Unlimited Limitations

Everyone is limited and therefore everyone has unlimited possibilities.

The talents and capabilities we were given make up our limitations. What we do with those talents and capabilities makeup the unlimited heights to which we all can climb.

I would love to dunk a basketball, shoot sub-par golf on a consistent basis, out run a Cheetah, but alas none of these unrealistic goals are going to materialize. The only remote possibility is that I might, one day, shoot below par on an easy golf course, but I am not going to score that well on the tough courses, playing from the back tees the way the pros do.  Dunking a basketball and out running a Cheetah is not within my capabilities, so why spend any time or energy wishing I could. Or worse, spend time and energy trying to get better at something that is not in the hand of cards I was dealt.

There are unlimited possibilities within your limitations, that when attempted or achieved will enhance your skill-set and add to your self esteem and self worth. When you get better, others get better around you, simply because you improved. Realistic success is contagious. Positive and calculated steps are exceptional events that will enhance your meaningful accomplishments.

Then there are limited and unrealistic possibilities that you should not waste time or thought on. These negative and unexceptional events are truly a drain on your unlimited possibilities. Time invested wishing for something that is not and will never be within your capabilities can product a very destructive and negative reality. Fretting over why you were not gifted with a magical voice, 195 IQ or Cheetah speed will surely lead you astray and divert you off the path you should be on.

Life is filled with wonderful opportunities that you can enjoy professionally and personally and you will accomplish some things in a unique fashion better than anyone else. You have the opportunity to focus on what you can do best, because you are uniquely and wonderfully you. In the experience you will discover that what you have what you have already done and what you can do and what you will overcome in the process defines who you are.

The possibilities are unlimited within your identified and accepted limitations.

On Something or Toward Something

Are you working on something or toward something?

There is a vast chasm between the people who work on something and the people that work toward something. They are as opposite as apples are to oranges. Working on something means that you are making a forced effort to accomplish a meaningless task required of you and then, reluctantly, move on to the next meaningless square. The steps required to get to a place of vision when you are working toward something look very similar to the steps taken when you are working on something. The difference lies in the attitude, ultimate outcome and the desire to dedicatedly make a lasting impact, independent of the percived size of that impact. Working toward something means you proudly put your signature on it. Working on something means you unknowingly put your signature on it. Either way, your name is on it.

Just take a look at every great accomplishment in history and behind these monumental productive steps  you will find a group of dedicated people, often lead by a visionary individual, working toward something. They did not allow temporary setbacks to dissuade them, they overcame and moved on toward the goal that they continually kept in sight. Working toward something is much more fulfilling than working on something.

A survey by a national newspaper asked respondents one question; "Do you like your job." Astonishingly over 70% of the people stated that they did not like their job and many went on to say that they are counting the days until they can retire. We have all seen, first hand, people we know that retire without anything to do and how they decline quickly. If you are not working toward something while you are employed how can you expect to be fulfilled when you are not working. The answer is all to simple. People that work toward something in their professional lives almost always work toward something when they retire.

If you cannot find something to work toward professionally find something worthwhile to work toward in your community. Working is work when you are working on something and work does not exist when you are working toward something. The difference is as stark as comparing apples to oranges.

Timing

Timing is everything.

Not exactly... because it does not matter how timely you are, if you are not ready. Professional golfers will tell you it is not strength alone that aids them in hitting the golf ball a mile, it is about speed and timing. When their club passes through the swing plane, while executing the swing they have practiced for years, the club head speed is impressive and the timing of the torque they create with their body is accurately applied. The results is a golf ball that seems to leave earthly gravitational pull and enter into outer space and goes on and on and on.

Getting ready is every bit as valuable as being in sync with all of your ability. The question is not will you be at the right place at the right time. Rather the question is, will you be prepared when opportunity presents itself when you find yourself in the right place at the right time. A famous and very successful college football coach was asked about winning and his response was; "It is not if we win or lose that matters, what really matters is, are we willing to get ready to win." The coach knew that focusing on winning was not going to help his team be successful. What the team needed to focus on was getting ready to win.

When you commit to doing what is necessary to get ready and then the opportunity presents itself, you can take full advantage of what comes your way. You get ready by doing the little things that make up the big things. John Wooden, the legendary head basketball coach at UCLA, won 10 national championships. Every freshman that came to play at UCLA learned from Coach Wooden how to put his socks on and how to tie their basketball shoes. Coach Wooden had learned that improperly tied shoes often lead to disabling blisters and he knew that you can't be ready to play basketball if you can't walk because you are in pain from preventable blisters. He
knew that maximizing the value of timing was about getting ready. You get ready by putting your socks and shoes on properly. Then when the time is right, you win!

Irritating

Pearls are the result of an oyster overcoming an irritation. A piece of foreign matter is somehow introduced to the inside of the shell where it begins irritating the oyster and until the oyster takes action, the irritation continues. The oyster begins the slow continuous process of covering the irritant with nacre, which is the substance that covers the inside of the oyster shell. Over time and with consistent effort, the oyster turns the irritant into a pearl. As the oyster grows the pearl grows. The oyster would surely expel the irritant if it were able, but since it cannot it is forced to make the best of the irritating situation or go oyster-crazy. Some of the most beautiful and elegant jewelry ever made consist of pearls, which began their existence as an irritant.

The same can be said about some people and situations in personal and professional life. They are irritating. The irritation typically begins as a rather small matter but often grows into a monster of an issue because it goes ignored, often because of the desire to avoid confrontation. The value judgment starts to come into play because of the irritation and decisions are made that are intended to eliminate the irritation rather than round the irritating corners off and perhaps develop a pearl of an outcome.

There are going to be times when things and people that are beyond your control pop up and begin to irritate you. These are the opportunities to take an irritant and gradually smooth out the cutting surfaces and create a smooth pearl of an outcome. Consider irritants as opportunities, otherwise you may become one yourself.

Who Is Fooling Who

I remember when not everyone in college passed. I remember when there were fewer really good
grades than the other kind. I remember a time when you had to really push hard in college to make excellent grades and the accomplishments were really special, because there were fewer making A's than the other letter-grades that, by design, represented a lower level of accomplishment.

Today it just ain't so. A study conducted by professors, Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, revealed that in 1960 the most common grade in college given nationwide was a C. In fact D's and F's accounted for more grades combined than A's which were given at a rate of 15%. Today the largest percentage of grades, across a wide range of schools, are A's, The reality is not real. 73% of all college grades are either A or B (43% are A's). Are we to assume that the students of today are really that much smarter than those of days past? Should we surmise that the college students of today are really buckling down, not wed to their smart phones and taking no academic prisoners? I don't think so.

What this says about higher learning on a massive scale is that these students are living in a bubble that someone designed. Who knows what the intention is but it will be painfully obvious what the results are once the veil of academia is lifted and the application of the knowledge acquired is necessary to thrive or just survive.

Once these coddled young adults get in the business world, a rude awakening likely awaits. Because these students were excelling in their previous protected environment according to the grades they were given, and watched in admiration and awe as the grass grew greener right under their studious feet, the new reality may be hard to accept. They will find that the business world is a bit more demanding. Out here if you don't really produce you really fail and nothing is going to stop that from happening except the focused efforts that produce at the required levels of expectations.

To they who are making really good grades because you earned them, stay the course because the disciplined behavioral foundations you are utilizing to make the grade now, will pay off later in your professional endeavors. There are many schools to choose from that do grade students well and fairly and they produce the type of prepared individual that will be in a position to make positive contributions.

The New Year is Not New

There is really nothing new about the new year except for the number of the year. We jump or slide or crawl or run from one day to the next and suddenly, mysteriously, miraculously, wonderfully, or hazily we find ourselves in a NEW YEAR ready to do NEW things and change dramatically. The feeling is held by many that the new year will somehow bring new directions and motivations that were held in darkness for the past 12-months.  All we need do is simply endure and patiently wait for one more day, then a light will shine brightly on an opportunity and change our way of life that moves us to accomplish goals that were heretofore not within our grasp. Nothing could be farther from the reality of getting things done or making a better life with a new focused direction.

The rise in health club memberships is highest in January and many cancel later that same year because there was really no commitment. Perhaps cigarette sales decline this time of year as well and the reasons are obvious. It is easier to make a commitment when everyone else is making a similar commitment, because it sounds good. But these types of commitments should be all about you no matter what others do or when they do it.

Many of us are fooled by the NEW YEAR illusion. The new year is just another day in our lives and nothing is magical about moving from one day to the next unless we make it so.

I love the NEW YEAR excitement but I learned that making a difference in my life can be started any day of the year and not only during January.

The choice is ours and we will either make the choice and stick to it until we reach a successful conclusion or we will not. The time of year is irrelevant, the decision to change, no matter when is made is monumental.

Happy New Year!

Learn to Read, Read to Learn

Since you are reading this, my thoughts will serve to validate the value you obviously place on your reading and your desire to learn.

Reading, it appears, to far too many of us has become passé.

Andrew Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men in America. He made his fortune in the steel business. His legacy was not only tied to great capitalistic accomplishments but, most notably, to his funding 3,000 libraries in 47 states. Andrew Carnegie believed that all one needs to gain their desired level of success in life is knowledge, aptly applied. Andrew Carnegie believed so strongly that everyone deserved access to the great writings in existence that he spent millions of his money not only building libraries but also filling them with books that would appeal to every reader's desire. 

Reading is the foundation for learning and learning is the path to a better life.

Reading regularly, from variety of sources, will serve to enhance your  understanding of current events, improve your vocabulary, teach you something new and exciting and take you to places that are imaginary and real. Read, newspapers, magazines, books and do so with a desire to learn and be entertained.

Read something every day and always keep a dictionary close by. When you come across a word you don't know the meaning of, look it up. It will serve you best if you fully understand why the writer chose to use that word at that particular time in order to further their message.

If you read, good for you. If you don't' read, you are no better off than someone who can't read. The ability to read is perhaps the greatest gift anyone receives from their education.

Learn to read and read to learn.

(Above is a picture of The Carnegie Library at Syracuse University)