No matter how good your intentions, how much you study and focus, and not matter how much you visualize a goal and/or a promise to yourself, it will never come to be without you taking appropriate action. Did you notice how I didn't just say to take action. I wrote that you must take appropriate action to reach your desired destination.
Since I was a little boy, I always wanted to play the guitar, and I still do. I even had lessons when I was about 10 -- the guitar case was bigger than I was. I talked my mother into letting me stop my guitar lessons and it was right when I was learning chords. I can't remember what reasons I gave her, but the truth was that I was just tired of going. I think my teacher may have also told her I needed to come twice a week instead of once a week.
I'm all grown up, now, and I have a folk guitar and an electric one -- I gave the one I took lessons with to my younger brother, who, by the way, is a professional musician -- and their safely stored away in their cases waiting for me to pull them out and pluck out some of the simple, single-note songs I learned to play as a child. And that will be all I'll ever be able to play ... unless I take the appropriate action to learn more.
I still fantasize about playing the strings like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Prince, and Glen Campbell, and that will always be just a fantasy. However, I can learn to play chords. I can learn to play songs. I can learn to play well enough to say I am a guitar player. But that won't happen if I don't take the proper action with guitar in hand and keep working at it until I make it happen.
Whatever it is you want to do or be, always be mindful that you will need to do something to make it so.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
30 SECONDS
When you introduce yourself to someone, what do you typically say? I'm sure you might give your first and last name, tell what company you work for, and what your job title is. That's fine for a perfunctory intro, but what will that leave the person you're metting with? Not much. At least not much to remember.
Now, consider telling someone you're meeting for the first time who you are and what you are about. Consider telling this person what your purpose for being on this earth is. You can do it, and I suggest you learn to do it in 30 seconds. That's only one half of a single minute, good people, but that's all the time you need to make a lasting impression.
I got this idea from an iLearning Global speaker and will practice it. Check out the difference between these introductions:
1. My name is Michael Howard and I am an English professor who teaches online, as well as in the classroom. I enjoy teaching, learning, and communicating. Sharing what I know give me a good feeling.
2. My name is Michael Howard and I am a communications expert. My mission is to help others discover and use the best resources and methods to enable them to have their messages fully understood and acted upon.
From the very start of introduction No. 2, you get a sense that the speaker is a person of power and confidence. When you add the fact that the person is on a mission, you create even more of a presence.
If you want to be overlooked or forgotten, be passive. If you want to stand out (in a positive way) be powerful ... and learn to tell what you're all about in 30 seconds or less.
Now, consider telling someone you're meeting for the first time who you are and what you are about. Consider telling this person what your purpose for being on this earth is. You can do it, and I suggest you learn to do it in 30 seconds. That's only one half of a single minute, good people, but that's all the time you need to make a lasting impression.
I got this idea from an iLearning Global speaker and will practice it. Check out the difference between these introductions:
1. My name is Michael Howard and I am an English professor who teaches online, as well as in the classroom. I enjoy teaching, learning, and communicating. Sharing what I know give me a good feeling.
2. My name is Michael Howard and I am a communications expert. My mission is to help others discover and use the best resources and methods to enable them to have their messages fully understood and acted upon.
From the very start of introduction No. 2, you get a sense that the speaker is a person of power and confidence. When you add the fact that the person is on a mission, you create even more of a presence.
If you want to be overlooked or forgotten, be passive. If you want to stand out (in a positive way) be powerful ... and learn to tell what you're all about in 30 seconds or less.
HOW IS YOU NEW YEAR GOING?
This is one of the few New Years where I can't remember one of my friends or family members talk about resolutions they want accomplish before 2011. I have no problem with that because I didn't make any resolutions, either. However, I did make several promises to myself, as I try to do on a daily basis.
In an iLG program, I heard billionaire Bill Bartman say something that I wholeheartedly agree with. When we set "goals" and come up with things like resolutions, we tend to put undo pressure on ourselves, thus, setting ourselves up for failure. He suggested, instead, that we make "promises" to ourselves. A promise to yourself is taken much more seriously because even the word promise holds a very personal meaning to us and our commitment to do something.
Make some promises to yourself for this year. Write them down and read them out loud, daily. Feed your subconscious with these thoughts and visualize your promises already coming about. Do this, and take action toward these promises and you will be amazed at the results.
In an iLG program, I heard billionaire Bill Bartman say something that I wholeheartedly agree with. When we set "goals" and come up with things like resolutions, we tend to put undo pressure on ourselves, thus, setting ourselves up for failure. He suggested, instead, that we make "promises" to ourselves. A promise to yourself is taken much more seriously because even the word promise holds a very personal meaning to us and our commitment to do something.
Make some promises to yourself for this year. Write them down and read them out loud, daily. Feed your subconscious with these thoughts and visualize your promises already coming about. Do this, and take action toward these promises and you will be amazed at the results.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A UNIQUE CHRISTMAS
This past Christmas was very different for me because it was the first Christmas I can ever remember that I didn't send out one card or buy one gift. I didn't do it to be defiant or to be a Scrooge. I did it because none of my family set up a gift exchange, like we usually do, and I haven't sent Christmas cards in a few years, at least not a lot of them. It's important to state that aside from some delicious cookies from my sister, I didn't receive any gifts, nor was I expecting any. I did receive about 5 cards and I was very grateful for those.
What I did receive for Christmas, however, was a wonderful appreciation for what the true meaning of Christmas is. It is for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is for celebrating family, friends, and the many blessings we enjoy. The replies I received from the Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays text messages I sent to a select group of friends meant more to me than receiving something in a box wtih decorative wrapping. Those replies meant more to me because they were written from heart and they were writen just for me.
As we start a new decade, always be mindful of what's most important and that when we treat people as special individuals we give them a gift that is welcome in every season.
What I did receive for Christmas, however, was a wonderful appreciation for what the true meaning of Christmas is. It is for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is for celebrating family, friends, and the many blessings we enjoy. The replies I received from the Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays text messages I sent to a select group of friends meant more to me than receiving something in a box wtih decorative wrapping. Those replies meant more to me because they were written from heart and they were writen just for me.
As we start a new decade, always be mindful of what's most important and that when we treat people as special individuals we give them a gift that is welcome in every season.
PREPARE TO WIN IN 2010
Well, the year 2009 is over and what a year it was. Far too many major events took place to review them in this article. What's most important is to ask yourself, what did I learn in 2009? How did I improve myself in 2009? What set goals did I reach in 2009? What mistakes did I pull valuable lessons from, last year, and how will I use those lessons to have a better 2010?
The past is gone forever and there is no need to dwell on events and decisions that can't be undone. At the same time, if we don't learn from the past, we're doomed to repeat it.
On this first day of the New Year, you have the opportunity to make a fresh start, to accomplish goals and promises you made to yourself. The way you go about this is to create a list of specific things you want to do, have or acquire. It's critical to be as clear and detailed as possible. If you make a list of goals you want to achieve before the year is out, I strongly recommend you break up the list into groups of things you can complete in less than a year.
Check and ammend your list on regular basis. You'll be amazed at how seeing what you want to achieve can empower your reslove to make it happen.
Have a prosperous 2010.
The past is gone forever and there is no need to dwell on events and decisions that can't be undone. At the same time, if we don't learn from the past, we're doomed to repeat it.
On this first day of the New Year, you have the opportunity to make a fresh start, to accomplish goals and promises you made to yourself. The way you go about this is to create a list of specific things you want to do, have or acquire. It's critical to be as clear and detailed as possible. If you make a list of goals you want to achieve before the year is out, I strongly recommend you break up the list into groups of things you can complete in less than a year.
Check and ammend your list on regular basis. You'll be amazed at how seeing what you want to achieve can empower your reslove to make it happen.
Have a prosperous 2010.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
VICTIM OR VICTORIOUS
Bad things happen ... to all of us. I remember listening to a Les Brown program on tape and he said, "The messenger of misery is at someone else's door, at your door, or on his way." That stuck with me because it helped me to understand that bad things can happen to good people. For so many years, I felt that was so unfair. It is unfair, but it's life.
We don't control everything that happens to us and we don't always have control what circumstances we find ourselves in, though most times our circumstances are the results of our past decisions and actions. What we do control is what we think about, what we focus on, and what we desire as an outcome. If you think this is airy-fairy fluff, just think back to a time when you had a voice-mail message on your home or cell phone from someone important in your life and all that was said was, "Call me right away! Please!!" Now, after hearing that, almost everybody would think, Oh my goodness. Something must be terribly wrong. Let me call and find out what the emergency is. Yes, it could very well be an emergency, but I've actually had messages like that left and all the person wanted to know is where I was, or what shirt size I wore. Important information? Maybe, for the caller's need. A life or death emergency? Absolutely not.
The point I want to drive home is that you shouldn't make matters any worse in your mind thant they need to be. Don't ignore problems, but don't dwell on them. Focus on a solution and how you want things to be. Victims, whether innocent or not, are helpless and have no power. The victorious have enormous power and take challenges head-on.
We don't control everything that happens to us and we don't always have control what circumstances we find ourselves in, though most times our circumstances are the results of our past decisions and actions. What we do control is what we think about, what we focus on, and what we desire as an outcome. If you think this is airy-fairy fluff, just think back to a time when you had a voice-mail message on your home or cell phone from someone important in your life and all that was said was, "Call me right away! Please!!" Now, after hearing that, almost everybody would think, Oh my goodness. Something must be terribly wrong. Let me call and find out what the emergency is. Yes, it could very well be an emergency, but I've actually had messages like that left and all the person wanted to know is where I was, or what shirt size I wore. Important information? Maybe, for the caller's need. A life or death emergency? Absolutely not.
The point I want to drive home is that you shouldn't make matters any worse in your mind thant they need to be. Don't ignore problems, but don't dwell on them. Focus on a solution and how you want things to be. Victims, whether innocent or not, are helpless and have no power. The victorious have enormous power and take challenges head-on.
RENEWED AND IMPROVED
For those following my blog, thank you for your support and patiience. I do sincerely apologize for not keeping it up to date. Yes, the courses I teach online keep me very busy. Yes, I've had some urgent matters come up, and I have been very busy with a number of other things. But you know what? Those excuses don't hold water.
When I was going through the process of becoming a member of the noble fraternity of Kappa Alpha Psi, I clearly remember hearing this when I didn't have something I was supposed to or I wasn't fully prepared:
Excuses are tools of incompetence,
and those that make use of them,
seldom do anything else.
I never forgot that. So I offer no excuses. I just want my readers to know that they will see a much better and more frequently updated blog from Michael E.
When I was going through the process of becoming a member of the noble fraternity of Kappa Alpha Psi, I clearly remember hearing this when I didn't have something I was supposed to or I wasn't fully prepared:
Excuses are tools of incompetence,
and those that make use of them,
seldom do anything else.
I never forgot that. So I offer no excuses. I just want my readers to know that they will see a much better and more frequently updated blog from Michael E.
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