Hamenopi

Picture this: Your infant child, one hand on the wall, pulling himself up to try to walk. He's up, vertical, stumbling awkward. His hand, on the wall for support, turning toward you for his big show. Wobbling, he steps forward. One step, then, two. Then as gravity's pull latches on to him, he stumbles half a step more, then falls prone to the ground. What parent would curse this child for falling? What parent would call him stupid, claim they were a defect from the wrong side of the gene pool? Only two and a half steps? For Shame! On the other side, who would hoot and cheer? Clap and sing the child's praises? Lift him up and high with a hundred kisses? Then why do we call our selfs stupid when we stumble and fall on the second and a half step? Why do we blame out genes and curse out abilities trying something new? Figuring out something we haven't mastered yet? The magic is in that we made it to two. The magic is we can crawl right back over to that ...

If you’ve followed me for a while you’ve noticed a theme. Do more with less. Be more interested in what you do and do less uninteresting things. During that time, I realized many things I do aren't interesting. Curious maybe, but they are distractions which take me away from more interesting things. Deeper things. I mean, even sand sparkles in the sun but it doesn’t have much of a return. It’s a lot more rewarding to stay a course and get interested in deeper things at deeper levels. But to do that, you need to work on the basics. And the basics aren’t interesting. What I’m saying is, to get to the dirt, one must dig through the sand. To find the rock, one must work through the dirt. To find the gold, one must work through the rock. So, to get to the most rewarding things, you must be mindful of the basics which get you there. You need to get interested in them enough until you master them and get to the next level. And, sometimes the gold isn’t in the fi...

I'm talking a lot about progress lately. I'm talking about how we need to forget about perfection because perfection is obtainable. But progress... progress we all can do. We all can measure then work to improve upon that measure. Perfection was something that always held me back. I always wanted the perfect route laid out before I even attempted to start.  Can you relate? But when do we ever have perfect conditions? When are the conditions perfect for anything spanning more than a step?  Goals Thanks to Chandler Stevens for the inspiration. Picture this: It's dark and you have a goal. You have somewhere you need to be. You have a car, it's running.  The headlights are on. Do you wait for morning? Do you wait until dawn when you can see the entire path before you go? What if when dawn breaks, a hill lies before you? What if the construction crew of life posted detour signs all over your idealistic path? Would you ...

I recently had a conversation with a friend where I shared my story and offered advice. I wanted share my part to you. I hope you get something from it. I made some radical changes over the past few years. My best answer is to get use to failing forward cause that's the only real way it works. With smoking, weight loss, fitness, my spirituality... I had to stop waiting for the perfect plan to pass. It won't land in your lap. If you wait, you'll start getting real good at waiting. In the beginning, it was an ugly, sloppy, poor excuse of doggy paddling against a rip current. Sometimes it still does. But guess what. Eventually I found forward momentum in all things. You can too. Smoking With smoking, I couldn't find a way to quit, but I found a transition from cigarettes to a vape pen. But it wasn't immediate. You got to understand, using the vape pen every other nic fit is progress. You can make it your goal and work on it until it's a habit. Once there, y...

Motivation won't get you far if you don't have direction. Imagine your foot planted, pedal to the medal, tachometer redlining, in the fast lane of a super highway ... but, your car is in park. How far do you go? And how long can your survive like that without blowing your motor? No amount of motivation will help you if you are not willing to take a step in a direction. Without direction, motivation is wasted. So, get out of park. Shift goals into gear and start moving toward them. It's scary. I know. I feel you. But what is more scary? Taking taking step, or remaining where you are? Terror You see, taking the step might seem terrifying, but it's the anticipation we really fear . That's why there's so much build up in scary movies. Alfred Hitchcock said "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." Many of us are so scared to 'fail' we never try in the first place. We aren't machines. We aren't perfect. We ...

Recently Tom Ziglar asked me these amazing questions: What has been the most helpful thing on your journey to keep you moving forward? What do you do daily, even when you may not feel like it? Wow! Right? They aren't easy to answer, that's for sure. But I did and I feel others could gain value from my answer so I'm posting it here. My Response That is a really good question Tom! Also it's a pleasure to get an email from you! Blown away! I sat on this question and let my mind take me on the journey. After a while the answer became so crystal clear you could make a telescope out of it. Then I realized it's one of those secrets everyone knows but no one does. It was logging my thoughts and actions. Note taking. Personal accountability. Once I realized it, my memory jumped to your dad's lesson on how note takers were so much more likely to close than those who didn't. It made sense! I mean it's really hard to improve on something you don't track...

I made a friend today on the internet. What he's doing I think is beautiful.

I wanted to reflect on my 5k.

I looked at the empty journal and shook my head. How is this supposed to help? I can't create my own reality. Not like this! I mean I can build worlds, civilizations, races, religions, and even deities. But this is different. This is real life. I shrugged and picked up my pen. Whatever, might as well try it.