posted26/10/09
I was struggling to get out of bed this morning, I had a long weekend finalizing some business arrangements and was fatigued from lack of sleep. As I lay there I went through all of the reasons why I should get out of bed and found that one of the biggest reasons to get out of bed and start my day was to write this post.
You see I wanted to share with you a concept, I wanted to tell you that if you are struggling with Motivation it’s because you are not striving to achieve something bigger than you.
I came across this story today, which I thought illustrates the point:
A member of a community service organization, who previously had been attending meeting regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the friend decided to visit him.
It was a chilly evening. The friend found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his friend’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited.
The friend made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the friend took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember’s flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and “dead as a door nail.”
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the friend was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the friend reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery reminder of the important of being part of something bigger then myself.
posted19/10/09
In the last post I did on, I talked about how we can learn as much from wealthy people as we can from people who are in poverty. At the end of the post I asked you to do an activity where you sat down and assessed your position compared to someone who lives below the poverty line.
Over the weekend I was spending some time searching the internet and came across a story which may help you with this activity:
One day . . . a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country, so he could have his son see how poor country people live.
They stayed one day and one night in the home of a very humble farmer. At the end of the trip, and when they were back home, the father asked his son, “What did you think of the trip?”
The son replied, “Very nice dad.”
Then the father asked his son, “Did you notice how poor they were?”
The son replied, “Yes.”
The father continued asking, “What did you learn?”
The son responded, “I learned that we have one dog in our house, and they have four. Also, we have a fountain in our garden, but they have a stream that has no end. And we have imported lamps in our garden . . . where they have the stars! And our garden goes to the edge of our property. But they have the entire horizon as their back yard!” At the end of the son’s reply the father was speechless.
His son then said, “Thank you dad for showing me how poor we really are.”
Isn’t it true that all depends on the lens you use to see life?
One can ask himself what would happen if we give thanks for what we have instead of always asking for more.
Learn to appreciate what you have. Wealth is all in one’s point of view.
I hope that helps, until next time – keep smiling 
!
posted16/10/09
I am sure that you have heard the saying before:
Your Network = Your Networth
The saying basically suggests that the total of your top 10 friends annual salary when combined and averaged is most likely your income potential. Many Personal Development experts would suggest that if you want to increase your income potential then you need to change the people that you hang around with.
Now I am not totally convinced by this, as some of the greatest learnings I have received in life have come from people who are broke. In fact I think that there is a lot that can be learned from people who live on or below the poverty line.
For example 98.5% of loans made by Micro Financing Company KIVA are repaid and not redrawn. KIVA generally makes loans to people who live below the poverty line.
35% of people who repay their loans in developed nations redraw their loans to top up their credit cards and never actually pay their debts.
So with that said, who in this case would appear to be the best person to learn about debt management from?
What I want you to do today is to take some time to think about people who live below the poverty line.
- What Is Important To Them?
Now I want you to compare the answers to those questions with your own personal answers and ask yourself, what is really important to me?
Finally before I sign off, make sure you buy a coffee at Gloria Jeans this weekend as for each coffee sold the are donating $0.50 to Opportunity International!
posted14/10/09
The Story of Two Wolves
I want to bring the section on values to a close today with a story that I found, which speaks to many of the reasons as to why we sometimes succeed and sometimes fail in life.
Over the last few days I have asked you to think about your values, and how they have affected you when making decisions in your life. In doing this I have challenged you to think about what values have attributed to your success and what values have attributed to your failures.
I personally believe that while our values do evolve and change over time, that when under pressure to make decisions sometimes we choose the “evil woof” from this story:
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Take the time to go away today and think about which of these “wolves” you are feeding!
