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motivation

How to Succeed by Disappointing Someone

Over the years, I have owned cats and dogs. Dogs can be easier to handle because all they want to do is please their owner. However, I have admired cats over the years because of their determination. If they want to climb the drapes, they are going to do it, by golly! If you don’t want a cat on the table, just watch them try to get up there. They’ll find a creative way to sneak up there. Dogs are people pleasers. But cats are goal-setters.

There are times when we need to do both. However, if you have a goal that is going to ruffle some feathers, you will disappoint someone. Some people don’t like change no matter how beneficial it could be. Others are simply not going to see things your way.

In order to make effective change, you are going to disappoint someone. There is no need to be perfidious, but there will be a need to hold your ground when you have a goal or initiative that will bring great results in the long run.

Be like a dog when you need to be friendly and social. Be like a cat when you have a goal that you know must be attained.

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motivation

How to Be Authentic Without Whining

We all go through stuff. We all struggle once in a while. When we do, the temptation is to put on the facade and smile. We say we’re fine when we feel like we’re dying inside. We don’t want to burden people with our problems.

As a result, we may project this image of being a super person when we struggle just like everyone else. Then when someone else has a problem, they feel they can’t come to us because we appear too perfect.

Yet no one wants to stay in the struggle, right? No one wants to announce to the world they are a hot mess. What is the right balance?

Be authentic with your weaknesses and diligent in your training.

Be Authentic

It’s okay to admit you struggle with something. Every one of us has a weakness. Each one of us is in the process of improving. It’s okay to admit you don’t have it all together. We are all human. It’s okay to admit that is the case.

Train Diligently

Keep training. Just because you’ve had a setback doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. Press on! Give yourself some grace and get back into the training. When you admit you struggle, you give yourself the grace to strive forward.

After all, if you’ve already arrived and are already perfect, what’s left? Be honest with others, and diligent with training. You’ll get there!

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motivation

Failure Over Excuses

In John Maxwell’s book, Intentional Living, Maxwell encourages us to live each day with intentionality instead of merely good intentions.

One of the biggest regrets I’ve had was that I never attempted to become a newspaper syndicated cartoonist. I sent plenty of magazine gag cartoons and I had modest success. I even put together a submission to send out for syndicates. But I never took the first step and mailed that packet.

On the other hand, when I took a risk and went with my wife to Arizona, I felt I failed because I only got steady work just weeks before circumstances made us head back to the Midwest. Yet, I don’t regret it for a minute. We made good, new friends and I learned I could do what it took to make a living without the aid of old friends and family as support.

Maxwell is right, I regret the excuse I made for never submitting a syndicated comic strip more than the failure of trying a move that didn’t quite work as we expected.

Categories
motivation productivity Running

Lessons From a Seventeen Mile Florida Run

August sunrise at Juno Beach, Florida
I took this photo when I was into the third mile of my run.

Seventeen miles wasn’t my goal. I was determined to get nineteen miles in. But after seventeen miles, there was a drawbridge between me and my goal. It looked like a mountain. I had been training in Ohio. But now I was in Florida. It was 10:00 AM and 91° Fahrenheit. My water bottles were nearly empty. I decided to call it off and get a ride.

Next month (September 2017), I plan to run The Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio. It will be my first marathon and I have been training for the race. I was determined to keep to my schedule despite the change of locale. 

Three days later, I am thinking about what the run taught me.

Categories
motivation

Going With the System Can Only Take You so Far

This Entrepreneur article may not be what the high achieving students want to read, but I’ve seen it in action.  

Why Valedictorians Rarely Become Rich and Famous — and the Average Millionaire’s College GPA is 2.9