Look challenges in the Eye

Respect.

Teammates respect your ability to assess realities. It’s difficult to trust leaders who pretend things are better or easier than they are.

 

Honor.

 Commitments are honorable when you choose to shine lights on hairy beasts. Minimizing challenges diminishes the value of grit.

 

Connection.

 Relationship is more relevant when obstacles are big and teams need to pull together.

 

Preparation.

The danger of minimizing challenges is lack of preparation.

 

If winning was easy, there’d be fewer losers.

Courageous leaders rise up and look challenges in the eye.

When do we relax ?

When is it that the blue collar working man can relax?
The average guy does not mind working, we at least I can only speak for my generation, I am 59.
I think for those of us that grew up in the 60's and 70's and 80's grew up knowing that work is a necessity , so we went to work. Some of us went to college but many of the circle I hung with could not afford it, we came from mill working families that made enough to hopefully buy a home and put food on the table. College was not an option.
So we went to work, washing dishes or working landscaping anything to make a paycheck. From there watched and learned and tried to take advantage of any opportunity.

Fast forward 40 years and many of us are heading into our 60's or have entered our golden years- so the question is when do we relax?
I think it is only fair to give of your self for 40 years and then take time to do whatever it is that you WANT to- not NEED to.
But can we ?
It is getting more and more difficult to grab that brass ring but we have to try.
First thing we need to do is learn that LESS IS MORE.

The younger generation have to learn that a used car is ok, that hand me downs are fine and if you cannot afford it do not buy it.
If they do not I am afraid that they may never see the day that they can truly relax.

Staying loyal

Staying loyal is important to me- both in my personal life and at work.
The one thing that has been constant for me for the past 35 plus years is I always made my decisions based on my family- my kids and my wife came first.
That said I knew that I had to provide for them so I had to show my loyalty to my work and I did and still do.

Life is a very interesting ride and it certainly is always full of choices and different roads to take and they are times that we may take the wrong road but if you continue to use what is important to you as your compass you will eventually find the right road.

The key is to be able to SEE what is in front of you and to be able to admit that you may have taken the wrong road, maybe for the right reasons at the time but it did not lead to where you thought it might- that is part of the ride.

What is important to me may not be the same for you- I do believe though that in the end if money is you sole reason you will find a empty pot at the end of your road- money is the means of which we need to live but cannot be the sole reason we do what we do.

Loyalty is important and so is honesty - with both of them on your shoulders you will not fail.
 Being honest with yourself if just as important.
Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes or failures or your weaknesses , that will not help you. Simply understand that we all have them , it has we work through them that is the difference.

What or who is important to you ?

Children

Children have a innocence about them, their smiles, laughter and love are contagious.

They look at life and others with wide eye wonder.
If you ever watch kids in the 4-9 age when they meet other kids- all they want to do is play, they do not care about your gender or your color of skin or what other friends you may have- they just want to play and have a good time.

What happened?

I often wonder at what age did most people change from that little child wonder and acceptance, and what changed for them to turn ?

I realize that as we get older we get burned or ridiculed and that may cause us to grow a hard or rough exterior but it is a shame because along the way we lose what is special about life.
Life should be lived and experienced and most of life's lessons are what we do and who we meet along the way.
The more we close that off and pre judge the less we learn and experience.

Try to remember way back when you were a kid or take the time to watch the little around around you and try to just smile more and enjoy the ride !

The Code of the West

Perspective

Always try to keep perspective.
When something goes wrong, or not the way you preferred keep perspective on the situation.
In the overall scheme of things- how big is it?
Access the situation- think of a plan for correction and start the process.
The time that you spend complaining about the problem is time you could be spending to correct the problem.
Then try not to relive it by telling everyone your hardships or posting it all over the social media..
Move on.
We all know that you will most likely embellish and point blame or try to make it bigger than it actually was.
Move on.

Keep perspective- was it REALLY that big a deal?
Are you healthy ? Are your loved ones healthy ?
If you answered yes to those questions than the rest of it is just B-S-

Keep perspective

It is ok to Fail

Here are some Famous Failures -

Steve Jobs
At 30 years old he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started.

Walt Disney
Fired from a newspaper for " lacking imagination" and " having no original ideas".

The Beatles
Rejected by Decca Recording Studios, who said " we don't like their sound- they have no future in show business".

Michael Jordon
After being cut from his high school team, he went home' locked himself in his room, and cried.

Albert Einstein
He wasn't able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would " never amount to much".

IF YOU'VE NEVER FAILED, YOU'VE NEVER TRIED ANYTHING NEW.