MomenTums
“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.”
– Victor Kiam
Hopefully, in the unfoldment of a project or new initiative, there is a phase where things really start popping, happening fast, and there is lots to manage and stay on top of.
We aspire and dream of the new-venture train gaining momentum once it has slowly and laboriously picked up speed out of the station.
And it can be then that the stomach doesn’t feel the same way, there’s an ever-present edge of discomfort…perhaps occurring as a constant feeling of heartburn, upset stomach or indigestion.
That’s a good sign.
I walked around for a few months with what felt like a bowling ball in my gut when starting my first business.
Many will avoid the discomfort…and yet for those who are willing to choose it over the medicine cabinet, the pace of growth can be profound.
Into what area of conviction or dream creation can you choose to upset your stomach today?
Got momenTums?
“If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.”
– Holly Near
Deed Seeds
“To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.”
– Sophocles
Beyond the parochial lessons we learned in childhood about doing good deeds — still valid, and yet perhaps needing more umpfh as an adult — we can consider what we are seeding in our deeding.
How we go into a meeting, a negotiation, a sales call, a group project, or our very day can be shaped by the little and perhaps inconsequential tidbits of blessings we put out just before.
Letting someone climb into traffic in front of us, picking up trash as we walk down the sidewalk, leaving a voicemail for someone saying we’re thinking about them, paying for the customer behind us in the fast food lane, give away an eBook…all of these have the potential for feeling good, generous and overall better about ourselves and, perhaps, more worthy to receive our own good.
We’ve heard these acts carry even more power when done with nobody watching.
Where can you plant deed seeds in your experience of life being good for yourself and others today?
Got deed seeds?
“Thinking good thoughts is not enough, doing good deeds is not enough, seeing others follow your good examples is enough.”
– Douglas Horton
Playing Dirty
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
—Michael Jordan
We all want to come out of the starting gate a winner: whether it be in a new job, business venture, promising relationship, potential add-on skill, etc.
That’s the very reason we don’t take action.
We want to look pretty when, to learn and grow, it requires glaring ugliness.
Waiting until the i’s are dotted, the t’s are crossed, and we’ve diminished all chances of not “looking good” results in empty playing fields…and everyone sitting in the stands.
Playing — even and especially when we aren’t “prepared” — means we are IN the game.
A certain amount of apprenticeship to an idea or plan is respectable. Most, however, use that apprenticeship as an evidentiary stage to prove their incapability.
Too much consideration kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
Where can you drop the cleanliness and jump into the mud of a game today?
Got playing dirty?
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day.”
—Bob Feller
Generation Gap
“Who you are and how you act in the present is given by the future into which you are living.”
–Werner Erhard
Ever accomplish a goal (or not) and have a big blank space in front of you?
Sometimes there’s even a post-featal downturn in mood, when the juice of the previous activity drive has ceased surging without replacement.
It’s then when our best ingenuity is called for: actually creating what comes next.
To generate and invent a future to live into — and then to be empowered (vs. diminished) by the gap that shows up — is the ultimate creativity.
It’s the games people play that create life and living.
Where can you intentionally generate an empowering gap to live into today?
Got generation gap?
“It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.”
—Kristin Armstrong
Big Game Help
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”
–Lena Horne
There is much said in our American culture about the self-made man or woman, the iron self-will and resolve that has individuals pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and a lot of ego-oriented “respect” offered to those who, alone, can handle things.
Granted, being able to find the resources, the will and the way within can be of great, holistic and long-term value.
Yet, there’s also a lot said about the power of helping others in their success. Zig Ziglar’s famous quote “You can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want” is an inspiring redirect toward focus upon others.
But search for quotes on “getting help” and you find that 98% are about offering help to others and only the tiny remainder about getting help yourself.
It seems the receiving side of the coin is simply not as respected or valued. We prize offering help, but where’s the equal pride in seeking or obtaining it?
Consider this: if you don’t need help, right now and right where you are, you simply aren’t playing a big enough game.
Got big game help?
“Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.”
–Ziad K. Abdelnour
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Happy Resolve
“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Stuff happens. It will keep happening. There’s nothing we can do to stop stuff.
How we are with others — but most importantly, with ourselves — in the midst of stuff either brings more stuff or requalifies stuff.
Anything, ANYTHING AT ALL can either be a blessing or a curse. It’s just how hard we’re willing to work toward the blessing end of the spectrum.
When all evidence is to the contrary is when real musculature is formed.
Got happy resolve?
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”
– Helen Keller
Funcertainty
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
—Voltaire
The mature human psyche rarely voluntarily jumps into the game of uncertainty.
As we get older, we can become ever more attached to the knowing of what’s coming next, the assurance of our needs being met, the certainty of the path before us.
A layoff, business downturn, or even the inner need to make a significant change in one’s work, relationships, life, etc., can bring about fear of the unknown.
Yet, in that quest for knowing everything ahead of time, we may miss interesting opportunities and sidepaths along the way.
Think about it: when we go on vacation, though we may plan certain activities, do we want to know everything we’re going to experience beforehand?
There’s no fun, surprise or adventure possible when we already know.
Though it goes against the default closing of the mind and human spirit, taking on uncertainty with an attitude of fun can be a game worth playing.
What totally uncertain aspect of your life could you bring into a game of fun and exploration?
Got funcertainty?
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
—Margaret Drabble
Bestful
“If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure.”
– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
We all truly want to do our best in our work, relationships, contributions and life.
And yet that inner voice is rarely satisfied, no matter how it turns out.
Every now and then, I’m so moved by quotes, that I am compelled to share them all.
So, I offer my “best” quotes to support you being as bestful as you can with yourself today.
“Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your very best.”-Andrew Carnegie
“Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.”
-Walt Disney
“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”
-Og Mandino
“Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it’s business or baseball, or the theatre, or any field. If you don’t love what you’re doing and can’t give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You’ll be an old man before you know it.”
-Al Lopez
“Doing your best is taking the action because you love it, not because you’re expecting a reward. Most people do the exact opposite: they only take action when they expect a reward, and they don’t enjoy the action. And that’s the reason why they don’t do their best.”
-Miguel Ruiz
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”
-Maya Angelou
“My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
-Oprah Winfrey
Got bestful?
“It helps if you remember that everyone is doing their best from their level of consciousness.”
-Deepak Chopra
