Learn, Relearn, and learn again.

Everything happens for a reason you can either choose to ignore it or ask what that reason is and try to learn from it.

I read this recently in the book "The Energy Bus." It caused me to sit back and think a little bit and how I do not do this enough. When something happens I just plow forward and keep going to the next thing then plow forward again and on and on I go. To get past this and actually learn from this you need to take the time to learn. It is essential that you learn from your mistakes and successes. I don't know what works best for you, but for me it has been journaling about what happened throughout the day and realizing why I was frustrated or why I was excited. I try to make note of what energized me, who frustrated me and why, and anything else I needed to do.
It is much easier to do this when you have the time and everything runs a lot smoother. Before spring I did a great job doing this but as the year went on it got worse and worse. Not because I didn't have time but because I didn't make time. The early victories were the thing of the past and I became too focused on what was in front of me than what was around me. Are you aware of everyone and everything around you more than you are what is in front of you? What is more important: your to do list or your people? Look back on a daily basis but also look back weekly, monthly, and yearly to figure out patterns and learn from them.

Finish strong or not at all

Are you a finisher or are you a starter? It doesn’t matter. Whatever you do you still need to finish. I always said I wasn’t good at finishing because I didn’t enjoy it. In the last days I have looked to find satisfaction in finishing.

The other day I landscaped a place and found great joy in going around and making sure everything looked good. I took my time and did the small things at the end that most likely where I was working those people wouldn’t realize. But I knew I would. What kind of work you do reflects what kind of person you are on the inside. Lately I have slowed life down and tried to enjoy the ride more and I have enjoyed the little things more.

Finishing isn’t just a job but finishing commitments. When you tell someone you are going to do something do it. Don’t make excuses, do it, or don’t make promises that you can’t keep. When you don’t follow through on commitments to others or you are late to things with others you are saying to them that your time is more important than theirs.

Starters are fun to be around but finishers are the people that get things done and don’t just talk about getting things done.

Hero or Villan?

I was listening to a sermon by Donald Miller yesterday and he talked about our story. He asked how do you want your story to read?

We all want to be the Hero. None of us want to be the villan. How do the choices you make on a daily basis reflect how you want to be perceived? I know in my life I think of myself as the hero, which really is not who the real heroes are. When you look at stories about people the heroes are those who sacrifice and don’t think of them as heroes. The heroes do whatever it takes and are always looking to help others.

Most of my life I would say I look like the villan. Not on purpose, I am by no means a jerk. But when I look at the decisions I make and my attitudes towards some people I look way more like a villan than any hero.

What is would be the story people would tell about you if you were gone today? What story would they tell about you? One of my friends likes to read obituaries and we talked one time about what we would want our obituaries to read. He said he didn’t want it to read that we loved football or Michigan. To myself I thought what would I want mine to read? I have thought long and hard about this question and have tried to prioritize my life accordingly.

So what is your story now? What do you want it to be? Start taking time to figure out how you want it to read and go do it.

Passion What is it?

Passion I believe can be the biggest gift in life, but it can also be the biggest curse. I don’t know what it is like in life to live without passion. Without that constant wanting to do more, without the childlike excitement in things. A lot of times I go overboard and get too excited, but that is what makes it fun. I discussed this part of my personality with someone the other day and they said that is what makes me so good to be around. There is times of burnout but the times of excitement far outweigh those times. I sometimes can’t sleep because I think about how to do things differently and new ideas while I try to sleep and in my spare time. I am passionate about most anything I learn about and dive right in. So is having this type of passion good? Is it immature? Does it always lead to burnout?

Wouldn’t life be a lot simpler without passion? Instead of all the ups and downs and the stress it would be different. Life would be more like a lazy river than a wave pool. You would just float along not getting to high or too low and just taking things in stride. You wouldn’t stick your neck out and try different things you would just do the same old thing. Then if something was blatantly obvious to try you would do that. You would get along with everyone because you wouldn’t argue or take a side most of the time. Wow, how simple life would be.

I don’t know about you but I just the adrenaline rush of passion. Sure I could go through life just strolling along. I would rather spend it going full throttle and getting everything I can out of it and maximizing myself. The risk of a crash or burnout is worth it to feel the adrenaline rush of really getting excited about something and doing it. When is the last time you were so passionate about something you got emotional? When did you care

An hour a day keeps your life from floating away

What do you invest your time in? What is the best investment you can make? I read this quote the other day from Warren Buffet:

"The most important investment you can make is in yourself. Very few people get anything like their potential horsepower translated into the actual horsepower of their output in life. Potential exceeds realization for many people…… Just imagine you’re 16 and I was going to give you a car of your choice today, any car you wanted to pick. But there was one catch. It was the only car you were able to have for the rest of your life. You had to make it last. So how would you treat it?

Well, of course you’d read the owners’ manual about five times before you turn the key in the ignition. You would keep it garaged; any little rust would get taken care of immediately; you’d change the oil twice as often as you were supposed to - because you would know it had to last a lifetime….

Then I tell the students you get one body and one mind. And it’s going to have to last you a lifetime so you’d better treat it the same way. You’d better start doing it right now because it doesn’t do any good if you start working on it when you are 50 or 60 and the little speck of rust has turned into something big… The best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be."

Why don’t we spend more time preparing for what we want to do? Why don’t we surround ourselves with people who encourage and challenge us? Take the time to invest in your passion each day and that is the best investment you will make.

“If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that person will be an expert on that subject” - Earl Nightingale

Charles Tremendous Jones believes that:

“The only difference between who you are today and the person you will be in five years will come from the books you read and the people you associate with”

Your returns won’t be immediate but long term rewards are what you are trying to do when you invest anyway right?