Tag Archives: motivation

Who Thanks The Coaches?

As this is being written, the author is sitting comfortably inside on a Sunday morning. It’s 85F outside but about 70F inside. Yesterday, a Saturday, the temperatures reached 99F with a “real feel” of over 110F. Early yesterday morning there were a few boys and girls club sports teams practicing and every coach, every parent was keeping a close eye out to make sure none of the kids got dehydrated or suffered a heat related injury. The parents were under their easy-up awnings and drinking ice-cold bottles of water from coolers. The kids were drinking every 15 minutes (roughly). The coaches? Drank when they could get the necessary 30 seconds as they coached, answered questions, moved equipment and more. At the end of one practice, the coach thanked every player for showing up and working hard. He thanked the parents for getting up early to bring the kids for practice. One parent… ONE parent returned the thanks, appreciating the coach’s dedicated and willingness to get up early, work in the heat, and add value to the children’s lives. One… Continue reading →

What Gifts Do You Give?

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Keep in mind that it’s Christmas Eve as I type this…

This morning as I drank my coffee, sitting at the dining room table, I looked into the family room at our Christmas tree and the gifts stacked under it. The idea of gift giving and what kinds of gifts we give began to churn through my barely caffeinated mind. The thoughts expanded to include the time of year, the pending New Year, resolutions people make and more. Soon I realized I was thinking about the gifts that we should be giving… to others as well as to ourselves. The most interesting thing, I think, is that not a single one of them can be wrapped. Continue reading →

Tomorrow As Motivation

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One of my all-time favorite motivational quotes is: “I WILL do today what others WON’T so that I CAN do tomorrow what others CAN’T.” What does that mean? Think about it a moment. It means that what we do today can either help us prepare to make greater accomplishments tomorrow or we can do less (or nothing) and be less prepared for tomorrow’s challenges. With that in mind, the potential of “tomorrow” can be motivation for today, or it can be consolation depending on how the day works out. All too often, though, tomorrow is used as an excuse NOT to accomplish something today. Continue reading →

The Last Place You Look

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There is a running joke in my family regarding this old and common event: Someone loses something (like their keys.) They spend some time looking and other family members notice. Finally, they find their keys (as the example) and someone will ask, “So did you find what you were looking for?” All too often the answer is, “Yep. It was in the last place I looked.” “It always is,” comes the reply. It’s funny when you think about it, but why? Continue reading →

Touching Another’s Soul

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A long time ago a friend of mine told me that psychologists are just overpaid bartenders who don’t serve you drinks. While that’s an oversimplification of both professions, if you stop and think about it there’s some truth to the outlook. A great many people with problems talk to their bartender… and the more they drink the looser their tongue gets so their honesty gets more pure. I’d be willing to bet that many bartenders hear more problems from people than any average psychologist. Continue reading →

Preparing For and Making Opportunities

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“It’s better to be prepared and not have an opportunity, rather than missing an opportunity because you weren’t prepared for it.” – Les Brown.

That struck a chord with me when I heard it while watching a short video of Mr. Brown that I found in my morning social media feeds. It immediately made me remember times in my past where I prepared for… something, even though that “something” wasn’t on any immediate horizon. It made me see opportunities I was able to take advantage of, and that some of my coworkers had taken advantage of, simply because we were able to when the time arose; when the opportunity presented itself. It also reminds me of a statement made by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: “When you walk up to opportunity’s door… don’t knock on it. Kick that bitch in, smile and introduce yourself.” Continue reading →

Don’t Tame Your Inner Monster: Harness It!

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Have you ever had a thought and then wondered why it was so dark? Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who that person was looking back? Have you ever thought about your talents and wondered why they all seemed to focus on something you weren’t really proud of? Have you ever doubted your own humanity? If you answered yes to one or more of those, welcome to being inside my head. I’m going to share a part of my past with you, how my thought process evolved about it and how, today, I consider it one of my greatest strengths. Continue reading →

Making and Breaking Habits

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According to brainpickings.org, it takes 21 days, at a minimum, to build a new habit. That’s 21 days of repeating the same action, at approximately the same time, and for something simple… like drinking a glass of water when you wake up each day. Another website suggests that it takes over two months – 66 days to be precise – before taking a certain action becomes “automatic”… in other words, a habit. Most other sites reporting on length of time for something to become a habit fall into that variation somewhere: between three weeks (at a BARE minimum for simple actions) to two months for more complex habits; or more difficult ones. Continue reading →

Motivation and…?

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…Age

Just recently, as many readers know, I’ve renewed my focus on my health. I am not participating in any type of fad diet, nor using any diet “program.” I’m not paying into CrossFit, Isometrix, Tone-ex, yada yada. I’m using that ancient and under-appreciated method that has been proven over millennia: I’m eating cleaner and exercising more.

The challenge I sometimes find is my motivation waning. As I considered that this morning, I realized that my maintaining motivation seems more difficult now than it did when I was… say… 19. Of course, there’s a major difference: I don’t have a Drill Sergeant yelling at me now. Continue reading →

Good and Bad Expiration Dates

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This morning I saw a quote that said, “Even bad days have an expiration date of 24 hours.” The editor in me wondered if a time limit was a date and then I realized I was missing the point. The point is that even bad days have a limit to them; they only last a maximum of 24 hours and then it’s a new day. But the thoughts made me think about two other things: the expiration dates we use for food and, far more importantly, our own expiration date. Continue reading →