Newsletter for January 2005:
Become More in 2005
Contents:
- This Months Thought
- Become More in 2005!
- Quotes of the Month
- Strictly Business: Collateral Damage in the Spam Wars
- Humor: Life’s Greatest Truths
This Months Thought
The key to lasting success, joy, fulfillment and true achievement begins with personal development. As you "become more in 2005", your life will inevitably expand. You will do more. You'll meet new people. You'll learn new skills, get more done, and end up having more of the life you always wanted.
Become More in 2005!
There is an old observation that achievement is a combination of having more, doing more and becoming more, and the challenge is to get those three in the right order.
Traditionally, most people assume that if they had more, they would achieve more, and of course, they would then become more. Unfortunately, it rarely works that way. We almost never get "more." Certainly, we never get "more" time since time just "is" and goes by, day by day. Sometimes a venture capitalist will invest in our ideas or we discover a skill we never knew we had, but those things are rare and hard to predict in advance.
The major opportunity available to each of us is to "become more." Indeed a friend and mentor of mine has said that "to have more, we must first become more," and I believe he is correct.
So the question becomes, how do we "become more"?
As I prepare material for a seminar that I plan to lead in the future, I've been focused on the idea that ALL achievement begins with personal foundation. A child develops her abilities by learning to walk, to talk, to tie her shoes and put away her toys. Later, in adolescence, a young man learns to drive, do algebra or get his first job. As young adults, we learn to pay our bills, buy a home or pursue a career.
All of these milestones represent our ability to "become more" than we were previously.
Philosophers may argue about the details, but as a practical matter, to do more and have more, we must first BECOME MORE. I think that is an essential piece and we must get clear about it.
If you have goals for 2005, the first fundamental question is, "Who must you become to achieve those things?"
We all know that temporary changes can be made by brute force and sheer will-power. Anyone can lose a couple of pounds by following the latest fad diet for a few days. Anyone can stay on a budget for a day, perhaps even a week or two. We know we can make TEMPORARY changes by setting external goals, getting instruction or increasing our self-discipline. But unfortunately, we also know what usually happens after that first blush of enthusiasm.
The truth is that PERMANENT change happens when WE change. When that kid learns to drive, he "becomes" a driver!
The first step to growth, achievement and joy in 2005 is to set your targets and define exactly what you want to achieve in the new year. But the primary key to actually GETTING those things is to focus on personal development. As you become more in 2005, the "doing" that leads to "having" becomes easy.
Unfortunately, too many people never figure this out. They set goals. They dream and perhaps they attend the workshops, read the books or follow the latest guru, and they achieve some success. They reach some of their goals and hit some of their targets, and that is wonderful!
But the key to lasting success, joy, fulfillment and true achievement begins with personal development. As you "become more in 2005", your life will inevitably expand. You will do more. You'll meet new people. You'll learn new skills, get more done, and end up having more of the life you always wanted.
To have and do more, we must first become more. If you first set that as your theme for the new year, everything else will be much, much easier. To reach your goals, "Become more in 2005!"
Quotes of the Month
"The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives." -- Louise Hay
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." -- Goethe
"You are a product of your environment, so choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success ? Or are they holding you back?" -- W. Clement Stone
"Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." -- Conrad Hilton
Strictly Business: Collateral Damage in the Spam Wars
We all have too much junk email and we're all trying to figure out how to reduce or cope with it. Unfortunately, sometimes the "cure" is worse than the problem.
I'm talking about the vital business communications that can end up in the "spam" folder, or worse, permanently deleted.
For weeks an important business associate has been sending me vital emails which I never received. He swore he sent them; I never got them. We went over this a dozen times and wasted valuable time. This week I found the answer: unknown to me, our Internet provider installed a spam filter which efficiently relegated all of my associate’s email to the junk file. It is gone forever, residing in cyber heaven - or cyber hell!
Here are a couple of personal observations:
- AOL, in particular, has become so effective at filtering spam that newsletters and business communication are, in my experience, almost hopeless. Dozens of my own subscribers no longer receive This Months Thought because of problems with delivery at AOL. I admit I don't understand their objective, but they seem to be moving toward a system that makes personal or recreational email very easy, while it makes business or newsletter use of AOL difficult.
- Use personal spam filters with care. Having email lost or dumped in a junk-mail folder is becoming a daily occurrence. At the very least, be sure to check your junk-mail file regularly! Lost email can be annoying and expensive.
- Be sure you understand the details of any filters you (or your company or Internet provider) use so you can set the options properly. Personally, I do a "test" exchange with all new clients and business associates to avoid the frustration I ascribed at the top of this article.
- While spam is an expensive nuisance, consider carefully how aggressive you (and your company) want to be in eliminating it. In the information age, email is essential and we risk "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" if we delete too many vital business messages.
Humor: Life's Greatest Truths
I regularly receive great chuckles and I deeply appreciate the great family and all of you who include me in your "circle of smiles". Thanks! Here is some more great humor from friends
GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
- No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
- When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
- If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
- Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
- You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
- Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
- Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
- You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
- Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
- The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
- Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
- Wrinkles don't hurt.
- Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
- Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
- Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
- Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Rodger Blaker works with small business owners who want to grow their business and people who want to take their profession to the next level! For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com
GIVE A GIFT TO A FRIEND! Please forward this copy to your friends and colleagues! That's how I grow!