Trying to move the needle for any goal requires persistence. I use a technique called setting the minimum quite a bit. It helps transition from hoping and wanting, to action.
The action steps we take are what will determine success or failure. Getting to those steps isn’t always easy. In fact, often we procrastinate and hold back on acting.
Read More
Everyone knows the feeling of taking one step forward and then two steps back. We make a little progress, but that gets reversed. We feel as though we regressed instead of gaining ground.
This frustrates us. We don’t want to go backward. We want to race towards our goals at full speed. Anything less feels like it isn’t enough.
Read More
Life is complicated. There is a complexity to life that flows through everyone and everything. Despite attempts to simplify, there is still uncertainty and intricacy to everything we experience.
Linear thinking removes all the complexity and looks to link 2 points and drawing meaning from them. It tells us that there is one reason for something and one outcome to be expected by various tactics.
Read More
For many, happiness is measured by the pleasurable moments in life. it could the excitement and fun they had. It could be the delicious meal or the feeling of being on a roller coaster.
For others, contentment is the yardstick. Were they relaxed and content with their life or did they feel they had to always be moving? They value the peace and calm.
Read More
In the midst of chaos, it can be very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It engulfs you. It pulls you in. It convinces you that this new normal will last.
But every storm ends. This too shall pass. The turbulent times will give way to peace and calm. We need to be able to keep this perspective to make it through.
Read More
As we travel through life, we often uncover a need to change. It may be that we have been eating out too much and want to lose weight or save money. It might be related to our relationships. We want to be a better spouse or spend more time with our children.
Most people come face to face with a desire to have a different outcome than what they are experiencing at some point in their life. I know I come to this realization often. The problem arises when it comes time to execute on that desire.
Read More
My family and I are planning a trip to the beach this summer. I have been searching for fun family activities and watching the local weather as our excitement grows for some fun, water, and family time.
As I was preparing for the trip, I saw an article about a shark attack close to the beach we are visiting. It interested me and I started to read the article. I realized it was a few years old but still caught me off guard.
Read More
I could never be a politician. Besides the fact that I don’t align with any major political party, I would not be successful. There are many reasons why my skills and ability would leave me struggling in any political role, despite the level of authority and responsibility.
The biggest challenge for me is that I don’t think in groups. I think in terms of the individual. When a politician sees that a certain group should be treated differently or laws should be passed to oversee everyone, I tend to disagree. I feel more harm is often done with these policies.
Read More
Most business leaders do extensive strategic planning for their business. They are responsible for profit and loss for their area and must manage their team strategically.
The strategy provides the direction. It gives the team a target and something to pursue. It provides a guide to follow when things get chaotic. Without a plan, the team goes through the motions hoping it takes them towards success.
Read More
Sometimes we experience a shift in our mindsets that goes against everything we thought we knew. It could be through tragedy or extreme circumstance but sometimes it is a subtle jab at us that proves us wrong.
I’ve had many of these moments. Many weren’t significant, except that the mental change stood out to me.
Read More
Luck is such a funny topic to me. If you talk to successful people, they minimize luck in their lives. They take credit for the success and see luck as something they managed.
If you talk with unsuccessful people, they maximize luck in their lives. They claim that bad luck caused their hardships and that despite their valiant efforts, they had external factors go against them.
Read More
Most of are guilty of comparing our personal accomplishments with others. We see someone in our field win an award and feel inadequate. We see numerous people struggle to make it at our company and feel pride for being able to survive and thrive in such a challenging space.
These comparisons to others are common. They seem to help point us in the right direction. It shows us what is possible. Or it shows us what we have accomplished.
Read More
When I am pushing towards a new level of success, I often find that continuing to make progress requires slowing down, not speeding up. I need to pump the brakes a bit to get around the turn.
This is a difficult lesson to learn. I learned it the hard way. In fact, I didn’t learn it when I should have so I had to keep learning it the hard way until it clicked.
Read More
I find that people that hold absolute opinions tend to be short-sighted. Life is complex. There are so many ways to look at something.
Systems thinking is the idea that we see the full system instead of the parts alone. We can see the parts, but we see the interconnection between those parts.
Read More
I recently took an interesting personality assessment. It provided great insights into my personality and traits that I can leverage for success.
Afterwards, it created lively discussion with those of us involved in the assessment. We talked through various factors. I felt that the discussion provided as much, or more, value than the assessment.
Read More
I recently finished a great book about a man who achieved incredible success in a competitive field. He was known as the greatest of all time, an innovator, and even labeled a genius.
While his legacy is unmatched, the journey to that point followed a common theme among those who achieve such heights. He worked and sacrificed his way to the top, never accepting anything other than greatness.
Read More
Recently I was doing a leadership training and we talked about strategic planning tools that were available. I mentioned that one that is designed to be used for personal or family strategic planning.
After the training I continued to explore the tool and found it to be very helpful. It aligned with many of the other strategic plans I have developed for personal improvement in the past.
Read More
If I surveyed people in the United States and asked them if they would rather have wealth or not, they would almost all say they would prefer the money. If the option was between a perfect physique or an unhealthy body, we all know what would get chosen most.
If I asked people what someone should do if they want to build wealth, many would have great suggestions. They would talk about investing, not spending on frivolous items, and living within one’s means.
Read More
A key element of the systems and habits approach to improvement is the idea that we stop chasing outcomes. We stop fantasizing about the end goal. And we stop daydreaming about perfect situations.
It is important to have direction in your life. You need to know what you want and then set out to achieve it. This leads most to spend too much time obsessed with that outcome.
Read More
Most people applaud the mentality to win at all costs. We gravitate to winners. We write about them and praise them publicly.
We provide opportunity for them to make even more money. We ask them what they did to succeed and then copy it as much as possible.
Read More