When You Think You’ve Got It Tough

They … whoever they are … keep comparing these days to that of the Great Depression … and maybe with 20/20 hindsight, I will look back and say, “Wow that was a bad time!” But for the most part I don’t think so!!! I enjoy my life and what I’m doing in it. I have a supportive family, a phenomenal daughter, and a business that affords me, not everything I want, but most of what I need. I also get to help people, by doing the thing I love to do. There have been some hard times as I have navigated through the business world. Maybe they will get harder … maybe I’ll just get stronger!

As I grew up, I was a movie fiend. As people around me can verify, I love to take movie quotes and make them mean something more than they meant in the context of the movie. When I was the heaviest into my own training for sports and powerlifting, Rocky III was a movie that helped fuel my own workouts. Now that I’m older and life is not as simple, it always nice when something new, and yet old, can bring that same feeling that fuels your passion.

I recently saw Rocky Balboa. It’s not a great movie, but there are some things you can take away from it. I went out on YouTube and found the clip, “It ain’t about how hard you hit…”

If that clip isn’t your cup of tea, then maybe this will be. I got sent this a bit ago, but was reminded of it, when I watched the Rocky movie. This is the type of stuff that makes me wonder what I’m thinking when I think I have it tough. Watch the clip, Get Back Up.

Happiness is Contagious (Scientifically Proven!)

The Boston Globe reported on December 5th in the article A new reason to be happy: it may go a long way that a study found that our happiness may have extended effects not only to our friends and family, but to people we don’t even know.

Researchers from Harvard University collected data from 4,739 over the course of 2 decades to look at the extent of happiness and their conclusion is that happiness is passed on to more than just your immediate social network. The effect ripples through your extended social network to people who may even be strangers. Just to put some numbers behind this, they say that a happy friend who lives within a mile of you boosts your chance of being happy by 25%, and a sibling by 14%.

Now for many this research is somewhat controversial while for others who look at the way the world works, this falls more under the category of “duh”! If you look at religious or spiritual movements, you’ll see this understanding in place. I had a boss a few years back that talked about our work with developing students and how we were creating a “ripple effect”.

If you want to know more about the ripple effect, you can read about it on Wikipedia. The basic concept is that your intentions and actions you put out into the world spread. They spread outwardly like the ripples in a pond when you thrown in a pebble. At some point, you don’t see the ripples anymore, but they are still there, moving and traveling, to places you may never go and see. Thanks Dave for getting me to understand it!

Even Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a coauthor of the study and a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, understands the concept:

Your happiness is not just about your own choices and actions and behaviors and thoughts. It’s like there are emotional stampedes that ripple across this infinite fabric of humanity.

While, as most of you who know me really will know, I am not trying to get all “touchy-feely”, but during this holiday season maybe the gift we can give to ours kids …our friends …and the world is a better place in which to live. The first way to start is by clarifying what we are giving to it. To see a little movie on this, you can go to this YouTube video, The Ripple Effect:The Heartbeat to Eternity and give it a watch.

The second step … CLICK HERE!!! You had to know that was coming!

My wish for all of you this holiday season is a life full of joy and happiness!

Perspective in Tough Financial Times

This clip has been floating around YouTube for several years now. It’s called The Miniature Earth and it puts things into perspective. Especially during a week in which the US is about to increased its debt by about one trillion dollars, it important to not get caught up in watching the news on a 24/7 basis waiting for the next shoe to drop. It’s also very important not to allow it to cause you to enter a survival mode and overreact to what is going on around the country.

One of the things many people allow to happen to themselves is to enter a state where the worry about the something, in which they really have no control, takes control of their life. If the stress and worry are high enough and stay long enough, usually what I see is that they do get “poor”…in health!

In a situation like this, I always feel the best steps are as follows:

1. Wake in the morning and be grateful for all that you do have.
2. Know fully your talents and skills and how you can best make use of them.
3. Be informed, but not inundated, with the current happenings.
4. Understand the difference between your circle of influence, circle of concern, and what lies outside of both of them. (Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
5. Take informed and specific actions to leverage yourself to be in the best position you can be.
6. Evaluate with long-term vision in mind.
7. Be grateful (again) that you have the abilities to do any and all of this!

If this seems too simplistic or way too complex…start by enjoying the YouTube clip and see if you can move yourself through step one. What do you have to lose?…besides your worry!

Synchronization

I think we are all seeking to be synchronized with life and what we are doing. Some may call it “being in the zone” and others may talk about flow. Regardless of the terminology, when you’re there, things go easier and seem effortless. One of the key elements I find to be critical in getting to this point is balance.

I’ve previously have written about balance and it’s important to your overall health. Here I’m speaking of it in a little different way. The balance I’m talking here is allowing things to happen and “going with the flow”. Fighting or making a process more difficult than it has to be only takes away from you being in that moment. Being ridge or having fixed preconceptions is usually the biggest culprit. Here is a video that represents to me this process in action. Notice how when the objects go from a fixed location to one where balance is required, synchronization occurs.

If you allow yourself to go there, you can find yourself getting to this point in many different situations. Many times when I am training clients, even after I’ve put much thought into creating a stellar workout, the flow takes over and I enter that “zone”. The workout is completely different than first imagined, but the outcome is always the same…a better workout and experience for the client!

Someone who I admired as a kid and still look to for inspiration on occasion is Bruce Lee..yeah, the karate guy! I think he hit the nail on the head in an interview that became somewhat infamous and later was entitled, “Be Water My Friend”. Give this segment of the interview a watch and let me know your thoughts on it.

Enlightened Selfishness

With the all directions that life is pulling us, we are often running around taking care of the “have to” without ever getting to the “want to” of our life. We are so over scheduled and over committed, we tend to have to put our important things on the back burner. Exercise, eating right, and relaxation come in occasional episodes or when we complete all our tasks…which we never do.

We literally sacrifice ourselves on a daily basis to give to others. The problem over time is that we become rundown, tired, unmotivated, and possibly even sick. The number one reason clients have trouble sticking with an exercise program is that they are too busy. When I have the discussion with them, I always ask the same question.

“How productive are you when you are tired, sick, and unhappy?”

It’s impossible to give from an empty vessel. Many of us are walking around like an empty vessel trying to pour ourselves into things and other people, but to no avail. I recently pushed my limits trying to achieve certain objectives with my company.

In realizing where I was, I took some time off and spend some time being “selfish”. I engaged in activities that recharged me, brought balance back into my life, and allowed me to come back much stronger than than I had been.

The reason I say selfish is that many times we feel spending this time for ourselves is bad. If we are not rushing around doing for the greater good, we feel we are moving in the wrong direction. What I’m telling you is that this time is essential and necessary in order to continue to move in the right direction.

I had heard the concept once before from Paul Chek, founder of the CHEK Institute,who used the term purposefully selfishness. I was then reminded of it again by Renee Stevens, whose podcast Inside Out Weight Loss had an episode called Enlightened Selfishness.

I hope you listen and then take some time for you to get back the energy and vitality you really need to get all that you want accomplished and enjoy your life more fully.

After the Law of Attraction

The book and movie The Secret was a big hit last year. It is basically a slick retelling of the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction demonstrates how we create the things, events, and people that come into our lives. Our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions produce energies which, in turn, attract like energies. Negative energies attract negative energies and positive energies attract positive energies.

I believe in this principle, not because of The Secret, but because the principle has been around forever. You can see it demonstrated in all successful people and all people that are happy.

With that said, I am urging those that made the film…I hope you’re listening Mr. Proctor!…come out with a sequel. Now I know what you’re thinking,

A sequel?!?! A sequel is never as good as the original!!!

Well, this is usually true. And I am not even looking for quality. It doesn’t have to be as well produced and marketed as the last. What I want from this film is to include another Universal Law. It’s the Law of “Get off your ass, stop wishing, and do something to get there”.

The Law of Attraction is great. I know what I want! Woo Hoo!! Now all I have to do is sit here, looking up at the stars and it will come…..I’m waiting…..still waiting…..yep, still waiting!!!

Sounds funny, but this is what I have seen recently in people waiting for their success and opportunities to come. Clients wanting results, but not wanting to workout. Human performance consultants wanting to be the best, but not if it requires getting out of their comfort zones. Entrepreneurs wanting the wealth, but without the work.

This law is really called the Law of Action. While we are “spiritual beings having a human experience” on this Earth, we must engage in actions that support these thoughts, emotions, and words. If we don’t, we will manifest nothing but disappointment!

So my request for you today is to go and do something…anything!…to get you closer to that thing you want.

The Last Lecture Revisited

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about Randy Pausch, a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon, who gave his “last lecture” in September after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He was given 3 to 6 months to live. Professor Pausch chose to turn his story into an inspiration for others.  His “last lecture” has become an Internet phenomenon.  On Wednesday, April 9th, at 10PM Eastern, ABC News is presenting “The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life“.  This man is an inspiration.  Set aside 60-minutes to be inspired.

The Last Lecture

I was sent this clip of Randy Pausch, a dying 47-Year-Old-Professor giving his “Last Lecture”. While this might sound a little depressing, it is anything but that! This man is legendary in the world of virtual reality and computer gaming. He’s the father of “Alice”, which is being used in middle schools, high schools and universities all over the world to get people involved in computer programming by making it wildly entertaining. They build 3D animated stories and games, and along the way, they learn to program. He has seductively created a toy that will create others who share his passion, long after he’s gone. It’s quite the legacy. And he has quite the attitude about his prognosis. I had never heard of “Alice” until recently, when one of my friend’s daughters returned from college all fired up about computer programming. As I started studying the role of Alice in computer science education, I was amazed at the results they’ve achieved. He, single-handedly, may be responsible for reversing the steady decline in computer science degrees being awarded in this country, and may slow the off-shoring of critical computer engineering jobs.

Watching this reminded me of two things. In Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, his Habit 2 is “begin with the end in mind”. He takes you through an exercise where you envision your funeral and you write out what you want a family member, a friend, a co-worker, and a community member say about you. Then you go about living your life so that they will say those things. Also, about 2 years ago, I went through the exercises given by Paul Chek in “Living Your Legacy” module of the PPS Success Mastery Program and I did much the same thing.

As Socrates said,

An unexamined life is not worth living!

I encourage you to review what you have learned up to this point and decide what you what your life has to say about you as you live it…and then put it into action.

Here’s one more clip of Prof. Pausch, as seen on ABC.

The extra degree

I find myself sometimes wondering why I’m doing the small things that some may never notice, but I think these are the essential differences between what I do and others do. While I believe that we should not “sweat the small stuff”, we should strive to figure out what small things matter and then do them as passionately as we can.

In times of frustration and urgency, we all need a little inspiration to remind us that the little things are the difference. Whenever I need that lift, I like to watch this short clip, called 212 the extra degree, and it gives me the motivation to keep focused.

I hope it can do the same for you.