Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Setbacks

Tags

Determination, Failures, Goals, Improving, Investigating, Learning, Mistakes, Persistence, Setbacks, Teaching

Why are setbacks so helpful? Why am I grateful for them? I am grateful for setbacks because they are the best teachers. When you try something that you need to do to finish a goal, most of the time you do not know if it will work. So, you take a swing and miss. You learn what not to do, or you learn that you need to learn more about what you are trying to do. Without the setback, you wouldn’t learn something.

I don’t seek them out. I just try something and see if it works. If it doesn’t I begin the work of finding out what other people do, look for tutorials and things like this, practice a little bit, and then give it another shot.

Setbacks, failures, mistakes occur when we try to do something out of our comfort zone or skill set. I’m not talking about stubbing your toe, or dropping something by accident. I’m talking about trying something that you have never done before, but need to do, in order to accomplish something. One of my goals is to write a book, or even a few books. One thing I learned early on, is that I needed more information. So, I interact with other writers, I take courses, and I practice my writing every day. Setbacks, failures, and mistakes are not something to be afraid of.

So today, I’m grateful for setbacks. They have taught me how to do something better. They have helped me realize I don’t know how to do something. They guide me to changing something.

Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday –

Tags

Consistency, Discipline, Learn, Persistence, Read, Social, Spiritual, Work Ethic, Write

Every day that you get up, you decide how hard you’ll work. You decide what you will do today. You decide how much you will put into every task at hand. You decide.

Enjoy the video, folks, and have a killer weak!

Here’s my daily schedule:

Read my books and articles

Learn coding, writing, history, sociology, and adult education

Exercise

Spiritual exercise, reading, journaling, reading

Write in my journals, my book, write my assignments

Post helpful and insightful articles, quotes, check in with friends and family on social media

Skim Google News, Flipboard, Pocket, The Epoch Daily, Daily Wire

Get in some video game play if I have time

Have a great week, folks.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of September 14, 2020.

Tags

Consistency, Discipline, habits, motivation, Persistence, rituals, systematic

Well, here we are. Yet another Monday to tackle. Since retirement, the days have taken on a different meaning. Each of my days is roughly the same, unless I decide to pursue something new and unique. I enjoy consistency, but also like to add in some variety now and then.

The three things I missed the most during the lockdown are my libraries, coffee shops, and gyms. Libraries are still closed, and coffee shops are still pretty locked down, so I only have the gym. Getting out on the road, interacting with people at the gym and Starbucks is really nice. You never know who you’re going to meet or what will happen.

I’m really glad my gyms are opening back up. I missed going to them. My routine won’t be any less intense than my home workouts, but it’s the feeling you have when you’re on a machine or bench pounding away. That makes all the difference. I also miss the chance meetings with people, asking about how to use a machine or asking if they can work into my sets.

Now that the gyms are open, I’ll begin going again tomorrow. My schedule is in place, and I’m ready to get back at it.

Here’s my weekly schedule:

Writing Daily

Exercise Daily

Spiritual Exercise Daily

Social activities Daily

Reading Daily

Learning Daily

I hope all of you have a fun-filled, productive week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – It’s That Time Again

Tags

Consistency, Determination, Discipline, Drive, motivation, Persistence, Proactive

Here we are again, folks. Another Monday. The start of another week, and another week to excel and succeed. Mondays used to be a drag. I’d have a great weekend, and then, before you know it, it’s time to head to work.

Now that my schedule is more my own, I love Monday. I love starting a new week, and driving through all of my tasks. I guess I’m somewhat addicted to checking things off my daily to-do list.

I hope all of you have a terrific week!

My upcoming week:

Write a paper for school

Write a discussion board posting for school and respond to two others

Work on my book

Work through my Python Course

Work through my writing Course on MasterClass

Exercise daily

Spiritual Exercise/Reading daily

Journaling daily

Post uplifting quotes, poems, and articles to my social media feeds

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Get Going!

Tags

Consistency, Determination, Discipline, Drive, get going, motivation, Persistence

Hey, folks! It’s Monday and time to get moving!

This week’s schedule:

• Exercise daily
• Work on my book and blog daily
• Journal daily
• Spiritual exercise daily
• Read daily
• Learn daily
• Socialize daily

I hope each of you has a terrific week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Setting Goals

Tags

Discipline, Drive, Goals, Monday, motivation, Persistence, Setting Goals, SMART acronym

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.

Tony Robbins

I set yearly goals each year. Last year I achieved most of them. This year I was on track. But then…you know the rest of the story. Covid-19 has put a damper on a lot of things, particularly now that it is back. But the goals I have set that Covid didn’t disrupt are all on track.

Setting goals gives us direction. They require us to decide about what we want to achieve. Once we’ve done this, however, we are on autopilot.

If you’ve never set goals before, just keep in mind the SMART acronym. This acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. If you’d like to read about it and watch a short video, here is the link.

I think the most important benefit I receive when I set a goal is the ability to see where I am and how to finish the rest of the journey. Try it out. You won’t be sorry.

Here is my week:

Physical – I will concentrate on shoulders this week. Every day I will exercise shoulders and do nothing else (See workout routine)

Mental – Learn, read, write, and journal

Spiritual – read my Bible, do my spiritual exercises, do my discourse work, and share my goodwill to all

Social – post uplifting quotes and articles to my social media feeds, interact with friends and family wherever possible

That’s it for today, folks. Have a great Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Monday Motivation – Week of June 22, 2020.

Tags

Consistency, Discipline, Drive, Mental, motivation, Persistence, Physical, Social, Spiritual

Well, folks, Father’s Day was a success. Dad got some cards, a few books, multiple phone calls from my Brother, Sister, and the Niece and Nephew. Dad also had steak for dinner. Steak is his favorite. I hope all of you had a good Father’s Day!

This week, we’re back to it. Here’s my schedule:

Physical – Exercise Monday – Saturday (see Workout Routine)

Mental – Coding, Writing, Reading, Online Classes

Social – Post meaningful and positive quotes and articles to my social media feeds, Blog daily, Interact with family and friends whenever I can.

Spiritual – Discourse work, read the Bible, Spiritual Exercises, Gratitude and Dream Journaling

I hope all of you are have a terrific week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Circle of Control

Tags

Consistency, Daily Rituals, Daily Tasks, Discipline, Mental, Motivation Monday, Persistence, Physical, Social, Spiritual

The late Stephen Covey wrote about the Circle of Control in his book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Circle of Control is what you control entirely. It is your attitude, your belief system, your values, and your actions. The Circle of Control does not depend on anyone or anything else.

What a lot of people worry about is what is called the Circle of Concern. They are concerned about the weather, what another person will do, or what event might happen. Do they have control of any of these things? No. This is why the Circle of Concern if focused on will actually shrink the Circle of Control. Focus on what you can control and you will grow your Circle of Control. Take this little piece of advice into the upcoming week. You’ll be less stressed and more productive.

Here’s my week folks (All tasks listed below are daily tasks (Monday – Saturday):

Physical: (See Workout Routine)

Mental: Reading Star Carrier Series Book 3, Reading my Bible, Computer Science Path on Codecademy, and working on my book, The Forever Soldier.

Spiritual: Reading my Bible, Gratitude and Dream Journaling, Working through my Spiritual discourses, doing my spiritual exercises

Social: Post uplifting quotes and poems, Blogging, staying in contact with my friends and family

Have a great week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Gym Time!

Tags

Discipline, Exercise, Gym time, healthy living, passion, Persistence, weight lifting

The Gyms are finally opening in my neck of the woods and I am stoked!

Workout routine:

Monday – Saturday: Full-body weight circuit (1 set to get back into a full-fledged weight lifting routine.

See you at the finish line!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Never Quit.

Tags

habits, Improvise, Innovate, Learning, Persistence, Puzzle, Quitting, Resilience

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Confucius

Confucius is one of my favorite sources for quotes. He truly is an inspiration. When I think about history, I am amazed at the wisdom our forefathers and foremothers learned ahead of us. It would be wise of all of us to learn from those that opened the doors we have access to today.

The accurate measure of us is not how well we do when things are going exactly the way we want them to; it is how well we do things when things are not going so well.

Each time you fail, you learn. Each time you learn from these failures, you learn what does not work to push toward your goals. So take heart. Failure is learning, as long as you don’t fail the same way repeatedly. Then you show you are failing and learning nothing from these failures.

When trying something new, remind yourself that there is always a way. There is another door you can go through, another way to write that paragraph, another way to build that tool. There are websites, tutorials, people, and books you can read for inspiration. Perhaps you failed because you were missing one of the puzzle pieces required to finish your task. Find that missing puzzle piece and try again.

If you keep putting effort to the task at hand, you will finish it. You just have to keep trying. Quitting can become a horrible habit and crutch. When you quit, you stop learning. You stop progressing. You accept that you are not good enough, not smart enough, or not talented enough. When this happens, you are lost.

Be stubborn. Be resilient. Be persistent.

Keep going. You have nothing to lose by trying. You have everything to lose if you quit. When you quit, you have truly lost. So don’t quit.

Until next time…

Dave