Motivational – Page 37

A Healthy Future Begins With the Choices You Make Today

April 30, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

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

Well, April is over. Did you accomplish the things you’d planned during the month? I got started, if that counts. I guess it depends who’s keeping score. But you know how that works. Still, May is less than 24 hours away and, just like a brand-new week, it’s another chance to start over and get some things done.

Yesterday I mentioned how productive I was Sunday. I also mentioned that instead of the fifteen-minute sprints I’d recommended, I cleaned for a few straight hours, and then mowed the lawn. I felt pretty productive. But yesterday morning, my lower back decided to make me pay for it. By noon, I was in agony. It happens. And if this morning is any indication, today won’t be any better.

There are consequences for the things we do to our body. In my case, it’s a combination of age, weight, and too many years of treating my back like it was made of steel. Bad posture, poor lifting, and all those endless hours bouncing down the road in a vehicle with little to no lumbar support. Sooner or later, you have to pay the piper.

And of all those things, the only one I can do anything about today is my weight. It’s really a simple concept – the more weight you carry above your lower spine, the more that weight presses down on it. And the discs at the bottom get all the abuse. Lose the weight, and there’s less for the spine to support. Voila!

If only it were that simple. Anybody who’s ever tried to lose weight knows how hard it can be. I’m on a program that works, when I stick with the program. I’m back on it, and the results are beginning to show. But all it takes is a few days of hot lunches and the next thing you know, nothing but a hot lunch will do. Ice cream before bed becomes a habit just as quickly.

But as I said, there are consequences for the choices we make. Some are good, some not so good. Beyond just our weight, our body’s physiological health is largely determined by what goes in our mouth. And too much of anything just isn’t good. Especially when that “anything” isn’t good for you to begin with.

You’ve heard the term “empty calories.” It’s how we describe food (I use the word loosely) that’s rich in calories and devoid of any redeeming nutritional value. Twinkies would be at the top of the list, followed closely by donuts, potato chips, and a whole host of other items we know we shouldn’t be eating. But we do it anyway. And then we do it again. After all, nobody can eat just one.

That advertising slogan from the early 1960s hit the nail on the head. It was almost a challenge. “Betcha can’t eat just one!” And the truth is, your body is engineered to take that challenge and prove them right. Unless it’s a flavor you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, every one you eat makes you want at least one more. Next thing you know the bag is empty and you’re stuffed.

There’s a simple reason for that. When we eat simple carbohydrates, our body immediately turns those carbs into glucose. We get a mild energetic boost that we may not even notice, but it’s there. Until it’s not there, which happens in a matter of minutes. Then the boost is gone, and your body wants it back. And the cure is all so simple – just eat a few more.

I’m not even sure Frito Lay knew the science behind that slogan back in the 60s, but we know it today. And still, every grocery store has an entire aisle devoted exclusively to salty high-carbohydrate snacks.

We have choices during the day. Instead of refined carbs, we can choose more complex carbs. A piece of celery may not seem all that appealing at first, but if the only goal is to satisfy the urge to snack, it gets the job done. If you don’t like celery, try an apple or an orange. Don’t like fruit? Then maybe some sunflower seeds or a handful of mixed nuts.

We have all kinds of options at our disposal. And nobody says you can’t eat a few potato chips from time to time. It’s all about moderation and offsetting those lapses with a few healthier choices the rest of the day. We can eat anything we want and still remain healthy. We just can’t eat it all in the same day.

Healthy choices aren’t always as appealing, and they do take a little more planning. But as you age, your body will reward you for whatever choices you made along the way. Make sure that reward is something you’d choose.

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

The Greater the Challenge, the Sweeter the Success

April 29, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Did you accept my fifteen-minute challenge from Friday? I did. Okay, I spent a lot more than fifteen minutes, but the house was empty and I didn’t have anything better to do with my time, so I set about a few different tasks and got a lot done. Granted, there’s a lot more still to do, but that’s another story.

We all tend to be a little optimistic when it comes to setting goals, but then as time goes by, we begin to wonder if we were a little too optimistic. Part of the problem is that we’re content to just let time go by instead of putting it to better use. And what ends up happening is we realize we may have overcommitted, so we begin to look for ways to trim the fat. Off our goal, that is.

We compromise and bargain like a used car salesman. Only they’re trying to get more out of us, but we’re trying to get a little less. “Well, I may not make it all the way to my goal, but if I can get a little closer, that’s better than nothing, right?” Okay, that would be a true statement. Anything is better than nothing. But that doesn’t mean it’s enough.

Because every time we come up short on a goal, no matter what kind, we have to admit a certain level of defeat. And defeat is just a more passive word for failure. We didn’t exactly fail – we were defeated. And hey, that happens to the best of us. So we pat ourselves on the back for whatever we did get done, and walk away wiser and maybe even a little smug. We did all we could do.

But did we? Could we have put in a little more effort? Could we have recommitted to our goal and faced the obstacles head-on instead of just waiting for them to move? Could we have put our creative energy to good use and figured out a different approach? Could we have called a friend and asked their advice? Could we have actually followed that advice?

The truth is, any one of these things would have put us closer to our goal and may have actually seen us through to success. But it’s easier to just accept fate and tell ourselves we tried. “It’s the thought that counts.” Sound familiar? Well, that may be true … when it comes to giving someone a gift. When it comes to your goals, it’s an easy way of admitting defeat. But at least you meant well.

Right now I’m facing two monumental goals. One is a little less time-sensitive and, because of that, I haven’t been overly concerned about how quickly it gets done. Cleaning my office yesterday was just the start of my household reorganizing and de-cluttering. But if I can take a little bit at a time, as I did yesterday, it’ll get there.

The other goal is very much time-driven, and I’m a little more than halfway to the end with little to show for my effort. I’ve done all the right things, but this is one of those cases where the “right things” don’t always turn into measurable results. It’s like swinging the bat against a really good pitcher. You miss more than you hit, and when you do connect it’s rarely a home run.

When we set a goal and then allow ourselves to fall short, we re-live that moment every time we try to do anything. We’ve allowed ourselves to accept something short of what we’d deemed acceptable, and it’s not quite as hard to do that the next time. And with each of those defeats, we develop an inner expectation that, no matter what we try, we’ll always come up a little short.

Part of the answer to that is making sure your goals are realistic. But they also need to be challenging. Tying your shoes is realistic, but is it really worth celebrating? Find something that will drive you to a certain level of excellence, something that’ll take a strong level of determination. Then do it. And if you find yourself coming up short, then turn up the heat.

We were born to do great things, and to succeed in whatever we desire. And there’s no greater success than taking on something you’ve never done before, something that’ll stretch your abilities to the limit, and then doing it. Go ahead. Stick your neck out. Swing for the fence. And don’t let anything get in the way. Then listen to the crowd cheer as that ball goes sailing out of the park.

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

One Bite at a Time

April 26, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

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

Yesterday was one of those days where the work kept coming my way faster than I could keep up. I have several things on my plate already today, and there’s no telling what else may be added to the pile. Some days are like that. And after a week of coming home each day completely caught up, I guess I can’t complain.

Toward the end of the day, it always becomes a matter of which remaining task I can complete before it’s time to go home. I think we all do that to an extent. And, because of that, we end up picking some of the low-hanging fruit instead of starting into something bigger that may have an even higher priority. It’s hard to start something you know you can’t finish.

My aunt was an amazing artist. Her oil paintings hung in some impressive galleries and sold for a nice sum of money. And I remember going into the basement where she had her studio and looking at all the paintings she’d started but hadn’t yet finished. At any given time, there were at least a dozen.

She’d paint a little every day, choosing the paintings by inspiration and which one was dry enough to work on some more. Eventually, they all turned into magnificent pieces of art. But if none of them had been started until she had time to finish, those canvases would have remained blank.

A few days ago, I added up how much I’ve written in these posts over the past sixteen months. Yes, it’s really been that long. And, all told, I’ve written the equivalent of five books, nearly a quarter-million words. I know, there are days when you feel like I put them all in the same post. Nobody has ever accused me of being at a loss for words.

As I thought about that, I thought about the books I’ve started and never finished. And every time it was the same excuse. “I’m just too busy right now – too much going on. As soon as thing settle down, I’ll get back to it.” As soon as … we talked about that a couple of days ago. Loosely translated, those words mean “probably never.”

But there’s no escaping the fact that if I’d put in the same hour each day that I spend writing these posts in the morning, I’d have finished five books by now. I’m not even sure I have five books in me, but I’d like to find out. And the nice part is I don’t have to sit in a corner hammering away at the keyboard for hours every day to do it … just one hour a day. That’s all it would take.

In my business, one of the biggest excuses I hear from associates is, “I just don’t have the time.” What they mean is they can’t drop everything and devote an entire day, or even an entire evening, to doing what needs to be done. As a result, nothing gets done and a year later they’re still staring at the same dream and thinking, “One of these days …”

But there are things that can be done in ten or fifteen minutes, small tasks that add up to big accomplishments if we just keep at it. And I don’t know of anybody who can’t find an extra fifteen minutes two or three times during the day. That little bit of effort can add up to over four hours every week. So, what could you get done in four hours? My guess is, a lot.

The weekend is here. And my challenge to you is to find one thing around the house you’ve been wanting to get done and spend just fifteen minutes working on it. Do that twice tomorrow and twice more Sunday. If you’re feeling really energetic, do it a couple more times. Then take a look at how much you’ve accomplished. You might be amazed.

A small river flowing through a bed of solid rock will eventually begin to wear that rock away. The progress may not be impressive on a daily basis, but over time it adds up until one day it becomes the Grand Canyon. Apply that same principle to the things you want to accomplish in your own life and see what kind of wonders you can work.

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

Sometimes the Well-Trodden Path is Still the Best

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is starting off well.

I’ve talked a lot this week about creativity and thinking outside the box. I guess it all goes back to the old adage that insanity is doing the same thing the same way every day and expecting different results. We all know that if we want things to change we have to try something different. But sometimes, things are working just fine and then we get creative and throw a wrench in the spokes.

When I got up this morning, the bathroom scale gave me an encouraging sign – my weight is finally starting to go back down. I didn’t really gain that much over this last stumble off the wagon, but I had been headed steadily in the right direction until I decided I was smart enough to tweak things a little. After all, will a cheeseburger and fries really make that much difference?

With most things in life, small changes can make a big difference. Sometimes we need to make those small changes to speed things up a bit. And other times, we need to just stick with what works. Anybody who’s ever started a small two-stroke engine, like that on a weed-eater, knows exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t hold your mouth just right, you’ll be there all day.

Some changes will make things better. Some don’t seem to make any difference at all, but they do. The impact just isn’t as readily apparent, but over time it’ll show. And other changes, like ditching the meal bars in favor of a cheeseburger, have exactly the result we’d expect. Granted, sometimes you need to indulge a little. But when “sometimes” becomes every day, we have a problem.

On your job, you were likely taught to do things a certain way. With many computer programs, you have to do things in a specific sequence to get the desired result. Mop the floor before you sweep it and you’ll end up with a muddy mess. And anybody who’s ever tried using vise-grips instead of a socket wrench knows the inevitable result of that mistake.

On the other hand, there was a point in history when somebody set down a hand saw, rubbed their arm, and thought, “There has to be a better way. What if the saw could move itself back and forth? But the mechanism required to do that would consume a lot of energy. So, what if we changed the shape of the saw? What if we made it a circle? Then all we’d have to do is spin it really fast.”

Granted, the saws of the day were pretty impressive. And so were the biceps of the people using them. It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. And all through history, ordinary people have dreamed up some of the things that make our lives so much simpler every single day. Cars, airplanes, computers, power tools, kitchen appliances … the list goes on and on.

My dad was an aircraft mechanic for nearly fifty years, and he taught me most of what I know about tools and how to fix things. Granted, there came a time when I had to try something he’d never shown me, like replacing disc brakes or rebuilding an engine. But the basics of what he’d taught me were the foundation for all those new learning experiences.

I made mistakes along the way, and I’m sure he did, too. That’s all part of it. But when we learn the basics from somebody with the skills and experience to teach us right, the results can be pretty impressive. It’s when we try to toss their advice aside and do things our own way that we get in trouble.

We all know the things we should be doing. And, even though there’s that part of our brain that really wants to come up with a better way, sometimes it’s best to shut that down for the time being and just follow the plan. When the team is ahead by forty points, the coach can afford to run new plays. But when the score is zero, you stick with what works.

There’s a time for creativity and a time to just follow directions. Success is all about knowing when to do what. And, more often than not, if we just follow the lead of those who have gone there before us, we’ll at least find ourselves on the right path. Once we reach our destination, we can think about better ways to get there.

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

When One Wins, We All Win

April 24, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is starting off just right.

Ever have one of those nights when you were so excited you just couldn’t get to sleep? That’s been the story of my life for the past couple of weeks. It’s been a common theme, and you would think after a while the thought train would just slow down and whatever was keeping me awake would begin to fade.

I guess if it was the same exact thing every night, that would be the case. But it’s a little different every night, and I finally figured out why. Ladies, relax – I’m not going “there.” Yes, this is about an active imagination, but one of a completely different kind. It’s about seeing not only the dreams, but the possibilities. It’s about visualizing the means of accomplishing those dreams.

And here’s the secret – it all comes from focusing on somebody else. It comes from listening to a friend share a thought, concern, problem, or dream, and then taking an active interest in helping them come up with solutions. Because, in doing that, you inadvertently stumble upon some of the answers to your own challenges.

We’ve talked before about this concept of success through helping others succeed. When you take a vested interest in somebody else’s dreams, their dreams become your own. Not in the sense that you want the same things for yourself, but the two of you share a common goal of seeing them succeed in their own quest. And you know what they say – two heads are better than one.

Employers like to encourage us to think outside the box. As a business analyst, I often ask people why they do things a certain way. Is that the only way to do it? Is there a legal or regulatory compliance issue in doing it differently? Or is that just the way it’s always been done? Quite often, the answer is hiding behind door #3.

We laugh at images of people walking into the same door over and over, each time hoping the door will magically open. It’s even funnier when there are two doors and the one they’re banging into is clearly marked “Out.” All they’d have to do is take two steps to the side and the other door would open on the first try.

It’s easy to get tunnel vision, especially when we’re so focused on a goal (like getting inside that door) that we can’t see the possibilities right next to us. Because we’re trained to do things a certain way. In fact, we hammer it into our kids’ heads – “There’s only one way to tie your shoes! Get creative, and you’ll just make a mess. Do it the way I showed you!”

So, it’s only natural that when a person is trying to work toward a goal, they tend to get stuck on a certain path. And the road to success is rarely a straight highway with no intersections. More often than not, we have to get off that highway and take some of the less traveled roads to get where we want to be. But unless we’ve been down those roads before, we may need a little help.

And here’s where it gets to be fun. When you’re trying to solve your own problems, your willingness to try something new is pretty slim. You want to stick to the tried and true method. You know, the one that got you exactly where you are. But when you’re helping somebody else solve their problems, you can step back and view the landscape from a much higher level. You can see beyond the trees.

In helping somebody work toward their own goals, your brain is a little more willing to think outside the box and come up with ideas they’d have never thought of on their own. That gets them excited and, next thing you know, they’re thinking outside the box. And the two of you are coming up with solutions to problems you don’t even have. Today.

But you never know what you’ll run into down the road. And, believe me, the day will come when one of those ideas the two of you hammered out in a moment of desperation will be exactly what you need to overcome your own challenges. With every idea you come up with for somebody else, you come up with a few more for yourself. And that’s pretty exciting.

If you thought I was going to tell you how to fall asleep faster, I’m sorry. But hopefully, you’ll sleep a little better knowing you helped a friend, and you’ll wake up more energized knowing exactly what you need to do next. And it all comes from taking an active interest in somebody else and helping them achieve their own dreams.

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

The ‘Perfect’ Time Is Now

April 23, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

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

Until last week, I was using a desktop computer to write these posts. But my daughter works from home, and her job requires a dedicated, enclosed office. So, short of buying a new house, the only option was for us to share the office. If you’ve never tried that, let me give you the condensed version – “Dad has to find someplace else to work.”

I’m not complaining. All through life, we learn to adapt. And that’s especially true as parents. In this case, the first adaptation was my monitor sitting on the dining room table with the PC in a chair next to it. We all know how well that works, especially with young grandchildren running around the house. Finally, I bit the bullet and bought a laptop. It was inevitable.

So, now I’m trying to get used to this keyboard that was designed for somebody wearing handcuffs instead of the big ergonomic keyboard I’ve used for so many years. And yes, I know I could connect that keyboard to the laptop, but then I’d have to clear everything off the table again and have my aging eyes that much further from the monitor. Kind of defeats the purpose.

Again, we adapt. We make do with what we’ve got until a more ideal situation presents itself. For me, that situation looks an awful lot like a brand-new, sprawling desk in a corner of the basement where nobody but me will ever see it. Only one catch – I have to disassemble the gym equipment I put up for my grandson to make room for it. You know, the gym he never used.

We touched on this yesterday, but no matter what you want to accomplish, there is never a perfect time and the surrounding circumstances will always be something less than ideal. We can try to minimize the challenges to give ourselves the best possible chance of success, but the longer we wait for things to get better, the longer they’ll stay the same. Except nothing ever stays the same.

And you know how the chorus to that song begins. “As soon as …” Those three words take the heat for more unfulfilled dreams than anything in our vocabulary. “As soon as I graduate; As soon as winter is over; As soon as things at work settle down; As soon as this baby is born; As soon as we get that new house; As soon as the kids are gone; As soon as I retire.” Are you seeing a trend here?

And the trend is this – “As soon as” never happens. Because as soon as (like how I threw that in there?) one task is completed, one event is over, or one situation clears up, something else comes along to take its place. Next thing you know, you’re sitting in a wheelchair in the TV room of a nursing home saying, “As soon as I get out of here …” We all know how that story ends.

Things will never be perfect. Situations come and go, and as soon as one leaves, another one takes its place. You’ll never have the perfect combination of skills and experience. With everything in life, there comes a point where you just have to hold your nose, say a prayer, and dive in. Unless you’re a surgeon or airline pilot in a story that includes me, and then none of these rules apply.

But even the surgeon and pilot had to take a leap of faith at one point. Thankfully, they have much more experienced mentors at their side to keep them from doing something really stupid, but there’s still a very real element of risk. And whenever you put your life in their hands, you can be thankful they were willing to take that risk.

Instead of waiting for things to be perfect, assess what you’ve got right now and start putting it to use. Improve the situation as you go instead of waiting for it to change. Learn new skills on the job, find out if things work by trying them, set fears aside by working through them. Instead of striving for perfection, learn to appreciate “good enough.”

Every day you wait, life is passing you by. If there’s something you want, a burning desire so strong you can’t quench it, then get up, dust yourself off, and get started. You already have everything you need, and the situation is as perfect as it’ll ever be. The rest is simply up to you.

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

You Always Get More Than One Try

April 22, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Mine was everything I hoped it would be.

Last weekend I cut the grass and, wouldn’t you know it, I had to do it again yesterday. Seems it works that way this time of year. Mowing the lawn is one of those jobs you don’t get to do once and say “it’s done” because before you can even put the lawn mower away, it’s growing again already.

Of course, the nice part about that is if I miss a spot or gouge a certain area, the mistake will only be visible until next week. No matter what, you always get a chance to do it again. So, I guess mowing the lawn isn’t as much a job as a dress-rehearsal … one that repeats itself over and over and over, from spring until the onset of winter.

Now you know the one thing I look forward to each year when the weather turns cold. At least twice during September, I’ll mow the lawn and proudly proclaim, “That’s probably the last one until next year.” Then we get another week of unseasonably warm weather and I get to do it all over again. Like I’d complain about another week of sunshine. Not in this life.

Every time I get a haircut, as the stylist asks twenty questions to figure out exactly what I want done, I always tell them the same thing – “If you take off too much, it’ll grow back.” Now, for some men, that may not be the case. And I know others are a bit more particular about their hair. As long as mine looks reasonably presentable, I know the results are never permanent.

It’s that way with a lot of things in life. No matter how badly you’ve messed things up, you can usually undo the damage and try again. Relationships are a bit trickier in that respect, and losing a job for insubordination can leave you in a bit of a bind. But beyond that, most things can be fixed. And for those that can’t, you’ll usually get another chance to start from scratch.

Monday mornings are a good time to remember that. Whatever mistakes you made last week, no matter how dire they seemed at the moment, have faded somewhat. This week will bring new challenges and, no matter how badly you messed up last week, you can rest assured somebody else will top that feat before Friday. It happens every time.

Meanwhile, you’ve got a little time and a fresh mind to go back and fix whatever you messed up. Or the whole cycle starts over and you get a chance to get it right this time. And when you do, nobody will even remember last week’s mistake. Never once has one of my neighbors stopped by after a weekly grass clipping and said, “Nice to see you didn’t blow it this time!”

Still, we put such pressure on ourselves to be perfect, that it often keeps us from taking chances that can lead us to better things. And the greater the potential reward for doing the job well, the more we tend to talk ourselves out of even trying until we’ve rehearsed to the point that failure would be a welcome reprieve. At least we could move on to something more worthy of our abilities.

Of course, the problem is that we never get the job done and we never know what might have been. Moving from where we are right now requires doing something we’ve never done. Or maybe we’ve done it a thousand times, but never before on this particular day and in this exact setting. The great job you did last week is in the past. It’s what you do this week that counts.

If there’s something you need to do, especially something you find a little intimidating, just do it. If you wait until you can perform to perfection, you’ll be waiting a long time. Odds are, if you blow it this time, you’ll get another chance. And with each one of those opportunities, you’ll get better and better until you wonder why you were ever afraid in the first place.

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

Break a Tradition to Find the Possibilities Hidden Inside

April 19, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning. It’s Friday! I hope your day is starting off well.

For many of us, this will be a weekend of religious observances, and a day with family accented by some traditional meals. For others, it’s just a normal springtime weekend to observe their own weekend traditions. Whatever your plans, I hope the weekend is just perfect.

It seems traditions work their way into our life, sometimes completely by accident. But once they become ingrained in us, it’s hard to deviate. But sometimes that deviation can lead to new traditions, or even a tradition of just seeing where life takes you. That can be fun as well.

Nearly twenty years ago when our girls were visiting a grandparent out of state, my wife and I decided to take a long weekend and go someplace. We didn’t know where we wanted to go – we just wanted to get away for a couple of days.

I remember as I was loading our luggage for the trip, I asked my wife, “So, which way are we going? North, south, east, or west?” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know – pick one.” We hit the road, with no real idea of where we’d end up. And we had one of the most incredibly relaxing and enjoyable weekends ever.

Traditions can be great (not that we’ve ever had a real “tradition” for weekend outings), but they can limit your imagination and lead to a somewhat mundane existence. When we go to any of several familiar restaurants, I rarely even look at the menu because I already know what I’ll be eating. And sure, I get something I really like each time. But I always wonder what I may be missing.

Traditions are nothing more than habits, but with a more celebrated existence. Our family tradition of baked ham and macaroni & cheese casserole on Easter Sunday is a habit. One I really enjoy, mind you, but still a habit. And one that limits other possibilities. Like this year, when the menu will be traditional summertime cookout fare – hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato salad.

Notice how one tradition just slipped in there over another? Pretty sneaky, if you ask me. But it happens, because we’re all creatures of habit. We have routines that have become comfortable, and when decisions need to be made, we naturally gravitate to them. So, instead of a single tradition, we have a few. Then it’s just a matter of drawing one out of the hat.

And we follow this routine through much of what we do in our lives. I have certain combinations of clothing I wear. When I put on my blue pants, there are just a couple of shirts I’ll wear with them. And, most of the time, those shirts only get worn with my blue pants. So, the only real decision I make each morning, is which pair of pants to put on. From there it’s eenie-meenie-miney-mo.

In yesterday’s message, I stressed the point that we need to be willing to try new things. And sometimes those new things are so far outside the box, we’d have never thought of them on our own. When somebody suggests them, our brain immediately comes up with a dozen different reasons to resist. And if those reasons aren’t good enough, there are a dozen more behind them.

It’s simply because what we’ve been doing to this point in life is coloring inside the lines, following a pre-defined path that we laid out for ourselves. But if we want to turn the current picture into a masterpiece, we have to be willing to color outside the lines. We have to be willing to change those habits that have restrained us to this point and find some that will lead us where we want to be.

I’m not bashing traditions. We all have them, and there are some we have no desire to change. I could go to a Chinese restaurant for Easter – I just choose not to. And that resistance to something new will keep me from ever knowing what may have been. It’ll keep me in the same silo in which I’ve lived to this point in life. And in this case, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

But if there are traditions and habits that are holding you back, change them. If something new could lead you to where you want to be, do it. The mind is like a parachute – it only works when it’s open. Be receptive to new ideas, new habits, and new traditions. And then shut your brain down long enough to get past those excuses and examine the possibilities. What a difference it can make!

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

When You Dream and Believe, Success is Inevitable

April 18, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

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

I’ve been meeting friends for the past couple of weeks, having lunch with a different person just about every day. The weather has finally gotten a little nicer, so we’re not as prone to just sitting inside all day. And it’s been great catching up with people I don’t get to see as much as I’d like. We should all do that more often.

We sit and talk about any of a number of things. Invariably, we’ll share some of our visions for the year, especially in terms of vacations. Nothing gets people excited more than the prospect of some time away from work, relaxing and seeing something they normally don’t get to see. And let me tell you, some of these people are really adventuresome! I need to hang out with them a little more.

In my business, that’s what we do. We talk with people. We find out what they do, we talk about family, and we share dreams. You may think you know the things somebody wants, until they look at you and say, “I want to sell my house and move to Switzerland.” Okay, I didn’t see that one coming.

For each of us, there are different things that motivate us. And, here’s a concept we don’t often talk about. Money is not a motivator – we may believe we get up each day and work for money, but what we’re working for are the things money can buy. Food, shelter, security, health, and the ability to enjoy a little more of what this world has to offer.

I have a friend who was giving a presentation in Mexico years ago and, through a translator, he told his audience they should put a picture of their dream on their refrigerator. All at once, a woman in the back jumped up and started yelling excitedly. He asked the translator what she was saying, and he replied, “She has a dream! She wants … a refrigerator!” Sometimes, you just never know.

But regardless of whether our dream is to take a European vacation, a beachfront home, or to simply own a refrigerator, it’s something that feeds our hope of a better future. The problem for many of us is that we allow our dreams to simply exist in the back of our mind, and only bring them to the surface when a nosy friend asks about them over lunch. The rest of the time, they just sit there.

I’ve quoted Napoleon Hill before in these posts, but in ten words, he says everything I’m writing about here this morning. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Those are powerful words. It means if you can dream it up, and believe in yourself enough to go after it, your brain will find the way to make it happen.

I wish our schools would spend a little more time teaching positive reinforcement to our kids. Okay, I wish more parents would do that. When they’re little, we encourage every dream they have and celebrate every accomplishment. But somewhere in the teenage years, when family bonds mean all so much to them (insert sarcasm emoji here), that positive reinforcement seems to fade.

And that’s why it’s important as adults that we find a way to get it back. I don’t care how young or old you are, there is no point in your life when you should stop believing in yourself because there is no point in your life when you can’t begin to achieve whatever your heart desires. Success is simply a dream, belief, and a plan, repeated daily until the goal is achieved.

Dreams can get you up in the morning and make you do things you might not otherwise have done to achieve them. If your boss called you in tomorrow and said, “Give me an extra seven hours a week for the next two years, and I’ll buy you that beachfront home,” would you do it?

Then why not put in a few extra hours each week building something that will allow you to buy any home you want? To have something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. That may be putting in extra hours, going to a new church, starting a business, or simply having lunch with a different friend every day. Those little changes can be the start of something big.

Dream. Find something that makes you want to get up every morning. Then believe in yourself enough to work for it. Feed your brain with positive thoughts. Be willing to try something you’ve never done before. And, in those quiet moments of the day, listen to your mind. It’ll tell you what to do next.

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

Forget the Clouds and Focus on the Forecast

April 17, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

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

Those of you who have been following my posts for a while know I’ve been trying to lose weight. The bathroom scale knows how well I’ve been doing in that endeavor. For a while it was smiling at me almost every day. But over the past week or so, it hasn’t been quite so gracious. I’m thinking it needs a new battery. Maybe a few.

One of the reasons it’s so hard to lose weight is because the feedback is both instantaneous and brutally honest. The scale isn’t out to ruin your day or make you feel like a big fat loser. It has one job – report the facts. And the fact is, our weight can fluctuate from one day to the next. That’s why it’s important to focus on the overall trend instead of the daily feedback.

It’s that way with a lot of things in life. A couple of years ago, my grandson and I built a shed with nothing more than a pile of lumber and my own imagination. And let me tell you, nothing very gratifying took place in the first few days. Turning over the ground and leveled is not fun work, and at the end all you have is a rectangle of dirt and some patio stones to show for your effort.

But over the next few days it began to take shape. And what sits in my backyard now is something worthy of all that effort. But there was enough frustration early on in the project to make us both question our sanity in taking on such a project. It happens.

In our business, things don’t always go according to plan. I’ll do the work that needs to be done, and nothing happens. I’ll fill my calendar with appointments, and the gods of destruction will swoop in and fill everybody else’s calendar with something else. People I need to call are not available. Customers need a little more time to decide. It’s all part of the game.

And any one of those setbacks could be enough to make a pessimist point to them and say, “See? I told you this won’t work!” But the overall trend tells a different story. It says, “You’re moving, and in the right direction. Just stick with the plan and you’ll get there.”

Setbacks are inevitable in anything we try to do. The boss changes requirements of the job just as you’re almost finished. Parts break. Pipes leak. Fuses blow and lights burn out. And that all-important tool you just can’t do without is nowhere to be found. Sure, it’s frustrating. But do we throw up our hands and walk away, or keep pushing forward?

When it’s our daily job, we don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. We mumble under our breath, let out a sigh of exasperation, and get back to work. We may even spend our entire lunch break checking the local job boards. But, short of actually finding another job, we do what has to be done.

So why are we so quick to give up on the things that matter most to us? There’s something you need to do toward your goals, but by the time you get home from work you’re just too tired. Besides, there’s grass to mow, bills to pay, dinner to eat – who has time? Excuses, excuses, excuses.

And it’s even harder in the very beginning when progress is that much harder to see. If I’d already lost thirty pounds, a week of bad news each morning would be a minor setback. But looking at the scale every day and seeing your original weight is a little harder to overcome.

The closer you are to the beginning of your goal, the harder it can be to see progress. My grandson and I spent a lot of time getting the ground leveled for that shed, and our only visible reward was a rectangle of dirt. The foundational work isn’t very gratifying, but it still needs to be done. Because, until we’ve built that foundation, we can’t begin to build on top of it.

As you define your goal, remember that every little step you take is a step closer toward your eventual success. But you have to keep taking those steps. Setbacks are simply a reminder that, if this was easy, everybody would be doing it. They exist to give us those gentle course corrections we need from time to time. And they’re a reminder that we need to keep going, to work past them.

Don’t let setbacks keep you from reaching your goals … on the job, at home, on the drive, or in your personal endeavors. Just keep doing what you need to be doing, and you’ll get there. It works every time.

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