Our fatigue is often caused…

Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.Dale Carnegie

What does that mean?
To me it speaks of the true causes of fatigue or energy drags in my life.  It probably is similar to at least some of the energy drags in your life.  Any time I worry, I become fatigued.  The more I worry, the more run down I become.  Same with frustration and resentment.  Together, they probably account for the bulk of my energy drain on any given week.

Conversely, when I work, either with my mind or in physically demanding labor, I finish refreshed, not fatigued.  Fatigue has become a sign to me that I am doing something wrong.  Note that I differentiate between being tired and fatigued.  Tired is energy expended, fatigued is energy misspent.

This saying also has, hidden within it, it’s opposite path.  To me, the opposite of worry, frustration and resentment is contentment.

Why is contentment important?
If you aren’t content, what are you, and why do you want to be there?  Yes, I can see being “hungry” for something as motivation, but you can be content and still be motivated.  To me, content doesn’t mean sit on your bottom and do nothing, as everything you want has been accomplished.  To me, that is sloth.  My point is that you can be motivated and be without worry, be without frustration and be without resentment.

Would worrying about anything make your life better?  Would being frustrated help you perform better?  Would being full of resentment at people, places, events or life in general help make your life better?  Perhaps, for a brief moment, while throwing yourself a “pity party,” these might be appropriate as transient emotions.  But it’s not a place to live.  Live contented with what you have and with hunger for what you aspire to do.  That is how I try to live my life.  How about you?

Where can I apply this in my life?
I try to live as far away from those draining emotions as I can.  However, there is always some level of worry in my life.  So how does one get rid of worry?  I tend to find that worry is usually related to uncertainty.  So to counter worry, I try to be more certain about things.

If there is an activity my kids want to do and it worries me, I find out more about it.  Where is the source of the worry?  Is it a physical risk, is there some kind of danger?  Is there concern that they are going somewhere away from parental supervision?  Then I check it out.  I find out more.  I visit or call ahead and confirm what the deal is.

If it is worry about something in my life, I probably already did all the research and checking that is possible, so I know it’s just me.  Case in point, asking my wife to marry me.  I’d done the research, she had already started dropping hints.  I knew the answer before I asked the question.  It’s probably the only way I would have asked the question.

So if I’m worried, I have to convince myself that I have done all the homework, done all the legwork and have prepared as much as is humanly possible.  After that, it is out of my hands.  It is no more likely to happen if I worry than if I do not worry, so I try to convince myself that worrying is neither useful nor necessary.  Sometimes, I even succeed, but most of the time, I can keep it to a minimum.

How about you, what do you worry about and how do deal with it?  If you aren’t having a lot of luck with taming the worry-monster, grab a piece of paper and something to write with.  Label the paper “the worry list” and write down everything you are presently worried about and a scale, 1-10, for the level of the worry.  Worries about your favorite sports teams (unless that’s part of your livelihood) should probably be closer to 1 than to 10.  Food & shelter based worries are probably at the 10 mark.

Take a look at each and try to figure what would have to happen to make you less worried, or even stop worrying about the topic.  After you’ve run through the list, see if there is a pattern.  For me, it was lack of knowledge & lack of preparation – those were the two biggest sources of worry.

Once you have an idea what is at the root of your worry (and it may be more than one thing – mine was two major sources), it’s time to brainstorm.  On the back of the paper, write a list of all the things you can do to stop that root cause.  For me, it was uncertainty and unpreparedness, so research and diligence were the cures.  You will need to find your own.

Now figure out how to make these new ideas part of how you operate, so that it becomes part of your daily routine.  Once you have leveled out on worry, do the exercise again.  What’s missing from your present worry-proof plan?  Is there another cause of worry, or are there some gaps in your plan?  Upgrade, update, and get back at it.  Does that make sense?  How much effort are you willing to put in to reduce your level of worry, your level of fatigue?

Now, for extra credit, make a frustration list and a resentment list and fill them out.  See if you can find the pattern.  If you can’t, or there are just a few events listed, keep the list handy and add to them as new events occur.  Once you’ve detected a pattern, a common issue that causes frustration or resentment, you can start to work to cut it off at the source, or at least diminish it’s power over you.

Once you have a handle on these negative, unproductive feeling, I hope that you can begin to feel more contentment and less fatigue.

From: Twitter, @motivatquotes
confirmed at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dalecarneg385230.html

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Everything that happens…

Everything that happens; happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.Marcus Aurelius

What does that mean?
I debated taking this quote, but decided it was worth doing.  It talks of reflection, over time, and concluding that all is as it should be.  I have lost loved ones, been divorced, bankrupt and had many painful indignities heaped on me in my few short decades in life.  Each has taught me a powerful lesson.  I am, as everyone on Earth is, a product of the lessons that life has taught me.  If we heed them, we grow wiser, if sadder, and proceed with our lives.  We ignore these lessons at our own peril.

The young and brash often scoff at these things, and have to be taught these lessons a few times before it sinks in.  So, if you’re under 25, you may not “get” this.  But to heed this advice, that would be wise.

To quote Confucius: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”  Choose your method, but eventually, you will learn.

Why is contemplation important?
Contemplation is a word used by many to mean different things.  For the purposes of this post, I will use the definition from thefreedictionary.com, which defines contemplation as “2. Thoughtful observation or study.”

Life goes as it should.  Over the years, I have heard many people say that they wish that X hadn’t happened, or that Y had happened instead.  What they don’t seem to be able to grasp is that these events, however unpleasant, are part of what makes us who we are.  They form the basis of our life, and they are the foundation for our wisdom.  Without these events, you would not be you, you would be someone else.

Some might see being someone else as a blessing, but I would beg to differ.  When caught up in the moment, the pain and suffering, the loss or the impact may seem overwhelming.  Eventually it will fade.  Some harness the emotions to become an ‘avenger,’ righting the wrongs done by whatever they think has unfairly treated them or their loved ones.  Down that path lies insanity.  If you think it through, you will see it to be so.

What I would recommend instead is to look for the silver lining in the clouds.  Sometimes that takes years.  My divorce was the crucible that helped me melt off all the stupidity and vanity of youth, to learn about myself in a way I would otherwise never have done.  Yes, it was a trying time, and I would likely have pounded you into a bloody pulp if you had tried to convince me of it at that time.  But in thoughtful reflection and contemplation, I realize it the best possible thing for me.

Where can I apply this in my life?
We all face rough times.  We all can learn from them.  The trick is learning rightly.  If a Martian did you wrong, then you might believe that all Martians are bad.  After meeting a few Martians that weren’t bad, you might revise your belief.  However, through some careful observation and further contemplation, you might realize that Martians, like humans, have good and bad in them, and you just happened to run across one that wasn’t on their best behavior.

How does one learn in the aftermath of an event?  It might seem odd, but I try to write down what I was feeling at the time.  And then again in a few weeks, months, even years.  I use that as a measure of how emotionally attached I still am to the incident.  By waiting until things are a little cooler, I am less likely to come to a rash conclusion that will take me down an unpleasant path.

How do you find a sliver lining in a tornado? At first, I wrote “cloud,” but with decided to step it up.  The recent blast of tornadoes in the US reminded me of a time in my past.  Just before my ex and I broke up, a terrible twister hit the town where we were living.  It struck well away from where we lived, but I crossed through the area every day on the way to and from work.  Seeing such a thing, the devastation it caused, seems like it is all bad.  The fatalities, the injuries, the loss of property and keepsakes, it seems there is nothing good there at all.  But the community pulled together like nothing I could possibly have imagined.  Money, food, clothes, toys, cars, household goods, anything and everything you could possibly imagine was donated by locals, for locals.  The rebirth of a town is what the silver lining was that day.  It wasn’t fun, but anyone who lived through it was a different person, a better person, for the experience.

What has happened to you?  You are among the luckiest people on the planet (or youngest) if you don’t have a scar or two from a troublesome event in your life.  What did you take as the lesson from these events?  Choose one (for now, you can try this with the others later) and write it down, as well as what you thought the lesson was.  Now place the date (use the approximate date, if need be) for the event, and for today.

Now take some time and consider what other lessons you could learn from that event.  Brainstorm, think outside the box, all those corny expressions.  One of the craziest of things I ever came up with, a really off the wall idea, was from the death of my maternal grandfather.  I’m getting choked up just thinking about him.  Loved the guy more than my parents.  But, after a few months of crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth, I came up with this: “If things didn’t die, we’d be hip deep in insects, and T-Rex would be inviting us over for dinner!”  Now if that isn’t the dumbest thing you ever heard, you gotta leave me a message with something dumber!  But it helped me put things in perspective.  I’ve even used that on my kids with the passing of the family dogs.  That’s just one example, try to find a slightly larger number of ideas to consider.

Once you have a few (a dozen even!) possible lessons you could learn, spend a few moments before bed with each one in succession.  See which of them stick with you, and which seem really silly in the morning.  Try that a few times, and narrow it down to the best few and write them down in preparation for a revisiting of them in a few weeks.  Write down the date & ideas and keep refining the options you think of.  Eventually, you will find meaning in the event and grow in wisdom.  Hopefully you will find peace and acceptance.  That’s when I believe that I have learned the lesson.

There will be times when it seems all is lost, or that every single thing in the universe is arrayed against you.  Hold on.  Hold on to your sanity, hold on to your humanity.  Just hold on.  Like all storms, it shall pass.  You may find yourself marooned on a desert island.  Learn to like your own company.  When life gives you lemons, what are you going to do?  The choice is yours, but the lives you effect will be many.  Choose wisely, choose kindly, choose rightly.  A little thoughtful contemplation?  It just might help.

From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marcusaure122222.html

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If we reserve ethical conduct…

If we reserve ethical conduct for those whom we feel close to, we may neglect our responsibilities toward those outside this circle.Dalai Lama

What does that mean?
To me, it seems a bit self evident.  If we only treat our friends nicely, we are not treating the rest of the people as well as we should.  This is a form of tribalism, where those who are on the inside are taken care of, and the rest are ignored – or worse.

You don’t have to look too deep into human history to see tribalism, or it’s modern counterpart, nationalism.  From WWII to Bosnia and many points in between, the “us vs them” rhetoric has reared it’s ugly head.  To me, that is what this saying is about.  If we only care about the “us” people, what happens to the rest of the people?  The tendency will be to neglect them in order to focus on our own.  And that is a troublesome path to be found on, isn’t it?

Why is humanitarianism important?
Starting with the definition from thefreedictionary.com, it says that humanitarianism is : “Concern for human welfare, especially as manifested through philanthropy.” and “The belief that the sole moral obligation of humankind is the improvement of human welfare.”

Note that neither of the definitions include anything that limits the people who should receive your help.  Nothing about humanitarianism being just applied to your friends, tribe or nation.  It’s for everyone.

What would life be like if you only applied humanitarianism to your friends and family?  More importantly, what if you could only receive assistance from your friends and family?  Doesn’t sound like that big a deal, until your town if flooded or twisters level your city.  How about a big earthquake or a nuclear plant failing to keep all the nasty stuff contained?  Would help from others be useful then?

For most of us, when we think of humanitarian aid, we think of helping folks in the third world.  But it is also useful when disaster strikes.  These tend to be times when the world does pull together, but wouldn’t it be better for all of humanity if we did these things every day?

Where can I apply this in my life?
It seems a little awkward starting locally, after spending so much time talking about thinking on a larger scale, but one must start somewhere.  For the sake of this column, I will assume you can get to the American Red Cross site, or various other emergency service sites and send money.  That is often the most helpful way to deal with some of the larger problems.

Starting locally can be one of the easier ways to get into the whole “helping others” routine.  Find something you can get into, something that will keep you motivated.  If your thing is helping to end hunger, and are starting locally, there are several outlets.  Local food banks can use helpers in acquisitions (food drives, and pickup from donation points), sorting, boxing & delivery of the food to the people in need.  Other groups provide pre-cooked or microwave ready meals to shut-ins, and will usually need help with the acquiring ingredients, cooking and preparing of the food, and the delivery of the food to the people.

That’s just two groups that help with food and hungry people.  That doesn’t include shelters (which are always looking for more people to help, as well as more helpers, more food, preparing, cooking and serving food), co-ops or programs like second harvest and hungry kids.  In case you hadn’t guessed food is a big thing to me.

There are other groups dedicated to helping people in almost all aspects of life.  As usual, you can see ads for them on TV, see features about them on the local news, hear them on the radio or find them on the internet.  Then you just need to call, write or e-mail and schedule some time to provide assistance.

Once you get some experience, you may want to try to find some other ways to help.  These might include groups that cover wider geographic areas, including internationally.  There are some groups working on teaching people the best practices for small farmers in pre-industrial societies.  That’s another way to prevent starvation, by teaching them how to feed themselves.

Humanity is one of the most caring and giving creatures on Earth, but there is always room for more people to help.  Please consider taking some time to help another.  Thanks!

From: Twitter, @DalaiLama
confirmed at : it’s his own feed…

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He that does good to another…

He that does good to another does good also to himself.Seneca 

What does that mean?
It says to me that the act of doing a service to another rarely, if ever, harms you.  In nearly all cases, when you help someone else, you help yourself as well.  Even when your action on behalf of another puts you at some slight temporary disadvantage, the overall net in the long run will almost certainly be better for you than if you had done nothing.  Even if it is only the warm feeling you get from helping another, something good will accrue to you from that beneficent action.

Why is service important?
Service of humanity, or even of one member thereof, is a wise and noble pursuit.  Helping one another is how humanity has arisen from it’s savage beginnings to it’s present level of savagery.  While war is far more terrible than ever before, man’s humanity towards their fellow man has also increased, more than keeping pace (in my opinion) with man’s inhumanity towards their fellow man.

Service, like so much of life, begins at home.  Service to the people who share your life (friends, family, co-habitants, even your pets) is an essential part of our lives as humans.  Yes, there are some who have taken the path of Ebenezer Scrooge, and feel no connection to their fellow humans.  They are to be pitied and, when possible, urged to return to the fold.

Think of a time when you helped someone who truly needed your help.  Not something trivial, but something significant, like holding open a door for someone who wouldn’t have been able to get in without your help, delivering a trunk full of food to a family that was hungry, or helping someone get back on their feet at a shelter.  How did that feel?  I don’t know about you, but when I have done things like those which are described above, I have felt more connected to my fellow man and richer in spirit, than at any other time in my life.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Think of a couple times when you felt really good after helping someone.  Take a moment and relive the feeling.  Felt pretty good, didn’t it?  Now let’s write down all the different things you did that gave you that rewarding feeling.  How many of them can you do again and how many were random or coincidental?  Put check marks next to the ones you can repeat again (like delivering meals to shut ins, doing some work at a shelter or volunteering to help troubled or slow kids at a local school).  Now all you have to do is schedule these wonderful things into your already crazy and busy schedule!

If you have an instance or two of spontaneous helping that you would like to replicate, consider what went into the unlikely meeting.  How would you replicate such an event in an ongoing and maintainable manner?  If that proves unreasonable or too difficult, consider what other helpful things you could do that would be similar in nature, but more easily reproduced.  This may require some trial and error, and probably more than a little effort on your part, but the rewards are amazing.

If you haven’t ever felt this way before, then we need to get you busy.  Start with your ‘inner circle’ – friends, family, and close associates.  Do any of them need some help doing something?  Even if it’s only being the person who refills the beverage glasses while the others work, that is a useful service.  Trust me, once you get a rhythm going, you don’t want to stop just to go get another round of cool, refreshing beverages.  Once you’ve helped your friends a bit, try going a little farther afield.  How about some of the things listed above?  Shelters and services for poor, disadvantaged, home-bound and animals are always looking for people to help out.  Do what you can to the best of your ability.

All we have covered to this point is the good feeling that comes from helping.  There are often tangible benefits from doing good deeds.  There are groups that honor volunteers throughout the year, and some with annual awards.  Plus it takes some effort to do all these things without being noticed.  Perhaps it will only be that your friends notice how helpful you have been and decide to help you back.  Or someone else in the community might notice how much you have helped and try to help you out in a more significant way.  Some call it luck, some call it fortuitous circumstances, others call it fate, still others call it karma.  Whatever you choose to call it, it is real and it is a force to be reckoned with.  I don’t know about you, but I really want this mysterious force working with me, not against me, how about you?

How much good do you think you can do?  How much are you willing to do?  It can warm your heart and pave your road to happiness.  All you need to do is walk it.  Well, decide what you’re going to do and then do it.  Well, decide what you’re going to do, plan it, and then implement it.  However you choose to do it, please get busy!  Humanity needs all the good deeds it can get!

From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/luciusanna121131.html

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…the best you are capable of becoming.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.John Wooden

What does that mean?
To me, it speaks to effort, and the peace of mind you get, the satisfaction you get, from doing something to the best of your abilities.  I’m imagine most of  you have either been in or witnessed a grade school concert.  Instruments or vocals, it is quite an interesting scene.  But, almost universally, the kids are pleased as punch with their performance.  And why not, they did the best they could, and are very proud of what they achieved.  Kids tend to, more so than adults, base success on a solid effort.  Yeah, they may be not be pleased that they didn’t do as well as someone else, but they are pleased with their own effort.  Adults tend to focus on the achievement of a specific goal, without regard to if it is within their ability or not to attain it.

Why is effort important?
Without effort, how would you get to where you want to be?  How would you even know what your limits are, much less how to push beyond them?  Effort is what gets things done.  A dream or goal can pull you, but the push comes from within.  Some would say effort is what you do when you run out of motivation, but I take a broader definition of effort – anything that isn’t trivial (as defined by your personal capabilities), requires effort.

To an NBA center, dusting the top of the china cabinet is trivial.  To someone in a wheel chair, it will take some effort.  In this case, it might be a physical effort, or it could be an intellectual effort to find a device that will extend their reach.  But in whatever form it takes, it requires effort.  To someone with a bad back or hip, picking something up off the floor will require effort.  To most other people, it would be trivial.

By doing things that are not trivial, by putting forth effort, you can attain some level of peace of mind and at least a measure of success.  Simply by doing the best job you are capable of.  No matter how small a job may be, or how dirty, nasty or unpleasant.  Do the best you are able to do, and be satisfied.

Where can I apply this in my life?
The first thing I would do, and I encourage you to do as well, is to write down a couple of things you want to achieve some measure of success in doing.  Not necessarily “write a NYT #1 best seller”, but more like “write a book”.  Once you have a few books under your belt, you can aim a little higher.  What things are on your list?  The list should have things on it that you really want to do, but they should also be something you will be proud of, even if you don’t achieve the desired goal.

For me, I am very proud of the work I have done on several daily drivers, as well as my project car.  Even though the project car may never move under it’s own power again, I am very proud of what I have done.  I have done the best I possibly could, and then got better and did more.  I also really want to get it moving, but even if that doesn’t happen, I am very satisfied that I have done a good job, the best I could possibly do.  Now a professional body man might scoff at some of my patches, but I’m not a pro body guy.  I plan to paint it suede and drive the wheels off, I’m more for function than form.

How about you?  What are some of the things you want to do?  Select one and brainstorm a bit as to what, specifically, you wish to do as the first thing?  I started on the car path by learning basic auto maintenance.  What is the first step for you?  If you want to learn to paint, do you know what style?  Should you start with a history-of-art class, or just a book from the library?  Is there a particular artist you would like to emulate?  Where can you take a class on the fundamentals of artistry?  How you hold the brush, how deep to dip into the paint, how to apply the strokes to the canvas, these are all basic skills.  Yes, different artists made styles their own by changing some of the rules (or at least bending them a bit), but without a basic knowledge of the fundamentals, how will you find these things out?  Trial and error works, but is time consuming.  It’s all about what works for you.

Once you have completed your first bit, whether learning fundamentals or completing a first draft, it’s time to celebrate the achievement.  Now comes the fun part.  Do you want to do it again?  Raise the stakes?  Push your limits?  Will it be a longer book, work on a tighter writing style, more details or back to fundamentals and revise the first work?  Will you do another painting like the one you just finished, or will you try a different style, larger canvas, or even paint on a board instead?

Repeat as often as it is still challenging, and as long as it is still fun.  Keep trying to get better.  Whether that is to write better prose or paint more precisely in the style you like best, keep after it until you find satisfaction in each work you complete.  If that isn’t as good a definition of success as I have ever heard, I don’t know what is.  How about you?

From: Twitter, @Sports_Greats

confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwooden402561.html

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Do not want others to know…

Do not want others to know what you have done?  Better not have done it anyways. – Chinese Proverb

What does that mean?
Translations are such fun.  This saying almost sounds like a stereotypical movie character is saying it.  To put it in (what I consider to be) cleaner English, I would rephrase it as “If you don’t want others to know what you have done, you are better off to have not done it in the first place.”  Or, “If you might be embarrassed about others finding out what you have done, then don’t do it!”  Or, “Don’t do it unless you would be proud to call your mama and tell her all about it!”  How is that for a translation?

Basically it says that if you think you might be embarrassed if someone found out what you did, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it.  The fear of shame is a powerful force, even in modern liberal democracies.  It was a far more significant force in ancient China, where the shame wasn’t only yours, but spread to and shared by your family.

Why is shame important? Continue reading

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First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.Mohandas Gandhi

You can get organized. You can fight city hall. It won't be easy, and there are many steps before you get to the point "you win." Specifically, there is "ignore you," "ridicule you," and of course, everyone's favorite, "fight you."

What does that mean?
This is the block diagram for the path of peaceful resistance. They start by pretending you are insignificant. Then they make fun of you, trying to demean or dismiss your movement and/or objective. Then they realize you are ascendant and they are in decline, and they get fight back (the level of violence depends on the situation, from cross words, all the way up to murder).

At that point, if you can sustain the casualties, you have won the prize. Even if your movement is crushed, you still have won the moral argument and sown the seeds that will, sooner or later, bear fruit.

Why is peaceful resistance important? Continue reading

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If it wasn’t hard…

If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.Tom Hanks

What does that mean?
I’ve heard this said a couple different ways, including “if it was easy, …” and “The size of the obstacle is the measure of the sweetness of the victory.”  As the climbing of a mountain is much more difficult, it is also much more rewarding than surmounting a small hill.  So it is in life.  While all successes are to be celebrated, it is the difficult tasks that are the most celebrated, and the most remembered.  And the difficulty of the struggle is what makes people recognize the accomplishment as great.  That is why athletes at the Paralympics or the Special Olympics are celebrated despite performing at a level that is not normally a cause for celebration.  That it is so hard for them to achieve even those meager results, that is the reason for the celebration.

Why is struggle important?
While a life of reclining on a lounge and having someone feed you peeled grapes all day might sound like fun, it would probably get old after a few months, a year tops!  Most people are not built for that kind of life.  The human spirit seems to relish in doing the difficult, and even the impossible.  Remember, the impossible of yesterday is the ho-hum of today.  From message runners, to horse messengers, to telegraph to land-line phones, to car phones, to portable phones, to cell phones, to text message.  And that’s just the last century or so.

We, as humans, seem to thrive on doing the difficult, on measuring our worth based on what we can achieve.  In sports, business, or philanthropy, we are always trying to beat our best, or the next person, as the case may be.  In sports, look at the reaction to a championship team, or an Olympic winner.  In business, we have awards at local, county, region and state levels from many different organizations that recognize the most outstanding achiever of the year.  In philanthropy, there are also dozens of organizations at several levels which recognise the people who have done the most, helped the most or achieved the best results.  If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and it wouldn’t be extraordinary.  And extraordinary is just another way of saying great.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Well, you probably have all kinds of challenges in your life.  Now would be a good time to write a few of them down.  Try to get a few different size challenges, from fairly easy to really tough.  Let’s start with an easy one.  For me, in my martial arts class, I was having real trouble with a particular roll.  It took about two months to get it right, and I still blow it from time to time.  It looks so easy, but it was hard for me.  Most of the others in the class probably didn’t even notice, but I did a little happy-dance when I finally got it to work properly.  For me, it wasn’t a trivial thing to do.  It wasn’t truly difficult, but it was a great thing for me (by doing it wrong, I kept re-injuring my shoulder).

Take that easy task and figure out what you need to do to make it happen.  Yeah, it’s time to do at least an outline if not a full plan, backed with strategy, fortified with tactics, and revisited & revised using courage and intelligence.  The bigger the task, or the more unknowns there are, the more you will be rewarded by a detailed plan.  Now that you have a plan of some sort put together, what is the first step and when should you take it?  The answer to the latter is, of course, right this moment.  Nothing builds momentum like action, immediate positive action.  Bigger is better, but do SOMETHING, do it NOW!  Keep track of your progress, and plan a bit of a review at the end.

Why would you want to review at the end of the accomplishment?  To help you understand how hard it was.  Go back over the plan and recall how confused you were at how to finish some of the tasks, how many attempts it took to finish, how much research it took to find the key that made the difference.  Recognise just how hard it was to accomplish the task and take a moment to bask in the greatness that is due you for your accomplishment.  Just don’t expect the whole world to rejoice with you when you’ve finished cleaning the closet. 8)

The larger challenges follow the same path, but will likely take more effort, time, resources and guts.  But the bigger the challenge, the harder it is to accomplish, the greater the victory will be.  Sometimes the accomplishment is celebration enough, but if it was a group effort, with help from others, it might be worth a mention to the others, or even a small celebratory dinner or party.

Keep doing the hard things, and have a great life!

From : Twitter, @DavidRoads
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tomhanks161990.html

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Problems grab us where we are weak…

Problems grab us where we are weak. They’re a call to get strong & master that area of our life.Tony Robbins and here

What does that mean?
To me, it reminds me that no matter what we have achieved, there is always room for improvement.  Problems, such as they are, usually catch us in the places where we are weak, unprepared or otherwise vulnerable.  Once we get this wake-up call, we can get to work on the things that are holding us back, to work on improving that portion of our life.

Why is strength important?
By strength, I don’t necessarily mean physical strength, although that may be where you need improvement.  Here, I use the word strength because it is referenced in the quote, but might as easily be replaced with a mix of courageous and committed.

Courage, because even with all the practice I have had over the past two decades, I still prefer the familiar to having to change.  This takes strength and courage to overcome the lack of momentum and get the object at rest up and moving.

Commitment, because it’s easy to talk the talk, but after a few days, do you still walk the walk?  This level commitment is needed because change requires a constant pressure and consistent action to achieve the desired result.  Do you have the strength to make it happen?

Most of us have the strength to make it happen, but many of us don’t have the self-discipline to actually keep the commitment or the courage to continue after the eleven-teenth failure (yeah, I just made up a number).

As most of us know, strength (muscular or otherwise) comes from repetition.  Doing it once just ain’t going to cut it.  Take some time and do it again and again and again and…

Where can I apply this in my life?
We all have problems.  I usually don’t use that word, as it has too many defeatist connotations for my liking.  I prefer to use the word challenges, although you might prefer to use a different word.  As the quote uses the word problem, I shall use it for the purposes of this post.

Unless a task is trivial, or you get really lucky, things aren’t going to go according to plan.  The place where we are most vulnerable is the place where we are weakest.  Recently, I was blindsided by an issue with the title to my old car.  I hadn’t thought of it.  I was embarrassed to talk about the oversight, as I am the one who plans all details meticulously (and has at least a Plan B for any foreseeable challenges or potential rough spots).  I spent a few days doing research, and I am now fairly certain that the issue can be favorably resolved with only a minimum of hassle.  Here, my weakness may have been pride, or being a bit sloppy when I outlined all that needed to be done.

When you have difficulties, challenges or problems in life, what are you going to do?  There are a number of posts here and elsewhere on the net to assist you through this rough spot, but what about next time?  That’s really what this saying is about.  Not just getting past the problem, that’s just patching a leak.  You’ve gotta dig deep and pull it together.  Find the source of the problem and get to work fixing it.

Finding the source will involve some introspection.  It’s easy to say you got a ticket because the Police Officer was there, and it’s his fault that you got the ticket.  I hope I picked an example that was sufficiently obvious.  No, it’s not their fault, it’s your fault for not obeying the limits.  That’s what you have to learn about life, the only thing you can truly change is yourself.  You can try to influence others, but you can only change you, no one else.

Once you have an idea as to what within you is deficient, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas as to how to improve that aspect of your life.  If you keep missing aspects of a project, you will probably need to apply a bit more patience and thoroughness in the planning stage.  If you keep getting tickets, you need to determine why you are in such a hurry.  Or determine what belief you have that allows you to think you can either handle the greater speed, or to get away with speeding.

Now that you have an idea as to what is wrong and why, it’s time to brainstorm all the different ways you can improve yourself, to master this weakness.  Then pick the most promising path, and create a plan with a strategy to accomplish the plan and the tactics to use to implement the strategy.  Be sure to remember to use courage and intelligence to help you keep on the path.

The final step is to be strong.  You have a plan, now it’s time to get busy.  Take the first step immediately.  Then the next, and the next.  Strength, courage, commitment, stick-to-it-iv-ness or whatever you want to call it, that’s what is needed.  You are strengthening yourself, improving yourself, overcoming a weakness.  That’s going to take a little time and a constant effort, to come to fruition.  Are you worth it?  That was a rhetorical question, by the way, of course you are!

If you’ve been following along and working a specific ‘problem’, you should now be ready to go.  What is your first step?

From: Twitter, DavidRoads
confirmed at: lots of posts on twitter, and my own ears, years ago – is that good enough?  8)

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Compassion belongs to every…

Compassion belongs to every sphere of activity, including, of course, the workplace.Dalai Lama

What does that mean?
To me, it means that there is room for compassion in all aspects of our lives.  Our work life is no different from any other aspect of our lives.  Compassion belongs in us when we are at work, at play, with family, with friends, with groups, with strangers, and even with those we disagree with.  Even, if I might dare to say so, with those whom we might label as enemies.  Note that compassion does not require us to give in, or to roll over and let others have their way while we sacrifice ourselves and our values.  But it does mean we have to be tolerant, patient and forgive them for their (in our eyes and values) their shortcomings or transgressions.

Why is compassion important?
When I think of compassion, I see it as the main component of happiness.  And to me, happiness consists, among other things, of tolerance, patience and forgiveness.  Think of it this way, can you be happy and intolerant?  Can you be happy and impatient?  Can you be happy while holding a grudge?  I know that I cannot be happy and any of those three things simultaneously.  I may find such emotion that I temporarily forget that I’m mad at someone, and in that moment of distraction, be happy.  But happiness does not mix well with intolerance, impatience and grudges.  Can you think of a time when you were happy and mad at the same time? (no mother-in-law driving your new car off a cliff jokes, please)

Next, can you call yourself compassionate if you harbor intolerance in your soul?  Can you call yourself compassionate if you are in such a hurry that you cannot make room in your mind or in your heart for the needs of another that might have a more urgent need?  Can you call yourself compassionate while you harbor ill will or anger towards another person or group of people?  I know that I would not call myself compassionate when any of those three major aspects of compassion were not in their proper place.  Do understand that I, like most people, strive to attain this perfection, and like most, I fall short.  Frequently.  But I get back up and, after reflecting on my reasons for failure, embark to find a different way to fail next time. 8)

Where can I apply this in my life?
Let’s consider the three aspects I outlined in the prior section.  Then let’s look at what we can to to attempt to make these aspects more prominent in our lives.

Tolerance – I got an interesting lesson in tolerance while in college.  Where I was living, some of us, myself included, were late night types.  Others, nearly even with us in numbers, were early morning types.  For a while there was a war.  The late night types would live it up until two or three in the morning, and then go to bed.  The early morning types would then bang on the doors and make noise at four or five in the morning, then clean out the refrigerator of all the good food, and drink most of the coffee.  This went on for a while, and eventually, when the testosterone levels subsided, things were hashed out, and a quiet time was respected fairly evenly by both sides of the dispute.

What this means is that you won’t always agree with everyone, so it is important to respect their right to have a different opinion.  That doesn’t mean you have to agree with it, nor do you have to let them have their way, you simply understand that they see the world differently.

Patience – I’ll go back to my usual point of frustration: slow, incompetent or idiotic drivers.  I know, very judgmental words, which make it even harder to feel compassion, but there it is.  I try to follow the rules of the road, perhaps with a bit of an exception on posted speed limits.  However, I have difficulty being patient with people driving slowly in the fast lane, refusing to yield right of way to faster vehicles.  I also have difficulty being patient with people who cannot hold their lane (stay in between the lines, as it were).  Those are even harder to be patient with because their incompetence could well cause an accident.

What I try to do in these situations is to relax and let go of the frustration.  Typically, I take a deep breath and imagine pushing all my frustration out towards them on a column of forcefully discharged air.  I just have to be careful not to hyperventilate.  You may find other visualizations or actions help you better deal with the need for patience.  Experiment and find what works for you.

Forgiveness – I learned a great lesson at my High School’s 10th reunion.  A guy who had been a real jerk all through High School came up to me and apologized.  He said he was sorry for how he had acted towards me all those years ago, and even bought me a drink.  I was floored, flabbergasted and flummoxed.  I didn’t know what to say, other than to babble about how it was nice of him to say that.  I hadn’t prepared for such a situation and really didn’t know what to do or say.

Now, I am better prepared, and would be able to specifically state my forgiveness, although I think he got the idea.  Now, I try to forgive people proactively.  I try to forgive them before they ask for forgiveness.  Many times, they didn’t have the courage to ask for forgiveness, and my taking the first step made both our lives better.  Other times, they were real jerks and took it as a sign of weakness.  Most eventually learned from their mistakes, or avoided me.  In either case, I forgave them, even if they weren’t around to hear it.  I didn’t need the baggage, and I imagine you don’t either.  Give forgiveness freely to any an all.  It really doesn’t matter what they think, does it?  What matters is that you relieve yourself of their baggage and move on with your life.  Who do you want to forgive?

Hopefully you have had a chance to consider the three major components (by my reckoning), you can see how they contribute to both your happiness and your ability to be compassionate to others.  At home, at work, or at play (or anywhere else, for that matter), you can be compassionate.  Start by tolerating your little foibles,  being patient with yourself and your issues, and forgive yourself for your personal shortcomings.  Work on improving yourself, but be sure to be compassionate as well.

From: Twitter, @DalaiLama
confirmed at: uh, dude?  it’s from his own twitter feed! 8)

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The expression…

The expression a woman wears on her face is far more important than the clothes she wears on her back.Dale Carnegie

What does that mean?
Please remember that this was written in a different age.  Bringing it into the modern era, it would more accurately read “The expression a person wears on their face is far more important than the clothes they wear on their back.”  This applies to all people, male and female, and that is how I will address it in this post.

This speaks to me about attitude, and what kind of attitude you have.  A smiling person, a business-like person in jeans and a t-shirt make a better impression on me than someone who is mad at the world, but wearing a suit.  What do you think is more important, the person and their attitude or the clothes on their back?  And as the eyes are the window to the soul, so the expression on your face is a window on your attitude.

Why is attitude important?
As was postulated in the paragraph above, the attitude is far more important than the clothes the person is wearing.  Take a fast food joint (please!).  They all dress the same, yet I imagine you have placed your order with one person, and noticed the person taking orders in the next line over has a noticeably different attitude.  That’s what this saying is all about.  It doesn’t matter if they’re male or female.  Nor does age, race or anything else really matter as much as their attitude.

If your attitude stinks, so will your $2000 suit or dress.  Don’t be the person everyone snickers at because they’re well dressed, but look like they just bit into something awful tasting, sour or otherwise unpleasant.  A nasty attitude results in a nasty face.  Conversely, the humblest of clothes can be radiant if the person in them has a great attitude, and wears that attitude on their face.

Where can I apply this in my life?
I would most likely start with conscious incompetence.  Know that you don’t know how to do it.  Become aware of when you are doing it wrong, when your attitude isn’t proper, isn’t as good as it should be.  Try to be observant of when you are getting feedback from others that your attitude isn’t appropriate, or isn’t appreciated.

Once you have started noticing when your attitude stinks, you can take action (after the fact) to correct the attitude, and therefore the look.  This is conscious competence, knowing what to do, and being able to do it when you notice that you aren’t putting your best face forward.

How do you change your attitude?  To start with, just find a more resourceful attitude, or soften the present one at least a little bit.  If you are furious at someone, try to tone it down to just mad, then just a little mad, then miffed, then slightly upset.  If you’re having trouble, consider your internal dialog.  What are you telling yourself about the incident that messed up your attitude?  Are you using magnifying words like “betrayed me” or “stabbed me in the back”?  How different would your attitude be if instead you said “it’s a shame they did that, they must not have understood what I said”?  While it may sound naive, remember that your attitude is a choice.  Do you really want to give others the power to ruin your day?  I know that I don’t.

If you don’t find anything about the attitude in your internal dialog, consider what images, sounds or other sensory impressions you have when you think about the person who made you furious.  If it’s an image, take away the color, then smear the resulting black and white image until it’s all gray.  Or fade all the colors to water colors, then all to a soothing shade of pastel.  If it’s a movie, turn it into a comic strip, with a frame for each key event.  Then reduce the number of frames until you’re down to one.  Then fade that image until there is nothing left but a smudge.  If it’s a sound, muffle it until it no longer is understandable.  If it’s a smell, think of something which has an aroma you like and picture it in your mind, getting bigger and brighter and better smelling, until the old smell is gone.  I think you see the pattern.  Minimize that which hurts your attitude, and maximize the things that support a good attitude.

After you have been doing the conscious competence for a while, some of it will become automatic, become a habit you do without thinking.  Welcome to unconscious competence!  Life just got easier.  This will first show up in situations where the stimulus of your bad attitude happens the same way frequently.  I used to arrive at work mad, pissed off and sometimes even furious at the incompetent idiot drivers in this town!  Slowly I changed the dialog, and imagined that they were just too stupid to know better, or in a real hurry, and relaxed a little bit on the drive in.  It did wonders for my attitude, and I’d like to imagine my already wonderful countenance was even more wonderful to gaze on.  8)

As you work your way though all the pains and irritations of life, you have to make a choice as to how you choose to respond to these events.  I’ve been called nasty names, but you should see the look on their faces when my reply, instead of being an insult back, is “I’m sorry you feel that way.” and walking away.  I choose to not let the irritations get to me.  Your attitude is a choice, and the choice you make will influence your day, your mind and your body.  Make it a good choice.

As the eyes are the window to the soul, so the expression on your face is a window on your attitude.  So unless you have a world class poker face, plan on having a good attitude, regardless of what you are wearing.  And remember, a little smile can go a long way!

From: Twitter, @FamousWomen
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dalecarneg386932.html

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You’re never a loser until…

You’re never a loser until you quit trying.Mike Ditka

What does that mean?
To me, it says that as long as you are trying there is hope.  Once you quit, it’s over.  Said another way, “If you will not advocate for yourself, whom will?”  If you aren’t trying, working and planning to accomplish something, you have quit advocating for yourself, you have given up.  Once you do that, loss is inevitable.

Why is perseverance important?
Like Iron Mike says, as long as you’re trying, you have a chance.  Perseverance is the skill of getting back up each time you’re knocked down.  If you’ve played any football (which Mike Ditka played, as well as having coached), you’re used to getting knocked down.  Practically every play, you spit out the grass, and stand back up.  Over and over again.  For hours on end.  Eventually, it becomes automatic.  As soon as you hit the ground, you simply stand back up.  Once you reach that place, it’s a different game.  You stop talking about how much you hurt, and look forward to the next play, if only to even the score.

Where can I apply this in my life?
There are multiple ways to approach this.  Each is a part of the whole. You may be really good at one of these things, but not so much so with some of the others.  Work on becoming a little more balanced.  And don’t forget to use your own personal intuition and experience to guide you in your pursuit of the practice of perseverance.

Practice having an indomitable spirit, to always have a can-do attitude, ready to bounce back from any situation.  This skill, so far as I have understood and experienced it, can only be honed by adversity.  It is a matter of mental toughness and a willingness to do it again and again (using intelligence and courage) until you find a way over, under or through the difficulty.

You already do it, to some extent.  When you’re headed somewhere, and there is a road block (construction, accident, volume of traffic), you find another way around.  Unless you decide it’s not worth it and just turn around and go home.  Another is waiting in line.  On occasion, time pressure requires us to leave, but most of the time we wait.  We don’t have to enjoy it, but we don’t give up (again, usually – extraordinary circumstances notwithstanding).

Work on planning for alternatives, for as surely as night follows day, it’s not going to go according to plan.  As an unabashed Anal-Retentive, I tend to plan a project in excruciating detail.  I often plan out alternative branches, should some of the more obvious difficult sections not go according to plan.  It saves a lot of aggravation later, but I have a minimum level of certainty I must achieve before I’m ready to move forward.

To practice, I would at least outline anything that isn’t trivial.  Then look for places where things could go wrong, and try to come up with an alternate path or two, so that if things do get sideways, you have already put some thought into other possible paths forward.  Rather than plan out every possible branch, others prefer to go with the flow.  Which brings us to the next aspect of perseverance.

Work on flexibility, to be able to change with the situation.  This differs from planning, in that in planning, you prepare for disruptions.  In flexibility, you react smoothly to disruptions.  The best way I have found to practice this, and become better, is to have children.  Things change so rapidly that it can be difficult to plan anything (in the classical sense of planning).  I have learned to make an outline for the day, and fill in as we go, changing, adapting and modifying as the day progresses.

For those without children,  you might try day trips with a group of friends, and plan the day as a series of events (ball game in the afternoon, BBQ in the back yard for dinner, hitting bars/clubs/movies/etc after that).  Then just go with the flow.  Vacations are also a way to work on flexibility.  My mom used to plan the vacation in 15 min increments (not really but it felt that way).  It worked for her, later for her & dad, but with two rambunctious boys, not so much.  Vacations tend to be about one of two things: a race to see all the sights or a relaxing series of days, in which sights are seen.  One sounds a little more flexible, just from the description, right?

That’s the tip of the iceberg.  Each of these three broad categories unfolds like a flower into hundreds of petals.  And you may divide the problem of perseverance in a different manner, resulting in different names and even a different number of topics.  The point is to not give up.  Try and try again (with the occasional pause to reconnoiter, reflect, re-plan).  And that Yoda guy, forget him and his silly quotes!  He’s just a puppet!  8)

From: Twitter, @Inspired_Ones
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mikeditka357629.html

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Don’t cheat the world of…

Don’t cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.Steven Pressfield

What does that mean?
This is an admonition to do your best.  I believe that everyone is here because there is one thing that only they can do.  Many people give up before they find that special thing.  I’m still looking for it.  Some have found it.  But keep at it and eventually, you will find out what it is, what you are here to contribute.

Why is contribution important?
Contribution’s root word, contribute, is defined by thefreedictionary.com as “To give or supply in common with others; give to a common fund or for a common purpose.” and “To help bring about a result; act as a factor.”

So, what do you contribute to the common purpose of a group or society?  How do you act to help others or improve their lives?  Some donate time, others donate money.  Some donate skills, others donate knowledge.  But somehow, most of us contribute something, even if it is just doing what is right, even when we think no one is watching.

What would life be like without people contributing to the world?  What would life be like if Thomas Edison had decided to be a farmer?  No doubt he would have come up with some very impressive farm machinery, but how much longer would it have been before we got the light-bulb?  And the antagonism between he and the team of George Westinghouse and Nichola Tesla gave rise to many of the innovations in electricity, both AC and DC, greatly contributing to what can be called the Era of Electricity.

You might not think your contribution is going to amount to all that much, but many people don’t know that Edison was home schooled by his mom.  What do you think of her contribution now?  Or that of any teacher, mentor, friend or associate?  I don’t think you have to move the world any great distance by yourself to be a contributor.  You just have to move it a little.

Where can I apply this in my life?
While going national, or even international, is always an option, most of us don’t have a way of making that sized splash.  Instead, I would recommend starting your contributions at home, in the neighborhood and in your city, town or municipality.

What can you do?  What are you good at, and what do you like to do?  If you like to read, and like kids, volunteer at the local library to read to children after school or on the weekends.  Even if it’s just for a half hour once a week, they would love to have you and you can contribute to a child’s education.

What if you like animals?  Is there a shelter nearby?  They rarely have the staff they need and are always looking for people who can help out.  You might start by contributing in the waste management department, but every little bit helps.  You might also look into vets who might need someone to help walk dogs or do other simple things around the office.  You still get to see some of the ‘patients’ and have some fun.  And the contribution is even more subtle here, as you help the animal, and the animal helps other people.  And don’t forget the smaller and larger pets.  If you are good with birds, hamsters or reptiles, you might be able to help people select a creature that will best suit their needs and lifestyle, either as a pet store employee, or at a petting zoo or something similar.

What if you have some extra money you want to donate to a worthy cause?  First you’re going to need to make a list of candidate causes, then do some research.  I recently found out that one of the organizations I used to support was passing quite a bit of money on to an organization I most definitely did not support.  So my money now goes to other groups that support the same cause, but invest my dollars in a manner more to my liking.

What if you’re short on money, but have some free time?  This is an open-field problem, as there are practically a zillion different organizations looking for helpers.  Schools, public support groups, private support groups, religious groups, non-religious groups, …  The list could go on for far longer than you are likely to read.

If all else fails, ask other people what they do.  Ask what causes they support, because you are looking to help, but don’t know where to go.  That’s how I got hooked up with Habitat for Humanity, and with the local food bank.

Keep looking, you can contribute.  I focused mostly on non-work related things to do to contribute, but even at your job, you can contribute.  You probably know a lot more about what goes on than most of the people who come to see you, contribute with your wisdom and knowledge.  Sometimes, you can be a huge help just by listening.  And thank you for listening (with your eyes, analogy fail!) to me today.

From: Twitter, @Inspire_Us
confirmed at: http://www.joyofquotes.com/authenticity_quotes.html

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There is nothing as remarkable as…

There is nothing as remarkable as learning how to think better. – Anonymous

What does that mean?
When one learns how to think better, one begins to see the world in a different light.  Solutions become easier, and better.  They are more thorough, more robust and more practical.  Better thinking leads to a better quality of life for you and for everyone else.

Why is thinking important?
Yesterday, we discussed knowledge as an investment.  Now let’s look at how to use that knowledge, how to think better.  Let’s not confuse intuition with logic.  Both are required to think quickly and clearly, but most people tend to focus on one or the other.

Logic is defined by thefreedictionary.com as “The study of the principles of reasoning…”  This is where engineers and computer geeks (and many others) tend to live, going from fact to fact until they reach a conclusion.  To some, it can be dry, tedious and boring.  To others, it’s as interesting as a car chase in a movie (presuming you find those very interesting).  However, by itself, it can be limiting.  It is, pretty much by definition, the personification of “inside the box.”  If there is a missing fact, you don’t reach the conclusion, or have to go quite a bit out of your way to get there.  It’s vital, but not stand alone.  It is why computers still loose to Chess Masters.

Intuition is defined by thefreedictionary.com as “The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition” and “A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.”  Without use of logic.  Intuition is the flip side of the ‘thinking’ coin.  Many groups of people fall into this category.  They leap from premise to conclusion, guided by experience, instinct, gut feelings or whatever seems to reach out to them.  Often this results in “outside the box” conclusions, methods and results.  It also will tend to perplex the logic oriented people.  The logic types will ask for supporting facts and get a shrug as a response.  This can cause quite a bit of tension between people who live almost entirely in one camp or the other.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Improving the logical approach is one I am quite familiar with (being both an engineer and a computer geek, as well as a chess player), so we’ll start there.  Most people can do simple “if X then Y otherwise Z” type logical constructs.  Most can also do what the computer types often call a case statement, like a location list for a babysitter to contact you should an emergency occur – restaurant from 6-7, movie from 7-9, desert from 9-10.  Depending on the time, the sitter knows where to call.

Thinking beyond square one is a more difficult task.  Sometimes you see kids do something that seems fairly logical at first, but you realize there are implications to their ‘solution.’  As an example, they use too much toilet paper.  Their solution is often to simply close the lid, out of sight, out of mind.  Kind of funny when a kid does it, not so much so when an adult does it.  Even less so when elected officials from the local school board to the Congress Critters in Washington DC do something as brain dead.

Next time you are confronted with a problem, after you find a candidate solution, take a step back and examine your solution in your mind.  How does this change things?  What happens next?

As an example, Las Vegas has a water problem, as do many cities in the Desert South West.  They drilled for water, over pumped the wells and caused subsidence (where the ground sinks, in some places over 6 feet) when the emptied aquifers collapsed. This wasn’t rocket science, and this wasn’t the first place it ever happened.  It’s a known cause and effect problem.  So their next solution was to pump water from Lake Mead.  Guess what – there’s a problem with that, as well.  Some of the 130′ drop in the water level of Lake Mead is due to an ongoing drought, but a good portion is being sucked up by Las Vegas.  They should be able to figure out how much water goes into the lake, how much leaves the lake, and what is ‘left over’ for them to use.  But they didn’t think that far ahead.  Now, just to be able to continue to drain Lake Mead, they need to drill new siphons to be able to provide water.  I wonder what they’re going to do when they finally realize that this is not a sustainable strategy?

Another example would be the Gulf Oil Spill.  The chain of events leading to the disaster was a boondoggle in itself, but the fact that no one figured out that the dispersing agents were going to make as big a mess (some say even bigger mess) than the oil should have been well known from prior uses at other spill sites.  They (apparently) saw a problem, and grabbed the quickest, easiest, cheapest or simplest (not sure what their selection criterion was) and implemented it without (it would appear) thinking past square one.

Next, let’s look at intuitive thinking.  Did you ever just ‘know’ the answer?  Then had someone ask you how you knew the answer and been unable to say how?  Some of you are saying yes, and others are saying no.  For those who haven’t, you should probably go out on a limb a bit more often.  Brainstorming is a form of free association, sometimes associated with intuitive thinking, so that might be a place to start trying.  Practice makes perfect, so you might want to spend ten to fifteen minutes brainstorming about solutions to whatever difficulties you had to deal with today.  Even if you have already dealt with them, come up with a couple other ways to deal with the situation.

Another exercise in intuitive thinking is what I call the ‘two cushion shot,’ named after a type of pool shot that involves striking bumpers, instead of pocketing the ball directly.  Think of something, then think of something the first thing reminds you of, then think of something the second thing reminds you of.  You are now on the third thing you thought of, by logical means.  As you practice, you will eventually get to the point where you won’t even consciously think of the intermediate thing and go straight from first to third.  As an example, you see a red light, which reminds you of the time you got a traffic ticket, which reminds you of doughnuts.  Even there, I skipped a step, jumping completely over the Police Officer, right?  Sorry for the stereotype, but it was the first thing that came to mind, and that’s the point of the exercise, isn’t it?

Finally, you might want to pull the two together, and take the possible solutions you brainstormed, and think the best two or three out a couple steps.  If I did this solution, how will it change not just the problem, but the system where it operates?  Are there secondary effects (unintended consequences), and how significant are they?

As you get used to doing this kind of thinking, your solutions to problems will become better, as you will have used both types of thinking, and discarded the less effective and counterproductive responses before you even opened your mouth.  And that is remarkable.

From: Twitter, @AR_Foundation
confirmed at : a bunch of sites attribute it to anonymous, but most are small sites.  One attributed it to “Aristole” which I believe to be a typo for Aristotle.

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An investment in knowledge…

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.Benjamin Franklin

What does that mean?
The saying is pretty straight forward.  If you want to get a good return on yourself, your time, your effort and your money, invest in yourself, specifically, in your knowledge.  Remember, Ben was big on self-education.  He considered it to be so important that he wrote books full of witty sayings and established folklore, to help spread knowledge as far and wide as he possibly could (for a nominal fee, of course).  He formed the first public lending library in the United States, and was an avid reader, experimenter and all around curious person.  To me, this is just stating a good portion of his life’s work.

Why is knowledge important?
I don’t know.  But seriously, Ben is talking about practical knowledge in most cases.  His inventive side probably invested in some fairly abstract knowledge, but for the most part, he seemed to be, first and foremost, about the practical.  When to plow, when to plant, when to harvest, when to get up and go to bed.  The things you needed to know.

Without knowledge, what do you know?  Facts are the basis of what we use to make judgements and decisions.  If you wanted to buy something, you could just buy it on impulse, and then regret it later (anyone with kids knows this one all too well).  Or you could do your research and find out that others bought it and rated it on the net as a waste of money, perhaps recommending a better product.  Armed with this knowledge, you can make a more knowledgeable decision, resulting on a better return on your investment.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Let’s look at a couple of different places we can use this.  First, do you know what you want to do with your life?  If you already know, then you’re half way there.  If not, you might want to brainstorm some ideas, then write down some of them.  If you’re having problems doing this, see these posts on exceptionalism and passion for help finding things you might want to do with your life).

What hobbies would you like to pursue?  Brainstorm some ideas and write them down.  Any skills you would like to learn or improve? Time for more brainstorming.  How about some games you would like to learn?  Languages?  Places of interest you’d like to know more about (perhaps part of planning a vacation visit)? Anything you are interested in, but lack familiarity with, could be on this list.  Subatomic particle physics (the Large Hadron Collider had been making news off and on for the last few years)?  Kind of quirky, but still a valid topic to become more familiar with.  The plan is to get some background on yourself, some ideas on what you want to know more about, so that we can proceed in the quest of knowledge.  Now that we have some targets, let’s move on to the investment in knowledge.

Because you are reading this, I am going to presume you have some access to the wild and wacky World Wide Web.  Even if you’re on a phone, you can still use search engines and tap into sites like wikipedia.org, as well as other subject matter sites.  This kind of research is fairly straight forward, plug in your words and click on “search” and become buried in possibilities.  Similar results can be achieved at most public libraries.  Some of the smaller libraries might not have the book you want in stock, but it is likely that they can get it through an inter-library loan.  That just means it’ll take a couple of days for the book to get there, and the fines will be stiffer if you keep it too long.  This might also happen if the topic is a bit out of the main stream of public library fare.  Also, most libraries have internet access, so if you’re having trouble finding stuff, the library is likely to have someone there to help you out both on searching the library and searching the web.

Where else can I get knowledge, I mean, it’s hard to learn how to play tennis online or from a book!  Great point.  Many communities have, either through the Parks and Recreation or through the local Community Colleges, athletic programs for beginners wishing to learn a sport.  Some even have classes for those returning to a sport, who need to brush up or are looking to move their game to the next level.

Some people like to build things.  If this is what you wish to do as a profession, you will need to look into the local trades and their schools (carpenters, masons, etc).  They will fill you with a world of knowledge.  If it’s just as a hobby, perhaps a mentor, community group, or an evening or weekend class at a trade school or the local Community College will suffice.  I learned carpentry from a Master (grandpa), and welding from some car club buddies.  Quite a lot can be done with some simple skills.

Perhaps you want to know more about crafts.  The same sources apply.  Friends, community groups, books, internet, library or classes.  Same with self improvement, such as exercising, yoga, pilates, eating, cooking, gardening, arts (performing and otherwise)… The list is practically endless!

If you are having problems with which you need assistance, there are community groups dedicated to helping people with any number of difficulties.  From addictions to parent’s night out groups, and everything in-between, there are people out there with knowledge that they are willing to share, to help make your life better.  They are investing in you by teaching, you are investing in yourself by learning.  Everyone wins, which to me is the best kind of transaction!

In each of the cases above, you have invested in yourself, and invested in knowledge.  Some of it may have made you smarter, others may have made you better at a skill, still others have brought pleasure, pride or comfort or perhaps more than one of the above.  The payout depends on what you were looking to gain, but if you followed the plan, and learned something, you have made a good investment.

Now go through the lists you made earlier in this post and select a few things you wish to know more about, and put together a quick plan – where are you going to get the knowledge from?  Who, How, When, Where (you should already know What and Why).  I would suggest you write them in pencil, as this will be a dynamic process.  As you find out more, you may change direction or find something else even more fascinating.  Welcome to the world of a Life Long Learner.

And the interest?  It’s the payout when you’re done.  What did you get out of it?  Knowledge, is more difficult to lose than a monetary investment.  And unlike most monetary investments, knowledge will continue to pay interest for the rest of your life.  Yeah, piano lessons as a kid were not much fun, and I never played in a rock band, but it’s nice to relax with a piano and just noodle around, or play a lullaby to a cranky baby.

From: Twitter, undocumented feed (my bad)
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/benjaminfr141119.html

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