Scott's Thinking - Page 134 of 173

Shine On!

Posted on February 4, 2021

Life is full of ups and downs. So when you are on the way up, enjoy every minute of it. Enjoy the excitement and exhilaration. Shine on!

The compound, or snowball effect, works both ways. If things are getting worse, it can continue getting worse at an accelerating pace. However, if things are going well, life can explode in an upward trajectory.

Tuesday was one of those days. There was a mix of things happening. Though, I did have some great things happen and it seems to be snowballing upward so far. Long may that continue!

It is easier to maintain higher energy and an upbeat vibe when things are going well. This in turn will also attract other positive things and people toward you. People like to be around someone who is winning. It is a fun and wonderful thing to be a part of.

So throw on a smile and walk with your shoulders back. Get a little swagger going too. Feel like you are having the best day of your life. Breathe it in. Hold on to that feeling.

If you can keep your thoughts positive and your body strong, you will win the day. Try it.

Shine on!

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts

Change It Today

Posted on February 3, 2021

There is something that you have been putting off. You know you want the outcome but something holds you back. Change it today.

Get your own attention and focus on the matter. Break it down into tiny steps. You do not need to live like this anymore. There is an alternative. So find that other path, get better people around you and thrive.

It could be that the hardest part of changing something is the people you can’t bring with you. You would like them to come with you. However they do not see your future in their future. And that is fine. But do not let it slow you down or stop you.

You must barrel along as if your destiny depended on it. Is the path you are heading along really leading you to the place you want to end up? What will your life look like in 20 years if you do not switch tracks? Is it really the life you want? Because you can change the track you are on.

You can make a hard turn or you can adjust slowly. Both can work. But you need to be sufficiently comfortable with the initial discomfort. Then it will continue to be uncomfortable until your mind can adjust and feel fine with it.

Make the decision you need to make right now.

Change it today.

Action Health & Fitness Time Weight loss

Get Good Sleep

Posted on February 2, 2021

Staying up too long can be devastating. You can start to weave, get the head nods, fall asleep and feel pretty bleh. Get good sleep. It is very important though often the first item to let go.

I do love sinking into bed after a long or tiring day. It could be physically tiring or it could be mentally tiring. Either way, it is nice to lay back, dream away and then get some good shut eye.

Keeping someone awake for too long can become a brutal weapon of torture. It doesn’t even take that long. Sleep deprivation is a real thing and can lead to unfortunate and even severe consequences. Be smart with the amount of sleep you get.

You generally need 7-8 hours of sleep per night. You should aim to get to bed earlier than later. Sleeping hours before midnight seem to be rated higher than those after midnight. In addition, try to get to bed at the same time every night. This is assisted by having a consistent bedtime routine. This winding down routine should not involve any screens (tv, phone, computer).

Drink your eight glasses of water earlier in the day. It will help you stay hydrated but also keep you from waking up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. No one needs that kind of unnecessary sleep disruption.

Get good sleep.

Gratitude Observe Think About It

Sometimes It Is Who And Not What

Posted on February 1, 2021

Who says someone can be more important than what is said? It seems a little odd to me but it happens. Sometimes it is who and not what that makes all the difference.

Do you remember your parents telling you something and you didn’t believe them. Maybe it was when you were a teenager. Or perhaps you were in your 40’s. They said X and you did Y.

Having your own children is the cosmic giggle from the universe. Now the shoe is on the other foot. You will be imparting brilliant, relevant and fascinating advice, or information, and it will fall on disinterested ears.

However, a friend of theirs will say the same thing and it will be all high fives and wow. If you’re nodding to this, remember you did/do the same thing to your parents. You may dismiss your parents as being from a bygone era. In doing so, try not to dismiss the pertinent advice they are giving for your benefit. Listen carefully.

If your best mate told you the same thing, then do it when your parents mention it. And give your friends due time while considering their view. Oftentimes friends can dismiss a point of view because they think their friend has no idea. However, an expert in the field might say the same thing and you will quote them all day long.

Sometimes it is who and not what.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time

Give That Extra Push

Posted on January 31, 2021

You’re exhausted. It is the end of the day. Your bed is calling out to you. You want nothing more than to collapse. Give that extra push at this point. Take 10 more minutes to get one more thing done.

Push through and get that tough task started so tomorrow morning it is already underway. Or write out the goals, key elements and times for tomorrow. Alternatively you could get that one extra, easy item off your to do list. It shows up everyday and you never really notice it or find the time to do it. Tonight is that time.

Do this extra 10 minutes of effort five nights a week for one year. That will get roughly 250 items off your list. Or it will help streamline your life.

You will also feel much better for having got it off your list. It will lighten your mental load. As you get 4 or 5 done next week, you will feel like you’re making progress. The pride in doing that little extra will shine through. You will stand a little taller as you build goodwill with yourself.

This tactic will also help you push through further in other areas of your life. Your resilience will grow. Your determination will strengthen.

Give that extra push. It will be worth it.

Financial Observe Reframe your thoughts Think About It

Your Money Pays For Their Vacation

Posted on January 30, 2021

Make sure you only buy things that are essential to your life or for true happiness. Remember that when you spend, your money pays for their vacation, not yours.

Think about that for a minute. You buy two large pizzas for £25 and that is a fair exchange. You receive two large pizzas with toppings of your choice and they receive the payment they wanted. However, think one level deeper.

When you buy the pizzas, your bank account goes down and their bank account goes up. You have less cash for your vacation and they have more cash for theirs.

Quit giving your money to everyone else so they can have your vacation.

You could buy two large pizzas at the shops for £10. Then put the £15 of saved money into two other accounts. The first £7.50 could go into your vacation fund. The other £7.50 could go into your long term strategic investment fund.

You get to eat the pizzas and you build up your vacation and investment fund accounts. Sure the pizzas may not be quite as delicious from the fridge. And there would be some effort in cooking them. However, you would still have the nutrients and additional funds in your core accounts.

From one simple example, you would have almost £800 across your accounts in one year.

When you’re about to spend, remember, your money pays for their vacation.

Action Progress Think About It Time

Be Obsessive

Posted on January 29, 2021

This is a great way to approach things in life. Why do anything half-hearted? If you are going to undertake anything, be obsessive.

It has been awhile since the last time I heard this phrase. However, I heard it the other day when I was on the new Clubhouse App. Mr Beast, the young YouTube sensation with over 50 million subscribers was using it to note how to gain success. He told the person in question to be obsessive. It is a philosophy that he uses too.

Essentially, he gets up and spends every waking hour being focused on improving his craft and planning or creating content. Then he goes to bed. That seems fairly obsessive to me.

It makes me think about the book, The Zulu Principle. The premise of the book is that you can learn anything and become a world class expert in anything pretty quickly. If you focus on one topic and read three books on it, you’ll be well ahead of 96% of people on that topic. Then if you network around people who are experts in that field, you will rapidly absorb their additional knowledge.

So in a few months, you really could be world class in just about anything.

And I get it. I don’t want my brain surgeon to have just read a few books and gone to a few Medical wine and cheeses.

But for most things, just be obsessive.

Observe Reframe your thoughts Think About It

Aren’t You Curious?

Posted on January 28, 2021

That rich woman. That powerful man. How did they get where they are today? What path did they take? Which hurdles did they overcome. Aren’t you curious?

Notice the couple with a great relationship. Observe the family that plays and laughs together. Hear the love in their voices, projecting kindness from their heart.

Wondering why things are as they are, is a great skill to develop. Everything seems to be here for a reason. The sun to warm and the rain to cool. Gravity is there to hold things down. Rivers flow into seas. It all seems a little convenient. You may want to change the setup and the system, but perhaps you just don’t know why it is how it is.

Start with this way of thinking and you’ll find it effortless. But if you didn’t, there will be work to do. Attempts to put others down for their successes, or feelings of jealousy or envy, are not useful.

Get curious about their mindset and the path they have taken to this state and place. You too could have the same if you followed the natural path and process. All journeys to a destination have a beginning, middle and end.

Aren’t you curious about the process required to achieve anything?

Observe Think About It

Like Minded People

Posted on January 27, 2021

This is what we are all looking for. We want to find people we can relate to. Those people that think like us are golden. Like minded people make life easier. We don’t need to think. We can just float together.

This is an awesome experience. We can talk for hours with like minded people. We feel good about the experience. There is a flow to the conversation. We speak the same language. The words we select are from the same patch. And the order and tone we use is so simple and totally fluid.

It is easy to lull ourselves into a false sense of security that everyone thinks like us. Then someone uses a word that isn’t from our patch. Or the tone dips instead of rises. Occasionally we notice the words are positioned in an odd order to our expectations. Screech! Hand brake. What was that?

We pick up on these subtle nuances. There is a sense something is a little off but we may not be able to put our finger on it. Our backs get arched a tiny bit as we prepare to switch to defence. Who is the infiltrator, the odd one out? Why are they here? I hope they don’t bring their like minded people into this chilled oasis.

Comfort versus thinking and learning…

Financial Gratitude Progress Think About It Time

How Do You Give Back?

Posted on January 26, 2021

Do you do something for charity, your community, people coming up behind you? It’s good to reflect on this. How do you give back?

I am trying to add more of this into my days. I do it sporadically and I would like to do it in a more structured way. It starts with giving my time to people who are building their careers or businesses. Then, Money for charitable causes and effort for good causes.

Getting clear on how to apportion time and money, and setting those aside for good causes, is a useful exercise. It makes you stop and think about what you do now, what might be good and even how it makes you feel. Should you set aside more time and money? To whom and how should that be done?

Some people are very good with structuring their thoughts around this. I’ve known people to set aside x amount of money and y amount of time. Then they gift that away through the year. Other people simply donate a lump sum and that’s that. All requests after that are denied.

Some people will give money freely but not their time. While others do the opposite. There are those that give 1% of their income while others give away most or all of it, like the incredible Chuck Feeney.

How do you give back?