Found a great article that I had to share with my students on the importance on having Emotional Intelligence in our lives in order to succeed.   Check out the article HERE.  It got me thinking about a book that I read years ago called.."The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book" by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves.  It's one that I had to pull out of one of my bags as I put it in there with great intent to read it this past summer... needless to say I did not but I still need to read this again.  

EQ is something that all of us can work on to get better at.  It has so much to do with all the important areas of life - check out this picture that is a great indicator:  

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Looking at these "leaves", I can see so many of them that (at least to me - my opinion) that they simply blow having a large IQ, out of the water!!  Now again, don't get me wrong as I know having a great IQ is not horrible.  But the way I see it, the things on this "tree" are just a lot more meaningful in & throughout life that I'd take these things first.  It's a good thing too, since I know my IQ is not off the charts anywhere.

Emotional Intelligence predicts performance, so it certainly seems like a good thing to work on and try to improve throughout our lifetime.  As I sit here and think about my students (some, maybe not all of them) and the opportunity they have for their lives to improve them, now, at their age... wow I am just blown away comparing it to my timeline of knowing about this after the age of 35 (at least!)  

This brings a HUGE connection to our term this week from our Positivity Project - Open Mindedness.  It's so powerful to be able to take some new ideas and come up with ways of improving ourselves.  So the backend of this idea of my students getting exposed to these skills now at their young ages compared to me where it was later in life, and think of all the people who never take a venture out to learn about EQ or even improving their own EQ.  WOW!  I think we all know plenty of people who need to work on improving this in their lives, but choose to ignore it or even let their negative thinking get in the way of ever even trying.  I know that I do not want to be one of those people who won't ever look at this "tree" above and not want to try and get better in all of those "leaves".  

“Every day thousands of people bury good ideas because they are afraid to act on them." -David Schwartz

Life continuously seems to give us messages that maybe there are better ways of doing things.  At those moments, we might just come up with ideas on how to do those things better, but then we seem to forget about it, get too busy with other things, think we can’t do that, etc.   It seems so many people today have a common thought about how there has to be a better way of doing things.  This could be for their job or career, an invention or something, improving their relationships with others, or even for doing things around the house.

The keys on these are that the ideas get lost or buried and also most people are indeed afraid to act on those ideas.   Both have happened to me throughout my lifetime and I still am working on fixing this every day.   The ideas get lost or buried for many reasons.  We do seem to be too busy in today’s world with so much going on that we miss out on the opportunities to take the time to think about how we can improve things.

The other part of us not believing we can do things a different way or improve on something also gets in the way.  It comes down to our thinking.  David Schwartz is the author of my favorite book of all time, The Magic of Thinking Big.  He addresses these points and so much more in his book that it is a book that you should put on your reading list as soon as you can.

One of the major keys that has struck me is that I’ve wasted way too much time and not putting some of my ideas into action.  So not only am I working on the fear of things stopping me, along with the fact I’m too scatter-brained so often where I lose sight of things that I need to do; there is that action piece too that has been missing on my end.  With some major things going on this summer and this fall for me, I realize now is the time to get things going. 

Is it that time for you too?  With this quote staring at me when I saw it, I know just like the old saying goes – “There’s no time like the present” to do things I know I have to do.  You do realize that quote above and the quote about the present works for you too?  I know you knew that.  I just wanted to remind you like I reminded myself.

"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.

“You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.  It’s an awesome responsibility”  ~ Zig Ziglar

Zig strikes again!  This idea I've heard from both Zig and Les Brown lately - and I'm sure many others have mentioned it too.  I guess it's finally connected with me that I wanted to get this out and have hopefully some people take it in and think deeply about how true this statement really is.  I guess getting older too helps open up my mind a little bit more to accept and think about new thoughts and ideas.  Once again, sure would be nice to have that concept earlier, but I'm very happy I have it now.

How long will it take you to read over and think about this statement as to how much truth it really holds?  As I think about it, my first thoughts about it for me tend to go towards the negative - I know, it's something I need to continue to work on.  I will tell you that I am catching onto that fact that I realize my negative thinking comes on - this is happening faster and faster recently so that I can make a change or focus as to how my thoughts are affecting me.  Now on that one. I'm proud of myself and looking to continue to get better. :-)    Getting back to that point - I sometimes look first as to how I've dropped the ball on this "awesome responsibility" as Zig puts it.  I do believe that I'm the only person that can take my abilities and use them for the good of helping others.  For so long, I've really not taken this to the full extent that I know I can.  I've done enough to be ok in many areas of teaching, coaching, being a dad, being a husband, a son, a friend, etc.  But to say that I've always tried my hardest and done my best, well... that's where I know I have dropped the ball so to speak. 

Again, I think the key is for me personally - is that I now realize that.  Many times I would feel down on myself for realizing that fact and I am having a little more success in realizing that I can still change and get better.  I am turning quicker from those feelings of sorrow on myself to knowing that I need to do something about it.  We all must realize that if we don't act and do the things with our abilities that we know we have, we are really doing an injustice to so many people that we can help.  I think the cost of us not learning about our abilities and talents that we can use to help others, is really something that will hurt us so much at the end of our lives.  It is connected again with what Les Brown has said - that the most valuable piece of land or real estate is the graveyard.  All the ideas, thoughts, plans, goals, dreams, etc,, that never were acted upon - all die with that person that had them inside of them.  The other cost, probably a greater one is that the people we were supposed to help will never ever happen.  There could be someone we help that in turn will help thousands or tens of thousands (or more) and without us doing what we should do - that person and all the ones after that will never know what they could do.

I don't know about you, but as I get started on my 25th year in education - I know that this quote among many others will help me probably more so this school year than any others in the past.  With all the negativity and uneasiness in education and in life in general, I know the more people that listen to Zig and then listen to their hearts will help make a difference in so many ways.  As I've told my students throughout the years - it's time for me to "shut up", because when I'm doing all the talking I'm not learning anything.  What are your thoughts and ideas about this quote and any other quotes that I've posted.  Me and so many others would appreciate your thoughts and ideas. I'm always interested... just let me know. 

"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.

"Sharpen your interest in two major subjects: life and people. You will only gather information from a source if you are interested in it." -- Jim Rohn

What a great quote - summertime or during the school year, it doesn't matter.  We all should "major" in these two subjects.  The key is - where to find the info on these two important topics?  One is from the man  that gave us this quote.  I suggest that you find him on Twitter (@OfficialJimRohn), find his pages on Facebook, check out his website (http://www.jimrohn.com) and find any of his outstanding books that are out there too.

These two subjects should be something that we are all passionate about.  Getting good in these two areas will open up the doors for so many other areas.  Since we only get one shot at life, we might as well do all we can to make our journey the best it can be.  Along with the idea that so many people come in and out of our lives throughout our lifetime, it too is something we might as well handle the best we can by learning as much as we can about people.  As I tell my students and my two kids all the time about finding things to be passionate about and then chase after those things. 

Study, read, learn all you can about these two subjects.  They are simple by just the words - but oh so difficult to really learn about.  There is not a better time to learn and study - it's summer!  A perfect time to do some reading, thinking and learning.  In fact, I will be doing just that.  Look for some more things coming out that not only might help you, but I know for sure it will help me.  Speaking about help, help me and others by letting me know what you think about this quote.  Leave some thoughts here or get in touch with me.

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” – John Maynard Keynes

There is a lot of challenge from getting away from old ideas and old habits - for many like me it's a constant challenge to break out into having new ideas.  The older we get, the more difficult it seems to be sometimes to developing new ideas.  Difficult yes, impossible no.  

Some of it depends I think on our dreams.  We need to keep them alive and continually out in front of us.  I try and get my students to understand that one.  It's been said - "if you don't dream and think about it, it won't happen!"  We will all end up somewhere in life. It might as well be someplace that we want to be.  We need to break away from old ideas and have new ideas in our lives in order to help make that happen.

Another key in helping ourselves to have new ideas is to have good people around us encouraging us to go after our dreams and helping us think of new thoughts and ideas.  We all know people that are helped by others to stay just where they are at.  Association is a huge part of success as the people we hang around play a big part in us taking on new thoughts and ideas in our futures. 

As always, I'm very interested in reading and responding to your thoughts. In fact, that helps me (and others) to develop new ideas and get away from old ones.