Have you noticed that the more you are aware of improving your lifestyle and having a better balance for your life – the more hurdles that seem to present themselves or the more criticism or questioning you get from others? Or you may even become more critical or impatient with yourself. You may feel as if you are getting nowhere. However, this is a heightened awareness that you are making changes and improvements to your daily routine.
It is a little like buying a car for example. If you decide on buying or give serious consideration to a yellow car. Then your eyes are alerted to some many yellow cars – that it seems as if it is the dominant colour. While in the past you have rarely noticed a yellow car.
Well I believe that when you make changes to your behaviour, habits, language, character (kindness, patience, joyfulness, loyalty, service, empathy) – they seem to jolt others. Mainly for the good – and some for the negative.
I believe the negative come from you subconsciously challenging the behaviour and habits and character of others. Others who are willing to just live life – with no particular goals , few aspirations or any desire to improve and Design their own Good Life.
You see – to improve and make make changes and Design your own Good Life – there needs to be a shakeup to your subconscious. And to succeed over time you need to grasp Opportunity, be Responsible and Accountable to yourself to ensure the improvements are really “rewired” into your Hairy Harry
The people who give you grief or cause you any disruption – don’t want to improve or make any changes. They are the ones who most likely tolerate the VICTIM – the SCARCITY mindset – and find it easier to Blame others (in this case) you, Deny or make Excuses.
To Design a Good Life and to improve and succeed and balance your 7 Elements of the Wellness Wheel – Fun, Family, Finance, Faith,Leadership and Emotional and Physical Health – you need to be the HERO with and Abundant mindset.
Being the HERO means letting GO of what you do, How you do, Why you do, Where you do and be brave enough to STEP UP. Even though you well have STEP BACKS.
Day in and day out we hear the need – for CHANGE, for REFORMS, for NEW STUFF, out with OLD, Cancel the OLD.
However – CHANGE and REFORMS do not necessarily mean BETTER or an IMPROVEMENT or more MEANINGFUL.
Normally they are accompanied by more complexity, more pages, larger documents, more confusion in language.
To me – BETTER equates to SIMPLICITY. We need to remove or at least reduce as much complexity in our action plan as possible. Keep It Simply – should be our goal.
Ken Blanchard wrote a series of business books entitled the “ONE MINUTE MANAGER” The aim was to have a One Page Business Plan, Customer Service Plan and so on.
Mark Twain apologised in a long speech he once delivered. He shared that if he had had the time to prepare – it would have been much shorter. Why? Because he would have distilled the Essence of his Theme more clearly and easier to follow. Elaboration can always be added.
Remember Lincoln’s Gettysburg address? Short and powerful and down on history as one of the most powerful speeches.
These days we get reports from committees – some 10,000 pages with 400 plus recommendations. Most are simply placed on a shelf and forgotten.
A good One Minute Manager Report would have a Summary of less than 10 pages and 3 to 5 main recommendations. At least there is a starting point and a confidence that ‘something can be done”. So HOPE of improvement.
So, if you are making changes and failing at times or being given a little negative nudging – don’t put your new direction ‘on the shelf‘ and STEP BACK.
Follow the One Minute Manager to rewire your Hairy Harry for SIMPLICITY and COURAGE to make the improvements we seek. Be the HERO in your ABUNDANT life.
The following is attributed to Theodore Roosevelt: (it may not be his exact words – however they are powerful)
“It’s not the critic who counts
Not the critic who points out where the strong man stumbles
Or how the doer of deeds could have done them better
The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena
Whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood – who strives valiantly
Who comes up short again and again and again
Leaves no effort or error or shortcoming
Who actually strives to do the deeds
Who knows the great enthusiasm? The Great devotion.
Who spends himself in a worthy cause?
Who knows in the end – the triumph of high achievement?
And who accepts – if he fails – he fails by daring greatly?
His place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”
(Note that in 2021 – please acknowledge the male references also refer to female and others genders)
We may be down a little from the past 18 months – as we are locked up, made to feel down and afraid. The battles with your business, your job, your family, your health – help to increase anxiety, tension, depression.
It seems that if we are told to stay down, the battle is lost, things will never return to normal.
Its not over – get back up. You don’t lose until you TAP out. And if you refuse to TAP OUT you never LOSE
Your set backs become your set ups for your comeback
It’s not about the perfect freedom – it’s about staying to fight
You need to keep the mindset of a conqueror – you need to a dealer and a believer in HOPE.
Your Step Backs are your Step Ups
