“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
Vidal Sassoon
We are now near the end of the 1st month of 2010—and I hope all of us are well on our way to achieving great things this year!! Recently I read a study that discussed the essential steps that must be taken in order to accomplish any great attainment. I believe these steps are accurate and useful . They can help all of us as we try to do great things this year and in the years to come; so let me quickly share those steps.
#1 Proper Planning
Every great accomplishment is preceded by a plan. Though often times we are led to believe otherwise, great things do not happen randomly or spontaneously. Instead, great achievements are the result of a proper plan that has been well thought-out, developed, and then executed. If we achieve great things, we must first come up with a plan.
#2 Proper Timing
Often we may want to accomplish something wonderful yet we fail. Many times we have a good plan, our effort is good, however our timing is not. There are windows in our life that allow us to truly accomplish great things. We must look for these opportunities and never give up. Great attainments in life require the right time.
#3 Patience
Patience is critical to success. Achieving something great takes time—often much longer than we may assume or than we may like. If we can learn to be patient and persistent though, I believe anything is attainable.
#4 Hard Labor
Effort is essential. Nothing truly great was ever attained without great effort. Though we may fail time and time again, patience and continual hard labor will allow us to overcome the obstacles that come our way, and it will help us to achieve our goals.
#5 No Shortcuts
There is never any true shortcuts to achieving something great. Our world would often have us believe otherwise, but great things are not accomplished with shortcuts. We must follow each step to attain something great. Understanding this will allow us to be persistent and patient as we work hard towards achieving our goals.
What great things will you accomplish this year, this decade? Learning these steps of proper planning, timing, patience, hard labor, and no shortcuts will help you achieve anything you put your mind to. Good luck!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Still Alice
Still Alice by Lisa Genova is a very intriguing and compelling book that follows a very successful Harvard Professor and her family through her battle with early on-set Alzheimer’s disease. Though difficult at times to read due to the heartache, Alice and her family feel this book opens our eyes and broadens our understanding of a disease that impacts millions of Americans.
According to the National Institute of Aging, “Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.” Alice, a confident, well-respected, and successful Harvard professor begins to worry when she notices some changes in her ability to remember and give lectures. She realizes it must be related to her health, but she does not understand the potential severity of her problem. One day while taking a jog she gets disoriented and lost--only a few blocks from her house on a path she had ran hundreds maybe thousands of times before. She realizes at this time that she must seek medical advice soon!
Alice had overcome many difficulties in her life including growing up with an alcoholic father, the early unexpected deaths of her sister and mother, and the exhausting task of raising a young family while keeping up with her professional career. Yet Alice has never faced a challenge quite like this as she begins to lose the ability to do some of the simplest tasks in life. Through denial, fear, anger, and acceptance we read how one family learns to cope and handle this dreaded disease. Still Alice will make you laugh and make you cry as you follow Alice’s progression through this debilitating disease.
From my understanding, this book is unique to other novels about Alzheimer’s disease, because it follows the victim first hand—this is her story. This is extremely difficult to do because of the inability of Alzheimer’s patients to express what they feel and think about as their disease progresses. Despite this fact, I believe the author does a great job portraying the thoughts and feelings of one inflicted with this merciless disease. Reading Still Alice will bring compassion to your heart and understanding to your mind. This book was a great change of pace for me and I would recommend it to any and all, but especially to those who know someone or have known someone with Alzheimer’s disease.
See how I ranked this book
According to the National Institute of Aging, “Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.” Alice, a confident, well-respected, and successful Harvard professor begins to worry when she notices some changes in her ability to remember and give lectures. She realizes it must be related to her health, but she does not understand the potential severity of her problem. One day while taking a jog she gets disoriented and lost--only a few blocks from her house on a path she had ran hundreds maybe thousands of times before. She realizes at this time that she must seek medical advice soon!
Alice had overcome many difficulties in her life including growing up with an alcoholic father, the early unexpected deaths of her sister and mother, and the exhausting task of raising a young family while keeping up with her professional career. Yet Alice has never faced a challenge quite like this as she begins to lose the ability to do some of the simplest tasks in life. Through denial, fear, anger, and acceptance we read how one family learns to cope and handle this dreaded disease. Still Alice will make you laugh and make you cry as you follow Alice’s progression through this debilitating disease.
From my understanding, this book is unique to other novels about Alzheimer’s disease, because it follows the victim first hand—this is her story. This is extremely difficult to do because of the inability of Alzheimer’s patients to express what they feel and think about as their disease progresses. Despite this fact, I believe the author does a great job portraying the thoughts and feelings of one inflicted with this merciless disease. Reading Still Alice will bring compassion to your heart and understanding to your mind. This book was a great change of pace for me and I would recommend it to any and all, but especially to those who know someone or have known someone with Alzheimer’s disease.
See how I ranked this book
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Don't Set New Year's Resolutions!!
"New Year's is the only holiday that celebrates the passage of time. Perhaps that's why, as the final seconds of the year tick away, we become introspective. Inevitably, that introspection turns to thoughts of self-improvement and the annual ritual of making resolutions, which offer the first of many important tools for remaking ourselves!"
Gary Ryan Blair
Happy New Year!! Ok, have you made those New Year’s resolutions yet?! Why not!? If you can believe it, I’m here to tell you to DON’T DO IT!!
First, as most of you know, I am a huge goal setting advocate. To me setting goals is important for all of us to achieve things in life. Without them, what are we living for or striving to do?! Some may even say I’m a goal FREAK because I have goals at work, goals for home-life, fitness goals, educational goals, church goals, and other personal goals. So this may come as a shock that I am saying NO, but let me explain why.
Most of us have goals already—many of which may be internal—so we don’t need a New Year’s Day to set them. The objectives we already have in life--the things we want to accomplish or those things which matter most to us--we are probably already working on; so why change that now? Just because it is New Year’s does not mean we need to set new goals. Instead we can continue to focus on those things we are already working on.
Statistics prove that the majority of the population fails to achieve New Year’s resolutions within the FIRST MONTH after setting them, and I believe a lot of the reason why is poor timing. The beginning of January is not always the most advantageous or opportune time to be making and keeping big commitments. And the truth is that setting goals this time of year is done more often out of tradition rather than true desire.
Finally, failure to achieve New Year resolutions results in some level of discouragement, disappointment, and resentment which really only holds us back. Therefore we only need to set goals at this time of year if we are serious about really accomplishing them. Otherwise, doing so will only hurt us.
Rather than setting New Year’s resolutions today, set them instead when you are ready and serious about making the commitment. In fact, why wait for a New Year at all? Why not set resolutions and goals year round that you can track, follow-up on, and accomplish! For these reasons I say DON’T set New Year’s resolutions at this time of year, but instead set them year round when you are ready!! Good luck and Happy 2010!
Gary Ryan Blair
Happy New Year!! Ok, have you made those New Year’s resolutions yet?! Why not!? If you can believe it, I’m here to tell you to DON’T DO IT!!
First, as most of you know, I am a huge goal setting advocate. To me setting goals is important for all of us to achieve things in life. Without them, what are we living for or striving to do?! Some may even say I’m a goal FREAK because I have goals at work, goals for home-life, fitness goals, educational goals, church goals, and other personal goals. So this may come as a shock that I am saying NO, but let me explain why.
Most of us have goals already—many of which may be internal—so we don’t need a New Year’s Day to set them. The objectives we already have in life--the things we want to accomplish or those things which matter most to us--we are probably already working on; so why change that now? Just because it is New Year’s does not mean we need to set new goals. Instead we can continue to focus on those things we are already working on.
Statistics prove that the majority of the population fails to achieve New Year’s resolutions within the FIRST MONTH after setting them, and I believe a lot of the reason why is poor timing. The beginning of January is not always the most advantageous or opportune time to be making and keeping big commitments. And the truth is that setting goals this time of year is done more often out of tradition rather than true desire.
Finally, failure to achieve New Year resolutions results in some level of discouragement, disappointment, and resentment which really only holds us back. Therefore we only need to set goals at this time of year if we are serious about really accomplishing them. Otherwise, doing so will only hurt us.
Rather than setting New Year’s resolutions today, set them instead when you are ready and serious about making the commitment. In fact, why wait for a New Year at all? Why not set resolutions and goals year round that you can track, follow-up on, and accomplish! For these reasons I say DON’T set New Year’s resolutions at this time of year, but instead set them year round when you are ready!! Good luck and Happy 2010!
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