“No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.” 
― Madonna

The new year is always famous for helping us to think about all the changes we want to make in our lives.  If you are like me, there are probably many that you would like to make.   I think a key for me is that I finally figured out that this can happen each and every day and not just on January 1.  It's something that is there for any one of us to work on improving ourselves, our lives, our circumstances, etc.  It comes down to making a decision along with getting rid of old habits and creating new ones in their place.

So many people look at the rich and famous as if they are special and what they have in their lives, nobody else can ever have.   For many of the rich and famous there is usually a back story of hard work, sacrifice, and overcoming adversity & failure.   We can also have success in our lives since we can do those exact same things - put in the hard work, sacrifice things that will help us get there, and we certainly don't have to let adversity & failure stop us.  

So this day - not just this new year - that is my plan, to take this montra, this mindset, that I want to keep working at improving myself and everything that I do.  The great thing about it is that I have so many choices to choose from as to what I can work on.  I bet you have a few too.  Maybe not as many as I have, but still, enough for you to choose from. When I think about this, I get fired up!!  There is no time like the present to get going on self-improvement.  So why not start today?  And do it again tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that and just - keep - going!!

"You need to be brutally honest with yourself." -- Mark Cuban

When it comes down to it, I think most of us are the least honest with ourselves compared to trying to be honest with other people.  There are things about ourselves that only we know about, but yet we have a difficult time sometimes being honest with ourselves about fixing or improving things in our lives.  Maybe it’s just me, but I find myself having difficulty sometimes being honest with myself.  This is something that I’ve been working on little by little over the years.

I think the sooner we can become honest with ourselves, our whole world can change.  If we are honest with ourselves then that will hopefully lead to doing things better which hopefully lead to better habits.  Better habits will lead to better results, but it really starts with us being honest with ourselves.

Look around today at the lack of honesty.  Companies have issues with this.  Politicians have issues with this.  There are all walks of life and professions that have trouble being honest.  It’s one of the biggest things in our life that needs to be looked at being fixed.  But remember, the government can‘t do it for us, that’s for sure.  I think too many people are looking at the government  or others to fix this issue.  We need to be the ones and it starts by one, ourselves. 

Everyday actions, everyday thoughts, everyday in the way we treat others – that’s one way to lead by example to set a new example on how things should be done.  It’s amazing to see so many of the world’s problems caused by character type issues.  It can be fixed.  It has to be fixed as the direction and path that we are on as a society is not a good one at all.  It’s up to us plain and simple.  Is it easy work?  Heck no.  Is it worth doing?  You better believe it is.  Just remember, it’s not one of us trying to do it all on our own.  It’s all of us doing what we can do, and the first step is to be honest with ourselves.  That first step will help us to do what we have to do to help others for sure.  Now be honest – what can you do?

"You can make startling changes you can’t even conceive of right now, if you just give yourself half a chance." -- Jim Rohn

As I was looking through some quote ideas another one from the great Jim Rohn jumped out at me.  I think so many times in our lives, if we give ourselves a chance to do great things, we will indeed do just that.

You know, before we are able to do really do anything in life we have to tell ourselves to do it.  Just getting up on time in the morning, making breakfast, filling the car up with gas, taking a shower, etc.  Now with other things, it’s a lot more difficult than simply telling ourselves to do it.  We have to convince ourselves for the really important and life changing things that we need to do.  Those items such as going after your dreams and goals, stepping up to push yourself to get rid of bad habits and replace them with good ones, to reach out to help others that maybe not too many others are willing to help out, along with looking to make a difference with others throughout your lifetime.

It’s about being continually inspired throughout life.  We need to have those inspirational reminders just about on a daily basis I think.  Those stories that we can relate to that helps us believe that we too can do great things.  To get us to understand that we don’t have to settle.   We simply need to give ourselves a chance, an opportunity to do them.  Jim Rohn went onto say “The real value in setting goals is not in their achievement. The acquisition of the things you want is strictly secondary. The major reason for setting goals is to compel you to become the person it takes to achieve them.”

When we look back on the great moments in our lives, they usually come from overcoming difficulties, maybe a long time in working hard and then something wonderful happens along with the fact that we can look back at all the great people that came into our lives along with the new things we learned during that time period.  It’s also a time to see the people that aren’t in our lives anymore.  Our journey throughout life takes us into different directions that others won’t follow us through.  They have their own journeys to go on and even though it’s sad to lose friends, it’s necessary for us to become who we want to and need to become.

Part of this equation is to figure it out sooner than later as some of our many journeys through life take time.  The sooner we realize this, the more things we can go through to get us to become the person we want to be.  Another key, maybe even a more important one is to realize that it’s never too late to start on any of these possible journeys.  You know, I’ve been learning a lot lately and much of it is dealing with the person that I know I need to become in order for things to happen.  Much of it are things that I’d rather not face, not talk about, and not have to go through.  I know I need to go through them and face them in order for things to get better for me but more importantly for those that are around me.  My wife and kids, my other family members, my students, my basketball players, fellow teachers, coaches, friends and neighbors along with the countless people that I haven’t even met yet.  I’ve been playing small most of my life.  That time has to end, and end now.  What are some of the things you need to give yourself permission to do?  Just give yourself a chance, something little, just one thing.  Then just look for those little things each and every day that can help you.  When you find them, please let me know and others too, since I know that we are all looking for those little things to help us in our journeys through life.

“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.” – Jim Rohn

It’s no surprise that I found this from the Success Magazine Facebook page.  Jim Rohn has helped many, many people with Leadership & Success ideas over the years and this thought should be at the top of the list when it comes to advice to follow.

I’ve been a personal fan of Jim Rohn’s work for a long time.  His quotes and books are pure gold.  Watching him over the years through his videos, he is so down to earth and relatable, which are two key elements I think to help connect with people.

This whole quote is built off the very first sentence.  Don’t wish for things to be easier is such a powerful and easy sentence.  We have heard many times from different lessons and different leaders about this fact.  The key to this where Jim says wish you were better is to first think about wishing or wanting to be better, and then doing something about it.  Create a plan so that wish of yours to be better actually starts coming true.

We all have problems in life and it’s hard to not dwell on them sometimes.  By dwelling on them it gets in the way of us being able to solve them.  Most of the time, the worry that we put on those problems will cause them to grow in size and become even bigger and more troublesome for ourselves and those around us too.  If we grow and learn more skills to help solve those problems then we will become stronger, wiser, and better able to solve future problems too and you know there will be more problems in the future.

Another key to this quote is for us to do things to get better, to learn new skills and to become wiser with life’s lessons.  Creating the habits necessary to help make these things happen involves more reading, hanging out with some different people that will help push us out of our comfort zone, and beginning to change our regular routines that have lead to our current state of where we are today. I think anytime is good to re-think some of these things in our lives, but especially in springtime.  It’s a time of new growth, colors come back into view along with new life happening all around us.  A perfect time for us to make these things happen.

What are you going to do today, this week, this month and this year to help follow Jim’s advice?  I know I need to start working on many things to make this happen and as I’m finishing this up, I’m about to head out the gym to get a workout in.  I’ve been going for the last couple of weeks, more faithfully and it’s making a big difference in helping me to change the things for me to get going in the direction that I have to go in.

"Don't borrow someone else's plan. Develop your own philosophy and it will lead you to unique places." -- Jim Rohn

Jim brings up a great idea when I saw this quote from him.  We all should take a course in the Philosophy of ourselves. The great thing about it is that it won't cost us hundreds of dollars per credit hour that we have to pay to a university. It will cost us some time and maybe a little money in trying to create the course for ourselves, but in the end it will be worth it.

No matter what stage you are at in your life, this development of your own philosophy is important enough to get started on as soon as you can.  Of course like many of my postings, it does hold true for this one too: the sooner you get going on this, the better your life could be.  There is another point here too, and that is we cannot follow someone else's plan.  We have to come up with our own blueprint of our own lives.  Now that's not to say that we should not take others' thoughts and opinions into developing our own plan, but for the final decisions, it does come down to ourselves creating our own plan for our life.

As I constantly try and get my students to realize they have to follow their own goals and dreams instead of doing things to please others.  I not only find myself needing that advice still at my age but now I also am trying to pass that advice onto my two kids as well.  My son will be 21 later this year and my daughter just turned 18 and graduated from high school.  I am always looking for suggestions as possible careers for them to look into - with what I think connects to them as the person each of them are starting to become.  I am for sure promoting to both of them to explore, ask questions, meet people and look deep inside of themselves to find out what drives them.  What do they get fired up about? What excites them? What do they stay up late working on? Along with, what gets them out of bed in the morning so they can get going on things right away?  The key for all of us, is to look at these questions for ourselves.  Remember, it's never too late to get going chasing after our own dreams, goals and passions.

What do we need to find some of these things out for ourselves?  For one thing, we need to spend some time to actually think about some of these things that make up our plan.  We need to write them down too, so we can read, plan, make goals, think some more on them and let the ideas come flowing out to help us get going.  We need to also change our thinking.  The most valuable tool we have is our own brains.  The 5 or 6 inches between our ears should be guarded very tightly with what we allow into it.  Look to make some changes in our thinking, what we read, watch and listen to.  Another point is watching out who we hang out with.  Those people that we let affect us are vitally important as to who we become and what plan we are working from too.  Finally, our habits are key.  This involves how we spend our valuable time and what are we accomplishing with it.  Spending our time involves action - we are doing something with our time, but we need to look at how that is actually getting us closer or farther away from our drams and goals.  This one is a biggie for me as I struggle with it often.  Something once again that I find myself dealing with this summer.  I look forward to making some serious strides to improving my habits and how I spend my time.  

What about you?  Anything here ring true for you too?  Always look to reflect on these and other things that can bring you closer to going after your dreams and goals.   Find some time this week to do just that.   Let me know how it's coming and maybe even get in touch and let me know how I can help you out along with you probably being able to help me out too.

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." -Henry Ford

There was a little bit of a connection to this being a Monday and this wonderful quote from Henry Ford.  When I saw it this morning I thought about the fact that I needed to reset and begin a few things again today, being the start of another week.  This week is crucial leading up to the new school year and there are plenty of things I need to work on in a more intelligent way than I've done before.

This holds true with work things that we have to do, but more importantly it also has to do with life things too.  The sooner we look at the difficulties in our lives, how did we arrive there, what things can we learn from those experiences, how can I make changes so it doesn't happen again; are just some of the things we need to think about.  This of course is all wieved arround the fact that we can't let our own negative thinking get in the way of learning from our failures.

One thought I had when I read this over a few times this morning, was that all the things I've failed at throughout my life, I must not have learned much since some of the things I'm still struggling with.  From there it might be a thought like, 'what makes you think this time will be any different?'   Another one; 'who are you kidding, you know you'll end up right where you started as you have tried this so many times.'

A funny thing though.  As I started running the usual negative thoughts in my head there was a little response, just a little voice that said - hey, this time can be different.  It also said that 'you know you can do this', along with little pictures in my mind about me being successful and actually doing these things that I'm working on doing.  The key is that over time (and for me it's been a long journey) I have learned little bits and pieces even if I wasn't successful at accomplishing things that I wanted to do, I still got just a tiny bit better than I was before.

There is the key!  As long as you come coming back, struggle, try and do more, try and get better, keep trying to accomplish things in your life; this quote from Henry Ford will continue to hold truth for you.  This is why it's important to continue to read and listen to things more than once.  In fact it should be many times - some experts even say almost 20 times we need to read or listen to something for it really to become a habit, or it gets placed inside of us that we can draw on it any time we need it.  What is it for you? What does Mr. Ford's quote mean to you?  How do you connect to it?  As always I invite you to share with me and others your thoughts and ideas about this quote, for there will be many other ideas and thoughts that can help me and others.  It's always great to see someone's thoughts and opinions that can get us thinking differently.  Seeing things from different points of view are always helpful.

"Do you ever doubt or worry that the sun may not rise tomorrow?   Sunrise must come, it's an immutable law of the universe. And so must your dreams if you simply plant good seeds and continue to nurture them."  ~ Russ Whitney

Interesting points Russ brings up here.  Not sure I doubt that the sun won't come up tomorrow.  In fact, that is one thing my dad always would say - "don't worry John, the sun will come up tomorrow."  Sometimes I would get worked up about something, worry about it, and my dad would always help bring me back down to earth a little bit.

I think what Russ is talking about here is that we need to have the faith that our dreams are the same way.  We need to work at them everyday, just like the sun comes up every day.  It goes back to a very simple idea that Mike Litman (best selling author of "Conversations with Millionaires") would always talk about - yet it's more difficult to do than people think.  Mike would mention the idea about working on your goals and dreams just 1% everyday.  Do little things here and there, everyday that would get you closer to your goals and dreams.  He would say that after a month, look as to how far you got toward them.  After half a year - wow!  Especially after a year would go by... great progress for sure.

This quote struck me right in the nose.  It got me thinking about the changes I have to make to start getting the believe and expectation about my dreams and goals.  I need to get out there and not only expect that everyday something will get accomplished or started towards them, but also that 1% factor really connects to this point too. Where are you at with this thought?  Is this concept something you have thought about before like I have?  Is it something that you need to get back to doing everyday, like I do?  I always welcome your thoughts, ideas and discussion as I really get something from anyone that takes the time to share.   Writing this has helped me remember a 1% choice I can make right now in getting something done.  How about you?

"If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

When I saw this quote of course I saw it how it related to me.  For a long time, having courage to start things has been a problem for me at times.  It's amazing that during those times, once I get started on things it gets easier as time goes on.  For me, and I think for others too, just to get started on something is the most difficult thing to get through.  The worry, the thoughts of how difficult it might be, and yes the thoughts about failure come to mind too.

I was listening to Les Brown yesterday along with some things from Zig Ziglar too.  Both speakers had amazing messages and both touched upon this subject.  Waiting to get started on doing something due to fear of failing, robs so many people of things that could benefit not only themselves but a great number of other people too.  I think for me, that has been an issue for some time.  The old saying is that a lesson is repeated until a lesson is learned.  That is something that I guess I've been going through for some time now.

Les Brown also brings up another great point.  He mentions the idea that the most valuable piece of real estate is the grave yard.  I believe he's right.  He mentions that most people die with their "music" still in them.  All the great ideas they had, but never acted upon.  All the great intentions, that never were started.  Les mentions that all those great inventions and things that would have helped so many people, are all gone now.  Every time I hear Les talk about that, I know he's talking to me.  I'm wondering, is he talking to you too?  Do you have challenges getting the courage up to get things done or even get things started?  As always, I enjoy hearing from others on this subject because I can always use more help in learning about getting better.  I also know that other people need help too.  Funny thing, Les mentions that too.  We need to remember that we all need help in getting better and learning more.  We don't have all the answers and cannot do it all on our own.  Please, let me know your thoughts and ideas on this and any other items here on my blog.

"It's time to break our ties with anything in us that would rather complain about its situation than go to work to change it." - Guy Finley

We always hear about the fact that we have to break ties with OTHER people that complain and are negative all the time.  But what happens when that someone is us? 

As summer continues hopefully we have some time to relax a little and spend some time thinking about how we can make some changes on ourselves that will produce some new results.  In last week's quote - 2 major subject areas came up.  Life and People.  Those two subject areas are crucial to success for sure.  I think the one main piece that fits in with the topic of Life is ourselves.  We always seem to get so worked up about what other people say and do, yet the truth is that we can't do anything about changing them at all.  The only thing we can do is to work on ourselves. 

Another key point to realize and understand sooner than later, is that working on ourselves is not so easy to do.  Since we live with ourselves 24/7 and not only do we battle our own inner voice - which studies have shown we feed ourselves more negative feedback than positive - we also take in outside opinions from others as to how good or bad we are doing in life.

This quote really struck a cord with me, a big connection.  Looking back throughout my history, I can see that my action steps have been lacking in many areas and that I am really the only one that can do anything about it.  Now, I am finally working hard at changing those areas.  Once again, I sure do wish I got working on this earlier in my life.  But I am also very happy that I'm doing something now about it more than I did before.

What about you?  Did you figure out this quote as being true a long time ago?  What are some of the success stories that you have with having a victory over yourself that might be a help to others?  Always looking for new ideas and new ways of thinking.  I'm on a mission to keep getting better.