“Does what make sense”, you may ask…the real important things that actually affect not only our personal lives, but our work lives as well.
The list I have put together is a combination of emotions, lessons, and advice from my caring mentors i.e. best friends.
So here it goes, although I am not sure if they are in a prioritized order, but I don’t think it matters…at least not to me.
- LIFE – let’s start with the big one that is ever changing and challenging. Our lives go from great successes to the feeling of a boxer in the ring, constantly taking punches in the corner! Although who is not to say we deserve both when they arrive? How do we handle this? I can only answer for myself and I’d like to tell the total truth here- sometimes I go out with friends to celebrate and sometimes I go by myself to take it all in and think. This “ritual” is for the good times and the bad. When I say go out it could mean a bar, a lounge, a walk in the park, a movie or a long ride in the car (sometimes very fast). These are my ways, what are yours?
- LOVE – passion for your work and personal life that leads to the love of a person or ability is sometimes very hard to understand, and so is not getting too embraced in until the time is right.But what does “when the time is right” even mean? Close people to me (which is not too many) have always recognized I am one to wear my heart on my sleeve, as well put all I have from my heart for a project. There are positives and negatives with this way of life. Oh what are they you ask? Well my heart on my sleeve is quite visible, which is when my emotional walls go down and there is a chance this will create a target to shoot versus a trait to appreciate. In work we have all heard the phrase “Passion can ruin Profit”. Well I disagree that it makes you great and allows the people involved to know you care, that the positive part. The negative I am not open to be taken advantage of.
3. TRUST – In the immortal words of Jay Z, “My balls and my word is all I have”. This is very true for me personally, because I started so young in a business that was run by a much bigger business and trained executives, which I had a lot to prove too. So I decided to sum it up to I will deliver on my words, I will be known as the company and CEO that always delivers with truth, hard work and skin in the game. To this day it has proven a wise choice, although I must say things have changed a lot and transparency has been redefined in my opinion too, as transparent as possible. Trust is an all-in thing, you cannot be a little pregnant! Trust is also repaid trust someone and you will be trusted back by the right people, but do be careful there are a lot of sheep’s in wolves clothing as well there a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
4. LOYALTY – much like trust it can be seen from great distance with little sight and creates a phenomenal reputation. The question that I ask myself is “who should I be loyal to?” First off I know it’s myself, because if I am not loyal to myself, so I will find it quite impossible to be loyal to others. Loyalty, like all the other points mentioned in this post, can also be dangerous as we could find out sooner or later we have been loyal to the wrong person, company, project or idea. So how do we decide this? Risk! Please understand this risk is just part of the risks we take and I mention to achieve a better more self-understanding life.
5. Honesty – I will make this simple first and then elaborate a bit- don’t lie if you don’t want to be lied to! Wake up in the morning, look into your own eyes in the mirror and ask yourself; “have I mastered or am I mastering honesty so powerfully to myself that it is impossible to not be honest to others?” Real people that you meet will connect with you and will appreciate your honesty, whether it is directly to you or in their own time, but they will show gratefulness for your honesty. You made someone grateful, WELL DONE!
6. SPIRITUALITY – call into the Universe any name you choose, and I am sure it will answer you back in some shape or form. Find in yourself the ability to believe in something greater. I find if I think of aliens or humans, I am not sure which I am and which ones I walk amongst. What I do know is that if I think that everyone on Earth is the bee’s knees…we are SCREWED. Therefore I must hope that there is a greater spirit, in a greater universe that produces more kind and gentle people- versus a world that I have found to do the opposite, as well as thrive on fear across the Globe.
7. YOUR DAILY PRACTICE – your body, your mind and your spirit need a lot of help from you. There is no way that all 3 of these things can accomplish this better life without you. For me it all started with The Daily Practice, by James Altucher. Then the rest of his books like “The Power of No”, by James Altucher & Claudia Azula Altucher, as well as “Choose Yourself”, also by James Altucher. His books, as well as his recommended reading list, have helped me wake up a lot of days to a smile, to being grateful, to exercise and these days are the good ones. However I am only human and it’s hard to stick to this some days. Don’t regret the day you don’t, but look forward to the next day and starting again.
8. STAYING POSITIVE – this is a summary of my entire post. It’s not easy to fight through the noise, the bad news they want us to hear and the rules we have been trained on as kids. It’s really hard for me personally to not take many things at work personally and not let them effect my personal life. I will admit that the times I have achieved this, I had someone in my life to go to for love, a hug and a simple “it’s all going to be OK”. With that right person in your life it can be just that simple. It’s not easy alone and the times it is, well unfortunately they do end.
9. SMILE – smile at someone, and 9 times out of 10 they will smile back at you. This creates a good feeling for you and that other person. Smile as much as you can, it flows from your face right through your body and creates a feeling of safety, warmth, trust… and well all the other 8 points I mention.
All of this takes risk for the hope of reward, OH YEAH HOPE I forgot about that one so let’s make it real short but no less important, WE ALL NEED HOPE!
“Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…if you do so, you are insulting yourself” – Bill Gates
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