Most of us lament that we don’t have enough hours in a day to do everything. So, when leap year came along as it did this year presenting us with an extra full day, what did we do? Likely the same things we did on the other 365 days.
This illustrates that we don’t need more time. Choosing what is important is. We actually have all the time we need if we will prioritize how to use it.
When a Debbie Downer walks into the room and unloads all that negativity, it’s really hard to come away optimistic and happy.
On the other hand, when a force of nature – a positive person – confronts us, they spread joy, hope and confidence. They bring out the best in us. We cannot be what we are not but we don’t have to be what someone else is if it is not good for us. Today, the right choice is to light up the room, inspire lives and build confidence through sincere caring because we always have the power to be a force for positivity.
Pencils have erasers, digital devices have delete. Success is built on the back of how people handle their mistakes – admit them, improve on them, apologize for them.
When you make mistakes, you get stronger not weaker. Our mistakes help us learn more about ourselves and others. They can be painful. In all of Major League Baseball history only 204 players out of thousands had a lifetime batting average over .300. Ty Cobb was the best at “only” .3662 that means less than 40% of the time, he made a mistake. Rethink the value of mistakes and free yourself to learn from them and succeed.
What would happen if a baseball player stepped into the batter’s box with negative thoughts – I hope I don’t see a knuckleball, hope the pitcher doesn’t brush me back, I haven’t had a hit in over 20 at-bats?
So why is it that we let negative thoughts in when we really need positive ones – I have done it before, I can do it again, I’m good at getting the hang of things, no one works harder than me, I not only can, I will. Just as in sports, accentuate positive and true thoughts when you’re ready to step up.
This really happened.
An ICU nurse arguing with a post-op patient about taking an anti-nausea medication that they were allergic to.
She said, “we need to have a conversation”.
That term is used a lot but often, as in this case, it means we’re going to talk and I’m going to have my way.
A conversation is talk between two people in which ideas are exchanged.
It is not for purpose of necessarily changing a person’s point of view.
To make people crave you, converse in the true sense without the mission of persuasion.
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We know that practice makes perfect.
But practicing the wrong things is worse than not practicing at all.
Do not repeat things that will not make you better.
Practice only makes perfect when you’re practicing the right things.
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Did you ever take a course that was so important that it changed your life?
May I share one of mine with you?
A general semantics class from a college professor who said this:
“…we ought to keep our expectations of achieving a goal low and our motivation for working to achieve it high”.
When we let our expectations go too high, we are disappointed when they are not fulfilled which is much more likely than the fulfillment of our expectations.
With high hopes you are prepared for BOTH success and failure.
But with high expectations, only success.
“Expect the worst and hope for the best” – the only happiness advice you will ever need.
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Most people don’t really want change – in fact it scares them.
They want better.
Next time you have a great idea, instead of making it feel like change, try making it feel like better.
No one doesn’t like better so start today to reprogram how you think and talk about improving things.
Save change for yourself when you’re ready for a new adventure – for everything else, there is better.
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People without confidence fail.
Those who believe in themselves succeed.
Allow negative thoughts, you hesitate.
In every other part of life, what we envision first is what we then see.
The same is true of ourselves.
As William James put it “people by and large become what they think of themselves” so no books, videos or courses are needed to improve your life – start by changing the way you see yourself in it.
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Steve Levitt, the co-author of Freakonomics cites a new study that indicates that just flipping a coin on big decisions makes people happier six months after a big life change.
That we would be better off if we did more quitting – like in our jobs.
That big life decisions like marriage and even whether to get a tattoo are better left up to chance.
Yes or no coin-flip choices were monitored at two months and again at six.
The coin flip subjects were largely happier they did it which begs the question, what is it really that makes people happy – throwing their lives open to fate or fighting to keep things the way they are?
Levitt says “A good rule of thumb in decision making is, whenever you cannot decide what you should do, choose the action that represents a change, rather than continuing the status quo.”
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