Ignore Your Limits

"Know your limits, then ignore them" ~John Mason

Sometimes it is good to not know how far you can go. Then you will surprise yourself by how far you can go. Lets say that you are invited to run a marathon. You say yes knowing you have never run that kind of distance before. You get on the starting line and start running when you hear the signal. You will be pleasantly surprised how far you can run without stopping. Then you will be surprised that you are able to walk the rest without stopping. Then you will be able to tell everyone that you have completed a marathon. It may take you 6-8 hours to complete the marathon but that is OK. You did it, and that is all that matters.

Now that you have an idea of what it is like to run a marathon, you know what your limits are. You will know what it takes to get yourself to the next level. Now all you have to do is train yourself to get past those limits. You start running everyday. You start to rat better, making sure you eat things that will give your muscles the nutrients they need to take the punishment you intend to put on them.

Instead of waiting for someone to invite you to run that next marathon, you start searching for the next one you want to run. You make plans to be at that marathon, and you set goals to get you to the point to run that race. When the day comes you start running, and are amazed when you pass the 5 mile mark without feeling too much strain. You keep running till you can't run anymore. Then you walk the rest of the way. When you finish, you find you have shaved off two hours off you last marathon. Now you know what your new limits are and you can plan for the next one.

Absorb what is useful

"Absorb what is useful, disregard the rest, Add what is uniquely your own." ~Bruce Lee

This is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever come across. It is important because everyone perceives the world differently. This means that one piece of information may be important to one person and completely useless to another. 

Personally I like to listen to as much information as I can. If the information that is being presented is not making some kind of movement within me, I move on to the next piece of information. If there is something I find interesting I will try to listen to it more than once. I want to listen to or read that information enough to absorb what it is trying to say to me.

That is another point I would like to suggest. The same piece of information could mean two totally different things to two different people. One might be thinking about the person who is talking and be focused on how the information changed the speakers life. The second person could be thinking about how the information could benefit the project he is currently working on.

When Bruce made this statement, he was talking about martial arts. The same techniques of different martial arts may not be as effective for one person as it is for another. He wanted his students to take the techniques that were beneficial for each person and build upon them. There is no point in spending time on a technique you can't do or don't do well when there are other techniques that will get you to your goal faster. Take what works for you and build upon it. That is my suggestion.

Stop Rowing and Look Around

"Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction." - Kenichi Ohmae

I don't know how often this happens to us, but it does happen often. We are doing one thing when we should be doing another. It's not until we fall into a hole when we realize that we were heading in the wrong direction.

There are other times when we know we are heading in the wrong direction be we make the decision not to turn around. Then we wonder why we arrive somewhere we don't want to be. The best example of this is how we eat. We know we should be eating healthy food. We make the decision to eat a lot of junk food and fast food. Then we wonder why we are fat and miserable.

Take some time to think about your life and what you are doing with it. Identify the things you are doing that are heading in a different direction than you truly intend to be heading. May a conscious choice to turn around and head toward a definite goal. You will enjoy your life much more when you start making some of your goals come true.

Are You Contagious?

"Happiness is contagious. Be a carrier" ~Robert Orben

Have you ever looked at someone and just laughed. Then because you laughed, they start laughing. I do this all the time to my little nieces. They have no idea why they are laughing. They have no idea why I am laughing. All they know is that my laugh is making them laugh. That's kind of funny.

Here is something you can experiment with. When you are out in public, start laughing for no reason. People will start to look at you with curiosity. They will want to know what is making you laugh. They might even start laughing because you are laughing. If anything you will have brought a little humor to other peoples lives.

If you think just laughing is creepy, then pick up your cell phone and pretend you are laughing at someone on the other side of the call. Or wear your earphones and point to them when other people look at you funny. You will have to laugh harder to get a response out of them, but at least you won't seem like a creepy, insane, happy person.

Love, Strength & Courage

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu

I don't know why I like this quote. There is something truthful about the words. I wonder if it is the same for men as it is for women. I know when I think about it, women tend to give men their strength. If it wasn't for women, I don't think men would ever do anything. I think they would sit around and do as little as possible. When women (or anyone you might care for) comes into the picture, then men want to do things for her. The man wants to give her everything he possibly can. It takes courage to do that.

When that same person loves you back, that just makes you want to do more. It becomes a cycle. She loves you. That gives you the courage to do the things that will make you successful. Loving her in return makes you strong enough to continue to do the things that make him and her successful. The cycle continues as long as they continue to love each other.

So here is what I suggest that you do. Take the time to find someone who you can love. Allow that love to give you the strength you need to build your life. When she loves you back, that will give you the courage to continue to do the things you need to do to continue to grow your life together. It will take that courage to have kids and to be the parents you want to be.

Strength, Courage and Love. Those are a fantastic combination.

Make Yourself Happy

"Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response." ~ Mildred Barthel

Have you ever thought about this? You may laugh at a joke, you may find things around you, but you choose to laugh. You have a choice to laugh. You may think that you don't, but if you put your mind to it, you can force yourself to keep a strait face instead of laughing.

The exact opposite is true as well. While you are sitting there in your seat in front of your computer or your smartphone or even your tablet reader, just start laughing. You can laugh for no reason. When you start laughing, you will find that funny and that will make you laugh. Try it. I Dare You. The laughing will make you feel good. There is something in your body, a hormone or something that is released when you laugh that makes you happy. So just laugh. Laugh when you are in your car and you just had a rough drive to work. If you laugh yourself into a good mood before you walk into the building, you will have a better day than if you walked in with the sourness from the guy who cut you off.

If you think you are a naturally pessimistic person, I am here to tell you, that is a choice you have made. Change that choice. Whenever you catch yourself being pessimistic, change your thinking. If you need to, start laughing. The people around you will wonder what happened to you.

Time to Get Even

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

Can you imagine if everyone lived by this quote? No one tried to get even for the negative things that have happened in life. Instead, people were more interested in burning their energy trying to do good things for the people who have done good to them. The world would be such a nice place to live.

This quote reminds me of the movie called "Pay It Forward" The story is about a boy who has discovered the powers of multiplicity. He finds that if one person does something nice for three people without any need for repayment, and tells them to each help three people in the same way, those three people will be helping nine people. Then nine people will be helping 27 people. Then 27 people will be helping 81 people. Then 81 people will be helping 243 people and so on. That number gets large very quickly.

The world would be such a nice place to live if everyone was in the mindset that we were working for the greater good of everyone else. If we could all live in homes that were built and maintained by the other people in the city. We all have something to strive for, to make each others' lives more comfortable.I can see a world that looks more like Earth in the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The people on Earth are more interested in exploring the galaxy and the universe than they are about gaining wealth. We are working for the general good, creating things that will help everyone. Today, I want you to go out and do something for someone else. Think of a way to help someone else without them knowing who did it for them. Go pay someone's light bill, or go buy some groceries and leave them on the doorstep of someone who you know is having a hard time making ends meet. Mow someone else's yard for them. Pay the toll for the car behind you. Just do something nice without needing anything in return.

Don't Walk Backwards

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward - Abraham Lincoln,16th U.S. president

Always take steps forward. You may have to tread slowly to make sure you are moving forward, but moving ahead slowly is better than having to move backwards. I think that is what our great leader was trying to say.

There are so many of us who are so used to taking two steps forwards and one step backwards. We try so hard to move up in our lives that we end up falling down and having to pick ourselves back up. Sure there are times in our lives when we should take chances to get ahead, but there is no reason to fall if we can see the obstacles ahead of us. If we can move a bit slower, we will move forward faster even though we are taking slow calculated steps.

I think the easiest example I can think of to illustrate my point is relationships. Think about this a minute. Let's say you meet someone you like and you ask them out on a date. You have a nice time, but you are so anxious to be in a romantic relationship that you push a kiss on her within the first hour of the date. You start holding her and hugging her and making her feel very claustrophobic. The next thing you know, she's not feeling good and asking you to take her home. Then there is no second date.

What if instead, you let things happen on their own. You go out on a nice date, you maybe hold her hand, you have wonderful conversation and have fun. Then you walk her to the door and ask her for a second date. On the second or third date, when you know that she is enjoying the time she is spending with you, you close in for that kiss. She returns the kiss and the relationship becomes what you were hoping it would be.

You will get a lot further if you let things happen in their own time. If you rush things, then things will change, possibly change for the worse. You can take advantage of the opportunities, but make sure the opportunities are there to be taken. If you jump the gun, you might have to start all over again.

Not Just a Dream

"If you know it's going to happen there's no need to call it a dream." -Eric Pio

What is a dream? It is something that has not happened yet that you hope one day will happen. Is that really something you want in your life? I wonder if dreams are just cruel and unusual punishment. Most of the people I have met torture themselves with their own dreams. They think about something they know in their mind they will never have and let it eat them up inside.

What if you make your dreams a reality. That is the only way they will ever happen. You have to do something to make them come true. If you just sit there and dream, that is all they are going to be... Dreams.

If you think your dreams are possible, then go ahead and make them come true. The only person keeping you from achieving those dreams is you. You can make them happen and you will. Just take one step at a time to get it done.

If you think your Dreams are impossible, choose right now to make them possible. If they are a dream you are passionate about, then you can find a way to make them possible. There are plenty of stories out there where people who were born deaf are now able to hear. There are people who have lost both legs who are now able to walk. If you have a dream, just find a way to make those dreams come true.

If you believe it can and will happen, then it will. If you have the tiniest little doubt, then push that doubt away and believe. That is why it is called faith.

Your Opportunity Dressed in Overalls?

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison.

Hindsight is 20/20. That is what they say. Have you ever looked back at a circumstance and realized that you should have done something that would have made you successful or at least gotten something that you have wanted for a long time? I know I have. Just look back at my Lotto Story. A lot of times we don't realize that we missed a good opportunity until it has long since past. I think that is what Edison is talking about in this quote.


We should be looking for those opportunities that are not quite so obvious. Most successful people out there are successful because they took advantage of an opportunity that was more about how to help someone else than it was about making money. If you want to hear about a number of these kinds of stories, you should find a copy of "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. This book was written in the early part of the 20th century. Hill talks about a number of successful people of his time; people like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford. It is probably one of the best books about success that I have ever read. 

I have a simple way for you to figure out what opportunities to look for, even the ones that are dressed in overalls. It will take about ten to fifteen minutes everyday to sit down and write a few sentences in a notebook. personally I like those little composition books the teenagers get for school. They are bound nicely and will put up with a little abuse. You can get them for a dollar at the dollar store or you can wait till right before school starts and buy about a dozen of them at once when they are on sale. I found them this year at walmart for 40 cents each.


Set you a timer for 15-20 minutes. I like taking 20 minutes because it usually takes me a few minutes to start writing ideas. If I can get them started, then more ideas will start gushing out after them. All you have to do is start writing. think about your day. What happened in the last 24 hours that might shed light on an opportunity that you could use to your benefit. I don't care how small the idea is. The whole point of this exercise is to get some ideas down on paper. 


If you can do this everyday, just sit down and write, you will find all kinds of interesting ideas will come to you. I don't care if you are writing the same ideas everyday. If you do, that means you mind is working on the ideas. That means your mind is working out a way to make your ideas successful. That is all you need to do. You need to make yourself aware of the opportunities. Then you will naturally start to work out a way to profit from those ideas. 


Go try it.