May 27, 2013 Focus Point

May 27, 2013
Focus Point

The Truth About Mistakes and Failing.

This week I would like to share a few thoughts on the mistakes that we make, and failures as they relate to everyday life. Michael Jordan says, "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. What I cannot accept is not trying". I believe this is powerful insight that we can consider. Since our attitude, perception, and response to mistakes drive our effectiveness, it is important to learn how we can move forward in spite and because of them. Like the old saying: "Pain is inevitable, misery is optional".

Mistakes and setbacks can be great tools for learning. In other words, if you think of mistakes as personal and perceive them wrongly this way, then you will never try anything that is outside of your comfort zone, which takes away all possibilities of success. So more helpful is to see them as a normal process of life and as the seedbed for everything good that we have today. In fact, almost every good thing we have today was birthed out of some kind of tragedy, mistake, or failure along the way. Take a look at medicine, our means of travel, technology, etc. Each wonderful invention came along to aid in something that was once a problem or a past failure.

Minimizing mistakes and less effective choices is always the best route to go. Learning from other people's mistakes is the next best thing, and learning from our own mistakes when we do make them and fixing it so as to not repeat it again is the next best thing.

Unless it is a choice that would degrade our character, integrity, or moral standing, I believe we would do very well to follow this advise from Theodore Roosevelt: "In most situations the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, the worst thing you can do is nothing".

Accept mistakes not as failure, but as feedback.

May 20, 2013 Focus Point

May 20, 2013
Focus Point

The Power of Momentum

I had the opportunity recently to learn new information and insight about the law of momentum. It's all about the concept of getting an airplane off the ground. The amount of energy and fuel required to get an airplane going down the runway at 85 miles per hour, off the ground and into the air was 10 times that of what was required for that same plane to cruise at an altitude of 30 thousand feet going 400 miles per hour. A train going at full speed can bust through a 5 foot thick cement wall with reinforced rebar, but the same train at a stand still with a small block placed in front of the wheel will not be able to start moving.

From this example and the understanding of basic laws that govern the universe and the world in which we live, we also know that there are laws that are in place in life. And just like gravity they work and operate in our daily lives, whether or not we understand them, believe them, or even accept them. Laws are something that you can count on staying the same, they work in exactness, they are immovable. You learn and "obey" the laws, you advance in life, you ignore the laws and things continue to be points of frustration.

The majority of people in life, much like a plane on a runway, go at a speed that is fairly fast but never quite fast enough to actually lift off. And they repeat this their whole lives. And so the key here is to learn the laws that govern real life success. Earl Nightingale defines success as: "The progressive realization of a worthy ideal". You cannot make corrective changes in life until you change your daily habit. Therefore, by determining what your personal desire for success is and by applying the laws properly in your daily habit, forward progress is made.

What areas in your life do you desire our friend, momentum to work for you and with you?

May 13, 2013 Focus Point

May 13, 2013
Focus Point

Turning Experience into Insight.

We have them all day, everyday. In fact by noon we probably have several. I am referring to Life Experiences. And the only way to turn these experiences into insight and building blocks for the future is if we take time to reflect. Let me explain.

Theodore Roosevelt said: "He who makes no mistakes, makes no progress." But if we make the same mistakes over and over we also make no progress. John Maxwell teaches: "Never pay twice for the same mistake." So the goal here is to be able to learn and grow from our experiences and setbacks to the point that they become building blocks for the future. We remember the expression that history repeats itself, and so if we do not learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it right?

I invite you to try an exercise that will last for 7 days. What if every day this week you would take ten minutes or so at the end of the day, and think through every single event and conversation both positive and negative. Make mental note of what you would do differently if you had the chance to do it over again. In addition to mental notes, also take a pen and paper and take further notes on areas where you feel you did well, and areas you feel you would like to improve. This process is called reflection and can be a very effective way to process the events and experiences that happen each day.

The trick is understanding that what separates average achievers from high achievers is their perception of and their response to mistakes and failure, and that it is all based on a daily habit of processing the events in our minds, so that we can in fact be more effective on the next go around. Yesterday ended last night, and we have a new day and a fresh start everyday. Life may happen automatically, but we can only turn Experience into Insight if we take the time to Reflect.

May 6, 2013 Focus Point

May 6, 2013

 

Focus Point

Stop Thinking Can I? And Start Thinking How Can I?

Have you ever met someone who just seems to have a spark in their eye and a bounce in their step? Do you remember the expression: Everything they touch turns to gold? We may look at someone like this and wonder, how in the world do they do it? How do they keep it all together?

John Maxwell teaches that it is impossible to put it all together all at once. So before you try to put everything together, just put something together, and when you get good at putting something together, then one day you will be able to put everything together.

One of the most important things that you and I can do to achieve the success that we want, is to control our thinking. We need to learn to think: How Can I? and forget the nasty stinking thinking of: Can I? or worse yet: I Can't. See, when we ask a reinforcing question such as: How Can I? then at once our mind goes to work and starts to think in terms of possible solutions and manifests them by way of ideas. Our subconscious mind is so powerful that it has most all of the answers that we will ever need, but we have to learn how to tap into its potential and draw from it. I believe that we can overcome challenges and setbacks and become better after the dust settles a bit, if we learn to ask the right questions.

Now, on the other hand when we think in terms of: I can't, our mind stops dead in its tracks. It has no occasion or expectation to rise to, so what does it do? It shuts down and will never think of a solution, because we are not asking it for one. And so our subconscious mind is where the answers are, but it must receive permission from our conscious mind to go to work, and we activate this process by way of our thinking.

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction in an instant. Say yes to the right things, say no to the wrong things, and stay in control of the most important things.

This week, let's think in terms of: How Can I? and take note of the ideas that come.

Remember. Whatever it takes you can learn!