Giving Thanks

Every year in America we stop for a day fill our bellys full of food and give thanks. As my friend Bob said this is the one holiday that is not based on a war, someones death, or a religious event. It is truely a day to sit back and be thankful for what you have. But why show thanks on one day, why not be thankful year round? Another friend always said a day living is so much better than the alternative. How true is that! So sit down enjoy the feast on Thanksgiving but remember live is short, life is precious, and the year is too long to be thankful for just one day.

Top 20

If you are in business are went to school and studied business then you have most likely have heard of Pareto's Law. This law basically states that you get 80%of your reward from 20% of your activity. This law is true in everything, business, and in life. For example in sales you will get most of your income/sales from 20% of your clients. Can we utilize this law in everything that we do? Absolutely we can! Just think about it if you focus 100% on the top 20% we can see an 80% return! And we won’t have to worry about the other 80%.




First make a list of what is important to you

Then rank the list from most important to least important

Then draw a line separating the top 20% from the lower 80%

Everything above the line should get 100% of your attention, effort, and focus.

The other 80% will take care of its self.





Following Pareto's Law and the above simple steps will help you in all your endeavors regardless of what they are.



So now go out and focus on the top 20!

Stretching your mind

We all know that we should get a proper stretch in on our muscles before we do any strenuous activity, but what about for our minds? Have you ever though about stretching your mind, creating flexibility with in your cerebellum so your mind can stretch and mold to the problems that need attention? How can you stretch your mind so that it can be flexible? Well I am not a neurologist, but I do believe you can easily stretch your mind by doing one simple task about 15 to 20 minutes a day, READ! Reading will provide your mind with stimulation as well as information that will enable your mind to grow. So if you are in highly problematic situations the simple task of reading will stretch your mind so you will be more flexible. So go to the bookstore, library, or your old stash of unread books and READ!

Moving

Moving is a part of life that will continue to happen, moving is almost as guaranteed as death, taxes, and change. We are going to be moving, either forward or backwards. We move from one location to another, from one job to another, and from one relationship to another. If we know in advance that we will be moving (and we all will move) what can we do to prepare for the move?
First, know what is important to you; keep what is and leave what is not
Second, know why you are moving; knowing why you are going in a specific direction will help you get there faster and leave quicker!
Third, leave no regrets; once you move MOVE! don't worry about what you left or start thinking about what could of or what should of. Move forward and grow better!

These three steps alone will help you in any moving situation, now get out and MOVE!

Protection

With the economy where it is at, unemployment inching higher daily, and I am sure individual stress is getting higher, what can we do to protect ourselves. There are several things one can do, first eat right, doctors and nutritionists have been telling us for years that the right foods will help lower our stress levels. next exercise, working out is a great way to release the tension and build stamina to help fight off stress in the future. Another way is to be financially prepared, Dave Ramsey and other financial experts say you need at least 3 months of your expenses in cash, locked up and saved away in case of big emergencies. I recommend more than 3 months. Why do this, well if you know you have cash to protect yourself in case of emergencies the big emergencies are not as big anymore. For instance a few weeks ago one of my wife's tires blew out, we had to replace it, the new tire cost $145.00. if we could drive on three wheels i would but we had to buy the tire, thankfully we have an emergency fund and this unexpected expenses did not cause any stress. We knew where to get the money and we kept moving forward with out skipping a beat. I am sure there are other was to relieve stress or avoid it all together, but i highly recommend the emergency fund in help elevate the stress caused from monetary expenses!

Death

This past weekend we said our finally goodbyes to one of my uncles. At the ceremonies I started to think, what is death and what is it all about. In life some believe it is the end, while others believe it is the beginning. I am with the latter; I believe death is a beginning of something new, something better. The same is true in relationships, work life, projects, everything that has an end. I know in my life there are some projects that died, they dies because the time was not right, the money was not there, or the project just was not that good, but the death of the project brought a new project, new life, that was bigger, better, and money was available for it. So when I look at death, I am not disappointed or upset, I am happy and excited because I know the death brings new life that is bigger and better than the one before it!

Recipe for Success

Last week i was baking a cake and I started to think more and more about the secrets to success. The older we get and the wiser we become we start to realize that success is not a secret it is a recipe that needs to be followed exactly. Just like baking a cake you need the right ingredients and you have to follow directions exactly. You first need to know what the finish product will be, then we need to determine what ingredients we need, thirdly we need to know the order, and finally we need to know the cooking time. For a cake the above is easy it is written down for us in a cookbook or on a box with most of the ingredients placed in their. In life it is not as easy. The ingredients that we will need might be education, skills, the acquaintance of certain people, and time. Just like our cake we must have a vision of what we want, have the proper ingredients, and spend the required time to achieve our individual success! Find your cake and in this case you can eat it too!