Back Out of the Noise.

“It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity”
---Albert Einstein

How many hours a day are you connected to technology? The 800 pound Gorilla, used to be the television but now it is email, facebook, twitter, laptops, smart phones, or ipads. If you sat down and figured out exactly how much time you are actually connected…it would probably shock you. I love technology and I think it’s necessary and valuable in today’s world. I also think that because we are so connected at all times that we have become disconnected to many things around us.

It is important to back away from the noise. Just like going on vacation… when you come back you are refreshed and re-energized. In the workplace it is necessary to utilize technology but outside of work it is a good idea to not answer every phone call or constantly check emails, or facebook. Recent research demonstrates that couples taking their laptops, ipads, and smartphones in the bedroom contributes to marital disconnect. Rather than connecting with conversation and in other ways… use your imagination. It does just the opposite.

How many times have you been having a one on one conversation with someone and you, or both of you are constantly scanning your smart phone during the conversation? The challenge is that everything we do is a habit, so being always connected to technology becomes such we don’t even notice that we are doing it. It’s really about being more balanced in all that we do and making the necessary adjustments to get there.

I challenge you to take time to get outside, have conversations, spend quality time with family and friends and go on a technology fast for just a block of time everyday. You’ll be glad that you did.

LIVE OUT LOUD!

How Resilient Are You?

Setbacks are setups for a comeback


How do you deal with setbacks and adversity? How do you think, feel, and act when things don’t go the way you expect them to? Do you get frustrated, angry, sad, or more determined? We all go through challenges in relationships, finances, career, family, and health. The key is what you focus on the most. If you focus on frustration…that is exactly what will grow and expand. Instead work on looking past the obstacle and focus on overcoming it and getting more creative about the solutions that you come up with.

There are four ways to empower yourself with the ability of being more resilient when challenged by setbacks. They are:

Face It: Very often the basic human instinct when faced with problems is to ignore, or avoid them at all costs as if they will just disappear. We all know that this strategy does nothing but prolong the inevitable. Things don’t improve, they actually get worse. Facing up to challenges is the best way to overcome them.

Handle It: After facing your challenges you are ready to start handling them. At this point you can clearly understand what your challenge is and what you need to do to overcome it. Focus more on building a strategy.

Accept It: Accept the fact that you are not in control of what may happen to you at all times. Life comes at you from some crazy directions and you need to accept that you can’t control everything. Also accept the fact that you are in control of how you respond to things that happen.

Let It Go: I like to say Let go and Let Grow. Challenges happen and if you get angry, depressed, frustrated and hold onto the anger and don’t let it go it will consume you. If you let go of the negative thoughts and emotions and allow yourself to adopt more positive and healthier ones you will be much more successful.

Just remember that obstacles are not there to obstruct you but to instruct you. Get started today in adopting the proper attitudes necessary to be more successful in life.

LIVE OUT LOUD!!!

Be The CEO of You Inc.

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
---George Sheehan

What if you conducted your life as if you were the Chief Operating Officer of a major corporation called YOU Inc.? How would you conduct yourself? What would be the mission, vision, and values for YOU Inc.?

Most of us wander through life letting life happen to us rather than creating a life that is fulfilling, passionate, and successful…not only for us but also the people around us. Your mission for You, Inc. should be to create a personal business plan outlining areas like your physical health, family, finances, education, spiritual growth, etc. Remember that everything is created twice, first in the mind’s eye and than in the real world. If you never sit down and develop philosophies and framework for each and every area than you are simply wishing your life away. It’s almost like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree. You’re never going to get any closer to what you want.

I’m going to give you three exercises to get you started. If you have read any of my articles you know that I have a personal strategy that I call “The Power of Three”. I look at three things that I can do daily to move forward towards anything that I want to achieve.

Exercise #1: What is Your Brand?

Come up with your personal brand or logo for YOU Inc. something that represents you and what you stand for. Please don’t come up with a heart or a smiley face. Design a symbol that truly represents you.

Exercise #2: Who is on Your Board of Directors?

Now I want you to fill six seats on your board of directors with individuals either living or not. It could be someone that you have read about in history that had the experience or values that you need on your board. Take your time and pick individuals that you would want to be surrounded by to give you guidance and good counsel.

Exercise #3: Who is Your Everyday HERO?

Think about someone that is living that inspires you to be a better person because of the example that they demonstrate in their own life.
So, your homework is to complete these three exercises to get closer in making YOU, Inc a Great Success. Get started!

Choose Happiness!

Valerie’s Happy Restroom

Recently I flew into the airport in Charlotte North Carolina to catch a connecting flight to Costa Rica. While in the airport I was having lunch and then it happened. I noticed a woman coming through the dining area cleaning tables. There was something different about her. She cleaned the tables like Picasso would paint a master piece and with just as much passion. Not only that, she was dancing and singing while doing so. Not dancing and singing like someone who just wanted attention. She did it from a soul level; she was truly a happy person.

I noticed as she went through the dining area cleaning, dancing, and singing that everyone around just lit up. People sitting reading their newspaper or on their laptops all of the sudden stopped looked up and smiles popped up on everyone’s faces like a field of flowers opening their blooms. After I completed my lunch I had to meet this woman. I walked up to her and said. Excuse me, I was having a good day however since I have seen you I’m having a great day. What is your name? She responded with joy and pride “Valerie”.

I then asked her why she was so happy. She said “If you can’t have fun at work don’t go”. She explained that happiness is a choice and that she chooses to be happy and chooses her attitude. She followed up with the fact that she had worked in the airport for two years and she started as a restroom attendant. Not a position that most people would be happy about. Not Valerie though she not only chose her attitude she called her restroom, Valerie’s Happy Restroom. She even posted clips on You Tube. She was than promoted to the dining areas because her supervisors felt like she would come into contact with more people.

I asked Valerie if I could have a hug and she gave me a hug that was so strong it would embarrass a grizzly bear. I asked her if I could take a picture of her and she agreed without hesitation. Valerie then told me that she wouldn’t be in the dining area the next time I came through the airport in Charlotte. I asked why? She said that a company in the airport heard about her attitude and joyful spirit and they hired her to be their organizations customer service representative. WOW! Talk about your attitude determining your altitude. Valerie not only affected the lives of anyone that came into contact with her she also affected her own. Valerie promoted herself from the restroom to the dining room to customer service representative for a large company.

Ask yourself this question; what impact is your attitude having on your life and the lives of the people you come into contact with? You can choose!

LIVE OUT LOUD!!!

Life Lessons from Francis

Life Lessons from Francis

By Keith Elkins

We all have morning rituals after we get out of bed. After I go through mine at home, I go to the same restaurant for breakfast and to read the morning newspaper. My favorite part of the paper is the style section with the comic strips. Most of the rest of the paper is mostly gloom and doom so I try to skim past most of that. Have you ever noticed that whether its television news or newspapers, the media seems to market bad news because after all bad news sells.

After going to the same place for breakfast for quite some time I noticed a gentleman, who’s job it is to make sure that the dining area as well as the bathrooms and even the parking lot were always clean for all of the customers. He always walked around with a smile on his face and greeted each customer with good morning, good morning always repeating it twice and he never seemed to be in a poor mood. I became quite intrigued by his attention to detail and attitude when it came to keeping everything so clean. This job most people would turn their nose up to thinking that they were too good to do it. However he approached it as an artist like Picasso giving great attention to every detail no matter how routine the task was.

One day I had to ask this gentleman what his name was. He told me his name was Francis. I noticed that he had what seemed to be an African accent. I asked him where he was from and he enthusiastically said that he was from Kenya. His accent was thick but his enthusiasm was contagious and I worked very hard to focus on understanding what he was saying to me. Francis told me that in his home country he was an executive assistant to high level politicians. Francis also told me about how proud he was of his children and how they had worked hard to create successful careers. Francis was responsible for sending money to his children in Kenya to make sure that they could go to school and get the education necessary for them to be successful.

I then did what is normally not very polite but I had to know. I asked Francis how old he was. Francis then told me that he was 63 years old. I asked why he always seemed to be so happy? Francis gave me four very simple happiness principles. They are as follows:

1. Be thankful for your life, your family, and your friends and the opportunities that you are given.

2. Don’t measure your success based on the possessions that you acquire, measure your success on your contribution and service to your community, your family, and society in general.

3. Accept that every challenge, failure or obstacle that faces you in life is part of your lifelong education and helps to mold WHO you become.

4. Realize that all you really need is a full stomach, a purpose in life, and love for yourself and the people in your life especially the ones that are hardest to love because they need it the most.

I still look forward to having conversations with Francis as much as I can. It is amazing how you can meet a complete stranger and have a conversation, only to realize how much more there is to learn about being a completely happily successful human being not just a human doing.

Final Thought:

Keep your mind and heart open, and always give yourself away.

Build A Support Team

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

Isaac Newton

When you think of successful people either in the present or in past history we focus on their individual accomplishments and successes. But if you explore deeper you will find that no one is successful by themselves. Success usually comes by building a camp of people around you that offer sound advice and support for accomplishment.

It could be family, friends, co workers, mentors or any combination of people that you decide. You will develop multiple support teams for multiple and specific goals. No one group can be specific for every goal or objective.

Successful presidents, athletes, entrepreneurs, and parents all realize that success in every area of life depends greatly on the people that you pick for your support team. It’s like a fighter preparing for that world title bout. You need to be surrounded by people who will support you in your goals but will also give you that kick in the ass when you need it most if you get down or lazy and lose your focus. They will tell you things that you need to hear not just what you want to hear.

When I was a teenager, I made it a point to surround myself with a core group of friends that supported me and that I supported. They also told me what I needed to hear sometimes not just what I wanted to hear. I made it a point to associate and try to get along with most people that I came into contact with, however I always had a small core group of close friends that I chose to associate with.

Start today and determine what you want to accomplish and what support team you need to form. Being a part of other’s support system is just as important in helping you determine who should be in yours.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Determine what your objective is and decide what individuals you need to surround yourself with that may have the attitude and/or experience needed for your Support team.
2. Prepare yourself for the things that you need to hear and not just what you want to hear.
3. Take action based on the feedback you receive.

Pulverize Procrastination

Like a Ninja slipping silently into a castle to assassinate the evil warlord because he has wreaked havoc on surrounding villages, you need to slip into your mind and find the thoughts and feelings that have wreaked havoc on your ability to follow through on tasks. We all do IT. What is IT? Procrastinate! We put off those tasks that we don’t look forward to doing. The procrastinator’s creed is ‘Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?’ We push them to the bottom of our to do list only to find out that they didn’t disappear into thin air and that we still need to get them done. Procrastination afflicts millions of people and has negative effects on productivity and sense of accomplishment. Reasons for Procrastination are: Perfectionism Self-Inadequacies Lack of Motivation Lack of Focus High Frustration/ Low Tolerance Procrastination leads to: Wasted Time Missed Opportunities Poor Performance Increased Stress Overcoming Procrastination empowers your ability to: Have Peace of Mind Empower yourself with strength of Purpose Take Charge of Your Life Feel Strong, Capable, and Confident Ways of Overcoming Procrastination Target and deal with the reasons that you procrastinate and practice doing the opposite. Set a schedule or a time line for accomplishment. Chunk the task into smaller pieces so that you see instant progress and so the task doesn’t seem so big. Rather than push too hard take small breaks but get right back to the task at hand. Do It Now! Say it out loud. Get someone to hold you accountable. Start training like a Ninja today and everyday to assassinate procrastination.