365QOD- Day1406

Ambiguity and Comfort

"Comfort with ambiguity is among the most sought after quality in job candidates"- Yahoo story

I love ambiguity.   I do not expect things to be clearly laid out to proceed. The messier the better.

Why?

When there is a lack of clarity there exist a lot of room of interpretation and creativity.  Because of the ambiguity I can create something better quickly and easily. quickly

For most people this causes stress.   They want the cookbook.  I just want the ingredients and freedom.

Interesting that most companies are recognizing the need for puerile like myself that fell very comfortable with that ambiguity.  They must be undergoing a lot of change.

Today's question is:

"How comfortable are you with ambiguity ?"

365QOD- Day1401

Ignoring All the Rules

"Shock the system and ignore all the rules"- A rebel call to action

This is hard to do. To shock the system you have to be willing to do something that you would never normally do.  You not only have to get out of the box but to completely destroy the box in order to not be able to get back into it.

We think that by living on the edge of our life box that this is all there is to do and achieve.   That is naive.  It is only true if we accept it to be true.

To truly change anything you have to sometimes believe the opposite to be true.  Again this is very hard to do because human beings like being in an equilibrium state. We might slightly nudge ourselves but we won't shove ourselves out until we have to. Often this is some to us instead of us doing it to ourselves.

Today's question is:

"Are you willing to ignore all of the rules?"

365QOD- Day1358

The End of a Mentor

"RIP"- my words

We all hope that our end comes quickly and in our sleep.  And hopefully we all would be granted such an end.  

On Sunday one of my earliest mentors, Howard Schmid, passed away in the arms of his wife Veronica.  Howard was special to me.  He was someone whose words influenced my behavior during my life.

Mr. Schmid was my freshmen English teacher.  But he was more than that.  He was the first person that told me I was a genius.  Whether I was or was not, his words stuck with me and made me feel like I should live up to that level.  Hopefully, I have.

He was always kind to me with his words of encouragement after I had completed his course and always encouraged me to write.  Well, for someone who had learned English just a year and a half before his class this was very powerful.  It made me believe that I had a voice that others should hear.  

I believe that his encouragement throughout high school helped me become the valedictorian of my school.  I am convinced that his words and nudging helped me become a better student.

Mr. Schmid was the last editor of my first book.  After 10 people had read it I gave it to him to read amd give it its final blessing.  Of course he found errors.  But overall he was very positive about my work. 

His words have always meant the world to me.  Maybe that is why I have finished four books and plan on writing many more in the future.  

THANK you Mr. Schmid.... you were a great mentor and a friend. I will miss you.

Today's question is:
"Who was your first mentor?"

365QOD- Day1355

Slackers

"What if it isn't good enough?"- A quiet question

I believe that often we ask this question of ourselves.  Unfortunately it is done quietly in our minds and not out loud. If it was loud we would hear it an quickly realize it as a limitation we are placing on ourselves.

So why do we ask this question?

In my opinion we often ask this question when we are attempting something for which we can not assure the end result.  If we are running a race and have never seen the course but are predicting a certain outcome, we might not push ourselves and give ourselves the out when we do not finish it in good time.  By saying it was a new course we can give ourselves a break as to why we did not succeed.

We do not only back off from doing our best when it comes to stretching our own limits .  The ugly truth is that we often do this when competing against others.  We might believe that we can beat the other guy but during the race pull back and slow down.  Why?  What if we are wrong and maybe we are not as good as the other guy?

This phenomenon is very interesting to me.  When I used to teach martial arts classes we often instructed the students not to punch with full force but to pull back their punches.  The punches were suppose to touch and slightly push into the opponent.  The punches and kicks were not suppose to bend the other person over and wince with pain.  I understood the reason but often believed that this set the students up for failure.  What happens is if they are ever in a fight they tend to pull their punches back and the opponent easily hurts them instead of them stopping the opponent.

So we pull back from doing our best.  This slacking allows us to give ourselves a pass when we fail.   Because if we really give it 100% and it is still not good enough then maybe we are not good enough.  That truth might be too hard for us to accept.

Today's question is:
"How do you stop yourself from slacking?"

365QOD- Day1334

Lagging Mindset 

"What I found in the past my life is that the amount of money I make lags about 10-12 months.  It is now down to 6 months."- Dane Maxwell on Eventual Millionaire podcast

I heard this quote today and I immediately knew I had to write about it.  It made me wonder what my lag was.  If I go though any self-help improvement what should the delay be before I see a change?

I suspect that if you work with something and then let it simmer then Dane is probably correct 10-12 months before you notice a change is correct.  But what if you do not let it just simmer but continue to actively work on it?

Focus is the magic pill.  I believe that once you learn something it has to become ingrained in your daily systems and then the reduction to 6 months is probably what you will see.  I guess the point is that the delay will be reduced but not eliminated.

The key is to keep finding what change is necessary for you to make and not to expect the results to be immediate.  But just because there is a delay does not mean that it will never happen

Today's question is:
"How far behind your learning is your mindset lagging?

365QOD- Day1278

Opportunity for Growth

"If you ask God to give you X, he will give you the opportunity to experience and develop X."- Unknown

One one of the many podcasts that I listen to I heard a line similar to this one.  I did not capture it since I was driving but something about it caught my ear.  It has not left my mind ever since.

It seems kind of funny that we experience things that we term as painful and then the experience repeats itself.  Sometimes we blame it on bad luck.  But is it?

I believe a better way to look at the challenging experiences is to ask yourself what is it about the challenge that we need to learn.  For example, if you are always broke then take a look at the latest experience and see why you are broke.  How do you spend your money?  What is the quality of your purchases? etc.

I believe the quote is offering great wisdom.  You might be asking God for help to become wiser in your financial decisions and he is giving you the experience as a way for you to learn.  At least that is the way I like to think of the challenge.  What is that I need to learn in order to rise above challenge.

What does this mean?

If an experience is scary, then I am needing to develop my courage.  If a challenge requires financial astuteness, then I need to figure out how to think in terms of numbers.  For every challenge there is a virtue that I need to develop.  The challenges allow me to demonstrate that virtue.

Today's question is:
"How do you demonstrate virtues?"

365QOD- Day1121

Take a New Risk Every Day

"Taking a baby aspirin can lower your risk of stroke and heart attack"- healthfinder.gov

If an aspirin a day can prevent stroke and heart attack what is the effect of taking a new risk each day?  When I say risk, I am not talking about stupid risk.  Yes jumping in front of a moving car is risky BUT it really stupid.

What I am talking about is taking risks by doing and exposing ourselves to new people and challenges each day.  Some examples:
You start your day by drinking coffee then switch it to tea.
You drive by taking a highway, instead take the mickey mouse slow road.
You start your day by checking email, leave it until after lunch.
You walk into the same shop you frequent, but you never learned the name of the clerk- now you ask.
Your boss asks for a volunteer, so instead of sliding down the chair you speak up.
....I am sure you can come up with many other examples.

The idea is to progressively make the risk a big tougher and less comfortable.  These seem simple risks.  They are but they will change your mindset to one open to new experiences and people.  It is all about stretching yourself outside of the life box you are living in.  Why not?

Today's question is:
"Can you stomach taking a risk per day?"

365QOD- Day1059

New Resolution

“I will stop adding sugar to my coffee and  tea.”- my last year resolution

Last year I decided to stop adding sugar to my coffee and tea. I had read many studies that reported that just by stopping pop drinking you could lose 12 pounds.  It made sense so I decided to do a small experiment on myself.  I stopped for a year.

So what happened?  I managed to not add sugar directly to my coffee or tea for a year.  This may not seem like much BUT to me, before making this decision, it was impossible. Impressive?

Well, I think anytime we manage to improve anything about ourselves we should pat ourselves on the back and gloat.  I am.  But the drawback of the experiment was that it did not change my weight very much.  My weight tends to oscillate between 215 and 225.  If I exercise more it tends to be towards 215 and if I tend to overeat it leans towards 225.  Adding sugar made no difference.

To me what is important is that I do not miss the sugar.  Now I actually prefer the taste of my coffee black because I finally taste the coffee and not the cream, milk, or sugar.  Simply,  I just the taste the coffee.

Since it is the end of the year I have been thinking about what I want to get rid of in 2014.  It is only a day away and after some serious thought I have decided to give up my favorite vice- chocolate. I will not eat any desert during the next year.  What this means is that I have a lot of chocolate cleaning in my office to do tomorrow…LOL

Why chocolate?  I decided that even though I removed adding sugar I did not eliminate it totally from my diet because I still kept eating chocolate and deserts and once in a while drinking a pop.  Man this is going to be tough!  I will attempt to eliminate chocolate, deserts, and pop for a year.

Today’s question is:

“Could you give up your first and second favorite vices?”

365QOD- Day876

"Be confident and take risks, because if you're not going to, someone else is."- Zach Schau Pure fix cycles

One of the labels that I use in my blog is the I am label.  In it I discuss the words for each letter that I say out loud to myself.  The B word that I want to be more of is Bold.

The quote above is another way to define bold.  To me it says, either you do it or someone else will be bold to take action.  Although, in the quote action is called risk.

I believe that we all take risks.  For most of us we tend to want to reduce risk and just survive.  It is within our prehistoric nature to want to reduce risk and that we minimize it to the point that we guarantee our survival.

But this risk avoidance is risky. It does not improve us or stretches us to new territory.  This risk avoidance limits our success potential. Another way to say it is, "No risk= No reward"

Today's question is:
"Are you bold enough to increase your risk level?  "

365QOD-Day864

"What happens after the 'I did it' moment? "- Joshua Davis

After experiencing great success Joshua became uninspired.  The way he described it at 99u conference speech is, "That moment of being amazed by the unknown had left me."

Joshua felt the "sluggishness of the comfortable". In my opinion this is a very dangerous place to be.

During a meeting once I uttered the words, "when you feel comfortable, it is time to get uncomfortable." My then boss loved it and stated quoting it in larger meetings.

I happen to work in a chemical plant. Getting comfortable in a chemical plant is just plain stupid.  It is like working on to of a time bomb.  It is not whether it well go off, it is a Mayer of when it will go off.  We have a lot of procedures that force us to ask tough questions of ourselves when making changes.  Amazingly, even with all those procedures things always get missed.

Today's question is:
" How do you overcome the sluggishness of bring comfortable?"

365QOD- Day824

"Take a bite...go on" - an urging

In life, we are often presented with many opportunities.  These opportunities offer growth and adventure.
However, just because the opportunity for adventure is in front of us we might not take it.  And when we do, it might be too late.

Not pursuing the adventure leads us to discover less, achieve less, create less, etc.  In the end we live a lesser life.

Today's question is:
" What pulls you towards adventure instead of away from it?"

365QOD- Day 818

" Another number story" - my observation

I can not help but notice that there are many stories that start with a number.  5 ways to become your best, 10 ways to be more productive, etc.

In my opinion, someone had figured out that a leading number catches the attention of readers.  So now they use it and use it and use it.

It makes me wonder when an effective technique gets old?  If you are getting results then you probably do not care but over time less and less people will read your stories.

Today's question is:
" How do you decide when you need to get a new method for getting a result?"

365QOD- Day799

"If you see different things, you will see differently" - Robert Trajkovski

Every day you brush your teeth with your dominant hand. Have you ever tried to brush them with the other hand? Probably it did not feel natural and you switched back.

When I write the posts for this blog I typically write them on a computer.  But lately I have been writing them on my phone.  It had been a change that I now welcome.  It forces me to read the posts more closely.

No it did not feel as natural as sitting in front of a computer.  I could not figure out how to do certain things but with time and effort I believe that it will become a true alternative.

Todays question is:
"What feels totally unnatural to you but might be a great alternative if mastered?"

365QOD- Day785

"You are going to teach what?" - a co-worker's surprise

The other day I was asked to teach a yoga class. Yup!  Did I care if I made a fool of myself? Could I fail?

When confronted with choices in life, I believe that we always ask ourselves one very important question.  It is "Why me?" or  "Why not me?" 

I tend to look at my world from the why not me perspective.  Steve Jobs' words to the Stanford class to stay young and stay foolish resonate with me.  If there is no room for failure then there is no room for growth.  By stretching one grows.

Today's question is:
"What have you done lately that scares you?"

365QOD- Day752

"Oh, to be young, and an entrepreneur"- USA TODAY story caption

This story made me think. What is changing?

"According to a Gallup Poll released in January 43% of students in grades five-12 want to be entrepreneurs, and around the country youngsters =, and around the country youngsters are signing up for lessons in business savvy.  Almost 60% say their school has classes on how to start a business, up from 50% in 2011.  Those numbers don't even include after school entrepreneur workshops"- Oliver St. John in USA TODAY story

I believe that just like many adults have become disappointed by Wall street, kids are being proactive.  They would rather create something for themselves rather than depend on some large business for their security.

God bless them!  I think our country would be better off with more people thinking like entrepreneurs than employees.  (In the long run this will reduce the ability to outsource a person's work.)

I believe that the street goes both ways.  An employee can become an entrepreneur.  An entrepreneur might not succeed and go back to being an employee.  However, after being an entrepreneur the person will never be the same.  They might decide to be an "intra-preneur" within a instead of just being an employee.  Their world has been stretched and can never be the same.

Today's question is:
"How secure are you being an employee?"

365QOD- Day742

“One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned is that life we don’t go through things; we grow through them”- Mo’Nique

Wow!  I love this quote.  The way I say the same thing is not as short and sweet as Mo’Nique’s quote.  

I believe we all are at a level in handling different issues that come up in our lives.  So if I am a level 5 person then a level 7 problem seems impossible to solve.  

So what happens then?  Most often we just simply wish the problem to go away.  BUT I believe the wisdom is that we must raise our level to be above 7 in order to easily handle the problem.

As the quote points out ‘we must grow through them’ in order to handle things.

Today’s question is:

“How do you grow through your problems?” 

365QOD- Day708

“Don’t do it the right way.  Do it the next way”- inspired by Jake Nickell Never stop making Ted speech

If there is a slogan in my life this would be it.  I create differently all of the time.  In the past when I instructed a course which I had instructed many times I would look for ways to make it different.

So what was different?  The first time I would teach a course I just wanted to make sure I covered everything that the students needed.  The second time I would cover almost as much as the first time BUT this time I would put emphasis on the key concepts a bit more. 

Now the third time magic would happen.  Third time I would not only cover everything, emphasize the key concepts, but in addition I would stress the application of those concepts. 

Fourth time and later I would emphasize more applications and adapt the course to the students.

Today’s question is:

“Do you look for the next way?”

365QOD- Day685

“The biggest risk in life….is not taking one”

Play it safe…  That must be what our ancestors thought would get them through life.  As long as they did not get eaten by some beast they were around to continue existing.

Our modern world is no different.  We can continue to manage. The idea of thriving is a modern idea and one available to us that a few hundred years ago would only been available to royalty.

We eat better than royalty from the past.  We have greater luxuries than even they had.  But are we taking risks to thrive? No.  Most of us are still only existing.

Today’s question is:

“How do you know you are thriving?”

365QOD- Day628

“Try something new for 30 days”- Matt Cutts’ TED speech

I watched this 3 minute speech and had to re-watch it.  Wow! So full of energy and thoughtful information.

Matt Cutts runs 30 day challenges.  In these challenges to himself he either adds something new he has not done or deletes something that he wants to do without. 

Silly as it may sound these challenges have led him to do some very interesting challenges: give up sugar, bike to work, take a picture each day, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, etc.

I often ask myself “Why not me?”  What is it that I can add or delete for a month? I got to come up with a list of 12 challenges for next year.  Next year will be the year of the challenge.  It will start in November because I try to start my new habits earlier than Jan 1.

Today’s question is:

“What can you add or delete for a month?”

365QOD-Day498

"Look Dad I did not fall"- Darren Hardy

I have been listening to a CD from Success magazine.  In it Darren tells a story about growing up with a father who was a coach. 

When Darren said this to his Dad, his father responded with "then you did not try hard enough?" Wow!

Most parents are supportive.  I remember running next to my kids, with my hand under their arm, for a mile or so until they could ride without falling.  Why?  Because I did not want them to fall like I did when riding for a first time. Man my arm, head, and leg were all scrapped up. 

So why did his dad take this approach?  I do not know but I believe there is wisdom in those words.  My thinking is that he wanted his son to stretch and not get too comfortable by not failing.  Maybe it is worse to fail at something tough than to succeed in something easy. 

Today's question is:
"Would you rather fail at something tough than to succeed in something easy?"