Learned VS Learning

In times of change the Learners will inherit the Earth while the Learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. – Eric Hoffer

I heard that from a mentor of mine, Bob Proctor. And holy wow. That really makes me feel valuated. I don’t mean to sound superior. Honest, BUT it validates my idea of always trying to learn. Not that I need the validation but it helps me encourage others to learn.

I see many of my contemporaries who left school to work in the mills basically stuck there. They learned enough to do their jobs and nothing more. I see people all over the place stuck and yet blaming everything else but themselves. They expect their employer to tell them what to do and yet they were probably given every opportunity to upgrade and refused it because it was on a weekend or at least not on “company” time.

There are so many people who are not equipped for the new economy and yet are peacefully oblivious to the devastation that could be coming for them. I was terrified for both of my kids when they were in high school. One wanted to be a lawyer and the other an accountant. Now they have both (on their own) seen the light – one is training to be a horticulturist and the other is a trained brewer. Boo yah.

You see one reason I am doing so much personal training is I believe I am not good enough to do what I am doing. Every time I start to think I am on top of my game something comes along to prove me otherwise. That is a good thing.

My dad died shortly after he retired. Most guys do – die just after they retire. I believe it was because he stopped learning. He used to read accounting and tax law bulletins every day at lunch. He would read the newspaper for business news. The day he retired is the day he stopped doing that. He basically died then. It took a few years to be buried but he died then. It wasn’t his fault, he was doing what society told him to do.

Short post today but there it is. NEVER STOP LEARNING.

May You Live all the Days of Your Life

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

It is an interesting thought – May you live all the days of your life. What does that mean to you? It means something to me. It means that every day is MINE and MINE alone to live. It means that like last night when we were moving furniture at a clients building, my knees burning, back aching, it was my day to live.

I have been re-discovering my ability to take joy in every day. When I was a young boy I could do that.  Then I went to school and “they” took that away from me. Then I went to work and “they” kept it away from me. Now I am taking it back.

So last night, yes it was hard work, yes most of our crew failed to show up, but I was able to live the night.

There will be times in your day no matter what you are doing that you will have times that you do not “like”. Who cares? Turn the do not like situation into a positive situation. I turned each task into a challenge. Can I carry ten more totes up the stairs before I take a rest? Can I lift this chair onto the dolly and get it to the stairs before the crew is there to take it up the stairs?

May you live all the days of your life.

Every morning I start my day with an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. When my alarm goes off I hit the snooze button and lie in bed and review all of the things I am grateful for. I also look ahead on the day and look at all of the good things that will be happening to me. After a walk with my dog Bosley, I write a list of 10 things I am grateful for in my life. You see I believe I wake up in neutral. My brain had a hard re-set at night during my sleep and it is entirely up to me to set my mindset for the day. Actually I believe it is my RESPONSIBILITY to set my mindset for the day. It is my responsibility to everyone around me to make sure that I have a positive mindset.

I am doing my best to look at every situation and try to approach it in a positive way. Last night one of our crew members “didn’t know” we were working. Rather than get upset, we just did the work we needed to do and moved on. I was very grateful that my son, Morgan, was there. Not just grateful for the help he gave us but grateful for the time we were able to spend and chat.

May you live all the days of your life.

In the evening before I go to bed I list off in my mind all of the things I am grateful for. I also review in y mind the goals I have for my life. Then as I fall asleep my conscious mind is programmed with positive thoughts and my subconscious mind can work on shifting my paradigms.

May you live all the days of your life.

My dreams are usually positive. I wake rested. And my new day can start again in a positive mindset.

May you live all the days of your life.

Peace

Live and Let Live

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde

It is funny, I think the only times I have had REAL conflict with people is when they have tried to make me run my life as they want to run theirs. But I am actually thinking of the times I have tried to do the same to others.

A person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still.

The changes I am trying to make in my life are MY changes. I have been on a long haul road trip of trying to improve myself. My changes are MY changes. I have started mentoring a young guy on our team who keeps asking me what to do. I have told him what I am doing and have told him to mimic what works for him.

I could spend the rest of my time right now telling you about who has pissed me off by trying to make me change and follow their life pattern but that would be very destructive and send the wrong energy out. I could have even not told you about that BUT I am trying to leave a log of my struggles as well. Maybe someone will read this and are going through something similar and take something positive from this.

When I joined ACN I was told to follow a script and do what they do. Now I agree with the idea – the example they use is if you bought a McDonalds franchise you wouldn’t start selling pizza, would you? Now they have changed that a little, ACN is now using a number of scripts and are asking people to modify them to their comfort level.

I know I have written about my morning ritual. I’m up most mornings about 5:00 am to take Bosley out for a walk. I then take about 20 minutes to learn and write. I even have a timer (new) on my computer than helps me maintain the timings so I don’t end up wasting too much time. 

My REAL Alarm Clock - Bosley

I tell a great many people about my ritual and have made a habit of not telling people about my ritual but using myself as an example. My life has completely changed since I have started this ritual.

• My temper has evened. I am more at ease with the foibles of others and of myself. I can more easily laugh at myself.
• I am less likely to say stupid things. I have learned that saying every stupid little thing that comes into my brain is absolutely not helpful and may actually hurt the person or the situation.
• I have lost some weight. Walking 1 to 2 km every morning is a good thing!
• I am a better husband.
• I am a better teacher.
• I am a better father.
• I am a better friend.

Do I have more work to do? Absolutely. I can credit ACN for the tools I needed to improve I use all of the tools in my back office to work on my self improvement each and every morning. Sometimes more too!

I know I was getting better before ACN but what happened was more and more told were available every day.

I heard that quote by Oscar Wilde last night just before falling asleep. It made me think of the times I said “I’ll tell you what you should do!” and wish I could take most of them back. At work sometimes you need to say “This is the way to do it!” But life? I don’t think so.

So I think I am on the right path. I will show what is possible by making my life visible. I will accept when people try to tell me what to do and listen to what they say. If they have something positive to say perhaps I will hear it rather than just block them out.

Maybe I can grow from that experience as well. I know I will grow from the experience of letting them talk their peace.

Have a wonderful day!

November 19, 2016 - Paradigms

I listened to a lesson from Bob Proctor. It dealt with the conscious and sub-conscious parts of our brains and the Law of Attraction.

Bob talks of the brain being in two halves with thoughts being generated in the conscious portion. The Law of Attraction is really through the sub-conscious portion of the brain. There is something in the sub-conscious called a PARADIGM.  A paradigm is a model or a pattern we filter things through.

So what I took from this is the Law of Attraction “enters” us through the subconscious mind. Then it is filtered through out PARADIGMS. Our thoughts are sort of “ruled” by our emotions. So if we want to attract more of something desirable into our lives we need to understand a couple of things.

 I need to change my paradigms in order to change my life. Bob talks about paradigms and layers and layers of HABITS. Once we start to change our paradigms we can start to change our thoughts. Paradigms shape everything in our lives. To change my life I need to change my paradigms.

Paradigms are in our mind and it controls everything in our life. Logic holds us in place. We need to become illogical. It is illogical to build an airplane, a light bulb – any great advancement was illogical to the thinking of the time.

It is illogical for me to be a millionaire. It is illogical for me to be fit and healthy. It is illogical for me to have meaningful relationships with my family.

I commit myself to learning how to change my paradigms and change my life for my family.

I’ve gotta run and get ready for our ACN meeting this morning.

I will write more later.

Matt