Category Archives: Personal Success

Dec 07 2014
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Inspirational, Personal Success

Beat Down The Monday Morning Funk

Who hasn’t experienced that knot in the pit of the stomach preparing to return to work, and/or school, on a Monday, after a nice relaxing weekend with family and friends? This feeling is often worse after vacation as we consider the work that has piled-up in our absence and the challenges waiting to be addressed upon our re-entry.

I recall, as a young lad, this knot arriving early Sunday evening, just after dinner, in anticipation of school the following day. A temporary escape from this feeling occurred (for me at least) when my 2 brothers and I would lie on the living room floor, chins resting in the palms of our hands, watching The Wonderful World of Disney. Oh, how we wanted to be part of those exciting stories of adventures to far-away lands.

As adults (young or old) these feelings of anxiety (even foreboding) can still happen as we consider an overbearing teacher, boss or customer, heavy workloads and the cares of our personal lives.

One of my sons was recently sharing his “Monday Morning Funk”, which inspired this post…

The first thing to realize is: we are NOT alone. That is, EVERYONE has, or has had, these feelings at some point in their lives. And, we often realize that once we get going for the day it isn’t so bad after-all.

Part of the challenge is that we can be our own worst critic, a topic we’ll cover in a separate post.

So, how do we beat down the Monday Morning Funk? I’d suggest there are 4 steps:

  1. Define our dreams – Where do we see ourselves in 5-10 years? The adventures we’d like to experience, the places we’d like to live, the vehicles we’d like to own, the causes we’d like to support, the relationships we’d like to have, the job we’d like to hold, the business we’d like to launch, etc.
  2. Define our goals – What are the incremental steps we must take and the milestones we must achieve to realize our dreams? The college degree(s) we must achieve, the real-life work experiences we must get under our belt, the amount of money we must earn and save, the training/seminars we must attend, the books we must read and finally, how to perform our current duties in such an outstanding way that we absolutely blow away our boss, co-workers and customers with regards to how personable, effective and industrious we are, and the personal initiative we take (without being asked).
  3. Act – Work tirelessly towards our goals!
  4. Remember…

Back to Monday morning…As we are preparing to return to school and/or work for the week, we must pull up our list of dreams and goals to remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing, what we need to do to get there and to get to work!

Said another way, we need to look up and not down. If we don’t look up (to our goals and dreams) we end up focusing on the “drudgery” of the day considering it to be the “end-state” as we ask ourselves “Is this all there is to life?” No, no, no!

This (today’s list of tasks and appointments) is absolutely NOT the end-state. Today is simply a minor stepping stone down the path towards our goals and dreams.

Consider this – There really is VERY LITTLE COMPETITION for those who are willing and able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to become exceptionally productive every single day. The reason: much of society seems to “stall out” going about the daily grind, doing only what is absolutely required to get by, punching the clock, with no long-term vision as they consider the whole thing (life experience) to be too hard. Reminds me of a quote:

Don’t be upset with the results you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do.

To keep up the energy level and focus we MUST hold our long term objectives (goals and dreams) in the forefront of our mind. Every single day!

In closing, the launching of this post on a Sunday morning is by design, to provide readers an opportunity to eliminate, or at least reduce, this and future week’s Monday Morning Funk.

By taking the 4 steps above you will move rapidly down the path towards achieving your goals and dreams. Simply be patient. Give it time and you WILL, you MUST get there!

All the best!

p.s. – There is a commonly known statistic indicating that the number one day of the week for heart attacks to occur is Monday. This might suggest that by beating down the Monday Morning Funk we are going to live longer 🙂

All the more reason to Dream Big, Set Goals and Take Action!

Dec 03 2014
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Personal Success

Shrinking “Real” Income? Only By Choice!

During my daily check-in to Yahoo! Finance I came across an article (The incredible shrinking incomes of young Americans) that I felt compelled to address…

First, let’s qualify the words “real income”, to make sure we are on the same page.

In the context of this article it is indicating that income (adjusted for inflation, over time) has been shrinking, since the Great Recession struck in 2007.

I am certainly not suggesting that this information is wrong (given certain caveats and assumptions). What I am suggesting is that this (self-imposed limitation) need not apply to us.

That is, we have a choice. If we wish to remain in the same job / role / company for many, many years, then this statistic is highly applicable. On the other hand, for those of us who continuously (every single day) make ourselves more valuable (training, education, demonstrated exceptional work performance) this phenomena (shrinking income) is absolutely meaningless.

That is, if we are continuously demonstrating that we are worth more we WILL be paid more. If not at our current place of employment then someplace else. Realize though, it takes time, effort, ambition and commitment. It does NOT occur by waiting or hoping. We must take action!

Bottom-line: If we want to see who limits our income all we have to do is look in the mirror.

If you’d like to learn more about the actions you can take to increase your value simply read other articles available on this blog categorized as Personal Success. You might start with: A Boot Camp Experience?

Nov 07 2014
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Personal Success, Successful Kids

College Education – Just Git-R-Done!

High school and college students…If you are like me (at that stage of my life), I had NO CLUE as to what I wanted to do or be when I grew up. I still don’t 🙂

As we are making the transition from high school to that next level in our life and/or about to complete our Associates Degree in college (for example) we often want to pause, take a break, and come back to continuing our education — later. It just sounds like such a tantalizing prospect, FINALLY having some time off from school.

For those considering this, please think long and hard…

There are a number of very good reasons to NOT take the break and simply forge ahead to get that college education done:

  • You are (likely) still living at home or are still under the wings of your parents, and therefore have reduced living expenses, allowing you to focus on knocking it (your grades) out of the park.
  • Mom and Dad are “more likely” to continue providing an “assist” towards “continuing” that education.

If you “pause” a number of variables will be introduced that may result in you not actually completing that degree:

  • You will likely want to move out on your own (which can be very liberating), increasing your living expenses.
  • You will likely meet a significant other (if you haven’t already), increasing your living expenses 🙂
  • You will get real focused on your current job(s) to pay for all the things you want to do. The job “may” not be as high paying as it could be, if you had achieved your degree(s).
  • You will have entered a cycle (stage of life) that will make it increasingly difficult (certainly not impossible) to go back to school.
  • Mom and Dad are going to retire at some point. Continuing to foot educational expenses may no longer be in their plan, in the future.

I’m certainly NOT saying the path outlined above is bad. I’m simply saying that, in taking it, you may not end up where you planned to be, in the desired timeframe. Said another way, the longer we delay getting the desired degree the longer we delay receiving the increased income that results from a higher level of education.

Time to repeat one of my favorite quotes:

Do what you MUST as quickly as possible, so you can do what you WANT for as long as possible.

As outlined in a prior post, education is the most powerful equalizing force. It is suggested that you take every advantage to get over the major hump of acquiring your degree(s) early, and then never stop self-education – that means FOREVER.

And, remember, education in and of itself is useless, unless we apply ourselves by working our tails off! If you do this, the sky is the limit!

As mentioned in recent posts, our oldest son (Ian / 25) just wrapped up his Bachelor’s Degree in Web Development, along with achieving an Associates Degree and related Certificates in his field along the way. His perspective: the time QUICKLY flew by, in the blink of an eye. He Got-R-Done! Now, he can look forward to building on this foundation!

All the best!

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