Set Goals and Start before you are ready

Set goals that far exceed your current capabilities.

"You need to aim beyond what you are capable of. You need to develop a complete disregard for where your abilities end. If you think you're unable to work for the best company in its sphere, make that your aim. If you think you're unable to be on the cover of Time magazine, make it your business to be there. Make your vision of where you want to be a reality. Nothing is impossible."  -- Paul Arden

If your goals are logical, they won't force you to create luck. Being unstoppable means your goals challenge you to be someone more than you currently are.
As Jim Rohn has said, "Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better."

Start before you're ready.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."  -- Chinese proverb
Most people wait. They believe they can start after they have enough time, money, connections, and credentials. They wait until they feel "secure." Not people who are unstoppable.

Unstoppable people started last year. They started five years ago before they even knew what they were doing. They started before they had any money.

They started before they had all the answers.
They started when no one else believed in them.

 The only permission they needed was the voice inside them prompting them to move forward. And they moved.

Never be Jealous

Never be jealous or envious of someone else's accomplishments.

Being unstoppable means you genuinely want what's best for everyone -- even those you would consider your competitors. Jealousy and envy are from the ego -- which operates out of fear.
The reason you are happy for other people's success is because their success has nothing to do with you.

You are in control of you.

And you are different from every other person.

There is no one who can do exactly what you can do.

 You have your own superpower with your own unique ability to contribute. And that's what you're going to do.

The Human Experiment

Why do people act the way they do?
Why do you act the way you do ?
Why do re react to others the way we do ?

The older I get the more I feel like I am a spectator of life in this grand human experiment.
I try to learn from everyone and how they act or what they say, sometimes I learn from positive role models, sometimes I may learn from a negative situations.
I observe and take mental notes, I truly try not to judge because we act the way we do because of the foundation that was poured in our life's from childhood from what may have happened along the way.
So instead of judging I try to observe and learn.
Most times if I have the opportunity to get to know people I will always hear their story and then the puzzles starts to fit together.
 Perhaps they had one parent growing up or a abusive parent or maybe they had a physical or mental situation in their own life growing up, whatever the story it is who they are and why they may react the way they do is in their DNA.
 Maybe because of their own insecurities they lash out first or become more withdrawn or defensive.
 The thing is most people go through their own self evaluation and some can recognize their own faults but they try to keep it hidden because they may be embarrassed or that defense mechanism kicks in.
Whatever the reason we all have a story , I myself deal with the voices in my head and my upbringing. For a example my father was a alcoholic and all though , when sober, I knew he showed glimpses that he loved me though he never ever said it. Hugs and I love you were missing in my life as a child, listening to yelling and abuse was every day life. You do not know it then but those are the foundations and threads of life that stays in your head for the rest of your life. You react to people and situations differently lets say then a person who may have been brought up in a loving home and discussed things and hugged and supported each other.
What we try to do, or at least we should try to do, is as we get older is we should recognize those moments in our life's and learn from them- sometimes that is easier said then done.
I certainly learned from my father and hugged my kids every day and said I love you and now I do it with my grandchildren. I also forgave my dad because it was a different time, a different generation and he had his own devil to live with.
I do think that is where we do begin to heal and grow- when we simply forgive others that may have hurt us in our life and move on.

 Remember we are all in this same human experiment so try not to judge , observe and watch and listen and forgive- after all none of are getting out of this experiment alive.

Respond Immediately

Respond immediately, rather than analyzing or stalling.

"He who hesitates is lost."  -- Cato

Anticipation of an event is always more extreme than the event itself -- for both positive and negative events.

Just do it.

 Train yourself to respond immediately when you feel you should do something. Stop questioning yourself. Don't analyze it.

 Don't question if it came from God or from yourself.

Just act.

You'll figure out what to do after you've taken action. -Until you take action, it will all be hypothetical. But once you act, it becomes practical.

Rewards

What is our reward at the end of a day or the end of a move or for that matter at the end of a career ?
Money ?
Titles?

When we are young it is a lot about money, it has to be because we are just starting out and bills and responsibilities starts coming at you fast and in order to stay ahead you need to make money so you bust your rear and put your head down and work- not only for you but soon you have your own family- there is a lot of responsibility there.

Then the older we get we realize, at least I hope we realize, that money is certainly necessary but I would not say it is our reward.

What makes you feel good at the end of a move or a work day? Is it how much money you made?
I mean what brings a smile to your face?
What is it that truly gives you satisfaction ?

For me, and I think for most, it is knowing that you made a difference in someone else's life or their work day. It is receiving that true " thank you" from someone or that firm handshake or maybe even a hug.
 That is our reward.
I have known many drivers and I have seen them at the end of a move or when they run into a customer months or even years after they moved them and that customer would come up to them and ask how they were or thank them again- bonds were made. And the smile on both their faces say it all.

After being in management for over 40 years I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds pf people and my biggest reward is hearing from any of them that I may have helped them or coached them or taught them a little something.
My first management role was in retail in early 20's and to this day when I run into a employee from those days and they say something positive it makes me feel good. One guy is grown up now with a family and he fixes our copy machines at Arpin , he was a kid when he worked for me back then but when he sees me he still comes over and shakes my hand and tells me that I was his favorite boss- that is my reward.
The same goes for when I worked for Honeywell and for the past 32 years here at Arpin.
Bonds are made.
That is definitely my true reward.

What is your reward at the end of the day or move or what you hoe to be at the end of your career ?

Confidence

Confidence is your greatest asset.

You've heard it before: Running a marathon is far more mental than physical. A person's ability to run a marathon -- or do anything hard -- is more a reflection of his or her level of confidence than actual ability.

Your confidence determines:

• The size of challenges or goals you undertake
• Your likelihood of achieving those goals
• How well you bounce back from failures

If you're not confident, you will never put yourself out there in the first place.

 When you're confident, you don't care how many times you fail, you're going to succeed.
 And it doesn't matter how stacked against you the odds seem.

Own it and Let Your Work Speak for Itself

Completely own it when you screw up.

"Implementing extreme ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team." --Jocko Willink

No blame. No deception or illusion. Just the cold, hard truth. When you mess up, you own it. And as the leader, you own it when your team fails. Only with extreme ownership can you have complete freedom and control.

Let your work speak for itself.

"Well done is well said."  -- 

Cal Newport's recent book Deep Work distinguishes "deep" work from "shallow" work. Here's the difference:
Deep work is:

• Rare
• High value
• Nonreplicable (i.e., not easy to copy or outsource)

Shallow work is:

• Common
• Low value
• Replicable (i.e., anyone can do it)

Talking is shallow.
 Anyone can do it.
It's easily replicated.
 It's low value.

 Conversely, deep work is rare. It's done by people who are focused and working while everyone else is talking. Deep work is so good it can't be ignored.

Compete and Learn

Don't compete with others. Make them compete with you.

Most people are competing with other people. They continuously check in to see what others in their space (their "competition") are doing. As a result, they mimic and copy what's "working."

Conversely, you've left all competition behind. Competing with others makes absolutely zero sense to you. It pulls you from your authentic zone. So you zone out all the external noise and instead zone in to your internal pressure to produce.

Never stop learning.

Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning. When you want to become the best at what you do, you never stop learning. You never stop improving and honing your skills and knowledge.

Your unparalleled preparation is what gives you power. No one else is willing to pay the price you've paid.

Pressure and Don't be Afraid

Never let off the pressure.

"Pressure can bust pipes, but it also can make diamonds."  -- Robert Horry

Most people can handle pressure in small doses. But when left to their own devices, they let off the pressure and relax.

Not you. You never take the pressure off yourself. Instead, you continuously turn up the pressure. It's what keeps you alert and active.

Don't be afraid of the consequences of failure.

Most people stay close to the ground, where it's safe. If they fall, it won't hurt that much.
But when you choose to fly high, the fall may kill you.
And you're OK with that. To you, there is no ceiling and there is no floor. It's all in your head.

 If something goes wrong -- if you "fail" -- you adjust and keep going.

Always be in Control and Be True to Yourself

Always be in control.

Unlike most people, who are dependent on substances or other external factors, you are in control of what you put in your body, how you spend your time, and how long you stay in the zone.
Act on the basis of instinct, not impulse. Just because you could doesn't mean you do. And when you do, it's because you want to, not because you have to.

Be true to yourself.

Although 70 percent of U.S. employees hate their jobs and only one in three Americans report being happy, relentless and unstoppable people purge everything from their life they hate.

Have the self-respect and confidence to live life on your terms. When something isn't right in your life, change it. Immediately.

Never Be Satisfied

Never be satisfied.

"The drive to close the gap between near-perfect and perfect is the difference between great and unstoppable."  -- Tim Grover

Even after you achieve a goal, you're not content. For you, it's not even about the goal. It's about the climb to see how far you can push yourself.

Does this make you ungrateful? Absolutely not. You're entirely humbled and grateful for everything in your life. Which is why you will never get complacent or lazy.

To quote Jim Rohn: "The way to enjoy life best is to wrap up one goal and start right on the next one. Don't linger too long at the table of success; the only way to enjoy another meal is to get hungry."

Don't Think and Always be Prepared

Don't think -- know and act.

"Don't think. You already know what you have to do, and you know how to do it. What's stopping you?"  -- Tim Grover

Rather than analyzing and thinking, act. Attuned to your senses, and with complete trust in yourself, do what you instinctively feel you should. As Oprah Winfrey has said, "Every right decision I have ever made has come from my gut. Every wrong decision I've made was the result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself."

The moment you start thinking, you've already lost. Thinking swiftly pulls you out of the zone.



  Always be prepared so you have the freedom to act on instinct.
"Just as the yin-yang symbol possesses a kernel of light in the dark, and of dark in the light, creative leaps are grounded in a technical foundation."  -- Josh Waitzkin

Become a master of your craft. While everyone else is relaxing, you're practicing and perfecting. Learn the left-brained rules in and out so your right brain can have limitless freedom to break the rules and create.

With enhanced consciousness, time will slow down for you. You'll see things in several more frames than others. While they're trying to react to the situation, you'll be able to manipulate and tweak the situation to your liking.

The loudest guy in the room

Sometimes the loudest guy in the room is not necessarily the smartest.. 

 

 

 

 

It is not going away

It is easy to just give up or to settle-
Especially in today's times when things are changing so rapidly and people are getting more and more divided.

The easy thing is to throw your hands in the air and say the heck with it or the heck with them.
We are all dealing with some kind of change- everyone !
I guarantee that if you ask people outside of what you do if they are trying to adapt to change and if they like it they will all have the same response and it will be that they either are trying to adapt to the change in their work place or they simply hate it and refuse.

Here is the thing- it will just follow you where ever you go because businesses are now and always will be changing and adapting. We are always trying to find a better mouse trap and with technology changing everyday so do the mouse traps.- We have NO choice.
We can talk about the "good old days" over a beer and pass down "the way it use to be" to our grandchildren but trust me- we are NOT going back and it is not going away.

So where does that leave us- those of us between 50 and 70 especially- it leaves us trying to learn and adapt-
Embrace change and technology - run toward it, not away from it and you will begin to learn and grow and find that it can actually help you.

Ask questions- look things up on the internet- no matter what it is I guarantee their is a training video for it or a blog or a newsletter.

Businesses are only going in one direction- it is a lot easier if you swim with the tide then against it.

Here is a perfect example- smart watches are relatively new.. watches that you can receive text on, my friend has one and he even controls the volume to his music played with his wireless Bluetooth speaker and IPod- from his watch.. remember Dick Tracy ?

 We have not even caught up to smart watches and check out what may be replacing them already.. do you remember Star Trek ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRk7R28tvFk

Adapt and Change.. It is not going away !

The Heart of the Matter

"The Heart Of The Matter"

I got the call today, I didn't wanna hear
But I knew that it would come
An old true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck,
And the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again
I've been trying to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

These times are so uncertain
There's a yearning undefined
And people filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness
How can love survive in such a graceless age
The trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness
They're the very things we kill, I guess
Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms
And the work I put between us,
You know it doesn't keep me warm

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you, baby
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I figured out, I have to learn again
I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you, baby, 'cause life goes on
You keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby

I've been trying to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me

I've been trying to get down to the Heart of the Matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinking about forgiveness
Forgiveness 

https://vimeo.com/90740115

NO BRAG

 Ok- going to test your ages now.. do you remember this show from 1967 - The Guns- ?

I use to watch it when I was a kid and the main character would talk about how fast with the guns he and son and grandson were- he would say " No brag- just fact " and I always remembered that.
And I think that is a good phrase to remember and live by- it is not right to brag and if you are good you should not have to. Your work should speak for you.

No Brag- Just fact


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j1qkorFszY

Inclusion

Inclusion -

We ALL want to be included !-
 And when we are not our feelings may get hurt and we may get angry.

It goes back to childhood days and wanting to befriend others and as we grow we realize that other people may have other agendas and so begin the clicks, or the groups , they call it being tribal.
People want to belong , so much so that they if they find themselves on the outside looking in they start to look for other groups to fit in with. That is how and why cults grow and hate group fester.
You can talk big and say you don't care if so and so likes you or if a certain group shunned you but deep down you do care because, again, you want to be included- you need to be- it is inbred.

People that are depressed can be depressed for many reasons- debt, relationships, but they also can reach depression from listening to that voice in the back of there heads too much and being angry because they do not seem to fit in or a certain group has decided to target them.
And now with social media it is 10 times worse, people can poke and prod from miles away and all with the intent to simply get under your skin.

There is no easy answer, no matter what you do you cannot shake off what is inbred - we want and need to have that pat on the back , that team feeling and that feeling of fitting in.
Yes, we can build a secluded life but we find out that does work either, we are born to have relationships and to share.

Our true accomplishments and times we feel really good about ourselves are the times we help others and we know that we made a difference.

So understand that you are not alone and that there will be people out there that want to push you away or poke you- just shrug it off as best you can and do NOT make their issues YOUR issues.
 Do not allow them to win and they win if you get angry or depressed or try to retaliate.

Smile- think about the people that DO believe in you and keep positive.

Who are you fooling?

I have dealt with all kind of personalities through the years and have been lied to, stabbed in the back and have had hundreds of broken promises. That said I certainly have had my share of successes and feel good stories and guys and gals that went well above the call of duty and in their kindness.
The question is for all those that lied and cheated- who were you really fooling?

Who did you hurt?

At the end of the day we all have to answer to ourselves and take a good look in the mirror.
And trust me all those people that you think you are fooling- they know.. they just go along.

Paul Arpin had the best " bull shit meter " of any man I ever knew. I would sit in his office with people that would try to bull shit there way through with him and he read them in 2 minutes but let them keep going knowing what he needed to know already.

No one is perfect, we all fall down and sometimes may say or do the wrong thing- it is ok-
that is part of life and part of the learning but LEARN from it and do your best to eliminate those times and focus on being the best person that you can be.

Remember , in the end you really fool no one-

LOVE

Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love, cannot be killed or swept aside," Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda -

Here's Miranda's full poem:

My wife’s the reason anything gets done.
She nudges me towards promise by degrees.
She is a perfect symphony of one.
Our son is her most beautiful reprise.
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play.
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger
We rise and fall and light from dying embers,
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love, cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

Another Year

Here you go. .another year.

What are your goals?
What is your mind set?
Rome was not built in a day and habits are hard to change.
One day at a time should be your mantra.
But first you need to know where you are going and what is your mindset going to be in 2017.
Make it simple and obtainable, maybe you try to start each day with a positive email or phone call?
Maybe you make your mind up that no matter what you will try to make an ally out of that person who you crossed last year?
You promise yourself to do better as a person and a businessman, you will follow through on what you promise and not over promise?
Will you try to gossip less ?
Will you concentrate on how to use technology and embrace change?

Embracing change is the difficult one- we all want to turn back the clock and talk about "how things was" and the " good old days" but we are not going back.
 Businesses are moving forward and we need to find a way to move with them and to adapt.

Here we go.. another year.. what are your goals ?