Action Archives - Page 126 of 136

Here To Help

Posted on August 7, 2020

Perhaps our highest purpose is in helping others. Even if you set out to simply make money, you usually need to help others to do it. We are here to help others on their journey.

People assist others whether through charity, providing a service or product or at random moments. If someone looks lost, you give them directions. When someone has been hurt, you will come to their aid or find someone who can.

And although you can look at many things as ‘only doing it for the money’, that is just a viewpoint. Most people aren’t brutally honest with themselves about their own motivations. How do they think they can assess what someone else is thinking?

Landlords help people find homes to live in. Car companies help people get around. Computer companies help people have access to information, communication and speed. Restaurant workers assist people in getting food and drink without the effort of sorting it themselves.

Think of almost any job and you can see how the person’s work aids other people.

There is a spectrum of people that moves from totally not helpful to exceptionally helping. But apart from allowing for a handful of super hard core non-helpers, everyone else helps to some degree. They do so with time, effort, money or kindness.

How are you helping people today?

Action Reframe your thoughts

Breaking Free Of Yourself And Others

Posted on August 6, 2020

Recently I wrote about holding ourselves back by not, ‘becoming one of them’. Our tribes don’t want that either. Breaking free of yourself and others is critical but also quite difficult.

You may have heard of ‘Crab Mentality’ or ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’ or ‘Law of Jante’. These are all quite similar. They refer to a certain cultural phenomenon around the world. It’s called different things in different countries. Click on the coloured text above to find out more.

Essentially, people don’t like others leaving their group. They certainly get more anxious if the person leaving is joining a better group from their perspective. People tend to have a difficulty with this.

Sometimes it is as simple as they like you and don’t want to see you less. But sometimes it can be more sinister than that. Sometimes people can be spiteful because they don’t want you to get ahead of them in life. This seems to be particularly true when it comes to others succeeding in a career or earning more money.

Certainly try not to be the type of person to hold onto others in your group. This is important if they are doing better for themselves. Congratulate them and wish them well. Karma will then be on your side.

Breaking free of yourself and others is not easy. And if someone tries to hold you back? Run away!

Action Reframe your thoughts

Let Children Be Bored

Posted on August 5, 2020

For many, this might seem counter-intuitive. What about planning and preparing their whole day? If you let children be bored, they will come out the other side of it with a new perspective.

Yes, there may be some whining or complaining for a little bit. However, they will get through that phase and you will too. Be patient.

Children that are bored eventually find something to do. This is often helped if you give some casual suggestions like, ‘read a book‘, ‘build a website‘, or ‘fold these clothes’.

The sooner they learn how to figure out ‘what’s next?’, the sooner they will further develop their independence. Sure there may be some tense moments as you both work through the uncertain and uncomfortable challenges. Though the beauty is on the other side of the chrysalis.

Often, when we are bored, we find out what we really enjoy doing. We will also appreciate things a lot more. We pull out books, toys, and games that we forgot we had. Kids will find the magic that they had forgotten. In addition, they have the satisfaction of setting their own agenda.

So if you want to see greater confidence and independence in your child, let them be bored. You will appreciate it someday and so will your kids.

Action Think About It Time

What’s Next?!

Posted on August 4, 2020

To keep a good pace going, you need to make decisions and move on. Decision velocity is important. Asking yourself and others, ‘What’s Next?!’ is a good way to keep things flowing.

It’s short and easy. It’s clear and concise. Ask this question as soon as you’ve finished your last item. Make this a habit. When you’re working, don’t let a second drift by without you starting on the next item.

You will build up quite a rhythm. You will also notice you get a lot more done. When you are asking yourself great questions like this, your mind can focus. It knows the answer to ‘What’s next?!’.

Your mind will sort, measure and assess what the options are and then let you know what is next. This is great because there is a natural flow and prioritisation to it.

It’s also a good signal to your mind, and to others, that the previous topic has been closed. You’re done with that and moving on. It feels engaged, decisive, and crisp. It feels like good leadership.

I like it better than, ‘Shall we move on’ and some of the other phrases out there.

Give it a try a few times today. Test it and see how you like it. Hopefully, it will work for you as well as it has for others.

Whats next?!

Action Reframe your thoughts

Never Miss A Day

Posted on August 3, 2020

So you really want to change your life. Well today will be the day that turns your whole life around. Today you will decide, commit and never miss a day.

That’s the secret to success.

You can make it more complicated. Sure there are many, many other factors you could consider. You could note the leader of the day isn’t your cup of tea. A person could cite transnational agreements and changes in the local laws.

However, it comes down to reasons or results.

Which one will you focus on? I suggest you spend your time planting seeds and taking care of them every day. Do everything the successful growers of those seeds say to do. You can listen to people with opinions and no results, if you wish. But don’t be surprised if you get similar results.

Maybe you want to run faster, lose weight, inhale only air, start a business, get a promotion or change jobs. If so, you need to decide and commit to it. You need to plan out the days, weeks and months ahead. Have a vision and a plan. Then take action and the results will appear.

Then you will need to execute and never miss a day!

207 daily blog posts in a row and I have not missed a day yet. Share this post with someone who is committed, likes thinking or is making changes in their life.

Action Reframe your thoughts Time

Everything Starts With A Decision

Posted on August 1, 2020

If you want your life to be different, you need to check off a few decisions. You know which ones. Everything starts with a decision so it’s time to get started.

What decisions have you been putting off? Let’s get into those topics and understand them better. You may even discover a few helpful things about yourself in the process.

Are you avoiding a decision? Have you said you would think about it and then promptly ignored it? What is it that is holding you back from making the decision and diving in?

Someone has to make a decision and if you don’t, someone else will. Don’t wait until the choice is no longer yours. Get determined. Become selfish, in a good way, by putting your needs ahead of all the other people and ideas rolling around in your head.

Stand up straight. Say what you want. Make the decision to go for it. Commit to it and move forward by taking the very next step right now. It will feel so good! It may be a little scary, uncomfortable or anxiety-inducing. However, remain calm and keep going.

Everything starts with a decision. Start making a few and get on with your new life today.

Do it now!

Action Financial Observe Reframe your thoughts

Becoming A Billionaire

Posted on July 30, 2020

Now, you may be the type that is curious as to how to do it or seething that becoming a billionaire is even allowed. Either way, or somewhere in between, it seems everyone has a view on billionaires.

Your reaction to the idea of a billionaire will say a lot about you and your relationship with money. That may or may not be a good thing. You will have to think it through. Be brutally honest about how money makes you feel.

There are generally two roads you can take if you are intent on becoming a billionaire. The first is to have the money given to you. This can be from inheritance, divorce, donation, charity or a very good friend. Alternatively, you can earn the money through providing a product or service for a very large number of people (c. 87% of billionaires).

Bill Gates sold software. Many estimates suggest that there are over one billion PC’s running a version of Windows. If it cost $100 each to have that software on the PC’s, the company’s revenues would be $100 billion from that one software alone. Not only has he provided a valuable service to many people, hundreds of thousands of people have earned their livelihood with his company.

I’ve willingly given more than $100 to Microsoft, from which Mr Gates has benefitted. It has definitely been worth it and then some.

Action Time

Blast Through Your To-Do List

Posted on July 29, 2020

I believe many people have a to-do list that seems ever-growing. Of course, it could be just me. If you do to, blast through your to-do list every once in a while. See how much you can delete, delegate or get it done.

The more things you have or are involved with, the more there is to do. I do try to limit new items, events and commitments now, as there can be just too many to-do’s with them. One new commitment can bring 5-20 new to-do’s with it.

One way to deal with your to-do’s is to batch them all for a certain time or day. Wednesday’s from 9am-12pm is our time for to-do’s. Some things need to be dealt with when they appear. However, for those things that can wait, we let them simmer until Wednesday.

Occasionally though, too many items pile up and you need an extra session. We had a good one of those today. We didn’t get it all done. But we sure did get quite a few things into the rubbish and recycling. There were even quite a few items completed too.

Standing up and having two of you work through the list together can be a great and effective way to blast through your to-do list.

Good luck!

Action Financial Health & Fitness Think About It Time

Plan Ahead

Posted on July 27, 2020

It’s a good idea to look out beyond the hour, day and week. Some people plan important events years in advance. When you plan ahead, it changes your perspective on life, time and prioritisation.

Our life insurance broker rang me today. He wanted to check that I was happy with the cover we had. Was it the right amount, coverage and term (length of time)? All seemed fine.

However, it did get us running a few scenarios. How old would we be in 10, 20 and 30 years? We also needed to calculate how old the kids would be on those dates. The other point to consider was specific life moments falling in those time periods. Big events we considered were; helping with the children’s university costs, business start up costs and/or potential wedding costs.

Planning ahead does make you confront some brutal truths. In particular, it reminds you that you will either be much older one day, or the alternative. And you should consider that ‘much older’ comes with more than simply more candles on your birthday cake. Your health and wellness is likely to change somewhat.

You plan ahead for things that you want such as holidays, concerts and sporting events. So you should also plan ahead for those events that are inevitable, like ageing and the alternative.

Do it now.

Action Reframe your thoughts

Selective Memory

Posted on July 24, 2020

It is fascinating what we can remember and what we can forget. Having selective memory can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. But if you train your mind, you can make it work better for you.

Women can use selective memory to forget the pain of child birth. I have met several women who said they would not have a second child after the physical pain of the first. However, in some cases, there were more children after that. This is one of the advantages of selective memory. At least it has been for the continuation of the human race.

We can also use this concept to fondly remember ‘the good ole days’. This means we remember the great and good things in our past and tend to forget all the little painful incidents. We remember winning the match but not so much the pain we felt during or after. We remember the graduation but not the mind numbing hours of studying required to obtain the marks for it.

However, we can select poorer memories if we wish. We might focus on unhappy or unhelpful instances. Most people will have a variety of moments they should forget. Especially if it was something they did which didn’t go well.

We should not dwell on our own or other people’s shortcomings or bad moments.

We can use this selective memory power for good. Do not use this to beat ourselves up over something. Nor should we chastise others.