Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of October 26, 2020

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Arthur Ashe, Dedication, Discipline, Do, Drive, Executing, motivation, Planning, Resilience, Start, Use

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

I used to use so many excuses. Why I couldn’t do this or that. Have you ever felt that? If so, use this quote for motivation.

Start where you are. We are all some place. Think about what you want to do this week. Think about how you will accomplish these things. Plan then out, get them on your calendar and execute. Just assume you’ll get them done. If something appears to be too complicated, plan it out, break it down. Maybe you only do one step this week. Next week, you’ll tackle the next step(s).

If you’re a creative and stuck, don’t worry. There are no rules surrounding creativity. Some days you’ll be on fire, other days, you’ll be thinking how to move forward. Just keep thinking and working as best you can. You’ll get there.

This week, I’ll be doing my homework, exercising, doing my spiritual exercises, doing some chores around the house, reading, writing, learning. I’ll do some socializing, now that Michigan is predominantly opened back up. The libraries and coffee shops are open again–Thank God!

Sometimes, when I feel like I’m in a rut, I’ll head out to the library or one of my local coffee shops and work there. This year was tough getting out, but now that things are opening again, I’ll be back at it on a weekly basis.

Mondays for some folks are absolute torture. This used to be the way I felt too, especially when I was still working. How did I turn that around? I began doing the same things every day of the week, other than my “Do Nothing Day.” When I did this, Monday was just another day.

Well, that’s all I got for this week, folks. I hope all of you have a terrific week! Get out there and get at it. You’re the only one that can.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Arthur Ashe

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Arthur Ashe, Learning, Making Mistakes, moving forward, Perfecting, Self-doubt, The Journey, wisdom

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

I don’t know about you, but I am always doubting what I do. Is it good enough? Is it right? Will people like it?

When I was younger, I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. If you are not familiar with the game, it allows players to create their own fantasy worlds where players go on adventures, rescue damsels in distress, fight dragons, and other creatures commonly found in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. For the game to work, you need a Dungeon Master (DM) who creates a world, the adventures the players will embark on, and acts like a judge when game play needs an outside advocate. I enjoyed writing the stories and creating these worlds. It was great fun getting the feedback from the players that were part of my game and watching them enjoy spending time in my world.

Jump ahead 30 years and I am in a doctoral program specializing in Information Technology. In the 13 years I was in the program I was writing 10-25 page papers every week. Needless to say, writing has been something I figured I would be good at, since I finished my doctoral program with a 4.0 grade average. I also realize that at some point I will be too old to work any type of job that requires manual labor or something as physically taxing as my service in the military. So, here I am, writing on this blog, working on books, and starting to figure out how to publish various essays I come up with to Medium.

The point I am trying to make is that regardless of what or who you want to be, what goals you want to achieve, or where you want to go in life, you have to start somewhere. Like the quote says, you have to begin with whatever you have at the time. This is wise advice because you will never be good at anything you try until you begin doing it. If you pay attention, you will run across people who will give you feedback. You will learn from other people who have already done what you are trying to do.

So you start doing and learning and doing some more. Then one day you figure out that you really don’t want to pay the price that this “thing” requires of you. That’s ok. Set your sails for a different shore. Try something else. It is the doing in life that brings rewards, not just the winning. Once you’ve won, it’s over. Once you accomplish a goal, it’s done. Now it’s off to the next adventure.

Every person you can think of that has made a big dent in this world, started somewhere. They either didn’t know what to do or doubted themselves. They started. They committed. They gave it their best shot. If you never start or take a risk you will never accomplish anything worth accomplishing. Keep plodding forward. It will be worth every step.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Arthur Ashe – Start!

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Arthur Ashe, Doing, Finding Opportunities, Skills, Starting, Talents

Today’s Quote:

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

You can’t get much simpler than this. We are all someplace, with a certain collection of skills and talents. We use these skills and talents at a certain level of proficiency.

Each of us is unique. My skills and talents will be different than yours. It really is all about who will begin, who will use all their skills and have the willingness to try.

Many times, this separates those that execute and succeed and those that dream and do nothing. This secondary group wastes their talents because they are never used. Talents and skills that are neglected, even the ones we are given will degrade.

We are either moving forward or moving backward. There is no standing still.

So, do the best you can with what you have from where you are, and you will do well. You will learn what needs to be improved, what needs to be learned, what needs to be done.

It’s all up to you. Now go get it!

Until next time…

Dave