Dave Glardon

Adversity May Come, But the Dream Lives On

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is off to a great start.

I’m writing to you from the last place I expected to be this morning – a hospital bed. We’re not really sure what’s wrong, but every time I sit up or even roll over in bed, I get extremely dizzy and try to pass out. But, I’m in good hands and we’ll get to the bottom of it.

Funny thing is, if I can sit for a minute or two I’m okay. This started when I woke up yesterday morning and I made it through the whole day, working, walking around, even driving. But the doc sent me here because of past heart issues, and the first time I tried to get off the bed for an x-ray, the dizziness hit again.

So the problem isn’t sitting up – it’s changing positions. I guess until we figure this out, the answer is that I need to learn to sleep standing up. Horses do it, so it’s not impossible. Okay, if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re taking life way too seriously, and that’s something I try not to do.

But sometimes we have to take it seriously enough to make the necessary changes. When I got the news about my brain surgery last year, that was a real wake-up call. It was a reminder that life keeps moving whether we’re ready or not. Those plans we made for “someday” won’t wait forever.

I started the week mentioning that I have a goal with a tight deadline. That deadline is coming closer by the day, and things like an unexpected hospital stay can really get in the way. But we have to pay the hand we’re dealt. My goal hasn’t changed. All that’s different is the playing field.

Adversity comes to us all, and it never checks to see when would be a good time to visit. It just barges through the door and makes itself right at home. We can either drop everything and cook adversity a nice hot meal, or just shove it to the side and keep doing what needs to be done.

I have little doubt I’ll be out of here later today. I’m sure there will be some more tests before I go, and some may not be all that pleasant. But the bottom line is I’ll do whatever needs to be done and makes the necessary adjustments going forward.

We can plan life to the smallest detail, but life doesn’t always respect our plans. What’s important is that we stay focused on the goal and never let anything stand in the way. The more we do that, the more those plans tend to come our way. We don’t need everything to work exactly as planned. We just need to make the most of what we’ve got.

Lots of things will come your way today. Some planned, some unexpected; some good, and some not so good. But as long as you stay positive and focused on the goal, none of those things can ever stand completely in your way.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

It’s Only as Hard as You Make It

May 16, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is starting nicely.

Have you ever gotten halfway into something and wondered why you put it off so long? It’s so simple, you should have done it weeks ago. Or maybe you’ve thought, “There has to be an easier way to do this! I’ll never get this done!”

All too often, we make things harder than they have to be. I’m a planner. I love to plan things out. I want to know exactly how things will progress and what to expect. All the tools and materials have to be right there at hand (except the ones I forgot, of course), and I’ll study the landscape for several minutes or longer before I get started. By then, I need a break.

Okay, that’s how we approach a job we really don’t want to do. Tell me I have to make a pitcher of Pina Coladas, and I’ll be right on it. Tell me the kitchen sink isn’t draining, and I have to draw up a set of blueprints. I’ll grab the plunger, run a coat hanger down the drain, or try any of a dozen other ineffective remedies to avoid what I know I’ll eventually have to do. Just take the drain apart, Dave!

And once I get started, it’s not really that hard. For me, the hardest part is getting down on the floor and situated in front of the cabinet so I can reach the drain. Once I clear a few things out of the way and put my wife’s favorite pan under the drain to catch the inevitable deluge, taking the drain apart is simple. Within three minutes, I’ve cleared the trap, put things back together, and all is well.

Hopefully you won’t have any drains to clean out today. Hopefully I won’t. But how many things during the day do you approach with an equal sense of enthusiasm? Things you know you need to do, and if you don’t get them done, they’ll still be there waiting for you tomorrow. Nobody is going to swoop in and do the job for you, and if they do it’ll be for their benefit, not yours.

I mentioned last year the concept of eating the frog. It’s pretty simple. If you’ll have to eat a frog sometime during the day, just do it. Get it out of the way first, and then the rest of the day will be pretty pleasant, by comparison. And if you have to eat a bunch of frogs, eat the biggest one first.

I didn’t dream up that little gem, but I think it carries a lot of wisdom. But it also needs some perspective. Because your willingness to eat the frog depends to a large degree on how it got there in the first place. Sometimes the boss sets it in front of you and said, “This is your job today – bon appetite!” In that case, you do what we’d all do. You pinch your nose and dig in.

But sometimes the frog is there because you went looking for it. You have a goal or dream, and it requires you to step outside your comfort zone and do some things you’d rather not do. But it’s the only way to accomplish your goal. So, you put the frog on a plate, grab the salt and pepper, get the proper place settings, put a napkin in your lap, say a prayer, and … the frog is still there. Damn.

Or worse yet, the frog hops away and now you have to chase it down and start all over. Because the path to success didn’t magically change while you were planning that first bite. You can plead, bargain, plan, and look for shortcuts all day long, but the fact remains – if you want the reward, you have to eat the frog.

And when you finally do, you often find out it’s not really a frog. It may not be filet mignon, but it’s usually not quite as revolting as we first thought. You may never come to truly enjoy it, but if you do it enough times, it just becomes a part of your day. You do it without even thinking about it. Then one day you look up and there’s the Emerald City, so close you can reach out and touch it.

Do the things you need to do. And when you come to one you’d rather not do, then get it out of the way first. Anything worthwhile is worth the effort. Keep your eye on the ball and don’t sweat the small stuff. Success isn’t always easy, and the path isn’t always smooth. But none of that matters once you reach the goal.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

When Fear Clouds Your Dreams, Find Those Rays of Sunshine

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! It’s Hump Day. I hope your day is off to a great start.

Well, by the end of the day the week will be half gone. Depending on your perspective, that could be good or bad. If you’re having a particularly tough day at work, the weekend can’t get here soon enough. But if you’re not making the desired progress on your weekly goals, it’s coming too fast.

I talk a lot about dreams. That’s because I want you to focus on your own dreams enough to decide whether they’re important enough to do something about them and, if they are, to find the inner drive to get up and do it. There is literally nothing you can’t accomplish if you put your mind to it.

But dreams, like anything else, come with a cost. That cost can manifest itself in a dozen different ways. Attaining our goals takes work. It takes time. We may need to learn new skills, or step outside our comfort zone. Others may scoff or maybe even ridicule us. And the final attainment of that dream may involve elements of a life we’re not entirely sure we want.

Back when I had just gotten out of the Navy, my wife mentioned that she’d read about jobs in Australia that paid a lot higher wages, and for Americans working abroad the income was tax-free. It was tempting. I’d been to Australia, and it was beautiful. And the thought of that much money was hard to overlook.

But it would mean leaving our extended family and moving halfway around the world. It was a price I just wasn’t willing to pay. Even now, I complain about winter weather every year and dream of life in a place where snow is only found on postcards from the north. But both of my daughters and all four grandchildren live within twenty minutes of my home. I’d have a hard time leaving them.

Sometimes, it’s not even the reality of what will change that competes with our dreams, but the fear of what might change. How will attaining our dream affect the people we care about? How will it impact our career? What if we get where we want to be, only to find out it’s the last place we want to be? Fear can fuel the imagination faster than fresh logs on a fire.

Sometimes the attainment of our dreams involves changes we may welcome on the surface but may include consequences we’re not quite so thrilled to pursue. And it’s that fear, or even the reality of those changes, that can hold us back from chasing our dreams.

And sometimes that fear isn’t about the attainment of our dreams, but in somebody close to us pursuing their own. It’s said that Neil Diamond dropped out of college to chase his dream of being a professional entertainer. I can imagine his parents weren’t too happy about that. But it was his dream, and sometimes we have to simply accept what we can’t quite understand.

Part of that involves a closer examination of our dreams. Maybe not so much dreams, but our visions of how we want our life to be. Which specific part of our own life will change because of their dream – not only the attainment of that dream, but their pursuit of it? How will it impact our own life, and are we willing to make that sacrifice? More importantly, are we willing to hold them back?

If we look deep enough, we can often find compromise that wasn’t readily apparent. My dream of moving south comes with the cost of leaving our grandchildren behind, and that would certainly impact us all. But it would give them a place in the sun for vacations, and it’s not like we couldn’t just get in the car and come back for a visit.

For every challenge, there’s a solution. When I began comedy, I took my wife along on some of the trips so we could share the experience together. It was a way for her to share my dream while enjoying her own dream of seeing places she’s never been. And she was able to see firsthand my excitement in performing. It didn’t remove all her concerns or minimize her own sacrifice. It was simply a compromise. And it made me appreciate coming home that much more.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Every Score Can Be a Winning Score

May 14, 2019May 14, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

A good start for me is going through my morning routine, and then sitting down to hammer out a few words for you. It’s become such a part of my day that, on weekends, I’m almost lost without it. But I figure we all need a break, and it gives my mind a couple of days to just reflect and see what the new week brings my way.

One of my greatest concerns each morning is making sure I can write something that’s worthy of the time and effort, and something that you’ll find worthy of your own time in reading it. There are days when I’m just not sure about that, but the clock says it’s time to wrap it up and leave for work, so I take what I’ve got, polish up a paragraph here and there, and just run with it.

And it’s funny. On the days when I think I’ve hit a grand-slam, response isn’t always what I’d expected. And on days when I think, “Well, there’s always tomorrow,” you folks seem to find some hidden gems that I wasn’t sure I planted. Sometimes, you just never know.

It seems to go that way through life. The gift that you picked out at the end of an exasperating several hours of shopping, simply because the store was about to close and time had run out, is often the gift that receives the best reaction. “Really? You wanted a new toaster? I had no idea!” Okay, I threw that one in for fun. Guys, don’t follow my gift advice. It’ll get you in trouble.

But the point is, you never know what another person is looking for or may need until you put it in front of them. Each of us are very different, and what makes one person shrug their shoulders will often make another person’s day. And, on any given day, most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

A couple of years ago, my grandson was telling me about some new sneakers he wanted. I had learned by then that, if they were worthy of his attention, the price tag was at least half of what I pay for my car each month. These things should be come with a full matching wardrobe. But he’d look at the “sale” price and say, “That’s a good price! These shoes are worth almost $400!”

Now, at the risk of offending some footwear aficionados, there is not a pair of sneakers on the face of the earth that’s “worth” anywhere near that amount of money. If you were to take the cheapest shoes and the most expensive, the difference in manufacturing cost is probably less than $20. I tried explaining that to him, but beauty is in the eye of the teenager who thinks it’ll improve their image.

I remember him showing me online reviews. “See, these are really good! Everybody that has a pair loves them!” Sure, you probably won’t find too many people who are willing to admit they spent that much money on a pair of shoes that weren’t worth the cost. And, expectations play a huge role in our perception. If you think you got a bargain, you did. At least in your own mind.

But I told him that, when you read online reviews, skip the best and the worst, and focus on what’s in the middle. Because that’s where the rest of us spend our days – somewhere in the middle. And when something adequate but unremarkable comes along, we tend to quietly accept it and move on. But sometimes, that’s exactly what we need.

You don’t find too many people raving about a specific brand of canned green beans, but nearly every grocery store in the nation stocks the same brands. Why? There’s nothing all that special about them. But people keep coming back to buy more, without fanfare and without the need for a massive advertising blitz. It doesn’t have to be spectacular. It just has to satisfy the need.

We all want to hit a home run in most things we do, especially in those things that come from within. But, as I mentioned several days ago, the Baseball Hall of Fame opens its doors to players who can get on base one time out of three. You don’t have to hit a home run every time. You just have to give it your best and be ready to run the bases when you do connect.

In a world that rewards excellence, it’s sometimes hard to know our own value, especially when we think we fall somewhere in the middle. As others rise to the top, we may wonder, “What’s wrong with me?” But the truth is, every one of us has value far beyond what we know. Tap into that value, and it’ll take you to the top of your own mountain.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Keep Going – You’re Moving Faster Than You Think

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! It’s Monday, and that means the beginning of a brand-new week! I hope your day is starting off well.

For those of you who were with us Saturday, I slipped on in on you. I hope you’ve had time to read it, because it pretty much tied up all the loose ends from the topics we talked about last week. If you missed it, see if you can find time to go back.

Okay, so last week got a little intense. That was by design, even though, as I’ve said before, sometimes these posts are more stream-of-consciousness than something with a planned direction. Still, once I got started in that direction last week, I felt compelled to continue. Hopefully you were able to glean some useful thoughts from it.

As we begin this week, I’m ten days from a goal that looks increasingly large. Know the feeling? It’s like having a stack of bills on the table marked “Past Due” and the bank account is empty. I think most of us have been there. But we all have to ability to correct that situation and, as the saying goes, it’s not over until the fat lady sings. The story can change up until the very last moment.

We had a large initiative at work last year with an aggressive due date that was enough to make the most seasoned specialists cringe. “Are they kidding? There’s no way!” These are common thoughts at the outset of a goal, especially one that was imposed by somebody else. And, the entire time, with every little setback, those thoughts rise to the surface again. “We’ll never get this done!”

When you’re in the car driving to a particular destination, it’s easy to measure progress because it’s linear. Except for time spent in abnormally heavy traffic, your progress is pretty much the same the entire time you’re on the road. You set the cruise control and you can pretty much know where you’ll be in a few hours or by the end of the day.

But with most other things, progress isn’t so linear. All that work you do up-front doesn’t seem to yield any progress at all. In fact, sometimes all you do is uncover an even bigger mess and now you’ve got more work than you’d bargained for. Can I get an amen?

When you build a new home, the job starts with clearing trees and leveling the site. What started as a beautiful work of nature is now a big mud pit and the clock is ticking. Next you dig even deeper to make room for a foundation, and then load up the site with construction materials. All that work, and not the first piece of the house is built. Instead of a beautiful homesite, it’s an eyesore.

But the work continues and, slowly but surely, a structure begins to emerge. You’re looking at the calendar, wondering how on earth it’ll ever be done on time, but the builder assures you it’s time to start packing up your old house, because this one will be finished soon. Weather delays will occur, and the carpet may not arrive on time. But they’ve done this before. They know it’ll happen.

Now, let me ask you, if the builder were to look at the calendar early on and decide it’s a futile race against time and that the goal was unrealistic to begin with, how hard do you think they’d work to get it finished? The moment we agree to back off the original goal, our effort declines. And the more our effort declines, the more distant our revised goal appears. And around we go.

When we focus too heavily on visible or measurable results, it’s easy to lose sight of the original goal and the effort we’ve put in to that point. And, much like a new house, while all that effort may not be apparent in our progress to date, it creates the foundation on which success will ultimately be built.

As I begin this week, the measurable results toward my goal are pretty dismal. But the work I’ve done to this point was important work, and a required part of achieving my goal. I could change that goal a little if I wanted, and I don’t think anybody would come down too hard on me if I came up a little short. But nobody imposed this goal on me – I came up with it by myself. I own it.

Take ownership of your own goals and don’t let anything stand in the way. Put in the effort, even when it feels like you’re just spinning your wheels. Because sooner or later, those wheels will heat up and gain traction. From there, you’re off to the finish line in a race you were destined to win from the start.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

It’s Crunch Time, and the Ball is in Your Court

May 11, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your weekend is off to a great start.

Yes, it’s Saturday and here I am. Surprise! I normally don’t write on the weekends, but we’ve been on a topic most of the week that I wanted to finish while it’s fresh in your mind and mine. Okay, and a friend asked me to write this today instead of waiting till Monday. This one is for you Katie.

Our common theme this week has revolved around a few interrelated premises. First, moving forward takes faith in yourself and your ability to reach your goal. Second, if you keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing, the results will never change. And finally, to have something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.

In talking with people about their dreams, the discussion always ends up in the same place. “I’d love to do that, but it takes money.” In other words, “I can’t afford it.” And that’s okay. If we could afford everything we want, there would be nothing left to desire. And desire is what drives us to do a little more each day.

People tend to get squeamish about money, because we’re taught that we should appreciate what we’ve got and that it’s selfish to want more. But we’re also taught that laziness is one of the seven deadly sins. So, which is it? Are we supposed to simply accept life as it is today? Or are we supposed to get up and work to make it a little better?

The answer to that question has to come from within. If you’re happy with life as it is today and don’t want anything more, just keep doing what you’re doing. That doesn’t make you lazy. It just means you’re content. But if you want something more, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with working to achieve it.

When we begin to put our dreams on hold or accept the reality that what we’re doing just isn’t going to make it happen, it all boils down to one simple question: “Are you open to other ways of making money?”

Notice, the question isn’t “Do you want more money?” Sure, we all do. It isn’t even, “Are you willing to work harder to make more money?” Most of us are doing that anyway. Besides, we’ve already established that if what you’re doing today isn’t getting you visibly closer to your goals, you need a different approach. So, let me ask again. Are you open to other ways of making money?

Think about that for a moment. “Are you open …?” That doesn’t mean, are you willing? Most of us are willing. It means, is your mind open to things you may not have considered? “… to other ways …” This isn’t about working harder at what you’re already doing. We already know that’s not getting the job done. It’s about trying something new.

I remember reading in the early 1970s that sanitation workers in New York City were making $30 an hour at a time when the minimum hourly wage was $1.65. In today’s dollars, that would be $130 an hour. Now, do you think sanitation work is glamorous or exciting? Probably not. I’m pretty sure those guys didn’t think so, either. But how well could you live on that kind of money?

Sure, there’s a limit to what we’re willing to do, but within the bounds of decency and the law, where would you draw the line? Is it more important to have a career that’s the envy of all your friends, or to end each day in a comfortable home surrounded by a healthy family with plenty of food on the table, no bills to worry about, and the ability to escape it all for a couple of weeks each year?

Are you open to other ways of making money? This isn’t a philosophical question. It’s something each of us needs to answer for ourselves, right now. If the answer is no, then take another look at that list of dreams and start deciding which ones you’re willing to cross off. If the answer is yes, then what are you waiting for?

Are you willing to try something different? Are you able to find personal pride in working to make your life better, even if others think it’s a waste of time? Are you willing to spend the next few years of your life doing the things most people won’t do so you can spend the rest of your life doing the things most people can’t do?

Do you want to dream, or live your dreams? That’s really what it comes down to. And the answer to that question, or rather the inevitable result, depends on your answer to all those other questions. Read them again. Today is the day you can begin to make a change. It’s all up to you.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Opportunity May Knock, But You Still Have to Open the Door

May 10, 2019May 10, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is starting off well.

Is it just me, or did this seem like an awfully long week? It seems to work that way sometimes. Hopefully, by the end of the week, you were able to take advantage of those seemingly long days and get a lot accomplished. I did, but my job is a lot like a fast-food restaurant clerk – there’s always more coming.

I remember about thirty years ago, my wife told me of a large truck manufacturer that was hiring 5,000 assembly line workers. The thought of standing in one place all day, repeating the same thing over and over was mind-numbing, but the pay was great.

I think she was upset that I didn’t apply for a position, but it just wasn’t me. Oddly enough, not even a year later that same manufacturer laid off 5,000 people. Any bets on who they were? As Erma Bombeck once said, the grass is always greener over the septic tank. Things can look great on the surface, but what lurks beneath isn’t always so pleasant.

On the other hand, the best opportunities are often the last thing we would ever have considered. Yet most people will walk away without giving them a second thought, because a friend or family member once tried and failed, or they read some bad reviews online, or “it’s just not what I see myself doing.”

And that’s okay. We all have to make our own decisions. And, we all have to live with the consequences of those decisions. That doesn’t mean all those consequences will be unpleasant. Some people are in a position of comfort where, if nothing changed for the rest of their life, they’d be satisfied.

But most of us want something more. Whether it’s a better-paying job, a nicer home, a new set of skills, a new car, a warmer climate, sending the kids to college, taking the family on a nice vacation, or simply a brighter retirement, we all have dreams.

And here’s the reality – if you keep doing exactly what you’re doing, the results are never going to change. We all think that, at some point in life, the money we earn will magically be worth more than it is today. Our savings account will somehow balloon, our expenses will be cut in half once the kids are gone. Ask any empty nester. They believed that, too. But it just doesn’t work that way.

Most of my posts this week have followed a similar train of thought. That wasn’t necessarily by design, but it’s a topic that can’t be conveyed in just a few words. If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. That’s the essence of what I’ve been talking about all week.

And doing something you’ve never done takes a leap of faith. It takes courage. It means setting aside your doubts long enough to examine the possibilities. It means making a decision for yourself, regardless of what others may think. It means accepting the reality that you have the ability to succeed where others may have failed.

If you have a dream that’s strong enough to get you out of the recliner, and you have faith in your ability to do what’s necessary, then success is only a matter of time. As long as you stay focused on the goal and keep moving toward it, success is inevitable.

Think of that word for a moment – inevitable. It means the outcome is pre-ordained and nothing can prevent it from happening. No matter what obstacles may stand in the way, they can’t stop the inevitable result. The only thing that can block your success is a lack of effort on your part.

No matter what your goals may be, opportunities abound. Some of those opportunities may present themselves, and you may have to dig a little to find the others. But every time we turn away from an opportunity, every time we automatically scoff at something just because it doesn’t meet some predefined level of immediate credibility, our choices are that much more limited.

Any publisher will tell you that, if a book doesn’t have an eye-catching cover, it won’t sell. That’s not because the book itself is any less worthy. But most people, within three seconds of picking up a book, will decide either to look at the table of contents or simply put it back on the shelf.

Success is often found deeper inside those opportunities that may not have such a pretty cover. Sometimes, we have to be willing to be seen with a book others don’t understand or wouldn’t be seen with themselves. That’s okay. They have their goals, and you have your own. The question is, whose goals are more important to you?

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Focus on the Outcome – The Way Will Present Itself

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

I guess by now, you all think I wake up each morning with thoughts racing through my brain, just waiting to be spilled out onto the keyboard. I wish that were the case, but more often than not, I sit at the computer with no real thought as to what I plan to write that morning. It just happens. Some days it’s not all that great, and other days make up for it. That seems to be the way life goes.

In my younger years, if you wanted to take a trip from one city to another, you either looked at a map beforehand or relied on directions from others. GPS was something for ships and transcontinental airliners. And if the route you were on was closed for some reason, you’d simply get off that road, pull in someplace and ask directions (ladies?), and keep driving until you got there.

For the record, yes … I have actually gone into a gas station or convenience store and asked for directions. If that means I have to hand in my “man card” so be it. I’ve also opened a second screen on my computer in the morning to look up a statistic or find out who was the first to offer a specific quote. If you thought all those facts just rattled around in my brain all day, think again.

In the days of Christopher Columbus, navigation was done mostly by dead-reckoning and looking at the stars. You would take a known starting point, head in a specific direction, estimate your speed, and hope the wind and waves weren’t blowing you too far off course. At night you relied on the stars to get you back on track. Except on stormy nights. Then you just hung on for dear life.

Of course, that approach relied on one critical factor – knowing where you were headed. According to historical folklore, Christopher Columbus had set off to prove the world was round by sailing west to India, a country that everybody knew was to the east. What he didn’t know was that there was this huge continent in the middle that stretched from the top of the globe almost to the bottom.

A lot of mornings as I write my post, I find myself in a similar situation. I think I know where I want to go, but end up someplace completely different. And sometimes the goal is simply to get a positive message online, one that will hit home with at least one or two people, with no real sense of how I’ll get there. If you couldn’t already tell, today is one of those days.

Sometimes, too much planning can get in the way. You have a goal and an idea of how you’ll achieve it. You formulate a plan and start working through the details. You decide ahead of time exactly how you’ll get there and how long you think it’ll take. And then you hit the road with blinders on, focused only on that pre-defined route.

But you’re missing all the scenery along the way. You blow right past the on-ramp to a newer and faster route because you’re stuck on plans made from a ten-year-old map. You miss opportunities not only to expedite the completion of your trip, but to enjoy it more along the way. And then comes the dreaded “Road Closed” sign. Now what do you do?

If the destination is known, all you have to do is keep moving in the right direction. And when the GPS says, “Recalculating,” you make a turn and get back on track. Sooner or later you’ll get there. Destinations don’t move. What changes is the means by which we get there.

We talked yesterday about faith, the belief in something you can’t prove. In this case, it’s the certainty in a final outcome you’ve not yet achieved. But if you know where you’re going, and you believe in your ability to get there, how you do it isn’t quite as important. You don’t have to plan everything to the nth degree. Focus on the goal and the means will present itself.

The key here is that you have to begin with the courage to take that first step. You have to be open to options along the way. You have to be willing to try something new – maybe something so radically different that it almost doesn’t make sense. If you stick to the path everybody else is on, you’ll end up exactly where they’re headed, two steps behind.

You achieve new things by trying new things. Focus on the destination and believe in the outcome. Take off the blinders and be open to new opportunities. The path to success may not look like anything you’d imagined. But what’s more important? The destination, or the color of the car that gets you there?

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Soar With the Faith of a Baby Bird

May 8, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning. It’s Hump Day! We’re halfway to the weekend. I hope your day is starting off well.

As I was shaving this morning, I heard the sound of birds outside greeting the new day. It’s been a long winter here in southern Ohio, so that’s a sound I haven’t heard in a while. Okay, there are some stubborn species that have never heard of flying south for the winter, but this is typically a sound we associate with springtime. It’s about time.

As I listened to them chirping at one another, two thoughts came to me. First, I’ve never seen or heard of a bird that wakes up in the morning with a scowl on its face, grumpy about the interruption in its sleep. They all seem to wake up happy and full of life, eager to face the new day. Seems to me we could learn a thing or two from that.

I also thought about the little ones taking their first flight. That has to be a scary experience. It’s hard enough to leave the nest for the first time, but that’s when they realize just how high in a tree the nest really is. “Thanks mom! You expect me to step out of this thing and just flap my wings. What if it doesn’t work???”

Years ago, I saw a picture of a baby bird staring over the side of the nest getting ready for that first flight. The caption read, “It can because it thinks it can.” Just as a small child sees its parents walk upright, a baby bird sees its mother fly in from the big blue sky with food for the whole family. There’s never any doubt in their mind that they can do the same thing. It just takes a leap of faith.

Faith is the unwavering belief in something for which we have no physical proof. It means to know something deep down inside that others may doubt. It’s the ability to see into the future and know the outcome before you take the first step. And, for a baby bird, it means flapping your wings just a little harder to turn that long drop to the ground into the miracle of flight.

A friend often asks, “What goals would you set for yourself if you knew you couldn’t fail?” I’ve quoted her before, because I think they’re powerful words. If a wizard waved a magic wand over you and told you that you could now accomplish anything and everything your heart desires, which of your dreams do you think you’d tackle first?

Sure, the first couple of times you might go into it with the mindset that this may work, and it may not. After all, our lives have mostly been a mixed bag of wins and losses. But, unlike a baseball game, we can step up to the plate as many times as we want, and when the game appears to be over, we can declare extra innings. It’s not over until we say it’s over. We just keep playing until we win.

I was listening to a motivational CD yesterday where the speaker said that every time a baseball player steps up to the plate, he expects to get a hit. He stands there because he knows the right pitch will come his way. He swings because he knows he can hit the ball. He never expects to strike out. Yet the Hall of Fame opens its doors for the player who can get a hit one time out of three.

That means the best players return to the bench seven times out of ten. And all they’re thinking about is their next time at bat, and that their own batting average proves they’ve got what it takes to hit the ball and get on base. They don’t step up to the plate knowing they’ll get a hit. They do it because they have faith in their ability to succeed.

You have the ability and the power to succeed at anything you set out to do. Okay, I don’t suggest jumping off a tree limb and flapping your arms, because there’s this thing called gravity that can mess up your day. But you get the idea. There are very few things in life that you can’t accomplish if you have the faith and courage of a baby bird.

So, again, what would your goals be if you knew you couldn’t fail? Would you keep doing what you’re doing today, or do you think you’d set your sights just a little higher? We all dream of things we’d like to have or goals we’d like to accomplish. They may seem a little far-fetched, and others may get a chuckle out of your ambitions. But the only thing holding you back is your own self-doubt.

Remove that doubt and all things become possible. All it takes is a little faith. You can do this!

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

What Are You Waiting For?

May 7, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a nice start.

Now that the weather has warmed up, what’s changed in your life? Okay, I guess if you live on the other side of the equator, we could ask the opposite question. But the same premise applies. What’s different in your life because of the change in the weather? Do you suddenly find yourself with less time to do the things you want to do?

Something I hear from people a lot is, “I’m just so busy! Between work and the kids and sports and gardening and my book club and Game of Thrones … I just don’t have the time to take on anything new.” I get it. We’re all busy.

Today’s message loosely ties with yesterdays in the simple fact that when we consider our goals and the things we need to do to accomplish them, it usually means trying something new. Or, more accurately, it means adding something new. Your schedule is already crammed full, and now that dream is demanding a little of your time as well. What gives?

More often than not, the time is there if we really want something. If you kept a vacation brochure at your desk for some exotic location, people at work might get the idea that’s something you’d like to do. And through the day, whenever you had a few minutes to catch your breath, you’d gaze wistfully at that brochure, dreaming of the day you’d be in that picture. That’s how dream-building works.

So, what if your boss came by and made you an offer. “Give me five extra hours each week for the next year and I’ll send you on that vacation, all expenses paid. Split the time up any way you want, but give me a good five hours each week.” Would you do it? Sure you would. Odds are, you’ve put in those extra five hours most weeks anyway, between skipping breaks and working through lunch.

We can always find time when the reward is guaranteed. But, given the opportunity to put in that same amount of work doing something for ourselves, where maybe we could take that vacation not only next year but twice every year, it’s amazing how hard it is to find the time. “I’m just too busy.”

Something I’ve learned over the years is that we’re only as busy as we allow ourselves to be. Sure, earning an income means putting in a forty-hour week, sometimes longer. And when you factor in everything from getting dressed in the morning through the evening commute, you’re already putting in an extra 8-10 hours a week. If you typically eat lunch at your desk, add another 5 hours.

Beyond that, there are other things that demand our time. Family is at the top of the list, especially kids. But do you actually spend all those remaining hours before bedtime interacting with family, or do you have those moments when everyone else is busy doing their own thing and you’re left to your own thoughts?

The time is there, but sometimes we have to be a little creative. What if you could step away for lunch and use that time for yourself? What if you could take a notebook to the soccer game and draw up some plans? What if you could make a few phone calls while the kids are doing their homework? What if you could meet an associate for coffee after work while the traffic dies down?

We all get 168 hours each week. Some of those hours are already spoken for, but if you’re being completely honest, you probably have at least half of those hours available for whatever you want. Sleep will naturally take up some of that time, and we all need to find time to rest.

But as we discussed a couple of weeks ago, you can accomplish a lot in fifteen minutes. Do that twice a day and you’ve just found three and half hours every week that you didn’t think you had. Add in an extra hour each day on the weekend and maybe a half-hour in the evenings, and now you’re up to eight hours. What could you do with an extra workday at your disposal?

No matter how young or old you are, no matter what’s going on in your life or what’s about to settle down, there will never be a “good” time to take on something new. There’s only today. And the longer you delay that decision, the longer it’ll take you to reach your dreams.

If there’s something you want, make the time. You may be surprised how easy it is once you get started. And with every day, every hour, every fifteen minutes, you’re that much closer to your goal. The time will never be better. You just have to make it work for you.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!