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

Tags

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

Tags

Daily Actions, Executing, Goals, Integrity, persistance, Self-trust, wisdom

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Mastering yourself is about keeping promises you make to yourself. I wanted to address this early in the year because this is the time of year we all begin to pursue all of those things we have established are important to us. You, like anyone else, will suffer if you are lied to—even if you lie to yourself!

When you consistently fail to do what you tell yourself you will do, you begin to lose confidence in yourself. You begin to believe that you cannot achieve anything because you have always failed to achieve what you set out to do. This compounds over time and after while you’ll find that you have lost control of everything. You’ll find that you are always taking the easier route. You cannot and will not do what you need to do.

I know this place because I was there. I love video games. I love them so much that during this dark time I could literally get up in the morning and play those games from morning to midnight and beyond. I was out of control. I couldn’t make myself exercise. I couldn’t make myself eat right. I couldn’t make myself do anything—because I didn’t believe that I could or would. If it was easy, I did it. I pursued anything that followed the path of least resistance.

I knew deep down that this was not the way to live and began to look for some answers to turn this around. I ran across a book called Mini-habits and that was all I needed. I started doing small things each day. Each day I did these small things I began doing more than I was required to do. This is called a bonus activity and this is a natural offshoot of Mini-habits.

I combined my knowledge of Mini-habits with other books and began implementing a ritualistic strategy of tackling the things that are important to a balanced life. I began reading, writing, learning, exercising, socializing, and performing my religious duties each day, even if it was just a little effort, I kept doing a little in each of these areas each day.

After a while, your internal self will begin to believe what you say. You will begin to trust yourself again and realize that what you say is what you will do. When you begin to actually do what you say you will do, the bulk of the battle has been won. Now, you can establish goals, set plans, and execute a little each day. This execution reinforces trust in yourself and edges you ever closer to the goals you set. It is just this simple.

Don’t be the person that goes to the gym in January and stops going in a month.

Don’t be the person who wants to write their book and gives up in a few weeks

Don’t be the person who sets out to lose weight and gives up on their diet within a week.

Be the person who can do anything they set out to do, through deliberate, consistent, and daily action. You can do it, just like I did. Start doing little things that build self-trust and you’ll wake up one day doing more than you thought possible.

I wish all of you well as you pursue this year’s goals. I hope all of you succeed!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – A Goal Driven Life.

Tags

Divine Spirit, Executing, Goals, Goals are yours, Goals require choices and focus, Goals stretch us, Planning

Today’s Quote:

“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” – Bill Copeland

Goals are critical to our lives because they focus us on certain things that we want. I can’t imagine living a life without pursuing something. Without a goal life just goes on and passes you by. Why would anyone want to live like this?

We dream, we put a plan in place to achieve that dream, we succeed, and we stretch again to a new dream. Goal setting, planning, and striving to achieve our goals is one of the greatest things we can do with our time.

Goals are personal. They’re yours. Don’t let others create goals for you. You won’t be motivated to complete someone else’s goals. You will only be committed and driven to perform the goals you set for yourself. These goals will drive you daily to achieve them.

I read something today that clarified something for me. The concept is called connecting diamonds. Connecting diamonds is realizing that when we set a goal, we know what the achievement of the goal looks like. We also know where we are. This is a starting point. The challenges arise when we try to move from the first diamond to the last one.

I’m a firm believer in Divine Spirit and the ability it has to step in and help us. Divine spirit is what helps us move from the beginning of a goal and help us get to the end state. Keep looking for the divine spirit in your life. It provides insights about where you should go, what you should do, and what steps to take as you progress toward your goals. If you pay attention, you’ll begin to see all of the opportunities and information placed at your feet. The challenge most of us have with this concept is that sometimes the directions we are nudged to take don’t make any sense. Why should they? Have faith, follow these nudges and see where they take you. I think you’ll be surprised.

After you recognize divine spirit working in your life, you’ll begin depending on it, because it will become a reality for you. After a while you will see divine spirit’s hand in more facets of your life, this opening of awareness will only support more improvement in every facet of your life. So, dream. Set Goals. Plan. Put in the effort to move your plan along. While you’re doing the work, keep an eye out for anything that comes to you out of the blue.

I recently had to give a public talk. I asked some pointed questions about my topic and let them go for a day or so. By the end of that week, while I was going through all of the material I gathered, I had so much information to sort through that I had more than three times the information needed to give my 15-minute speech. It was a great success. I prepared, I sought out information, and allowed the divine spirit to help me. This really works. Keep your eyes open and wait for the miracles of divine spirit to work for you in your life.

Until next time…

Dave