Category: Accomplishments

Being Unpredictable

Being there, and consistency is fundamental to your growth. When people count on you, it is a good feeling. And yet, a little unpredictability is always a good thing. Unpredictability allows you to be you.

If you are too predictable, people start to feel that they know you. When they start to become complacent in knowing you, some may think they own you. Others begin to believe that they know your strengths and limitations. They feel they know what buttons to push, and what the results will be every time.

It’s nice to feel counted upon. It’s a little bit harder when others think they push one of your buttons and you will perform on cue. This is why I believe a little unpredictability is a good thing.

Many people think of unpredictability as the inability to be counted upon. Will or won’t the person show up? Will the report get done on time? Can the group rely on this person? This is one view of unpredictability. Unfortunately, it is two-dimensional in his thinking. There are more avenues to this, and much better ideas involved.

The next time that you have a task given to you by someone who thinks they know you, ignite your mental prowess and blow past their expectations. Just dazzle them with work far above their highest aspirations. And leave them wondering, “Wow, where did that come from?”

You won’t only impress others, you will impress yourself. I always find something special when I impress myself.

Thank you for being with me today, I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Because We Can

If the future were left to those who believed the status quo was the best that we could be, we would never evolve to find our full potential.

It’s not the sane and the rational who move us to new abilities. It is those who refuse to accept anything less, those who do not know it cannot be done, and the sheer willpower of the stubborn who declined to be defeated.

You have heard me state before, and it is true that up until 1900 knowledge doubled about every hundred years. Today it doubles roughly every 13 months. Except for some newer technologies. Nanotechnology and a few others are still doubling every 2 to 3 years. From our healthcare systems to our space programs, to our better understanding of our world, and even to the better understanding of each other, our lives are improved through the expedited growth we are enjoying in knowledge.

This is not the time to dig in heels and claim we have to slow down just because we don’t know or understand. Now is the time, like none other since the Elizabethan era, when we should learn everything we can, do everything we can, and find ways to help everyone we can. Why do we do this? Because we can, and now we are allowed to grow and be part of the solution like no other time in history.

For millennia, governments have feared change. Even our own government wanted to keep items such as breaking the sound barrier out of the news and ventures into space limited to the government people charged with doing so. Now government partners with the private sector to fulfill our future in not only spacecraft and space travel, but also a whole host of other initiatives which used to be the government’s domain.

This incredible resurgence and growth in knowledge are fueled in large part by significant companies once again willing to perform research to first discover and build the items that will then, at a later date, give them monetary success. The advantages we gave up when we curtailed our willingness to invest in unknown research are slowly coming back. We are not the smartest nation. We are not the best-educated nation. We are not the healthiest nation. Yet, hopefully, we are the nation back on the path and going back to where we’ve been before.

 

Smile

Smile often.

Laugh even more.

Try always.

A win is always linked to a try.  A loss is just the cost of learning something new.  And, a mistake only takes place if it’s the second time you’ve done it. One step on the ladder, no matter how small, is a Win.  Reaching the top is nothing compared to staying there. You can only go higher if you bring everyone else along. If you rise on the backs of others, they are actually the winners. If you push a person up the ladder of success, you are winning…   … and you’re doing it wrong.

It is easier to lead than you have ever imagined. Don’t believe me? Just try pushing a rope.

Leaders are those who believe it is possible. Leading others starts with belief. Starting each attempt you have with belief. Then take each ending, looking for the next beginning…   …With BELIEF.

The food of the soul is laughter.

Love always starts with self. Don’t worry about the faults of others, start with the person in the mirror. If you can’t tell the difference between work and fun, you’re doing it right. The trip to moving in a positive direction is to move. Plans are maps you follow in your life.

JOY is a three-letter word.

HOPE is a four-letter word.

FAITH is a five – letter word.

BELIEF is a six – letter word.

 We can continue to count all day or, we can put them into action.

 

 

New Course Coming in February

I have a new four-week course on the market. It is designed to help veterans and others map their goals in life and the milestones to obtain those goals.

The course comes with two coaching calls, weekly live sessions which are also recorded and some research or other homework for you between classes. If you cannot be there, you can watch the replay. The course also has a workbook and handouts.

The best part is that the course is a pilot course. This means I can adjust the courses we go to meet your needs. Also, your inputs will help to make the course better for those who take the course in the future. This course would normally cost $997. Because this course is a pilot, I am offering it to 20 People for $97. Also, if you have a spouse or significant other, they get to come for free if they wish.

My goal is to help you have better knowledge of where you want to go and what you want to do. This knowledge will save you somewhere between $5000 and $75,000 throughout your life by understanding what you would like, making fewer mistakes, which means you have less backtracking to do.

If you know someone else who could benefit from this type of a course, please share this with them.

Interested or know someone who may be? Please write me mikebe@reveille.rocks. I would be very interested in helping you or those you suggest for this course.

The course will start on February 7, 2018, and run for just over an hour each Wednesday evening for 4 weeks.

We are once again at the end of a week with no idea where the first days went.  This seems to be a ritual with me.  I am not sure why.  I live near the Air Force Academy, and I guess the cadets up there must be rubbing off on me.

At the Academy, the cadets look at a week as a day.  Monday is the new morning, Wednesday is lunchtime and Friday is the end of the day.  For young people who have a lot to do and little free time to waste, I guess this makes sense.

I may have to run my projects by the week and, like the Academy, cadets look at each week as a day.  It might make the week more interesting.  It would help to organize and expedite a project. And it would make each section of the week more memorable.

 

Just a thought.  Thanks for listening.

Mountains and Molehills

Hi there!

Did you sit down and consider the questions from yesterday? Did you write something down?

I saw a saying that goes you can be anything you want to be. A Variation on the saying is that you can do anything you want to do. Another variation is you can go wherever you want to go in life.

For some people, those things appear to be just lip service. They point at obstacles, and hindrances, and the results of poor decisions because no one to give them a chance. At the same time, there are people whose mountain of concerns make other people’s look like molehills, and yet they succeed.

Many people look at those who succeed and say, “Sure, but there they are outliers.” My thought on that is, “Yeah, so?”

You can do whatever it is you set your mind to. And, the second part of that? You have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed.

We will talk about what that looks like tomorrow.

A Few Questions To Think On

Last week we covered habits and systems. If you have the right systems inform the right habits to use them life gets a little easier. Without the right systems and the right habits, life gets tougher.

To understand what we need to do and why we must take a step higher, and look around. To help you with this, you need to get your notebook or writing pad, and you need to break down what is most important to you. This list is very important to you. You are making this list to better understand where your work is.

As you start to make your list, I’m learning to ask a few questions just to help you get started and to help you think a little bit about what is most important to you.

Which is most important:

  • Does family come before or after employment?
  • Which comes first, kids or friends?
  • Do you take care of yourself or others first?
  • Is your car a showpiece, or something to get you from point A to point B?
  • Are you happy with the way your house or apartment looks? If not, what steps do you take to change the appearance?
  • Do you ever not go to the doctor because of work needs?
  • How many nights a week do you not get enough sleep? Why?

The next question tells you where you want to end up.

  • If at the end of your life, your friends and family and former coworkers throw you a Three speeches are made about three significant things in your life. What do you want the three items to be? And what would you like the speakers to say?

When you get through thinking about this and writing everything down, a couple of questions are still left:

  • If you make no changes, will the speeches say what you wanted to hear?
  • If not, what would you change so the speeches could be given in a way you would like to hear them?
  • What do you think it would take to make the speeches reality?
  • Are you willing to put in the effort?

These are the questions for you to ponder. Making notes and writing things down is quite often less confusing and ensures that you will probably not forget the subtle things that you should remember along the way.

Looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow, have a great day.

Just One Opinion

Thank you for being here again, it is always great to provide these blogs for great people and friends such as you.

Yesterday we talked about the fears of leaving the comfort zone. And indeed there are real fears in doing so. And considering that, why would anyone ever want to leave their comfort zone facing all that fear? Before we decide to stay where we are forever, let’s look at some other views of comfort zones.

Comfort zones can quite often hold us back when it is time for us to move onto something better. Again this happens because fears of the unknown prey upon us and make us want to stay where not everything is perfect, but at least we know more about the situation.

What we need to remember is we are smart, strong people. We can easily learn new ways and Excel at new tasks and, if we are training correctly we can excel. And these days training is as easy as YouTube and the Internet.

I’m here to assure you, if you do not try you will never know the great things you could accomplish. If you do not move out of one comfort zone, you will never get the rewards of the next comfort zone.

I believe it was Teddy Roosevelt when talking to a gathering of business leaders, both successful and unsuccessful. He told them he was glad to be there because everyone there had one thing in common. He told them it did not matter, were they successful or unsuccessful. The thing that they had in common was everyone in the room had tried. And Teddy Roosevelt felt that the most important thing was to at least try.

Can I promise you that everything will always be roses, and nothing bad will ever befall you? Sorry, I’ve been around the block a few times myself. What I will say, is that Win, lose, or draw, you will be happier in trying, than in never trying and not knowing.

Of course, this is one man’s opinion. But it is one person’s opinion, shared by a president of the United States and a multitude of others.

Thank you for being here with us today. Please leave a comment, and we look forward to meeting with you again tomorrow.

 

 

More Than We Can Handle?

Have you ever watched jugglers? Jugglers start off with three of whatever they are juggling. So if they are juggling bowling pins, or balls, or even bowling balls, they always seem to have one in each hand and one in the air. Of course the better they become as jugglers, they still only have two hands, but rather than having a total of three items to juggle, they may have four, five, or six various items. This means many more items in the air and a higher chance of missing something.

And of course, the more items the juggler has in the air, the more likely it is that what will happen? Yep, something happens and all the items being juggled fall to the floor.

The juggler will tell you dropping things is part of growing and stretching their ability. To grow as jugglers, they have to understand that they will drop objects while they are learning. And, they will drop objects while they expand their reach. They know that is part of growing as a juggler.

I believe in growth. I believe in stretching one’s abilities. Although not a large proponent of multitasking, to a large degree, I do know that this is an important talent.  One sought after today in the marketplace.

I noticed that if I’m multitasking various issues at the same time, one of them gets the majority of my attention and the rest during that moment have cursory attention. Does this mean that I will miss things? Will I drop things? Could something end up going undone? Sure, I’m only human. Surprisingly enough the same can be said of all humans who juggle or multitask.

We do not drop items on purpose, although it will, at some time, happen.  At times, in business, we all need to juggle. We and the people we work for take that chance. The trick is…

Not to Take On More Than We Can Handle At A Given Time.

Real Riches Are Never Measured In Money

Have you ever contemplated what work really is? We learned fairly early in life, usually around 11 or 12, that if we go out and do something for somebody, we can get a reward. Five dollars to shovel snow from the walk or to weed a garden. Fifteen to 20 dollars to cut the yard depending on size. And as we grow little, babysitting money.

Even at a young age, these small jobs can be big bucks. Young, smart entrepreneurs can easily maintain a list of five or 6 yards to cut in a weekend earning them $75 to $100.

As we grow older, we can then hire the neighborhood kid or our own children for those jobs we do not wish to do ourselves. And then later on when everyone’s grown, once again we find is ourselves doing those jobs with one small catch. No one is paying us. Wait a minute?

Is what we view as a job promotion for a life we spent becoming something else? I don’t think so. Cutting the grass is cutting the grass. A labor of love?  Again, I don’t think so. I would often be happy just to let it grow. Pay the neighborhood kid to do it? Last time I did that, he demanded the money up front for scout camp and then, he never cut the yard.

Side benefits for cutting the lawn? It keeps my significant other from more complaints. And, a good completion, if lucky, may even result in a kiss. Yet, it’s something that still has to be done. You can’t stop grass and shrubs from growing.

We do a lot of things, for rewards that have nothing to do with money. Raising kids is work, and at the same time, it’s a labor of love. The reward is when the children grow into adulthood and find their positive directions in the world.

Taking care of the house is a job. The better you keep it up, the easier the job becomes. When you keep the house like I do you end up with a true work of art. My house is post-modern clutter.

We all have chores we must complete. Chores that are often considered paid jobs to other people. Any chore or job that is done is a direct reflection on the person doing it. If a chore goes undone, is that not also a reflection upon the person in charge and the person who is supposed to complete the chore? This is something to contemplate.

Almost every action you do is an action someone else gets paid for. Chefs cook dinners.  Barbers shave people. Home health care workers wash people. Critics watch movies and TV shows and talk about them. If you’re doing these different occupations, for yourself, you’re working for yourself. And you are giving to yourself what others would be paid. This may not be in the coin of the realm, however, think of the riches you have and those you gain in doing these chores. After all…

Real Riches Are Never Measured In Money.

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