Category: Action

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Your Super Power

“People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply: by the lives they lead.” ~ James Baldwin, No Name In The Street

The Key To Success

Once upon a time, there were 3 friends, Ron, Tom, and Oswald. (*This example is patterned after one presented by Darren Hardy in The Compound Effect. See Resources.) They grew up in the same neighborhood and remained good friends through school and later after they began their careers. They made about the same income. All three were married and were raising families. Continue reading “Your Super Power”

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Fourteen Skills To Improve Your Time Management

“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” ~ M. Scott Peck

The 4 Rules Of Time

From Brian Tracy, motivational speaker, author, and expert in human potential and achievement, we learn that there are 4 rules of time. [Tracy]

Time is perishable. You can’t “save” time, you can only decide how you use the time you have. Once a minute has passed, you cannot get it back.

Time is indispensable. Nothing can take it’s place. Everything we do, everything we accomplish — from eating breakfast, to crafting a sonnet, to earning a living, to building a relationship — is done in the context of time.

Time is irreplaceable. Just as you cannot save time, you cannot replace time that has past. You cannot undo that which was done, you cannot do that which was not done.

Time is essential for accomplishment. Every thing we do, every goal we accomplish, requires time. Continue reading “Fourteen Skills To Improve Your Time Management”

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Steady Wins The Race

Ready? On your mark. Get set. GO . . . consistently!
Consistent action is the key to growth.

“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.” ~ John C. Maxwell

Remember the fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare? The hare sped way out in front, then decided to stop for a bite to eat. The tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. When the hare saw that the tortoise was gaining on him, he took off again, far outdistancing the tortoise. He got so far ahead, in fact, that he decided he had time for a nap. Meanwhile, the tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. You know what happened — eventually, the tortoise passed the hare, who was otherwise engaged, and won the race. Continue reading “Steady Wins The Race”

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Use It Or Lose It

The Parable of the Talents

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Continue reading “Use It Or Lose It”

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The Habit Of Discipline

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” ~ Brian Tracy

In an interview I heard recently with Brian Tracy, a leader in the field of self-development, the interviewer asked Brian if he had one overarching “secret” of achieving success or attaining a goal. Brian stated that he had been asked this question hundreds of times, usually at the end of a TV or radio interview. And for years, he declined to answer the question, Continue reading “The Habit Of Discipline”

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Stop Stopping

Stop Stopping

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius

“A body in motion will remain in motion.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion.  I was doing wonderfully well. I was getting up and going through my morning routine — physical activity, meditation, journaling, and planning — consistently for weeks. I felt really good. I felt productive. I was making good progress!  “A body at rest remains at rest.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion  But then . . . I missed a day. Oops. My momentum slowed. Then I missed another day — turned off my alarm and slept in. I decided I needed some time off so I took off a couple more days. Before I knew it, more than 2 weeks had gone by and I was completely out of my routine. The more I missed, the less I felt like starting back. I had completely lost all momentum. I had stopped. Continue reading “Stop Stopping”

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A Procrastination Busting Technique

“The biggest lie we tell ourselves . . . is ‘I’ll do it later'”. ~ Peter McWilliams

You’ve heard me say before that Procrastination is one of my greater talents. Over the years, I’ve honed it to a fine skill. (At one time, my procrastinating was so bad that I was afraid of Saturday the 14th.) It’s the reason I think and write so much about overcoming procrastination – I need all the advice I can get.

I recently came across a technique that promises to be a great procrastination buster. Of course, there are a number of good ways to battle procrastination, and this is another good tool for those of us who find it so easy to “do it later”. Continue reading “A Procrastination Busting Technique”

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Ripples

A parable of the seeds

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” (Mark 4: 3 – 8 NIV)

A parable of stones thrown in water

A young child sat by the bank of a pond. The child held a number of small stones in her hand. The child tossed one of the stones in the water and watched as ripples went out across the pond in ever-growing circles – larger and larger. She tossed in another, then another, and watched in delight as the ripples grew and ran across the surface of the water, sometimes overlapping, sometimes converging and then moving away from each other. The ripples moved all the way across the pond, much further than the child could have tossed one of her stones. Continue reading “Ripples”

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Productivity Matters

“In the end, putting together a life of extraordinary results simply comes down to getting the most out of what you do, when what you do matters. Living for productivity produces extraordinary results.” ~ Gary Keller, The ONE Thing

Living for productivity produces extraordinary results. What sort of results have you been achieving? Would you call them “extraordinary”? If I am honest with myself, most of my days are not extraordinarily productive — although I am having more productive days lately, thanks to the information I am sharing with you in this post. In his book, The ONE Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results, Gary Keller contends that “the most successful people are the most productive people.” [Keller 158] And the most productive people are those people who spend the maximum amount of their time on their top priority – their “ONE Thing”. Continue reading “Productivity Matters”