What a FANTASTIC article I found in Success magazine - Click HERE for the article link.

The 7 Tips I found in this article ... heck.. they were even numbered for me so that there was no reason for me missing them... were things that I needed to see on a Monday morning coming back to school after our Spring Break.  

First of #1 - Set Your Sail - The author mentions that "the winds of circumstances blow upon all of us" - and it all depends on our thinking, our personal mindset , how we respond to those changing winds -- all of those are how we can succeed where so many struggle.  I know for a fact that I need to work on this BIG TIME!!

#2 - Learn from success and failure -- Remember, our personal experience is our best teacher... just as our past is our best mentor.  We can also learn from others too - remember that success leaves clues.  :-)  I always need to remind myself that I need to have a clue in order to pick up the many clues that Success (and failures) leave all around us.  ;-)

#3 - Read All You Can -- Books have always been, in my opinion, a cornerstone of success.  There are far too many examples to not on how successful people have had reading being a part of that success.  It's part of the clues that success leaves - other people sharing information that helped them in some way, shape or form by giving instruction, advice, inspiration, motivation, lessons, etc.  I know I need to read more - how about you?

#4 - Keep a journal -- Now I did this ... the key word is DID... and I did not keep up with that.  I had a gratitude journal going for a little bit - 9 months to a year maybe??  I know for a fact that I need to get going on that again and soon!!

#5 - Observe and Listen -- WOW... a reminder that I need for sure, since I know how important it is to do these but yet I struggle doing them.  I love how this article brought up the points about who have surrounding ourselves and to not "... waste your time on the silly and the shallow."  We do get a choice as to who we let influence us.  ;-)

#6 - Be Disciplined -- Yep.... another eye-opening reminder for myself here.  This is HUGE!!  The old saying goes - "Discipline weighs ounces, regrets weighs tons."  Putting some discipline in my life - especially when I was younger - could have paid off so much if I had done it. :-)  But you know what, I can do it now!!  :-)

#7 - Don't Neglect -- All the little things are so important because they lead to bigger things - ALL THROUGHOUT LIFE.  Our health, our finances, our relationships, etc.   The other 6 points are all part of not neglecting those things in our lives.  I know I have to work on all of them for sure and the more I work on them, the better I know I will be.

There are so many things that we can look at to help us measure success.  But what kind of success are we talking about?  Everyone seems to have different pieces to their own success puzzle.  When I saw this quote, it made me think about the fact that the puzzle piece of failure in life is a puzzle piece that we all have in our own puzzle for sure.  

Since it does indeed happen to all of us, one of the best ways we can have it produce positive things for us and our lives is to actually learn from those failures.  There is an old saying - Lessons Repeated Until Lessons Learned!   I know that is right on target, especially for me.  So if we can learn that failure happens to all of us and it's usually all the time.  Then we can find so much value in failures - now we don't go looking to fail intentionally, but we can find something positive for sure in those.

Finally, I think there is power in the fact that if you know these things about failure - you certainly kind make up your mind to bounce back from them.  Knowing that they are coming at us all the time - we can learn from them along with making up our minds to get up from them and not let them keep us down.  Of course this is one of many ideas that is best when we take the advice earlier in life rather that waiting.  ​

There have been so many instances lately where I have been picking up lessons left and right about life, success, leadership, etc.  You see, that’s the one thing you always need to remember – Success always leaves clues!!

For someone like me who has been clueless many times in life, this is for me!  Now, I’ve known about this rule of success for years.  It just seems that it every so often I need to be reminded about it and this time is good as any, especially since I am looking to change some things up in my life lately that I know I have to do.

Lately some of the best lessons have been coming from our new dog Kirby.  He’s not that new as we got him in June of 2016.  He has brought so much love and happiness into our home that could not have been found without him.  Now we do have happiness and love in our family – but Kirby has brought that out so much since he’s been in our lives.  His undying love for the four of us has been amazing.  His energy has been crazy at times – but it has shown me about having energy or a better outlook for life, just like he does!  We are his whole world and he loves us no matter what.  I need to have that for people too, especially my family!!

If I’m talking about lessons, I must mention books.  I got back to reading some books this past year and I got to tell you, I can’t believe I stopped reading them from years ago.  They have helped me grow tremendously so much so that I need to keep reading now since I’ve seen the growth that comes with it.  Reading has opened up doors for me to new opportunities, new idea, new things that I get to go after in my life.  Crazy to see how much reading a book can help in my life and it can do the same for you.  I will be updating my book list for sure on my website.

Being a teacher, I have to tell you that I am amazed as to how much of a student I am becoming again. With 28 years of teaching under my belt, all I can see is that it’s about time I recognize that fact.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a lesson that I’ve had many times before, it’s just this time I think it means a little more to me.

Another lesson came to me today.  I was visiting my parents after I took my wife to the airport where she was traveling to visit a good & longtime friend for a few days.  After a great visit and some lunch, I went with them to visit one of their best friends who is in an assisted living center as she is fighting Alzheimer’s Disease.  She was around when I was born, in fact my parents knew her and her husband (who recently passed away) before my parents were married more than 52 years ago.  It was an amazing visit.  To see both my mom and her friend light up when they saw each other, was truly amazing.  Her friend still has that amazing positive attitude and that wonderful laugh.  To see her after all these years since I last saw her, was a true blessing.  To bear witness to my parent’s friendship with her – especially my mom – the lessons I learned today, and they were many, were pure gold.
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So, please look around you all the time for those lessons are being thrown around like the sunshine and winds during the day.  They are always there.  We simply need to pick them up and use them in our lives.  I think we both can agree – we sure do need them.  Got any lessons to share?  Please do, like I said, we all need them.

Helping Yourself (and Others) Be Successful
 
There are so many great sources available that can help us in our lives.  With the Internet – and especially your Smart Phone – there is no real reason not to constantly be on a path towards improvement!

I’ve been making it a point to do more reading.  I’m working on 2 books now and I need to finish one of them (for a couple of reasons) before I start a new one.  Reading 2 books at a time is something that I need to do and I know I can.  I’ve also been finding some great articles that are making a huge difference with me too.  One recent one is titled “7 Ways to Help Yourself (and Others) Be Successful” found at Success Magazine.   Click HERE for the article - a great read!

Here are the 7 points with a few thoughts about each:

1. Give Back:  If everyone asked “How can I help” instead of “What can I get?” – we would all see a much different world around us.  Has there ever been a time throughout the time of our lives where this concept has been needed more than now?  I love the point in the article that we stand on each other’s shoulders to elevate us to our ultimate accomplishments.  We can’t be successful on our own.
2. Surround yourself with people smarter than you:  BIG POINT here – Success is largely a factor of the people you make a part of the journey.  Guess what?  It’s our choice who we let into our lives.  There has to come a time where we look to distance ourselves from those that don’t add value to our lives, those that cause us distractions, heartache, problems, etc.   We also need to look for those that are good for us, they do make a difference, they do add value to our lives, they look to help and encourage us.
3. Find a mentor:  Mentorship is a service and it is one that we need to find for ourselves and look to provide to others too.  It’s a great idea to never stop seeking help from those who are where you want to be.  A great by product of serving and helping others is that it helps you become a mentor yourself.  Don’t ever let a goal become more important than helping others.   Always do more than others expect from you.  Under promise and over deliver, blow them away with what you bring to the table.  Always try to look to get them excited to work with you.
4. Be an influencer:  The main point about being an influencer is that they look to help others without expecting anything in return.  They always look to have win-win situations with others that they are working with.
5. Celebrate others’ success:  It really comes down to attitude as to how we can be happy for the success of others – especially those that we care deeply for.  When that happens and we get to embrace the success of others, we get the benefit of greater satisfaction.  We feel fulfilled instead of bitter.  Our excitement, energy, motivation and drive to do better ourselves is multiplied due to us celebrating the success of others.  A very powerful tool that not too many people use.  Here was a HUGE point I found:  “Beyond seizing an available opportunity where possible, our sense of embracing others’ achievements helps to expand our own willpower.”
6. Spread positivity:  A very interesting observation about our subconscious is really motivated by emotion, not by reason.  A strong point made was that positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time!  Positive things are much easier to transfer to others than negative ones because they create lasting change.  Positive realities, ideas, thoughts, attitudes, etc. = lasting change, movement forward, going after things, growth, etc.   Negative realities, ideas, thoughts, attitudes, etc. = NO change, stagnation, going backwards, getting worse instead of better.   There are plenty of studies out there that that positivity is not only better for the person carrying around those thoughts & ideas, but also for the other people that they encounter.
7. Find your motivation:  Many times people see successful people and they think, wouldn’t it be great to be like them.  They have no clue.  Successful people see each day as another opportunity to improve, to get better, to move closer to accomplishing their goals.  They will tell you that more you accomplish, the more you will want to keep working hard to make things happen.  Motivation comes in many forms.  We need to find those forms that connect to us and know that we will need it every day, just like taking a shower.

Any thoughts? Questions? Ideas to use these points in your life?  Would love any discussions & comments you want to have.  Let me know.

"Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again." — Richard Branson 
 
One of the many points that I am seeing over and over again recently is this one about how failure is directly tied into success.  It’s a lesson that successful people have been sharing for so many years and it’s also the message that many of us are slow to grasp onto.

It doesn’t matter where you look in life as to who has had success – it can be in athletics, business, medicine, law, education, etc., the message is loud and clear:  Failure is part of success! 
Most of us look at failure as something to stay away from.  Something to avoid at all cost like it is a bad thing that won’t help us out.  Now, don’t get me wrong – we don’t need to go out looking to fail over and over again without learning the valuable lessons that are there within the failure event.  Yes, sometimes the failures will indeed hurt and cause us problems that if given the choice, we would much rather not have to deal with.  But if we can see the value of the lessons within failing, we can use that to propel us to getting things done that will lead to the outcomes that we want to have.

Another key in this – it’s a good idea to know what we want to have in life.  We need the goals and dreams to go after every day.  If we have those things that are burning inside of us, things we want to accomplish and spend our time doing; that is a tremendous factor that is needed to view failures as necessary to accomplish those things. 

I heard a great podcast this morning on my way into work from John Maxwell.  He said there is a distinct difference with those people that are working in a career and making a living, compared to those that are chasing after things tied into their passion and purpose in life.  I agree.  When failures and tough times hit someone who is just making a living, it’s very easy to see why people give up in life.  On the flip side, when people hit failures, challenges, and difficulties in life while chasing their passions, dreams and purposes in life; that’s a whole different ball game!  Many times the failures, challenges and difficulties are fuel for the fire for building a life of significance and not just making a living.
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Which side do you want to be on?  What are the failures, challenges and difficulties in your life?  Are they leading you to lessons that you can learn and get better from? Are they helping you to get inspired to continue to chase after those things that are in your heart and keep you up at night with excitement?  Or are just like the many of people that are ticked off at life, blaming others for your circumstances and you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel that at least is not an oncoming train?  With hearing this message about failures so often recently, I know I need to ramp up my learning that’s for sure.  How about you?

"Success is the continual unfolding of the design of our life and pulling it off. That’s what success is." - Jim Rohn

This quote struck me as being very accurate and right on target for me and plenty of other people that I know.  We are all on our own journey of life and the decisions and choices we make help to create the path that we are all on.  

Part of that path is obviously the success that we have or don't have throughout our lives.  Since we are the major players in our own life journey, our successes are continuing to unfold or disappear based on our choices.  There is another saying that I use in my classes, especially my Principles of Leadership class in the spring with my seniors and it says - Every choice we make either takes us closer to our dreams and goals or it takes us further away from them.  

As we get older we change.  Heck, we change everyday even if it's just hearing and seeing new things.  Those things get us thinking, feeling, responding, etc., so that each and everyday there are subtle little things that influence our choices and decisions.  I'm reminded about another saying that things that happen to us in life are 10% of the actual thing happening to us and 90% how we respond.  The key item is that we get to choose how we respond to these items.  We get to let them have control over us or not.  This includes the people that come in and out of our lives too.  We have to decide on how much control we give to them about how successful or unsuccessful we will be in our lives.

This is why our road to success is always under construction.  There are so many factors that come into play each and every day of our lives.  The key is to be able to filter through all the distractions and keep moving forward in the direction we want to go in.  Of course it's not easy.  But it is worth it. ​

 "You + Motivation = Success"  - Coach Jim Valvano

Since it is our Spring term at school and that means I get the distinct privileged and honor to teach my Principles of Leadership course to the outgoing seniors, this is one session I always show to my students - some of the messages from the great Jim Valvano.  Coach Valvano coached at Rutgers, Butler, Iona, and North Carolina State University - he was a great coach that had a message all throughout his life.  But that message got amplified when he found out he had cancer.

I show my students two video clips of coach.  One of them from 1987 which was about 4 years after he won the national title at NC State.  The other is from the ESPY Awards in 1993 when he had cancer and would shortly pass away after that awards show.  My students are then asked to write about 3 major points they got from watching the videos.  Many of them go overboard writing about more than the 3 along with adding bits and pieces of their own life stories to their responses.   This is where I am usually blown away and find myself in tears more often than not.

You see, this hammers home a point that I've always had as an educator.  We adults learn a lot from our kids, our students.  It happens to me year in and year out along with happening in basketball too for me.  Teaching this course has helped me change my life for the better.  It has given me strength and hope to continue on the path that I am in education to try and make a bigger difference with people.

Coach Valvano had this saying in his office.  I will now be posting it in my classroom too.  "You + Motivation = Success."  Look at the formula pieces.  You along with adding some Motivation = Success.  Success in what you might ask?  I think it's success in anything you are working hard at in life.  I think it means going in the right direction that will open up other doors that could lead to greater successes.  You know, Zig Ziglar and others have always said that Motivation is like taking a shower.  We need to do it often.  We need to have motivational things in our lives in order to go after things along with having some major-league growing and improvement in our lives.   Me + Motivation = Success, many, little and big successes throughout my life.  I don't think it happens just once!  I think the formula needs to be ongoing, all the time. How do you see this equation fitting in your life?