Power Of Choice!

You have the most powerful thing on your possession. You have the ability to take every adversity, every obstacle, every failure and decide how you will react. You have the power to choose. You choose your reaction and that makes the difference!

We live in a "victim mentality" society. There is always someone to blame for the reason we didn't meet expectations. You can blame an outside force for your situation. Maybe you would even be right to some degree.

The word "overcome" has two meanings. The first meaning is "to prevail over." The second meaning is "to be overpowered." It's all in how you use the word. Don't let your environment dictate your success and happiness. You have the power to choose!

Do You Glitter or Shine?

Glitter is only a reflection of something else. It can be purchased or borrowed. It is attractive and draws your attention, but when you get close, you realize the true light is coming from somewhere else.

Shine is something altogether different. That is when you give off light. That comes from inside. You just have it. You can't manufacture it. This comes from a desire to help others above yourself. That is doing the right thing no matter how much it hurts.

Everyday you wake up, you have a choice. You can try to look rich with glitter or you can be rich and shine. You can be self-focus or others-focused. Glitter is short term and shine is forever. When you shine, you will not only see your path, you will light the way for those around you.

Hail Mary

When do you quit? When do you realize you have done all you can and it's time to throw in the towel? When is it too late for a comeback?

On Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs scored to go up over over the Tennessee Volunteers with 12 seconds left in the football game. The Tennessee fans were stunned! Their mouths were wide open. Many said later that they turned the game off and watched something else. They missed something magical.

With a couple of penalties, Tennessee ended up with one opportunity, one shot at the  end zone with 4 seconds to play. They throw a Hail Mary! As time expires on Tennessee player jumps a little higher than the other team and comes down with the ball! They won!

It may seem like you have no options left, but until you close your eyes for the last time, you do! You have to keep fighting! You will win! You have to just keep going. Don't give up. Don't relax when you have a small victory either. There is still some time left on the clock.

Water slide

We are at Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. We were at the top of a water slide and my daughter was afraid and wanted to back out. Kids and adults had made it to the bottom successfully all day with no injury. So why was she afraid?

Fear of the unknown is the worst fear. It's  misuse of your imagination. Some fear is good for you. You shouldn't stand outside during a tornado or lightning storm. Often the fear we experience will never happen. We stress our mind and body for no reason.

She did go down the slide and was waiting at the bottom with a huge smile on her face! The best part was that she was ready to go right back up. So go ahead and take that leap. You'll be fine. No, you'll be great!

Human Nature

I recently returned from Charleston to panic and frustration in the city of Murfreesboro, TN. I learned that we had an apparent gas shortage. A pipeline has ruptured, disrupting the supply to Tennessee.

The media said it was only temporary and not to rush out to buy gas and certainly don't panic. So why were there lines to the street with many stations only allowing a certain number of gallons to be purchased? Some stations were out completely.

It's human nature. "If everyone else stays in, I'll get there first and get my gas." Guess what? Everyone is thinking that! I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying humans are predictable.

Once you can learn how humans behave, you can be successful in business. You can learn how to serve them based on that behavior.

Average

My son brought home his progress report last week. He had made four "A's" and one "C". You might think that he had a great report. It was not acceptable because of the standard we have set in our household. We don't settle for average.

Most people go through life just trying to get by. They are just keeping their head above water to maintain that "C". You often hear, "At least I'm not failing!" They have set the bar too low.

Do you eat at restaurants that have a "C" average for food quality or rush to book that "C" quality hotel? What if your heart surgeon maintained a "C" average in college? Then why do we accept that from our children and ourselves?

How do we fix the "C' mentality? We sat down with our son and reviewed what brought his grade down and made sure he understood how to fix it. He had misunderstood one assignment and made an extremely low grade. He is now working to bring the grade up.

If we had just been fine with "average", we would not have given him a chance to grow.

Why climb the mountain?

Adolph Rupp said "When you see a man on top of a mountain, you can be sure he didn't fall there." 

I recently watched a documentary on an expedition to climb K2 where 11 people died. It made me think, why did they risk there life to climb a mountain? Most of the time they only stay a few short minutes at the summit and have to begin the dangerous descent.

Many of the ones who survived had do have their toes removed due to frost bite. There lives were altered forever. Some of those continued to find ways to climb other mountains.

Life is always easier looking up at the mountain. One thing is for sure, you can't climb a mountain like K2 by yourself. You have to have experienced people around you. People you trust with your life! 

The only way to see true success is to have a team around you. You can't go it alone. You won't ask yourself the hard questions. It's worth it! The view is nice from up here!