Success requires work!

As we head into a new year, many people are feverishly working on their new years resolutions lists and trying to complete their 2012 resolutions. Many people will follow through on their resolutions through February or March before they give up and fizzle out.  But a small number of people will continue to plug away through the entire year.  They will run into road blocks, speed bumps, and brick walls, but they will push through.  Nevertheless.  I love that word, it's one of my favorite words. Nevertheless.  To which group will you belong in the new year? 

Even if you belonged to the first group, you now have a chance to join  the second group. It will not be easy.  If you are like most people, you work a full time job, you are working on a degree, you have relationships to maintain, bills to pay, the list goes on.  I work a full time job, am working on two books, and my MBA program starts in a few days.  Your life list may be slightly different or slightly similar.  Nevertheless, if you want to be successful in the new year and for the rest of your life for that matter; whatever your idea of success is, success requires work. 

The following list will help you as you strive to be successful.  This is the list that has helped me in the past:

• Make a list of everything you would like to accomplish in 2013.  Make the list comprehensive, realistic, and short.  If you put too many items on your plate, your list, you probably will get only one or two things done, or nothing at all will be completed.  My Dad told me something a few years ago and I believe that is why I now have my bachelor's degree: 'You start but you don't finish'.  Ouch! He didn't mean it in a general sense, he was referring to my having not finished my degree at that point.  This leads to my next point.
• Listen to people who have your best interests at heart.  You don't have to do everything they say, but you should hear what they are saying.  Surround yourself with smart, forward-thinking people.  People whose lives you can see are headed in the right direction.   would you take advice from someone whose life is a mess and doesn't seem to be headed in the right direction?
• Learn to say no.  During the two years it took me to finish my bachelor's, I had to say no to many things I would have loved to do.  I was asked to teach a class, go to the movies, join certain groups.  Those were all good things to do, but my priority at that time was school.  Yes, I took a break once in a while to go to a movie or to the beach, but I did not add more items to my plate or hang  out with friends every weekend. Which, by the way, leads to my next point.
• Learn to prioritize.   Once you make your list, re-write your list in order of priority.  Did you know that everyone has priorities?  Whether they tell you what those priorities are, is another story.  Sometimes they may be your priority, but you may not be theirs.  Make sure you know what your priorities are and only change them if you are comfortable with the changes. 
• Check off each item as it as completed.  I am a list and day timer person.  I realize not everyone can be this way, I don't understand why.  Nevertheless, that's what works for me.  Checking items off your list will give you a sense of accomplishment and makes you look forward to the next items on your list with an "I can do this" attitude.  And you can do this!  Regardless of the road blocks, speed bumps and brick walls, you can do it.  We all run into blocks, getting through them is what separates us from the February fizzlers and makes us successful.  Go for it in 2013! Nevertheless!

Grief, what to do with it?

Before Sandy hook and after, grief was and is, and will be.  My heart continues to break along with human beings all over the world who can only ask 'why, how?' I feel a consensus of numbness and disbelief wherever I go and to whomever I speak.  As human beings we just cannot bring ourselves to believe that something exists in another human being that can bring him, or her, to the point of committing such an act as was committed at Newtown, CT., USA. 

Many discussions have ensued: gun control, mental illness, and of course silly conspiracy theories. But what about grief?  How should we deal with the grief?  "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he  that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18.  The smarter we become as a society, as human beings, the more we let some things slide; go by the wayside.  If we are to have a chance as human beings, just like in any personal relationship, we must face every aspect of that relationship: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  That is the only way the relationship will grow and become beautiful, and cherished.

We must face grief, walk through it and keep going until it no longer engulfs us.  At the same time we cannot forget it.  It becomes not a garish uncomely way for us to present ourselves to the world; but a part of us that is strength, empathy, remembrance, and honor.  We are strong in that we made it through.  We empathize with others who are walking through.  We remember our loss--a child, a loved one.  We honor that loved one. When we do these things, we realize we can make it through.

The fiscal cliff

What I am about to say will seem harsh to some and true to others.  We should be ready for the fiscal cliff whether or not it happens.  As Americans we should be more financially prepared for whatever comes down the pike than we usually are.  Unfortunately this type of thinking comes later in life after we have made most of our financial mistakes and are in the midst of fixing, or 'repairing' those mistakes. 

One of my favorite phrases lately is 'you don't know what's coming down the pike.'  Since no one knows what's coming down the pike, we must save accordingly.  I have discussed this in previous posts but I cannot say it enough.  No matter how much or how little we make, we must put something away for a rainy day.  In these days of rampant layoffs, downsizing or demotions, and  multiple job changes during our working years; we have to find a way to stay ahead of the curve, or the mayhem that ensues when a sudden financial loss occurs in our lives. 

It is only a matter of time for each of us to hit a terrible financial roadblock, something we did not see coming.  American society has gone through some serious financial changes since 2008 when the housing bubble burst, uh, exploded.  Some of us have considered our financial ways, but many people still want to keep up with the Joneses, overspend, and live above our means.  But what happens when that unexpected pink slip is so kindly handed to us and we do not have three to six months saved for a rainy day?

I am not trying to spread doom and gloom, I am spreading hope.  We can maintain our own hope by exercising common sense in our spending, the amount of debt we allow ourselves to carry, and paying attention to the signs and to the times.  Too many of us are crashing and burning financially every time a pink slip is handed out.  Let us maintain more control over what happens to us financially if or when we are sent packing whether it is being released from our job or if our tax burden increases because we go over the fiscal cliff, which some have mentioned is actually a fiscal slope. 

Slope or cliff, we must not be afraid but do the best we can with what we have, what we have been given. 

The end of the world!

Altun Ha Mayan Ruins, outside Belize City

If you have been keeping track of the Mayan Calendar, the end of the world is  upon us, in a little more than two weeks at the time of this writing.  I've been to the Maya Ruins known as Altun Ha, just outside Belize City on a couple of occasions.  I am always impressed by the way the Mayans built their temples.  These people, like the Egyptians, had some kind of extra inside tip on mathematics or something.  Their beliefs were 'interesting', but their buildings are amazing.  At any rate, according to the Mayan calendar we are at the end of the world, are you ready?

 

As a Christian, I believe what the Bible says, which is that we should 'Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.' Matthew 24:42.  I don't know about you, but I am a literal believer in the God of the Book and what His Book says.  Yes, the Maya were an intelligent people, they built great temples, and the items found in their burial temples are said to be amazing; but whatever is supposed to happen in two weeks I am not convinced it is the end of the world.  I sometimes wonder though, if there may be a change of some kind that will happen.  It's nothing I read or a conversation I in which I took part, it's just a recurring thought that these people were intelligent.  From where did they obtain their information?

 

At any rate, whatever they knew and from wherever they obtained their information, I will opt for being ready for when Jesus comes back.  What does being ready for when Jesus comes back really mean?  It means spending your days talking to Jesus, your nights praying for your enemies as well as your friends, spending time in His word, and thanking Him for forgiving you of your sins and loving you despite those sins.  In a nutshell, stay in relationship with Jesus, share Him with others, live the best life you can; and everything else will fall into place, even when it's the end of the world.