The Excelerated Life

May 2, 2019October 1, 2019

What’s Holding You Back?

“Show me someone who keeps getting in your way, and I’ll show you someone who keeps making excuses.” ~ Note From The Universe — Mike Dooley

What Is Holding You Back?

What’s holding you back? What is keeping you from reaching your goal, fulfilling your purpose, and creating your best life? Given the opening quote, you probably suspect that this is a loaded question and you may be reluctant to trot out your usual litany of excuses, er, umm, I mean “reasons”.

Don’t get me wrong. Nobody that I’m aware of follows a straight, open, easy path to success. (If they do, then they’ve set their sights too low. They should aim higher.) All of us encounter obstacles, bumps and potholes, detours, blocked roads and locked doors. That’s part of why we are here and one of the big reasons for having goals in the first place. It’s called “Learning”.

April 25, 2019October 2, 2023

Maintenance Required

Your body is the vehicle you use to traverse Life. Every vehicle performs more smoothly and over a longer period of time when it is well maintained. Small, consistent actions, repeated over time, lead to remarkable results.

Neglect

My first car was a 1962 Ford Fairlane; blue, with bucket seats. I don’t remember how much it cost – I paid for it working part time as a bag boy at Winn Dixie. I loved that car but I drove it hard — teenage driver. And I never did anything to maintain it. Never changed the oil. Never checked belts or hoses. Rarely checked the air in the tires . . . unless one got really low. I did not take care of the car and it didn’t last very long.

It required several years and getting stuck with broken down cars for me to learn the importance of maintenance – doing the small but important tasks to keep the car running smoothly. But I eventually got the lesson. Every machine performs better longer when it is properly maintained and cared for. And this includes you and me.

April 18, 2019September 19, 2019

Build Your Positivity

Positive emotions have a long-lasting effect on your psychological well-being and lead to flourishing – the ability to thrive and grow. Not only do they feel good in the moment, but they are worth cultivating as a way toward improved well-being.

“Positivity opens us. The first core truth about positive emotions is that they open our hearts and our minds, making us more receptive and more creative.

“Positivity transforms us for the better. This is the second core truth about positive emotions. By opening our hearts and minds, positive emotions allow us to discover and build new skills, new ties, new knowledge, and new ways of being.” [Fredrickson 2009]

Broaden and Build

Barbara Fredrickson was one of the first Positive Psychologists I encountered. Martin Seligman referenced her work a number of times in Authentic Happiness and described the profound impact she had on his thinking about positive emotion. She was the first recipient of the $100,000 Templeton Positive Psychology Prize, awarded for the best work in Positive Psychology by a scientist under 40. [Seligman] Based on Seligman’s reference, I immediately purchased and read Barbara Fredrickson’s book, Positivity. It was an excellent introduction for me to the concept of building the skills that help you flourish.

April 11, 2019August 20, 2019

How Purpose Leads To Accomplishment

What did you come here to do? How could you do more of it?

A Late Bloomer

I am a late bloomer. I did not follow a straight path to success or happiness or fulfillment; as a matter of fact, I am still walking that path. But over the years I have gotten closer to what those things mean for me.

My journey has been a circuitous one. I went about life for many years not really concerned about what my “purpose” was, or even if I had one. Like many people, I kept busy with work, helping to raise a family, being a husband and father, dealing with aging parents — all the every day stuff that can fill our lives.

I didn’t take much time to contemplate the larger questions: What did I come here to accomplish? What is my Job (with a capital “J”)?

March 28, 2019April 20, 2020

Sharpen Your Focus

In a world of growing distractions, it becomes increasingly important to be able to “go deep”, to ignore the “shiny objects” and focus on the things that are truly important to you.

Get The Big Rocks In First

A professor brought a wide-mouthed glass jar to class and set it on a table. From under the table, he brought out a bucket of large rocks. He began placing rocks into the glass jar until no more would fit.

He asked the class, “Is the jar full?”

March 7, 2019November 1, 2023

Make A Plan And Begin

The setting and pursuing of goals is a “happiness tool”, shown through research to increase positivity. You need only to make a plan and get started.

Flight Plan

When a pilot steps into the cockpit, she has a definite destination in mind and she has created a flight plan to get her plane and her passengers to the right location. However she never flies straight to her objective. Due to various elements beyond her control — weather patterns, cross winds, updrafts, downdrafts, storms, and the earth’s magnetism — she will be off course up to 90% of the time during the flight. Using feedback from her instruments and air traffic control, the pilot and crew make many adjustments during the course of the flight. But in the end they land at the chosen airport, usually within minutes of the scheduled arrival time. The flight plan is essential in aiding the pilot and her crew to reach their goal — the intended destination — successfully. [1]

February 28, 2019July 15, 2019

An Orderly Life

“As within, so without.” Our external world is a reflection of our internal world. If your external world is peaceful and ordered, then your inner life is peaceful and ordered. If your inner life is chaotic, your external world is likely to be a mess.

An Experiment In Decluttering

A number of years ago, I devised an experiment. In an effort to remove clutter and begin living an orderly life, I decided to get rid of — toss, give away, or recycle — two items every day. And for 60 days, that’s what I did.

I kept a record of what I cleared out, which I still have on my computer. Analyzing it, I see that about 40 percent of the items – 47 – went to Goodwill and 41 items were tossed in the garbage. The rest were recycled. The most items I discarded were books (22) and clothes (19). Other items were memorabilia of various sorts, old medications, and just plain trash – broken things, old receipts, outdated product manuals, and some papers I could no longer identify.

February 22, 2019March 2, 2019

Why You Need A Reserve

To reach the peak of Maslow’s Hierarchy (self-actualization), you must first get the basic needs met. After you build and keep a reserve in these areas, then you are able to focus on achieving your full potential.

Out Of Gas

A few months after I got my driver’s license, I drove to a neighboring town to apply for a summer job. On my way back to school, the car quit running, slowed down and came to a stop on the side of the road. It was out of gas.

I had seen that the gas was low but foolishly thought I could drive till I made it back home. Now I was stuck.

February 14, 2019February 14, 2019

Tapping The Power Of Acceptance

A big part of healing and recovery is accepting what has taken place. Acceptance is an important first step for dealing with adversity and moving forward with your life.

A Fable About Acceptance

A raven, black as midnight, spied a Swan and envied her feathers because they were white as pure snow. He decided that if he lived as the Swan did, his feathers would become white.

So the Raven left his home in the woods and flew away to the lake where the Swan lived. He swam and dived in the water and ate the water plants, just like the Swan.

February 7, 2019February 9, 2019

Willpower Offense

Those who use willpower wisely don’t use it to fight temptation, they use willpower to avoid temptation. Instead of willpower defense, they play willpower offense.(1)

Choose Once

When I stepped on the scale and it hit 265, I decided it was time to do something about my weight. So I joined Weight Watchers.

The Wednesday evening sessions I attended had two leaders, Paul and Marlon, both of whom had successfully lost many pounds. Both were engaging and funny. And they both understood the ups and downs of weight loss. Marlon once told about going on a cruise and gaining 15 pounds in one week. And he was a Weight Watcher leader at the time!