I just finished a book by Jon Gordon called The No Complaining Rule. This simple concept can be a tough application when we let our natural fight or flight instincts overrule the rational and compassionate core. Jon suggests that there are other things we could CHOOSE to do rather than complain including: 1. Practice Gratitude 2. Praise Others 3. Focus on Success 4. Let Go 5. Pray and Meditate “No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse.” Jeffrey R. Holland
I’m co-hosting an event this coming Saturday in Salt Lake City that I would like to personally invite you to attend – visit www.thrivesummit.com to see what I’m so excited about and register. Now for the main message… www.rennamobile.com/custom/timer/ The way people feel about you is most closely associated with the way they feel about themselves when they are with you. Dr. Ann Demarais explains in her book, First Impressions that we can have a powerful impact on others through giving them any of four powerful social gifts: 1. Appreciation – showing and expressing gratitude for whatever that person brings to our life. 2. Connection – finding ways that you connect or intersect with that other person in your interests or experience. 3. Elevation – everyone likes to feel good; your cheerfulness, smile, or positivity will be well received by others. 4. Enlightenment – find a way to share…
Bruce Wilkinson, in his book The Dream Giver, defines a giant as “a very real and completely overwhelming obstacle you encounter on the road to your dream.” This giant then stands in your way, trying to bully and intimidate you from moving forward. Has it occurred to you that your giant can’t be IN YOUR WAY unless you are already ON YOUR WAY to something? Revive your vision of where you were headed in the first place. There are at least two great reasons to achieve your dreams, and only one of them is that you will accomplish your goal – the other is that conquering your giant frees others to do the same.
When I take the family on road trips to Seattle to visit family, we have to cross the beautiful Cascade mountains. When weather is such that there is a likelihood of snow over the pass, a big sign over the freeway reads “CHAINS REQUIRED”. Life gives us many crossroads and unanticipated challenges. Life’s warning sign may read, “ROUGH ROAD AHEAD, CHANGE REQUIRED.” The other direction is the more comfortable and easy route where no change is required, but it leads to stuckness. Robert Frost wrote some timeless lines about this choice… Two roads diverged in a wood and I— I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Choose well!
Last week I took my son out to the West Desert in Utah looking for bugs for his 9th grade biology assignment to make a collection. While we were driving along this dirt road, we saw something moving and stopped the car. It turned out to be a tarantula, which we excitedly collected and returned as a live specimen to his biology teacher. I thought to myself – that thing is a GIANT. Well, that is only true compared to other, smaller spiders. Compared to me, that spider is pretty small. As you face the giants in your life, whether it be a large debt, a challenging relationship, or a daunting health condition; remember that it is only “giant” compared to something else – usually compared to what you have experienced before or compared to what you think you can handle. Keep the perspective that giants are all relative, and…
There is always a natural law or an eternal principle that can be applied to solve the problems we as humans face. Brian Regan has a routine about pop-tarts having instructions printed on the package – the joke is that it is hard to imagine someone standing with a pop-tart and being totally stumped about “How do I get this goodness in me?!” Principles are powerful to change people’s lives, but we have that same dilemma – “How do I get this goodness in me?!” There is a five-part theory of change that outlines our challenge. In order for principles to truly create change in someone’s life they have to go through a predictable process: 1. Encounter – you have to first encounter or be exposed to the principle 2. Recognize – something about the encounter has to ring with you to recognize the principle as truth. This is…
Art Berg inspired millions by refusing to place limits on his potential. After a car crash severed his spinal cord leaving him quadriplegic, doctors told Art that he would never marry, participate in sports, or do some of the other things he loved. Arts mother told him at his hospital bed, “Art, while the difficult takes time, the impossible just takes a little longer.” Art went on to become an elite wheelchair athlete, and a powerful speaker and author who inspired millions before his death in 2002. Those who think that something is impossible should get out of the way of those of us who are doing it! bad credit no
A new client and friend, Chad, said to me this week that his mission in life is to help those who are leading quiet lives of desperation. Another new friend, Brad Barton, quotes Benjamin Disraeli in his book Beyond Illusions as saying, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” There are people in YOUR world today who don’t understand their own worth and what they have to offer – speak truth to them!
Often when we are right in the middle of a difficult situation, it is tempting to look at our results as a disaster. “I’ve failed!” we might lament, feeling completely certain that life’s test has defeated us. A few days ago I was meeting with a client who expressed something like this and his embarrassment at being in the kind of situation that he was. I responded to him that from my perspective he was describing not a failure, but the MIDDLE part of a very inspiring story. Think about how some of the stories that inspire you the most have some very difficult stuff in the MIDDLE. Everything is OK in the end – if it is not OK, it is not the end! Keep working on your story – you’re not done yet.
I mentioned Mark Sanborn’s new book, The Encore Effect last week. I’ve got another gem from his book about living with passion. Mark tells about John Wesley (p. 47), who was the cofounder of what eventually became the Methodist Church. John Wesley was such a powerful speaker that before long, large crowds would gather to hear him. Someone once asked Wesley how he was able to create such encore performances that impacted so many people, and his response was, “I simply set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” Now that’s passion!