Progress Archives - Page 54 of 63

Today Will Be Different

Posted on December 2, 2020

Yes it will and no it won’t. Every day is unique despite being broadly the same. Today will be different for those looking for differences. And, it will be the same for those looking for similarities.

Broadly, today is just like yesterday. The sun rose in the east, crossed the sky and set in the west. It will tend to get warmer and lighter in the middle of the day and be colder and darker in the early and later hours. There will be roughly 24 hours in the day. (Technically a day consists of 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0916 seconds.) But the point remains that it is the same length of time each day.

Now for the differences. It may be colder or warmer and the sunrise and sunset may be about a minute different, depending on how near you are to the equator.

Now, as for you, you have choices. You can decide whether you want the day to be the same old, same old or to be different in some ways. For starters, you could set your waking device to wake you 10 minutes earlier. You can decide to be the most positive and enthusiastic person you know. Additionally, you could start a new exercise regime today or order better food from the shops.

The detail of today will be different, unless you decide to let it be the same.

Action Goals, Results & New Thinking Reframe your thoughts Time

Have A Good Filing System

Posted on November 27, 2020

Do you spend time trying to find things? It does seem crazy, at times, how long it can take to find an item. Have a good filing system and that can change things.

We used to have an ok filing system. Now it is much better. I can recall times where I spent 10 or 15 minutes looking for one piece of paper. That rarely happens anymore. When you have a good system and you use it properly, you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.

It is good to have a strong process and system for physical filing as well as digital filing. Then it is particularly important that you stick with the process and system as much as you can. Of course there will be moments when you don’t replace a folder or file right away. Additionally, you may not get to the filing room straight away so you create a new pile.

If this happens, be sure to correct this as quickly as possible so that the system doesn’t fall over and you can’t find things again. This also helps to keep things looking tidy in other areas of the house or office.

It can take some time to set up a good system. However, when you weigh it against all the time you will save looking for things, it will be worth it.

Have a good filing system.

Action Health & Fitness Progress Reframe your thoughts Time Weight

Up Your Game

Posted on November 25, 2020

Whatever you are doing is not good enough. Your potential is well beyond your current activity. It is definitely time to up your game.

On Sunday I went for a run and it was a gorgeous day for it. I decided to go around the whole of Richmond Park. By the time I’d returned back home, I had completed 16 kilometres (10 miles). It was a great run. I felt good, the scenery was excellent, the air was fresh and clean, not too many people out and I listened to a great book called Psycho-Cybernetics.

Ten Years ago I ran in a race called the Cabbage Patch 10 – a 10 mile flat race. As a sprinter with forays into 5 km and occasionally 10 km, that 16 kilometres was very tough. My legs were aching for days. I even had an ice bath after to reduce swelling.

However, in the intervening period I have upped my distance, stamina and perception of the distance. So much so, I was simply running along on Sunday, enjoying the experience, and decided I would stretch my run from 10 km to 16 km. In addition, a couple hours after I returned, I went for a family walk for almost two hours.

This is just one area I have built resilience and made a definite improvement in my life. I am working on others.

It’s time to up your game.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time

You Need A Full Court Press

Posted on November 14, 2020

Sitting back and waiting for things to happen is not always a good strategy. Sometimes you need a full court press. It’s an extreme defensive strategy used in basketball, which can be seen as a form of intense offensive strategy.

Sometimes you just need to be patient. For example, with a pregnancy, despite any anxiousness, it is generally best to be patient and breathe well. For other things, like buying concert tickets or a property, it can pay off if you continually press things forward.

This is where I like to use the full court press term and analogy. In our experience, people have a specific pace to get things done. When you combine that with other people and their pace, it tends to mean things move at the slowest pace in the group.

Unfortunately, this is not always ideal. This is because there will be times that you have a property opportunity that could disappear if you are not quick. Many people say that it takes months to complete on a property transaction. While that may be true, if you are patient and let the process run at their pace, if you get engaged, you can complete in a few weeks.

The key considerations are next steps, planning and communication.

Then you need a full court press and to continuously move everyone forward each day.

Action Observe Progress Reframe your thoughts

Learning While Teaching

Posted on November 13, 2020

Learning something is good. Being able to convey that knowledge to someone else is brilliant. Learning while teaching a skill or subject is possibly the highest form of engaged interaction.

I’ve heard good teachers, speakers and sports personalities refer to how much they learn while sharing their knowledge or skill. It is an interesting aspect of life. By giving someone the benefit of our experience, knowledge or skill, not only will they gain, but we gain as well.

However, we may only gain if we are paying attention and open to learning. If we assume we are only providing information, we may miss the opportunity to receive feedback loops of learning.

It takes a certain skill to transfer knowledge from yourself to someone else. Not everyone is good at it, though it can be learned. Though while you are transferring that knowledge, you can also reassess how you learned, understood or integrated that knowledge. During this process, you may look at things in a new light. Perhaps new experiences, thoughts or information will impact your perception and adjust your mindset.

Although it can be quite difficult to be confronted with new points of view, it is beneficial to grasp those moments. If there was only one best way and one right answer, we would all know it by now.

Learning while teaching is a worthwhile skill to develop.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts

Selection Is Critical

Posted on November 9, 2020

Freedom of choice is a powerful thing. Selection is critical in choosing your health, your career, your partner, your income, your thoughts and actions.

Sometimes people don’t realise there are choices. Or they know but are so dismissive of all of their other known choices that they stick to only one. You select the input for your life. You decide which media you choose to follow and influence your thoughts and philosophy.

Just like a media outlet chooses which story goes up as the lead story, you choose the thoughts you want to focus on. The media outlet employees find the ideal picture to accompany their story and the angle they have selected to run with.

We often unconsciously go ahead with certain thoughts and actions because they feel good and are comforting. We call the same friends, read the same news and watch the same shows. Sometimes we need that. But to grow, we are better off mixing it up a little. Go learn something new or different. Become a bit uncomfortable. Select things you wouldn’t normally choose.

I do that a lot with news, views and foods. I have rarely had a bad experience and I always find out more about myself and the world.

Selection is critical. Be wise as you improve your environment.

Gratitude Observe Progress Think About It

The Big Stuff Is Behind Us

Posted on November 5, 2020

It’s easy to find something to complain about. There are even times that certain people will go as far as outrage. The big stuff is behind us though. Not that the world can’t be an even better place with a little more tinkering. However, we need some balance to ensure the tinkering doesn’t go too far.

What I mean is this. There is a lot more acceptance between people on the big things. In most of the 37 OECD countries there are few, if any, major rights not available to all people. All races and genders are able to freely vote. People have the right to liberty and freedom of expression and religion.

There is an abundance of opportunity for all people. The majority of people in these countries seem to be fine with where things are at. Yes, there will always be small groups or individuals that feel that the laws and norms don’t quite work for them. The good news is that those people can work towards having things improved for them.

Now, we can still tip into an abyss. However, it is ever less likely to happen. As people continue to get comfortable with improving standards of living, fewer will want to wage wars, riot or remove socially agreed basic human rights.

The big stuff is behind us.

Progress Reframe your thoughts Weight

The Story Of My Life

Posted on October 31, 2020

What do you say about yourself? How do you describe your life in your bio? Make sure the ideas support the best you. The story of my life has got to be put in the best light. Not just for others, but for me! I need to see how well I have done from where I began.

Once you have understood what your story is, you may want to go about improving on it. I don’t mean with just some creative licence though. I mean get a plan together and work towards exciting goals. Write a biography for your life now. Keep it to four sentences or shorter.

Now write a biography of your life in five years from now. What other skills will you have? What exciting achievements will you have accomplished? Now, in order to go from here to there, you will need to make some changes.

You will need to give up the story of your life (the one you have) to create the story of your life (the one you want).

Like old clothes, you need to get rid of them occasionally. Move on from the story of your life. Freshen it up and get ready for new adventures. Focus on the new story you are creating. Visualise. Build it and it will come.

Keep making improvements. That is the story of my life.

Gratitude Health & Fitness Observe Progress Reframe your thoughts

So Much In Common

Posted on October 27, 2020

Divisive is a common word these days. Though I find it a strange word to use. People have so much in common and things will continue to get better.

Most people have the following in common: They would like peace, prosperity, kindness, low or no crime and even good and effective political policies.

Would you like to live in a calm and safe neighbourhood? I think most people would aspire to that. Should children be able to go to school to learn? Hard to imagine too much resistance to that in normal times.

Listening to people on most issues and concerns, they seem to want a similar destination for each topic. There may be some differences as to how best to get there or exactly what the final destination looks like. But there seems to be so much less to argue about. And certainly most of those things are superficial in their nature. Or they require only a minor tweak.

No matter how much some people want to focus on the high drama of negative, angry or inflammatory news reports, I am confident we are in a much better position than any previously seen.

One example of this is that the global average life expectancy in 1900 was 31 and in 2017 it was 72.2. Additionally it is very peaceful and many people’s standards of living are much higher than in 1900.

We have so much in common. Let’s focus on what those things are.

Observe Progress Think About It

Progress, Change Or Improve

Posted on October 26, 2020

People want to change the world. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will improve it. Given the chance to make progress, change or improve yourself, or anything else, which word would you choose?

I used to be an adherent to change. Change was good. It was different to whatever is now. But that may mean worse as well as better, from your perspective or from that of others.

Then I became an ardent fan of progress. Progress was better than change. It sounded like it was at least going in the best direction.

However, I am not sure things that seem like progress always are. Like change, it can seem good to some but can be at the expense of many others.

Knowing what we know now, many things that seemed like progress at the time, may not have turned out like that in the longer run.

Was the machine gun progress over a pistol? Was nuclear power progress? Industrialisation – was that progress? Ask people interested in the planet’s future.

We should aim to improve. Improving suggests making things better, for many. It encapsulates change and progress but also a broad reach that helps most people that are impacted by it. It’s not about a select few, or one political, religious or tribal view.

Progress, change or improve? Aim at improve.