Make the Days Count

"Don't count the days, make the days count." ~ Muhammad Ali

You only get so many days in your life. No one knows how many are left for them. They can only live their life to the fullest as long as possible. At least that is what they should be trying to do.

Did you make today count? Before you lay down to sleep for the night or at least before you let yourself drift off to sleep, think about your day. Did you live it the best you could? Are there things you would have changed about it? If there are things you would change, take a moment to live it like you would have liked it to go.

Plan out your days. Sit down for a few minutes before you start each and everyday and write down all the things you would like to get done that day. Think about some of the goals you are hoping to complete in the near future. Think about steps you could take today to make those goals come to pass. Add those tasks to your list.

I find by making that list, you will remember more of the things you need to get done even if you don't have the list in front of you. If you know you are forgetting something you were supposed to do, all you have to do is pull out that list and remind yourself. It is also a nice feeling when you can mark off the things you have completed.

Whatever you do, make the day count.

Your the Pilot of Your Time

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." --Michael Altshuler

It occurred to me this week that the year 2000 does not seem that long ago. It has been more the twelve years since that crazy New Years Day party. I ponder about how fast time is moving as I get older. I wonder if my body mass makes my place in timespace a bit faster; a bit heavier. I wonder if children perceive time slower because they are younger or because they are just smaller. Do we naturally speed up as we get older because we become more dense? I don't know. It is an interesting concept.

Are you in control of your time? Think about it. Do you know where all your time goes? If you don't, maybe you should sit down and create a time budget. You should know what is happening to all of your time. Are you spending it all at work or in bed or on the couch in front of a television or video game system? Is that where you truly want to spend that amount of time? If it is not, then you have the power to make changes to the management of your time.

I like anything that Dave Ramsey does. If you don't know who he is, run over to his website and download his free podcast. He teaches you how to be smart with your money. I like to take his philosophy with money and focus it on my time. You should budget your time before you spend any of it. Know what you have to do and plan out every minute that way you are not sitting idle trying to figure out what you should be doing. If you can do this, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Discover More About a Person

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. - Plato

There are several sayings like this. In writing they say "Show, Don't Tell" This means you need to find a way to get the reader to participate in what it happening in the story, not just tell them what it going on. Teacher cannot just tell students how to solve a math problem, they have to show them how a problem works on a chalkboard. People learn better when they see and participate in what they are learning. Being told not always enough to make it part of ones learning.

When you see a recipe, you sort of know how to make it, but until you can get the ingredients into the pan and see how they start to react to the heat and to each other, there is no telling how your version of that recipe will turn out. It takes time a patience to learn every aspect of the recipe.

Everyone learns differently as well. It make take a different aspect of something to make it click in my head than it will in your head. I might need to see the contours of a figure before I can see myself painting it on the canvas. You might need to see the colors you are going to paint with before you can start painting. There are infinite points of view and infinite ways to think about things. We just need to remember that people need to see how things work in their own way.

Do Something Today

"If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today." -Lou Holtz

We should always be striving to do our best. If we can, we should at least try to do better than we did previously. We should always be better than we were. That will only bring more value to our lives and the lives of those we touch.

I see a lot of people just moving through life. Some want to do better with what they have but they don't seem to have the drive. They can't find the will within themselves to do what they want to accomplish. They need something else. Usually that something else is the approval of others. They want to hear someone else say what they are doing is the right thing to do. What they are doing is an amazing thing.

What I have come to realize is if you want to accomplish something, you can only rely on yourself for the support. People are not always going to come behind you and tell you are doing a good job. In fact, a number of them are going to look at what you are doing and ask you why you are doing such a thing.

Take a moment to appreciate what you are doing. Tell yourself you are doing a good job and smile because you are doing something you love, something you want to do. Then keep doing what it is that you are doing and keep working hard to get it complete.

I like the checks and balances Holtz' quote suggests. You should look at what you what you are doing today and compare it to what you did yesterday. Strive to make something bigger and better today than what you did yesterday. If you can do that, then you will always accomplish your goals.

Hate Statements About the Hunger Games

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am hearing a whole lot of anger filled statements about the Hunger Games. There are posts upon posts online about people not liking the fact that Rue was portrayed as a black girl. This confuses me. I don't understand why people allow skin color to get in the way of enjoying a great film, a great set of books, and an overall story that touched on much bigger issues than skin color.

The first point I want to make is that Rue is described as dark skinned girl in the book, so the choice of actor for this part is fitting. There is no need to get mad at the choice. Second, the producers of the movie are trying to make sure as many people as possible can relate to the story, so they want to provide as much diversity as possible when choosing their actors.

Another quote that I like comes from Yoda in Episode 2 of Star Wars. Yoda says, "Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to Suffering." Hate does lead to suffering. in this case, unneeded suffering. It is a movie. A completed movie at that. It's not like the producers are going to go back and make changes just because people are complaining or nitpicking the film. Take the movie for what it is. If you don't like it, that is fine, say you don't like it, but keep the negative comments to yourself, especially ones that are going to stir up anger and hatred. Lets enjoy a movie for what it is, a form of entertainment.

May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

"May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor"
~ Effie Trinket, The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins

Little did she know that she would be giving Katniss a small glimmer of hope, hope that she would survive the Hunger Games. Effie liked Katniss. She did not want to see the young player lose her life to the annual event. It happened every year and to win would mean to live a life of luxury and fame.

Katniss didn't want the money or the fame. What she wanted was to save her family from having to live in a world where children would be forced to play in a game that would kill all but one. Being close to Katniss, prepping her for what she was about to experience, Effie felt a bit of pain and expressed it the only way she knew how.

If you can keep this thought in your mind, Think: "The Odds are Ever in My Favor." you will find the ability to do anything. You can be the hero of your own story. You can find a way to survive in a world that would love to see you fail. I don't know why people want others to fail. If we helped each other succeed, more amazing things would occur, making our world a better place to live.

Think of ways to say this to other people. Most people say things like, "Have a great day." or SciFi fans might say, "May the Force be With You." Religious people might say, "God Bless." I find myself saying many times, "Drive Safely." I feel if people think about driving safely, they will be less likely to get into trouble while behind the wheel.

Skate to Where the Puck is Going

"I always skate to where the puck is going, not where it's been." -Wayne Gretsky

I always try to follow my own advice. If you see something that is working, do more of that. In your money making endeavors, you will find a lot of things that just don't work. You will find a few things that sort of work and even fewer things that work really well. You would be smart to continue to do the things that make money and if you are capable, you will do more of those things.

Of the things that are sort of working, you will want to adjust what you are doing and try to make them work better. You want to make those ideas make money for you. If you can't figure out why they are only making a little bit or just breaking even, maybe it is time to set that idea aside and skate towards something else that might have a higher return.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. I heard somewhere that the average person has at least three new ideas per day. The problem is that we don't act on them. We need to find a way to determine the profitability on those ideas and act on the ones that look like they will make money.

Do you have a pocket notebook? You should have one in your pocket at all times. Whenever you have an idea, you should write it down. I find if I don't write the ideas I have down, I forget them within an hour. For some reason, our ideas create themselves in our short term memory and most of them never make it to our long term memory.

A couple of times per week, during your slow time, take the time to look through your ideas and figure out which ideas you can act upon. This will lead you to more creative ideas.

Find Your Inner Way

"Once you have the Inner Way, the Outer Way will Follow" ~Wayne Dyer

If you think about it, Whatever it is, it will usually find a way to happen. I have always liked the philosophy that you become whatever it is you think about. If you set up the thought pattern in your mind that something bad is going to happen, something bad usually finds a way to happen. On the other side of the coin, If you set it in your mind that only good things are going to happen, then you will find awesome things happening to you all the time.

The trick is to find ways to make you think about positive things.For some reason, we a human beings are trained to think negatively. We don't trust anyone or anything. We feel like we have to do things by ourselves when in reality to be good at any one thing, you need a group who also is interested in that one thing. That is why there are writing groups, magician clubs and coupon cutting parties.

Here are some ways you can keep yourself thinking positively:

1. Find a partner who wants the same thing you do. Together you can build each other up and route each other on to make it to the finish line. I am sure you can do it all by yourself, but it will be a whole lot more fun if you had someone to share the success with.
2. Carry a reminder. If you can keep something in your pocket or around your wrist to remind you to think positively then you will have a trigger to pull you back into the positive side of that line.
3. Laugh out loud for no apparent reason. If you find yourself thinking badly, stop what you are doing and just start laughing. Soon you will find that you are laughing at yourself laughing for no reason. Laughing feels good and will lift you out of your negativity.
4. Write good things in your journal. Sit down and just start a list of the things that are good right at that moment. If you can see your surroundings in a different way, then you will be able to be positive.

Let's Make a Point

"Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" ~Sir Isaac Newton

How many times do we speak before we think, then in turn lose a good friend or at least lose their respect. This is something that happens on a regular basis. All you have to do is look around and watch the relationships between the people around you.

That Old Wife's Saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." is a good lesson to live by. I find that if I hold my tongue instead of  speaking what is on my mind at the time I was thinking it, I am better off. If I give my mind some time to think about what I want to say and how to say it with more than just my emotions running the thought, then what I have to say will be more constructive than destructive.

Usually when you want to say something negative, you are more interested in putting the other person down or causing them the same kind of pain you are feeling when you want to make the comment. If you can keep your mouth shut, you will be able to allow the emotions of the moment subside. You will be able to think about the comment you want to make. I think more often than not, you will find the comment unnecessary.

If you feel the point still needs to be made. If someone has wronged you in some sort of way, giving the moment the time it needs to calm itself may be what you need to keep it from turning into something that will tear the relationship apart.

Think about what you want to say. Try to find a way to make the solution benefit both yourself and the person you are angry with. If you can make them an active participant instead of an enemy, then you will be more likely to keep them as a friendly relationship.

Contribute to the Success of Others

"Our own success, to be real, must contribute to the success of others." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Have you ever noticed when you are trying to do things for yourself, you feel either the stress of failure or the desire to procrastinate, but when you are doing something for someone else, something without expecting anything in return, you have a greater desire to finish what You have started.

I like the idea of helping others. Many of the most successful people made their riches by helping other people get what they want. You can read about people like Henry Ford who wanted to help people get around faster without relying on a living creature. Horses get tired, but the automobile does not.

You can read about Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Edison who both were inventors who made things for people who needed glasses or light bulbs or pot belly stoves or a way to listen to the recorded voice. When you make a product or provide a service for a large group of people who need or want it, there will be a fortune waiting for you.

Zig Ziglar Always says "If you help enough people get what they want, You will get what you want." You could treat this statement almost like a law of life. It happens every time I see it put into use. The goal is not to think about the money. Spend your time thinking about how you can implement the idea. If the idea is valuable to people, the money will find it's way to you.