Did your day start like this?

We often wake up in the morning with the mentality, "I hope it's a good day."

The truth is, the world is not waiting around to make our day "good."  Instead, we should be making the world good!

I've been known to get this one backwards, but joy is internal.  It comes from a solid foundation that we can always go back to and it doesn't sway with the winds of the world.  Joy doesn't hope for a good day.  Joy doesn't wait around to see what happens.  Joy starts on the inside and paints broad stokes of optimism wherever it travels.

Instead of waiting around to see what the world has in store for us today, let's go out and show the world what we have.  Find that inner joy and show the world that it doesn't define us.

Don't deprive yourself

Are you unique?

We're all made unique.  Whether you choose to stay that way is completely up to you.  You make look like someone else, sound like someone else or even like the same things as someone else.  But you will never BE someone else.  You are unique.

We can choose to embrace our uniqueness and give the world exactly what we were intended to provide.  Or we can choose to blend into the crowd so that most of the world doesn't even realize that we exist.

Uniqueness makes people think.  It extracts emotion that nothing else can (in both you and in others).

You're not only depriving yourself if you hide your uniqueness.  You're depriving the world of what was built into you to share with the world.

Embrace it and let us see what you've got hiding in there.

Can they see you?

On this date 10 years ago, the President of the United States said these words:
"America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.  And no one will keep that light from shining."

This statement is mostly true.  There is one that can stop our light from shining.  Us.

We can be the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity if we choose to be; if we choose not to turn off that light.

Being that light doesn't start as a country, it starts with each one of us.  If we decide to be the brightest beacon for hope in our homes, our workplaces and our neighborhoods, then our country has no choice but to reflect that hope to the world.

Being a beacon doesn't come through passiveness.  It comes through action.  Bring hope, happiness and optimism to everyone around you today.  Be the beacon.  Let them see you.

What do you see?

I have great news!  No one and no circumstance can control how you feel today.  It's 100% your choice.

The most famous story of this power to choose is probably that of Viktor Frankl.  The man who not only survived a Nazi concentration camp, but totally broke the "victim of circumstance" mentality.

So, whatever you're facing today, control the way your react to it.  It's not about what you're going through, it's about what you see.  Perspective beats circumstance every time.

100% better?

I heard something interesting the other day.  I heard that professional athletes that truly believe that they can achieve a goal perform about 10% better than professional athletes that aren't as optimistic.  Interesting... but then I heard this...

Young boys that truly believe they can achieve a goal perform about 100% better than boys that don't believe.

Two general questions come to mind:

1. Why is it that we do better when we believe in ourselves?
2. What do those little boys have that cause this effect to be so drastic?

But I think this the real question:  Why don't you believe in yourself?

What's the risk?  Seriously... what do you have to lose by believing in yourself?

Today, let's look differently at ourselves.  Believing in yourself has NOTHING to do with the past.  Let's look at ourselves for what we can achieve, not what we have achieved... and maybe we can be 100% better, too.

Who's thinking with you?

I had a friend over last night to help me out with a few things.  After he left, I realized something.  I would have never been able to do by myself what we were able to accomplish together.

We seem to call on friends to help with physical tasks (moving an immensely heavy table, hanging drywall or setting up for a party), but we rarely call on friends to help us with mental tasks (figuring out the best way to organize your business or brainstorming about ways to save money).

If we, as friends, join together in our thinking and not just our doing, the results could be remarkable.  So, who's thinking with you?

Inside or outside?

Staring out the window above my kitchen table at 7:00AM.

It's comfortable.  It's warm.  It's dry.  And most of all... it's safe.

So many times in life, we stare out the window of our own comfort at the world of chaos outside and make a decision.  "Should I risk going out there?"

Our safe spot isn't affected by much of what happens on the other side of the glass.  And we can't affect much of the outside world from our window.

You have a choice.  Inside or outside?

Tools are so (not) helpful

I'm so glad that I don't have to type this blog on a typewriter, make copies on a ditto machine, track down all of your addresses, go to the post office to buy stamps... I think you get the idea.

Tools are great, but there is a danger.  Tools can't think for us.  Just because I can type this blog on my computer and distribute it across the entire world in minutes, doesn't mean that I'm good at it.  It still takes the same amount of creative energy as it would if I were using a typewriter.  It still takes the same amount of prep work.  The only change is the implementation.

Be careful that you don't use tools as a replacement for creativity, but instead use them for what they were intended.  To get to the end result quicker... not better.

How do YOU define unacceptable?

A brilliant man once said that everything we do, we do because we want to.  I somewhat agree.

But, think about this...

Many of us get up every morning and go to work.  Is it because we want to?  Honestly, I hope that you love your job and can't wait to go to work every day.  But for others, they go to work because of what they don't want.  The alternative to going to work today may be looking for a job tomorrow... and I don't want to do that.  (For the stay-at-home mom's, using the idea of not going to work is just pitifully short-sighted of me... I know... I apologize for the poor example, but I think you get the point.)

So, we use this idea of knowing what we don't want to define what we want. Why not expand the idea and use it on a larger scale?

For anyone out there struggling with the ancient question of "what do I want to do with my life?", one way to answer that is to define what you don't want to do.  Define things around you that you see and don't like, things that are unacceptable to you.  You may just find a hidden passion of yours.

"It's unacceptable that kids in my neighborhood can't afford school shoes."

"It's unacceptable that violent crime has risen in our city by 10% over the last 2 years."

"It's unacceptable that I have to drive 20 minutes to get a good cup of coffee."

So do something about it.

This idea is not revolutionary... it's not even original.  It is, however, often forgotten.  So if you're stuck, start defining unacceptable and see where it leads you.

Are you steering?

I have to admit that I spend (or "waste", depending on your opinion) a little time every day reading through Facebook status updates.  I've recently recognized a theme that breaks my heart a little bit.  I see so many people whose attitude is a direct reflection of their current circumstances.  Unfortunately, we can't always control our circumstances.

The reason that this way of living life is hard for me to watch through the window of Facebook, is that I've been there... not so long ago.  I know the feeling of waking up every day with the anticipation of things gone wrong and the dismay that will linger throughout the day when they do.

I have good news...

I've found a better way.  I've found consistency.  My circumstances no longer drive my attitude.  My attitude now drives the way that I respond to (and create) my circumstances.  For me, this consistency is my faith.  Not the plastic faith that I pretended to cling to for so long, but a real relationship with my God.

I'm also finding inspiration in others that share a similar faith and whose circumstances do NOT define their attitude.  Check out this guy.... he amazes me every day in the way that he responds to his circumstances (I apologize if his profile is private).

So, here is the challenge.  Find a rock.  Find consistency.  "Circumstance" is a horrible driver so take the wheel back and start steering.