Thanksgiving is here. This is a great time to remind everyone of the importance of Living Intentionally With Gratitude. Any great achiever and peak performer lives intentionally with gratitude every day. It’s not just a once a year expression or celebration, it’s a daily habit. When you live intentionally with gratitude and consistently express it to the people that love and support you, as well as the universe we all live in, you’re likely to attract more of the things you are most grateful for. Here are some great examples:
- Smile at someone and they will most likely smile back.
- Treat others as you want to be treated and the Golden Rule will shine through consistently.
- Start your day by asking yourself, “What am I most grateful for?
- You might also ask, “Who am I most grateful for?
- Or you might ask, “what blessings have I been bestowed with that truly matter in my life?
There are so many things to be grateful for in life. Whether it’s the love of a family member, a great friendship, a caring mentor, good health or some of the many things we could easily take for granted. It could be a talent you have been gifted with or a calling that truly makes a difference that drives your passion and purpose. It could be something as simple as the ability to eat three square meals a day or the ability to take a shower or bath whenever you want one. This may seem silly at first but consider there are millions of people on this planet that are not so lucky.
We all live in a country filled with abundance and that isn’t always the case in other areas of the world. We live a life of freedom and choice. Again, not always the case in other parts of the world. We enjoy clean water, electricity, good food, and abundance of entertainment, and for many shelter that far exceeds what we need to live comfortably. We are surrounded every day by great people, caring people, helpful people, and people who put others first. These are the people who live in abundance and live intentionally. I am so grateful for these people.
I hope you enjoy the upcoming Holiday Season and that you’ll make. Living Intentionally with Gratitude one of your daily habits of excellence. To better help you,here is a quick reference list that I use daily:
Sunday – Start with asking yourself what am I most grateful for and who am I most grateful for? Next, find at least one way to serve your God, family, and or country.
Monday – Start with asking yourself what you are most excited about? Next, find at least one way to be the first to offer help.
Tuesday – Start with asking yourself what you are most thankful for? Next, partner with a friend to make a difference.
Wednesday – Start with asking yourself what you are most happy about? Next, do at least one intentional act of kindness. It is better that it is intentional and not random.
Thursday – Start with asking yourself what you are most proud of? Next, enjoy some intentional meal time conservation and ask someone else what they are most proud of. You might also ask them what was the best advice they had ever received. If they can’t think of anything ask them what was the best book they ever read and why? This is what we call lunch and learn!
Friday – Start by asking yourself what or who you are most blessed to have in your life? Next, surprise someone with how much they matter? Do this using the phone, email, text, or best yet a beautiful thankyou or birthday card!
Saturday – Start by asking yourself what you are most passionate about? Next, be intentional in planning your next week with even more ways to be intentional and grateful daily.
Remember friends, we should not only feed our bodies today with the “good stuff”, we should feed our minds and spirit as well. Do this, and I assure you it will be a very Happy Thanksgiving indeed!
Happy Thanksgiving tou your and yours!
We all want to perform at our best. To accomplish this we must remember BEST stands for:
B = Healthy Body
E = Healthy Emotions
S = Positive Speech
T = Powerful Thinking
When we zoom in a bit more, we realize the truth: Your thinking governs your behavior, and your behavior determines your results. Your results determine your destiny. Literally and figuratively, thoughts determine your destiny! Read it again:
Your thinking governs your behavior, and your behavior determines your results. Your thoughts determine your destiny!
That means your thinking is the most valuable asset you have. “Positive Thinking” is great and yet at the end of the day it is not enough. Your thinking must be more than positive it must also be strategic and or tactical. It must be mixed with a strong desire (i.e., burning desire) and have an intended purpose.
How do I do this you ask? Train your brain to think at Mastery Level or what we call Master Level Awareness (MLA). How? First, become a Master Observer. That is, use your sensory acuity to be aware of how you think. Next, consider how someone creates a master piece. They work at it! This is the same way you get good at anything…through good old fashioned practice. It takes time, energy, and resources. Again, start with noticing your thought patterns by becoming a Master observer. Whenever you have a dis-empowering or limiting thought, arrest it immediately, and re-place it with powerful thinking. Chuck Norris use to say to himself, “Thank you…cancel, cancel.” He then used the Law of Substitution to replace the limiting thought with a more empowering one. Next, Decide in Advance (DIA). That is, know the outcome you want in any situation and ask “How Can I….?” It’s about asking more empowering questions, having an intended purpose, being persistent, and practicing tactical detachment. Why tactical detachment you ask? This will help you overcome self-doubt and when appropriate fear. Let me explain: The way to get rid of fear or self-doubt is to train your brain to give up your emotional attachment to the outcome. In this case, it helps if you care less rather than being careless. In some cases, fear is a healthy thing. It is your mind’s way of telling you to be careful. In most cases however, it is self-doubt which leads to never getting started or stopping way before you reach your goal.
Finally for now, I leave you the following list of empowering beliefs and actions to live by. They are my top 20!
- Know your purpose in life!
- Continually grow to reach your maximum and remember that is always changing as you stretch and grow.
- Grow into the next day. That is, become a better person each day.
- Be value added. That is externally focused. When you focus on yourself for too long you miss your opportunity to make a major impact on others.
- Don’t just live…seize the moment, day, evening, and life (Carpe Momentum, Carpe Diem, Carpe Nocturn, and Carpe Vitim)!
- Value people, believe in people, and unconditionally love people.
- Be mindful by practicing mindfulness. Remember, be a STAR (stop, think, act, and review) and success through accepting responsibility. As part of this, pay attention to what you are doing and or not doing. Be focused, be present and in the moment, and do it all without judgement.
- Lead with love!
- Focus on what is good and you will find it.
- Breath deep and often and from the center.
- Smile and the world will smile with you.
- Set goals and get goals even if they have to be small for now and short term. Later think big and expand your goals. You are going to have to think anyway so why not think big!
- Treat your body like a temple. That is, eat only those things that bring you true nourishment.
- Give more than is expected of you and you will receive more than you could have ever realized.
- Keep moving even if it has to be small steps. Once you stop moving you stop living.
- Read motivational material as much as possible and avoid the TV as much as you can. I recommend John Maxwell and yet there are plenty others. .
- Learn something new every day; meet someone new every day; gain a new insight every day; see something new every day, and be the best you can be every day!
- Never accept anything but your very best as in life you get what you expect and accept.
- Trust your gut!
- Live intentionally and be grateful. For example…
- Sunday – Serve God & Family First
- Monday – Be the first to offer help
- Tuesday – Partner with a friend to make a difference
- Wednesday – Fill your day with intentional acts of kindness
- Thursday – Make a point to have a meaningful mealtime conversation
- Friday – Surprise someone with how much they matter
- Saturday – Put it all together and plan for an even better next week
I hope this helps.
A good friend of mine introduced me to the concept of the Pareto Rule. Some of you know this by moniker the 80/20 rule. Here’s what one of personal mentors John Maxwell says about it…
“Many years ago when I was in college, I learned a concept called the Pareto Principle. Have you heard of it? Essentially it states that 80 percent of our results come from the top 20 percent of our priorities. It matters because I discovered early on that there is never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important things. Ok, for those of you who are a little slower with your math (like me), let me break it down for you…
- 80 percent of the food at a picnic is consumed by 20 percent of the people.
- 80 percent of the questions are answered by 20 percent of the students.
- 80 percent of the clothes in your closet are worn 20 percent of the time.
- 80 percent of the project is done by 20 percent of the team members.
- 80 percent of income comes from 20 percent of your business.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? When I learned this concept in college, it changed the way I spent my time. I learned two things fairly quickly: I was doing too many things and I was doing the wrong things. I needed to work smarter, not harder, to get where I wanted to go.
As you develop your inner leadership and start increasing your influence with others, it’s imperative that you evaluate your priorities. If you’re managing your time and cramming your days with the wrong things, you’ll stalemate, my friend. You’ll get stuck on managing instead of leading yourself well.
I’m the last person in the world who would tell you not to work hard. I’m also the first one to remind you that working hard must also be tempered by working smart, or you might just be wasting a load of effort. There is a reason why we were born with both muscles and brains.
Consider the story of two lumberjacks in a tree-cutting contest. Both were strong and determined, hoping to win the prize. But one was hardworking and ambitious, chopping down every tree in his path at the fastest pace possible, while the other appeared to be a little more laid back, methodically felling trees and pacing himself. The go-getter worked all day, skipping his lunch break, expecting that his superior effort would be rewarded. His opponent, however, took an hour-long lunch, then resumed his steady pace. In the end, the eager beaver was dismayed to lose to his “lazier” competition. Thinking he deserved to win after his hard work, he finally approached his opponent and said, “I just don’t understand. I worked longer and harder than you, and went hungry to get ahead. You took a break, and yet you still won. It just doesn’t seem fair. Where did I go wrong?” The winner responded, “While I was taking my lunch break, I was sharpening my ax.”
Hard work will always pay off; smart work will pay better. Remember back in college, there were the kids who studied all day and all night, but still struggled to pass exams? Then there were the kids who studied hard but also found time for a game of cards or basketball, and still aced every test. Both groups studied the same material, attended the same lectures taught by the same professors, and took the same test. Was the second group just that much more brilliant? Maybe, but my money’s on the way they approached their material and learned how to study. If they were smart, they applied those same principles after graduation: work hard, but work smart.
Call it creativity, call it ingenuity, call it whatever: I call it using your head. Knowing how to analyze a situation and how to execute an action plan will put you ahead of the game in the long run. There’s nothing wrong with having a leg up on your competition – it’s how you win.
The combination of hard work and smart work is the formula for success. Think about what needs to be done, and then think again about the best way to accomplish it – not necessarily the way you’ve always done it, or the fastest way, and certainly not the hardest way. Never make work harder than it has to be. That’s just a colossal waste of time.
Mackay’s Moral: “It’s good to work hard. It’s great to work smart. But it’s best to work hard and smart”. — Harvey Mackay