Larson Institute of Self-Mastery » Choices

Life Isn’t About Finding Yourself, It’s About Creating Yourself

Guest — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:02:04 +0000

Author: Scott Ginsberg

BE brilliant at the basics. Be the change you want to see in the world. Be the first one. Be the only one. Be unforgettable. Be interesting. Be a sleeper. Be that guy. Be the world’s expert on yourself. Be better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow. Be confident enough to be humble. But be somebody who reminds everybody of nobody else in the world.

AND DON’T wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t sell, enable people to buy. Don’t let the bastards get you down. Don’t be weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap a great harvest if you faint not. And don’t wait for the mainstream to validate your voice. Don’t despise the day of small beginnings. Don’t be selfish with your knowledge. Don’t complain if you haven’t earned the right. And don’t be different, be unique.

BECAUSE YOU are what you charge. You are what you believe. You are the books you’ve read and the people you’ve met. And you are an empty sheet of paper in the minds of every person you encounter.

AFTER ALL, the world cannot resist a man on a mission. The best swimmers are always in the pool. The sculpture is inside the stone. And the two greatest days in your life are the day you’re born, and the day you realize why you were born.

AND if you are successful you will always have too much to do and too little time. If you aren’t being criticized, you aren’t doing much. And if everyone says you’re out of your mind, you just might be onto something.

EVEN THOUGH, IT’S not easy being yourself. It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. And it’s not the years, it’s the mileage.

SO, WORK hard, work long and work smart. Work like you don’t need the money. And work from technique, because you never know how you will feel.

AND DON’T FORGET THAT success leaves clues. That confidence is king. That credibility comes from specificity. That listening is not waiting to talk. And that a nice person who is mean to a waiter is not a nice person.

OR, TO tell the truth, to tell it all and to tell it now. To give value first. To paint yourself into a good corner. To allow customers to participate in your brand. To do the work once and benefit many times. To give yourself away. To respect people’s no’s. To take massive action. And to act as if you already were the person you’re trying to become.

THEREFORE, ALWAYS stand up, stand out or be counted out. Discover your Personal Differential Advantage. Learn to love your zone of discomfort. Greet each day with love in your heart. Show, don’t tell. Make daily appointments with yourself. Never apologize for your art. Remember your Victory Dance. Work harder on yourself than your job. Find your one big idea. And always validate your existence, be yourself and do something cool – every single day.

BECAUSE life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators – one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Ginsberg

How to Turn Negative Thoughts Into Positive Action

Guest — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:42:56 +0000

Author – Susan Meyerott

“Worrying does not empty today of its troubles, it empties tomorrow of its strength.” Mary Engelbreit

The Secret Decoded

Do you ever wake up with doubts, anxiety or insecurities? I do. It’s those little whispers in my brain causing my heart to race and my stomach to flutter until I pause to identify ‘what’s up’.

Over the years I’ve learned the secret to befriending these physical messages. I’ve developed a more positive interpretation of the role my brain plays in producing the unsettling messages, and this helps me transition faster from reacting fearfully to taking calm, conscious action. So what’s the secret? It’s simple. I know my brain cares about me.

A Womb with a View

Because my brain cares, I think of it as my womb with a view–a warm, caring place from which I can safely look out into the world around me and begin living each day. My womb with a view comes with womb service. The little whispers causing those anxious feelings are just friendly, pre-scheduled wake up calls.

Although the messages from within are initially unnerving, they become my call to action. I now embrace the friendly service call to ‘wake up!’ and make a conscious choice to do something, or to do nothing and let it be. By converting my anxiety into womb service, I have re-framed those morning whispers from ‘start-your-day-anxious and in avoidance’ to ‘start-your-day-calm-and-conscious’.

Everything Is (Secretly) Okay!

My lifelong friend, Karen, is a very successful CEO Coach who has lived life fully engaged. She is amazing. She is also a worrier and full of self-doubt. During our last visit together, Karen’s husband, Bill, shared an affirmation he began whispering into Karen’s ear: “Karen, Everything is (Secretly) Okay!” It made me laugh!

I couldn’t believe what a perfect message this was–not only for Karen, but for all of us. It made Karen laugh and let go, and it spoke to a deep truth about the foundation of worries, self-doubt and anxiety in us all.

Learn What You Do Want from What You Don’t

Our worries, anxieties and fears are always about things we don’t want to happen. If you can identify what you don’t want to happen, you can turn it around to identify what you do want and work to make it happen.

When that secret worry begins to tie your stomach in knots, let it wake you up to what’s bothering you and name what you fear. Begin by affirming ‘everything is (secretly) okay!’, and then ask these three questions:

What is it about the message behind my womb service I fear?
What do I fear will happen that I don’t want to happen?
What do I want to happen?

Hello, Womb Service?

You have one new message from your brain: “Everything is (Secretly) Okay!” Wake up to the possibilities. Wake up to new beginnings.

“Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don’t want.” Abraham

International speaker and author, Susan Meyerott provides dynamic interactive workshops for people ready to better manage their work, life and health. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes changing easier than ever before. For more than 30 years, Susan has helped people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change. For more information, visit her website.
http://lightartedliving.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/susanjmeyerott

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_J_Meyerott

Quick-Fixes Not So Quick

Gary N. Larson — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:55:00 +0000

I once had an old car that I drove back and forth to work. It was pretty beat-up, but it got me where I wanted to go. One day I noticed that the engine was getting awfully loud. So I climbed underneath the car to see what the trouble was and found the muffler pipe had rusted through. Instead of fixing it correctly by taking it into a muffler shop and having a new pipe welded on, I decided to be clever and patch the hole in the pipe myself.

I took an empty tin can and cut both ends out and split it on the side. I wrapped it around the rusted hole in the exhaust pipe and clamped it on with hose clamps. I started the car up and it sounded so much better. I was so proud of myself for fixing my car with very little cost or effort. My worries were over – or so I thought!

The next day as I was driving to work I began to smell a strange odor in the car. It got worse and worse and suddenly I realized it was smoke. I looked down to see where it was coming from and saw smoke coming from the carpet on the floor between the two front seats.

I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off. I looked under the car and found my clever exhaust pipe patch glowing red hot. Had I driven my car much further it most certainly would have burst into flames. That was a close one! I ended up taking my car into the muffler shop anyway and having an expert mechanic weld a new pipe on. It ran great after that.

How many times do we have something in our lives that needs to be fixed and we attempt the quick-fix, the clever and easy method, only to end up with a near disaster in the end?

Some things in our lives take more than band-aid fixes. Are you guilty of trying the fad diets, the miracle creams, the instant-hypnosis, the get-rich quick schemes, the insider trading tips, the instant piano courses, and on and on? Some things can’t be fixed or done overnight. Some things require patience and real, determined, effort.

Thank you.
Copyright © 2010 Gary N. Larson

Do What You Know

Gary N. Larson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:16:07 +0000

I once heard a story about a farmer who had been farming for many years. He had a son who went off to college and after a few years came home with a degree in hand, and a head full of knowledge. He told his father, “You know, Dad, this farm would be much more productive if you would use the new methods of farming. These days everyone is using hybrid strains of seeds. There are better methods of crop rotation and contour plowing. Plus you really should be using up-to-date insecticides and fertilizers. And did you know most farmers are milking their cows three times a day instead of two.” He went on and on expounding the virtues of all the modern methods of farming. Finally his father said, “Now just hold on there son! I’m not farming half as well as I know how already!”

Isn’t that the way we are? We seldom perform as well as we know how. I’ve heard people say that “knowledge is power.” To a certain degree it can be. But in my own personal experience I find that I know a lot of things that I should be doing but I don’t. Just having knowledge about something doesn’t necessarily translate to the ability or power to do it.

Many times over the years I would tell my children to do their homework. Invariably they would answer back, “I know dad!” and I would say back to them, “Then do what you know!” It’s kind of a joke around my house because I have said that phrase so many times to my children: Do what you know.

How many self-improvement books have you read over your life time? I have hundreds of them! We probably learn ten-times more than what we ever put into action in our lives. Yet we keep buying books and wanting to learn more.

At some point it’s time to stop learning and start doing. We need to put our knowledge to use. I’m not suggesting we completely stop learning but what good is learning if we never use it?

Here is my suggestion: How about making a list of all the things you know you should do but aren’t. Then from your list choose two or three things and start doing them! You can read books, read blogs and listen to tapes and CDs till the cows come home but until you actually do something you are going nowhere. It’s time to take real action! At the end of the day, knowing the answer means nothing if you don’t do anything about it.

The Art of Learning from Our Mistakes

Gary N. Larson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:09:44 +0000

Making mistakes – yeah, I’ve got it down to an art form. Now if I can make learning from my mistakes an art form that would be something. No promises here but some simple observations about mistakes and how we can learn from them.

Last week I had made the plan to attend an important event early on Friday morning. When I mean early I mean 6 a.m. early! In order for me to be there I would need to get up by 4:30 in the morning, get ready and leave my home by 5:30 to be to the event by 6:00. I’ve done it before and knew what I needed to do to be there.

Well, guess what, I blew it! I didn’t make it and was deeply disappointed in myself. I did what any normal person would do and beat myself up mentally. That’s fine but if I’m going to learn anything from this I’ve got to do more than just mentally beat myself up. I’ve got to analyze the situation, see what I did wrong and then change my ways.

So what went wrong? My big mistake was that I didn’t think or plan ahead. The mistake that I made was deciding to go to a movie the night before. My wife and son pressured me into it. (Placing blame here!) It was a 7:30 p.m. movie that was nearly 3 hours long. When all was said and done I didn’t get to bed until 11:30 p.m. I knew when I went to bed that I was never going make it up by 4:30 a.m. I had already blown it.

My point isn’t necessarily the missing of the event. The point is that we learn from our mistakes. When something goes wrong or something goes haywire and things don’t turn out the way that you planned, look at the situation and figure out why. Analyze it and see what you could have done differently. Why did you mess up? In my particular situation, what happened was that I didn’t think ahead. I went ahead and said, “Yeah, let’s go to a movie.” I should have thought it through and realized that going to a movie at 7:30 in the evening was going to put me to bed too late at night to be able to get up as early as I needed to. So the next time I plan on being somewhere very early in the morning I’ve got to make sure that whatever I do the night before I do early enough that I will get home on time so I can get to bed on time.

There is a great little story I read years ago that fits perfectly here:

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
By Portia Nelson

Chapter One
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost…I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep whole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it’s a habit…but,
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately,

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five
I walk down another street.

The point is that when something goes wrong in our lives, when we mess up, when we falter, that we look at the situation and analyze it and then make a change. If we are not learning from our mistakes we will keep falling in the same hole.

Thank you.