Daily Boost — Motivation and Personal Growth

What's Your Life Vision?

Do you have an image of what you would like your life to be - except when life gets in the way?

There's no doubt that daily life events have a funny way of distracting us from reaching goals. It's just too easy to put them on the back burner. That's why you need to become the keeper of your vision.

Every day thousands of opportunities will arrive on your path and detour you from what you want. That's why it's up to you to guard your vision by asking a simple question - 

Will this opportunity move me closer to the lifestyle I desire or further away?

Simple.

Know YOUR vision. Defend YOUR vision. Live YOUR Vision.

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Stoic Philosophy Rules That Apply Today

In 300 BC, political life was driving people crazy. To calm the masses, several schools of philosophy popped up. Stoicism was one of them. Many of its teachings resonate today.

1) The mind is your power. It is not an outside event. 

2) Time is your most precious resource. There is no time for regrets.

3) Be present. Stop and spend time with yourself.

4) Be grateful for what you have by imagining how much you would miss what you have.

5) Don’t look for happiness in the material. Wealth is in having few wants.

6) See that everything you experience originates from within. Your perception is all that matters.

7) Have a role model to measure your character. Once you find them, you’ll have a benchmark to gauge your progress.

8) Change your perspective on failure. Failure itself is no misfortune; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.

9) Apply what you learn. Learning is like training weights for your mind. Be sure to use your new strength.

Why reinvent the wheel when some old-school wisdom already has it figured out?

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Every Day is a Do-Over Day

Is it me, or does living life these days make you feel like Bill Murray in the movie, Groundhog Day? 

When it comes to working toward goals, that can be a tremendous asset. It's also something that will break you free when things don't feel like they are going your way.

Everybody has ups and downs. Up days are lots of fun. Down days make you want to crawl under a rock. But like the movie, with the right mindset, you always get another chance to try again.

How would you feel if every day was a chance to tweak, adjust, flex, or reinvent your approach to living?

What if everything got more comfortable as you built your knowledge of what works best for you?

How empowered would you feel if you knew that every day was a do-over day?

As long as the sun rises and the sun sets, it doesn't matter if you succeed or fail the previous day. Today is always a new day for making your dreams come true.

That'll make you get out of bed.

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Transformational Stages

Is there something you would like to transform about your life? These days you are not alone.

Stop smoking, lose weight, get a better job - or another job?

Transformation always follows the same predictable stages:

Stage 1: Pre-contemplation. This stage appears when an idea pops into your head for the first time.

Stage 2: Contemplation. This middle ground is where most folks get stuck. It can go on for a lifetime.

Stage 3: Determination. Moving past contemplation, you make up your mind, dig in your heels, and make your plan.

Stage 4: Action. There is no turning back until you get what you want.

Stage 5: Maintenance. This stage is all about keeping what you have acquired - no matter what. This stage may also last your entire life.

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Three Step Productivity

Not a day goes by when somebody doesn't ask me how to manage their time and be more productive. I wanted to share my simple, non-AI approach to getting things done.

It's crucial to understand that productivity systems are not one-size-fits-all. They should be tailored to your unique needs and goals, which can evolve with your changing roles and responsibilities in life.

I'm now living in the wisdom role and not the get a thousand things done a day role. Still, no matter what role you play, productivity comes down to three elements:

1) Holding space on your calendar. If you need help deciding when to do your whats, you must spend more time learning that skill.

2) Task Management contains all the little things you must do during the time set on your calendar. And no, they never go on your calendar.

3) All projects and their millions of details live in a separate project management document, file, or software. You reference it when you need it. Any task that needs to be done finds its way to your Task Manager.

That's it.

Only three tools are needed for productivity: a calendar, a Task Management System, and a place for project details. Never the three shall mix.

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Reinvent Yourself With No Plan

In the last couple of years, I made a decision that changed everything about my life.

And no, when I began personal Operation Reinvention, I didn't have much of a plan. I wouldn't say I was winging it, but sometimes you have no idea what kind of plan you need. What I did have was a mindset.  

I wondered - 

"What single change can I make - a change that would automatically and positivity disrupt everything in my life and put me in a better place?"

I followed that with…

"I don't know WHAT it's going to be, but it's not going to be THAT!"

While I didn't know exactly how to get there - or even what 'there' was, I knew I would recognize it when I saw it.  

Goals are cool. You should use them. Sometimes, you must follow your gut, go with the flow, and figure things out along the way.  

By the way, the single change turned out to be a massive rethinking of how I use my time. I create time freedom - and everything else begins to arrive.

What change can YOU make that would automatically and positively disrupt everything in your life and leave you in a better place?

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Non-Optional Time Suckers

It happens to all of us.

We're going about our day, hot on the trail of checking off items on our never-ending To-Do list. Then, we discovered that we didn't get everything done before time ran out. 

When my son was entering the workforce, we would often find time to catch up on weekends. He was trying to navigate the business world while balancing his life. He had a fast-paced job and had become a productivity ninja. He was proud of his color-coded To-Do list and calendar, but he had a problem -

"Dad, no matter how organized I am, I still can't get everything done. I'm writing everything down, and I'm working through it, and I still run out of time. What am I not doing right?"

My first thought was how happy I was that he had the clarity of mind to look beyond the obvious solution. Then, I had a few questions -

You say you have accounted for everything. How much time did you allocate for eating lunch or running down to the coffee shop today?

How many times did you visit the restroom, and how long did it take?

On your commute, how much time did you spend at the traffic lights?

I stopped.

"What does that have to do with my getting my work done?" he asked.

Nothing, but you still have to get that stuff done. And thanks for making my point.

What my son had discovered is what I call "Non-Ops" — the non-optional things of life. 

Non-Ops are a never-ending string of activities that require our attention. They never go away and sneak up without you knowing. If you don't account for the Non-Ops of life, you'll never get to the optionals of life.

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How to Set Expectations and Get Results

I can’t remember a time in my life when expectations didn’t significantly impact every minute and hour of every day of my life. No matter who you are, you have a million expectations inside your mind — and don’t get me started about expectations that others have for you. 

Years ago, I developed an awareness of how expectations control our lives and settled on an engineering model to guide me along my path. The model is called the Feed-Forward/Feedback Model.

The first step in the FFFM model is to become aware of everything happening in your life. 

Next, set an expectation for any event, goal, relationship, or life situation that you have in your life.

Once set, your only job is to observe whether you are getting what you desire.

If not, and there is always an if not, notice the discrepancy and update your expectation based on real-life results. 

Continue observing your result and making adjustments until you get the expected result.

It looks like this: expectation, observation, discrepancy detection, change in exception, expectation.

Life is not rocket science. It’s engineering.

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Two Words That Will Change Your Life: Slow Down

While recovering from Total Hip Replacement, I engaged with a client on a Zoom call. He shared one of his favorite sayings, “Slow is fast, fast is slow,” which made me angry.

Why?

First Responders practice “Slow is fast, fast is slow” all the time, so you never see them running to the scene. Pacing themselves is simply safer, more effective, and faster.

A more real-life example of why it’s a good idea to experience a risk-taking, lane-shifting driver passing you five times only to end up sitting next to you at the stop light—or worse.

The reason I was angry was because I had not yet listened to the advice I give high-performance and driven individuals every day of my life —

“SLOW DOWN! Step off the hamster wheel of life, wait for the wheel to stop spinning, and only then, begin your journey to whatever you want.”

What I realized in my recovery from THR was my pre-surgery hamster wheel was still spinning on pure adrenaline, even though my medications and mobility had forced me to a stop a few days earlier. Once I recognized what was happening, I breathed and began my slow journey back to myself.

If you struggle to implement a plan, I can promise you that you are pushing too fast, and until you force yourself to STOP - everything will keep spinning out of control.  

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Total Control: Pre-Planned Responses

Imagine if you could always know what to say in any situation. 

Having the right thing to say is possible. The trick is to think about all the possible ways a conversation may go and create a Pre-Planned Response.

The secret is to work it from every angle until you have covered everything possible. Leave no stone unturned.

So, what happens when the conversation arrives?

1) You will be calm and collected.

2) You will not be surprised.

3) You will have the right thing to say.

What happens if you are surprised? 

It's impossible to predict what everyone will say. But you can focus on the unexpected because you have everything else covered.

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