest fruits. And at times they will trigger a miraculous outpouring of courage and heart – as happened with Park’s arrest and all that followed. For only when we act despite all our uncertainties and doubts do we have the chance to change.” From the real Rosa Parks, http://paulloeb.org/articles/rosaparks.htm

It takes courage to change. It takes a willingness to step out where you have never stepped before. The reminder is “what is the worst that could happen?” The worst thing that would happen is we would learn something. Even when the results are not what we expected that doesn’t mean that there was a failure, all it means is that the learning we gained was different than we predicted. We must take risks and change. We grow when we take risks and we grow when we change our thoughts, our actions and our opinions.

Take the time to change. Be rewarded by the experience. Smile brightly – smile brightly.

The first step

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.  That is something you have charge of.”

— Jim Rohn, American author & motivational speaker

If you are stuck somewhere or you find yourself sinking into a morass of gooey mud then perhaps you could use a coach to help you get out of that mire you find yourself in.

Coach with HEART is a simple framework that focuses on Humility, Encouragement, Acknowledgment, Relationships and Trust.    Using those five key elements a proper environment for coaching can exist.  Taking those elements and applying them to your own life will help others.   If you encourage someone or acknowledge a success that have had you will inspire them to greater things.    Being humble helps open doors and that allows for trust to increase which is the foundation of a relationship.

The first step is the hardest step and with each successive step a bit easier. Take that first step today.

“Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance.” Robert Collier

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” Mark Caine

Tomorrow lets look at trust.

Encouragement

“Live today fully, expressing gratitude for all you have been, all you are right now, & all you are becoming.” Melody Beattie

After a long day, a long Monday perhaps wouldn’t you like a few words of encouragement.  Encouragement comes in many flavors, a word of thanks, a hand written note, someone’s smile, a hearty well done and this list goes on.  Be an encourager!

Be different

“Trust yourself and speak out for what you believe.  If what you believe is different, dare to be different.  Date to be in a hurry to change things for the better.”  Geoffrey Ballard

Isn’t that an amazing statement – speak out for what you believe.  How often to we shrink back from the precipice because we can’t or won’t speak out for what we believe?  It takes courage to speak out and often the one who speaks stand alone and that takes even more courage.

Smile – just smiling can be an encouragement to others and it can be an encouragement to you as well.   Try it even if you don’t want to, smile.   Smile – and smile some more.  Smile until you start laughing.  Laugh until others are laughing with you and smile some more.  Sure you can do it.

Isn’t laughter a form of encouragement?   Doesn’t it break tension (let’s assume it is appropriate to laugh).

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”  Oscar Wilde

Take a look at the stars today!   Let your dreams begin today.

How important is encouragement?

You would think that it wasn’t very important given the issues we have in our society. Encouragement should be applied in ratios of 9 to 1, 9 encouraging events to one event of correction. Often the ratio is reversed and the belief that more correction than encouragement will increase the desired outcome.

Zen student: “Master, I am very discouraged.”
Master: “Encourage others.”

Certainly one way to increase the level of encouragement is to actively encourage others even when you’re not feeling very encouraged at the time. This will require a substantial effort on your part to be an encourager when you are down.

The coaching hint here is – encourage others. Start today. Now there are other elements of encouragement that need to be considered. The encouragement has to be genuine, meaningful, heartfelt, authentic and valuable. In order to encourage effectively means really digging deep into your own soul to find the right words. This may be the difficult part because encouragement has to be more than just words slipping off the lips it will take some real effort to construct a meaningful encouragement statement.

What do you encourage people for? If you have children you probably encouraged your child to master these early tasks, like walking, eating, talking, and reading. It wasn’t just a one time event it was a constant stream of positive encouragement. We should encourage people for things working on things that enable them to become better in something. We should encourage people who want to make a positive change in their lives.

Are you ready to encourage others? I hope so, make it a regular gift you give and encourage someone today.

Permanent Whitewater – be encouraged

Peter Vaill describes learning as “changes a person makes in himself or herself that increase the know-why and/or the know-what and/or the know-how the person possesses with respect to a given subject.”

Changes that a person makes, that is the key, changes that are made to increase know-how or even know-why. In today’s world the world of permanent whitewater we have no choice to be continually learning and increasing our know-how.

Are you learning? Are you stretching yourself somewhere? Is there something new you are seeking to increase your potential? If not, start today.