22 Minutes a Day with Nature

You won't find me in the break room during my lunch breaks at my day job.  Instead, I grab a quick drink of water and head outside.  I set up my Tommy Bahamas chair under the trees and listen to all the sounds of nature.  The first thing I do when I recline in my chair is remove my shoes and socks so I can plant my bare feet in the grass.  One of my teammates asked me at the end of my 22 minutes with nature, "How do you feel?"  All I can say is those 22 minutes are some of the best minutes spent.  This is a chance to reset my brain.  It's energizing.  

Make sure you take breaks throughout your day, especially if you find your workload to be heavy.  Have a great day.

Do You Have Staying Power?

Staying power.  This is the strength to see something all the way to its conclusion.  You have it or you don't have it.  A review of your life will tell you if you have it.  What happens if you realize this is missing in your life?  I believe staying power is learned.  If you are willing to learn, you can have enough staying power to achieve even the wildest of your dreams.

Keep in mind that when you're training a puppy, it can't do many tricks in the beginning.  The same is true with building habits that will help you increase your staying power.  Don't blame the puppy for bad performance.  Blame the trainer.  Don't blame your brain for convincing you to give up too soon.  Blame the person in the mirror.

If you're serious about wanting staying power, start small, stick to it, and keep going, one day at a time.  Don't worry about setbacks.  Find others who share your passion for incorporating staying power in your daily routine.  Have a great day. 

What is Your Definition of Success?

 This is a personal question.  There is no need to answer this publicly.  What's important is that you define it and make it personal.  If your life doesn't match your definition, consider small changes to get you closer to the success you want in your life.  

Think of the small changes you need to make as bricks.  You don't need to build a house in a single day.  Focus on a single brick.  Lay that brick.  Repeat this tomorrow.  Lay another brick.  Keep going.  Make sure that vision of success you have in your head is visible.  I like to close my eyes and imagine my personal vision of success.  If you can find a way to lay a brick a day no matter how far out of control you feel you are, there will come a time when all those bricks add up to something special.

If you haven't done this yet, I do recommend you write down your own definition of success.  Put it in a prominent place so you can see every morning when you wake up.  Have a great day.

See One, Do One, Teach One

The best way to learn something new is to observe an expert doing what you want to learn and then do it yourself.  Once this new technique is done, it's best to teach someone else to make sure you have a grasp of the new concept.  I'm using this process to learn how to build things.  Yesterday I spent the entire day watching others, many who were doing something new for the first time while broadcasting their adventures on YouTube.  Sure, they fumbled along the way but they weren't afraid to 'do one' in front of eager people like me who want to learn something new.  Some of these people are setting up their own channels so they can teach others about what they learned, mostly from watching rookies in action first.

The best way you can thank the people who inspired you to learn something new is to pay it forward.  Teach others.  You may end up joining new tribes because the 'see one, do one, teach one' concept allows new ideas to spread like wildfire.  When I hear newbies telling others, "If I can do it, anyone can do it," this resonates with me.  Stay tuned.  I have a feeling there will be some surprises to share.  Have a great day.

Preparing for Lucy in 2025

The preparation for building our second home on wheels is underway.  Although it may be a year or longer to find Lucy, build her to our specifications, and start new road adventures with Lucy, I believe the key to making all of this happen is to be as detailed as possible in the planning stages.  We are staying true to remaining debt free which means the savings process must be serious.  

There are a number of people on YouTube who claim they did the same thing I want to do with little or no experience.  There is a community of adventure seekers who are living their dreams on the road and they are not afraid to share their experiences doing van buildouts.  My goal is to have a budget in place and the funds saved prior to purchasing our Dodge ProMaster cargo van.  Stay tuned.  I will be sharing more about Lucy as the process unfolds.  Have a great day.

 

Waste Management

Everything you need to accomplish, even your wildest of dreams, is at your disposal.  Unfortunately, much of it ends up wasted and unused.  The more I become aware of this in my own life the more eager I am to take action.  The two resources at the top of my list in the waste management department are time and money.  A good example of this is my last TV purchase.  I went big but not too big.  The TV was on sale.  Sounds pretty good, right?  What's missing from the equation is the true cost of the TV.  This hidden cost is the amount of hours I spend each week in front of it.  This is the opportunity cost.  When I'm watching TV I'm not doing other things that could enhance the quality of my life. 

I'm working on going deeper with my relationships.  This is not easy.  I'm discovering that the time I spend in large groups really doesn't give me the opportunity to know others.  The time I spend in light-hearted conversation could be used more wisely using my time one-on-one with the people I care about.

The time you invest cleaning up your waste will create more time to do the things you want to do with your life.  The money you save by cutting out frivolous spending will give you more resources to pay for the important priorities in your life.  Make waste management a priority in your life.  Have a great day.

Challenge Your Ultimate Competition

A wise man once asked me, "Would you rather be the biggest fish in a pond filled with smaller fish or a small fish in a pond filled with much larger fish?"  Think about your answer.  Your personal growth is at stake.  I get super excited when I'm around the big fish.  They have something to teach me that can help me be a better version of myself.  Do you ever wonder who your ultimate competition is?  Read on.

In my opinion, if you're seeking to be the absolute best version of yourself that you can be, there is one big fish in the pond who can help you reach your goals.  Strive to beat this warrior and you will find yourself at the top of food chain.  That ultimate competition I'm referring to is you.  Yes, you.  All you need to do is be better today than the yesterday you.  Look at everything the yesterday you did and make an assessment. What could have been done better?  Be honest.  If you can't find any areas of improvement, you are going to stall.  You may even slip due to your own complacency.  Decide you are going to compete every day with the 'yesterday you' and you will meet your match.  Have a great day.