Turning Around that 'MESS'
Life may not be always what it is but often, it's in the optics, the messaging piece, the way we create the ripple effects that even shape things up. Be it at home or at work, your workmates or even your family members can pick things up not from what you speak but instead by the ramifications of what you really end up doing. In life, there is just no room for double-speak but you dare breach the threshold of things, even aberrations will become visible on the surface.Never underestimate the ability of people to see things because it's all in the 'optics'. People have one too many viewfinders to know the 'real score', too many channels to drill-down and and get the least distorted picture. But in case you fall to this trap, the reality of that mess therein can't be ignored. Take it from https://www.98point6.com/getting-back-on-track-with-healthy-habits-when-it-seems-life-is-derailing-you/.Diane Passage assures us @ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-signs-your-life-is-a-mess-and-how-to-fix-it-fast_b_7991022 that regardless of the mess one may be embroiled in, there is still a way out but before putting the cart ahead of the horse, you need to know that you're in a mess. How ? Do you have that negative attitude ? Do you feel that 'burn out' ? Either your home or desk is literally a mess ? You've got health issues ? You don't get that focus you need to.Bleak horizons ? That streak of light will eventually sneak but if you want to hasten that second of life, you've gotta dump off everything that's loathsome and detestable. Else, if you remain stubborn to recycle your chameleon-like persona, poor you, you might end up in the murky and stagnant 'dead waters'.Jane Fonda, the very respected American actress and political activist can be best quoted: "It's never too late to start over, never too late to be happy". And to ride on a much older cliche, 'success stories do not have timelines and deadlines, But as a word of caution, that vicious cycle CAN'T go on forever. You gotta stomp your foot down and shape up. ✅No one size fits all. That explains why we're here, to share my 2-cents where it's worth it.
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Is Your Run 'UNEVEN' ?
Is Your Run 'UNEVEN' ?
Uneven runs and inconsistencies in life are part and parcel of the harsh realities we need to live with BUT here's the big BUT. That can't just go on forever, just can't and shouldn't. Yet, more often, we take things in stride and console ourselves that this is part of life. But can we live a tattered life, riddled with rough patches and inconsistencies ? And how long and how far will that bring us forward from hereon ?Peggy Noonan, the primary speechwriter of the late Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said it all that 'PART OF COURAGE IS SIMPLE CONSISTENCY'. And at hindsight, we need to challenge ourselves as to how much effort is needed for us to exert to come up with the CONSISTENCY we deserve in life ? And @ https://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dowdenb/misc/inconsistency.htm of the California State University [Sacramento], the in-depth paper shares with us that inconsistency is at the very crux of logic. And unless we gather to have that gumption and 'courage' to correct our inconsistency, there's nowhere you can go.What exactly is the doctor's order where we're inconsistent ? Why can't we summon RECENCY BIAS and challenge ourselves if whatever is most recent in us did make things better for us, for our lives ? Unless and until you become very dissecting, you may falsely believe that everything will be fine, that there is nothing to correct, nothing to rectify.Joseph Folkman shares us @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2019/10/17/your-inconsistency-is-more-noticeable-than-you-think/?sh=736891e3d507 the CONSISTENCY INDEX summarized as follows: Be a GOOD EXAMPLE, DON'T DOUBLE-SPEAK, KEEP UP TO YOUR PROMISES, STICK TO YOUR COMMITMENTS and TAKE THE EXTRA MILE, if need be.AND, can we dump off that cinema mindset wherein the most recent episode is at the top of our memory recall, such that, things get muddled and distorted because we tend to gloss over the positives and look the other way around for the flies in the ointment. How to stay consistent ? Take it from Jill Brown @ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269718 wherein, in 3 foundational tenets [START by SEGMENTING, LEVERAGE on the POWER of SYSTEMS and HOLDING [yourself] ACCOUNTABLE, she wants us to be fully locked-in so that we remain focused on our goals to realize the dreams we got.✅
Sunday, February 28, 2021
In Life, Do You Perform Your Tasks in PARALLEL ? Or SERIALLY ?
Saturday, February 27, 2021
How Far Will the Smooth Train Travel Go
How Far Will the Smooth Train Travel Go ?
Analogous to a train ride, in our life, we have much more moments of smoother rides than those rough patches, rough rides. Problem is, when life is so good, we are tempted to have kampai's left and right. We may not be that prematurely celebratory but when a friend taps our back and flatters you even with a minor-minor success, you fall prey and end up succumbing to host kampai's left and right.And when onboard that smooth freight train ride, it feels to be a smooth one till you reach your finish line. Lowering our guard during those moments become our point of reckoning. And all your efforts can go for naught just for those fleeting moments of undoing, of utter remiss.
Geoffrey James calls it the 'upward momentum' @ https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-create-upward-momentum.html. And he clearly cautions us that if we "don't do the work to keep moving up, you're doomed to go downhill". And by the way, you can run like Usain Bolt [the Jamaican who's considered the greatest sprinter ever] but if you're running around in circles, you'll not get the finish line. Tough call for you dude.🌈🌈🌈
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Get Your MOJO Back !
Get Your MOJO Back !
Remember how pumped up you were ? Those first weeks of your class. Those early weeks in your new job. That first month of your new project. Until one day when you woke up, you realized you lost your mojo. Suddenly, the drive was gone, the energy seemed spent, the inertia seemed lost and you realized of late that you were now a shell of that pumped-up, energized and extremely motivated fellow during those first weeks. How time flies, really.At the other side of the coin, there seems a plateful of things for you to get focused on. It's not something where you're really idle. You realized that that burning motivation suddenly fizzled out. Suddenly, you realized that what is all left are the sands and the camels. Unfortunately, much as you wanted to lift your finger now, your moves seem so contrived, no one is biting. OR, have you priced yourself well beyond ? Josh Linkner says it @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2012/08/16/you-lost-it-7-ways-to-get-your-mojo-back-yeah-baby/?sh=55f1026a7044 wherein he kept harping you gotta CHANGE. CHANGE your view, CHANGE your attitude, CHANGE your patterns, CHANGE your priorities, CHANGE your mentor, BUT and here's the BIG BUT. not all of those CHANGES will be easy. In fact and in truth, none of them are. To quote Linkner: 'they all require a forced change of habit'.Oh, I love this piece from Emily Hurley-Wilkinson, an accredited personal coach and who became famous for her book 'RECLAIM YOUR MOJO' wherein in her piece @ https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/to-get-your-mojo-back-get-your-breathing-right-1.3361653, she exclaims that what matters most is resiliency because that's at the very core.
Lolly Daskal says it all in her piece @ https://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/6-simple-steps-to-get-your-mojo-back-after-you-lost-it.html#:~:text=Get%20unstuck%20by%20shifting%20your%20perspective.&text=Nothing%20you%20try%20seems%20to,way%20you%20look%20at%20things which can be summed as follows: go for a QUICK WIN, FOCUS on your mission and NOT on your obligations, get UNSTUCK [by shifting your perspective], stay fat from NEGATIVITY [remember those naysayers], mind what you're saying to yourself [because that matters most] and tap your helpline. Dude, if you wanna be back to your horse, stay focused & DON'T look back at your past.📌Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Life has no STOP Button
Life has no STOP Button
If there's something that sets apart our lives from basketball, boxing and athletics, the latter will offer you a timeout, a half-time break and even in boxing, round-breaks every three minutes. Not in life though. Once you get out into the rat race we are all in, life becomes a non-stop grind that will ground to a halt only if either you reach the pinnacle of life or you hit rock bottom that's beyond resuscitation.Andre Gide, the French Nobel Prize winner in Literature once said: 'Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. Justin Bryant articulates it well enough @ https://selfmadesuccess.com/man-cannot-discover-new-oceans-andre-gide-2/. Oh, this hits us hard because it accentuates that human fear from getting out of his comfort zone. At the Forbes piece @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/05/six-fundamental-human-needs-we-need-to-meet-to-live-our-best-lives/?sh=7b67185344a0, psychologist Abraham Maslow defines the hierarchy of human needs. But over time, life's basic needs evolved.
Life is NOT a Checkers Game
Life is NOT a Checkers Game
Checkers anyone ? Sure as long as you don't take things seriously because a plurality of us end up lost in the maze, thinking that our life is a checkers game. No senor. Ours is a game of chess. Right from Day-1 till to date, surely you would agree that life is unfolding everyday not in a straight line, not even in a black or white scenario. Obviously, when we finally hear the newborn baby's first cry, life looks as simple as checkers. But that's about it. After the first move, after Day-1, life can never be simpler from thereon.Take it from the great American legendary hero, the late Kobe Bryant. To quote him: 'these young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess'. That's a mouthful. Let's picture things out. Before a chess match starts, the chess board is so neat and orderly. And that's a replica of life when you hear the newborn baby's first cry. But that's about it. At the first move, things will spiral.As in chess, real life needs a strategy to begin with. Without that direction, you're akin to a rudderless boat out there in the high seas, at the mercy of the furious and merciless waves. Back to the chess board, after both players make just the first move, presto, 400 possible scenarios will arise. After the second pair of turns, the possibilities suddenly sprout to 197,742 probabilities and after the 3rd move, open your eyes, there will be 121 million options.Take it from Israel Horowitz, the American International Master who was more famous for his chess books. As in life, he says: 'One bad move nullifies forty good ones'. Exactly, that's how our life spins and shapes up or shakes out. You could have taken all the right moves and made all the right decisions the past 30 days but when you woke up today, you made one harrowing decision. That moots and negates everything you did correctly the past 30 days. Worst, that may wreak havoc than expected.As in chess, NEVER as in NEVER announce your moves before you make them. Doing so will telegraph your moves. Before you know it, you are the 'talk of the town' amongst that platoon of kibitzers out there, scratching their heads while waiting for any next moves people around will take. Don't look farther. Look up at Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates [and even the revered late Steve Jobs]. No one had an inkling of what they were brewing in the confines of their 'war room' until, kaboom, they would launch another earth-shaking product or commercial initiative unthinkable before.And definitely we humans, we commit mistakes, we will own this faux pas and that. And that's fine but as in the chessboard, when you did fall, figure out where and how you slipped because before that fall, you did slip. And unless you fell off from a ravine or cliff, most of our falls are precipitated by a skid. So, you gotta figure it out. From Malaysia's Star Online @https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2019/08/08/life-lessons-from-playing-chess, it says that we need to be creative in chess to create the headway or beach head that will lead us to an opportunity. In life, to be creative is a MUST-DO.Word of caution. As in chess, don't take care of your ego. Make the move that's rightful even if you need to move backwards by a couple of steps if that leads you to move forward thereafter. As in chess, in life you gotta be strategic but if you gotta be tactical, take it, do it. Swallow that dose of pill even if it's hard to swallow. If taking a step backward softens the impact of your previous wrong move, then you'll be fine.Sunday, February 21, 2021
Ebbs and Flows in Life
Ebbs and Flows in Life
Ebbs and Flows in life is always part of the equation. And if you're not managing it the way it has to be, so sorry, your life could end up in shambles. What's the logic of going from the frying pan into the fire if you think it will be a fool's errand to take that path ? Too bad many of us would look at the other direction when we hit a snag. In that touching blog by Stephanie Hill @ https://www.herald-dispatch.com/life-like-the-ocean-ebbs-and-flows/article_b393b339-5db8-5331-9b4d-1c08e24d9637.html, the message is crystal clear. Ebbs and flows. Inhale and exhale. Sunrise and sunset. These are inseparable twins in our lives. After all, life is a journey but be mindful that life is a trap game as well. Unless you wiggle yourself out in a trap game, you could end up 'dead in the waters'. Our relationships is never far from the picture though. Joyce Marter reinforces that in her blog @ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-go-with-the-ebb-an_b_4498141 wherein she states that 'like rock formations, seashells and sand are weathered and polished by the ocean waves as we are shaped and smoothed by the forces of our relationships. When Covid-19 came into the picture, it threw a monkey wrench in our lives. Lurking around for a one-word solution to our ebb and flow, eureka, I found it. In Kathy Caprino's piece @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/06/15/10-ways-to-brave-up-how-to-rise-up-speak-up-and-stand-up-boldly-for-yourself/?sh=799d091b1093, being 'brave' is what matters. Of course, our worst fear ever has always been hitting rock bottom BUT do we agree that hitting rock bottom isthe best ever thing that can ever happen to us ? In that piece of Lyndelle Palmer Clarke @ https://dailygreatness.co/blogs/be-your-own-guru/52291205-12-reasons-why-hitting-rock-bottom-is-the-best-thing-that-can-ever-happen-to-you, she rattles off twelve reasons why, namely: you gotta REFLECT, see your dysfunctional behavior, gain a fresh perspective, self awareness of bad habits, trusting in life, humility, compassion, letting go, taking responsibility, realizing that the only way is UP, trusting yourself and gratitude.And if I may add, never belittle how MOTIVATION can bring you that far in life. Wesley So, the Filipino-American chess prodigy will always be my prime example of someone who went through the worst ebbs and flows and as of today, he is near atop the summit he has been trekking. Twelve years ago, no less than his immediate family left him alone as they migrated to Canada. A young teen struggling in life and left to fend for himself is just unthinkable but Wesley went through that wringer. Two years later, that opportunity of expanding his chess skills at the global level was too good to refuse when he was offered that academic scholarship at Webster U and who would think that for the last ten years, he has
Saturday, February 20, 2021
'LOST & FOUND' is Not Applicable with 'LOST TIME'
'LOST & FOUND' is Not Applicable with 'LOST TIME'
Lost and Found Counters are everywhere. Good Samaritans are still aplenty. You would hear a foreign tourist losing his passport and belongings only to recover it when the taxi driver traces him back. And social media has become a very helpful platform for all lost items EXCEPT 'time'. To quote Benjamin Franklin, one of America's Founding Fathers, 'LOST TIME IS NEVER FOUND AGAIN'. Supposedly, that is the end of the story but not for the stubborn folks. They will retort that there is a 'tomorrow'. That what was not done today can be done tomorrow. !@#$%? Sadly, that is a fallacy we don't want to waste our time. It's just NOT worth it. Let's just call spade a spade. LOST TIME is LOST TIME, end of story.Oh, we all have watched before that top box-office hit series 'The Twilight Saga' bannered by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Most of the time, its cinematography offered us the gloom of twilight. And this is where the analogy comes in. When you got LOST TIME. think about the gloom brought about by your LOST TIME because that equates to LOST OPPORTUNITY. Even for someone defensive who'll argue that he's got nothing to do today, that's just CRAP !When this pandemic broke out a year ago, we all sighed in unison, thinking [falsely and wrongly] that working from home is a welcome relief, thinking that time is now within our palm, so easy and quick to randomly tweak and balance it out. A year after, we're all scratching our heads because task overflows have become the norm of the day, missed tasks have become the norm than the exception, reset and rescheduled deadlines kept on being pushed till it reaches the edges of the cliff and ravines. And before you know it, we're screaming that working from home is 'stressful'. Whew ! Are we now about to blame this pandemic ? And this 'blame game' points fingers to Covid-19 Wave 1, Wave 2. God knows, maybe until Wave 99 ? Whew ! Phew !Straight from my thought processes...
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