FRIDAY REVIEW: ACCEPTANCE
What aspects of life do you accept without question? Here are a few acceptance-related posts you may have missed. Click to read the full message.
Tag Archives: Barry Demp
It doesn’t make any sense
“It doesn’t make any sense to make a key and then run around looking for a lock to open.”
—Seth Godin, American Author
Image from Unsplash by CMDR Shane
The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back. You can learn more about this remarkable commitment to philanthropy and the causes they support by visiting givingpledge.org.
If you happen to not currently be on the list of the ultra-wealthy, I suggest you consider the Impact Pledge. There, we can all participate in a highly specific project by publicly committing our resources – especially time and energy – to a worthy mission to better our world. In such a way we can all participate in the design of a “key” solution that opens the doors of our most daunting local and world issues.
EXERCISE:
Consider visiting the Impact Pledge site to see how you might become a critical key to bettering our world.
When something small loudly demands all of our attention
“When something small loudly demands all of our attention, its noise often drowns out the whisper of what’s enormously important.”
—Craig Groeschel, American Clergyman
Image from Unsplash by Sai de Silva
We live in a very noisy world. If you are like many folks these days, the decibel levels and shiny object distractions have reached new heights and the pace is accelerating exponentially.
Although there are extraordinary opportunities through the abundance of these worldly demands for our attention, we all require gaps in our days to recharge and renew.
EXERCISE:
Create two lists for your personal and professional life. Label the first list Important Whispers and the second Loud Demands.
What strategies can and will you employ to increase the time for items on the first, and reduce or perhaps eliminate items from the second?
We are mere journeymen
“We are mere journeymen, planting seeds for someone else to harvest.”
—Wallace Thurman, 20th Century African-American Novelist
Image from Unsplash by Warren Wong
For virtually all people alive today, the standard of living and the quality of life has improved exponentially over the past few decades, and particularly in the last two centuries.
If you have ever interviewed your parents, grandparents, or even looked back over your own life, things have improved in countless ways.
Consider the idea that all the people known and unknown to you have been farmers planting and cultivating the seeds we all get to harvest each day.
EXERCISE:
Who in your world can and will you thank and acknowledge for all the abundance we experience today?
Where and how are you currently planting the seeds of a better world to benefit the lives of other’s for future generations?
Life is an echo. What you give, you get
“Life is an echo. What you give, you get.”
—Author Unknown
Image of Echo Dot 3 from Amazon.com
If you keep up with technology, you know that Amazon recently launched the third generation of the Echo Dot. For less than $50.00, we can all tap into the virtually unlimited collective knowledge of mankind.
A frequently cited source of answers to our inquiries is Wikipedia – the free online encyclopedia created and edited by volunteers around the world. It is because of these individual and collective contributions that we all reap the benefit/echoes of others throughout the world.
EXERCISE:
What are the things in life you most desire? How would more generously sharing these resources echo back to you even more of what you seek?
Friday Review of posts on Renewal
FRIDAY REVIEW: RENEWAL
What are your strategies for renewing your energy, your sense of self, and regaining balance in your life? Here are a few renewal-related posts you may have missed. Click to read the full message.
“The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you are finished.”
“Exhaustion is not a status symbol.”
The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked
“The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked.”
—Elbert Hubbard, 19th Century American writer and philosopher
Image from Unsplash by Wynand Uys
Looking for short cuts and taking the easy route to success is a common trait in our fast-paced world. I find it quite humorous that when I go to my health club each morning, people are competing for the parking spot closest to the entrance to eliminate a twenty-second walk before their one-hour workout.
It is actually this resistance and the level of challenge in our workouts and in life that supports the greatest growth and achievement toward our personal and professional objectives.
EXERCISE:
Where would Taking the Stairs, Eating That Frog, and a bit more Grit help you move directly toward one of your most important goals? Consider reading one or all of these books.
In every man there is something
“In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th Century American essayist and poet
Image from Unsplash by raw pixel
There is a wise saying about the fact that we have one mouth and two ears, and should use them proportionately.
For most of us, coaching, teaching, advising, and mentoring others, although with good intentions, plays into the fact that we often prefer to be interesting rather than interested.
Consider yourself an explorer or a miner looking for the gold in “them thar’ hills.” To reap such riches, the only tools you would need would be an open set of eyes, ears, and of course, an open mind.
EXERCISE:
In what area of your life is it far more important to be the pupil rather than the teacher?
What is it that you most wish to learn to support either your personal or professional life?
Who are the specific teachers in your world that hold the wisdom you seek?
The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
—Sydney J. Harris, 20th Century American Journalist
Image from Unsplash by Toa Heftier
Time is a funny thing. Among the priority topics in a coaching relationship it usually is in the top three to five items people wish to impact.
Billions are spent each year on all sorts of books, blogs, workshops, webinars, and seminars to help us all manage this elusive and seemingly scarce resource.
You are welcome to download my free workbook, Time Management Strategies and Tactics. Enter the password “BarryDemp” when prompted.
The reason for all this attention is that there is simply too many “to do’s” for the time available. We have all experienced being drained, as if we were a smart phone battery needing a recharge.
EXERCISE:
How can and will you allocate some of your precious time for relaxation and renewal of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energies?
Please consider replying to this post regarding the actions you take and the difference it makes.
A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
—St. Francis of Assisi
Image from Unsplash by Darren Bockman
Who are the people in your world that light up your life?
Take a minute or more to make a list of these special people, and note the qualities and characteristics they exhibit that caused you to put them on your list.
On the flip side, note the individuals in your personal and professional communities that cast shadows over your world and reduce your aliveness and life satisfaction. What are their specific behaviors and attitudes that cloud your world?
EXERCISE:
Beyond spending far more time with the first group and less with the second, how can and will you personally bring more sunshine to those around you, for the benefit of all?
This effort will almost certainly attract many more sunbeams from others who also desire brighter days.