Tag Archives: choices

Better waves make better surfers.

Posted on by
Reply

“Better waves make better surfers. Are you on the right beach?”

—Seth Godin, American author, marketing expert, and entrepreneur

Image from Unsplash by Sincerely Media

Today’s quote reminds us that much of our personal and professional growth depends on the challenges we face, just as surfers improve by riding bigger, more challenging waves.

We, too, develop skills and resilience by stepping out of our comfort zones.

It goes further to ask a crucial question: Are you in the right environment to grow?

Many times, staying in a familiar but stagnant place limits our potential. Finding the “right beach” means seeking opportunities that push you, inspire you, and help you evolve.

Whether in your career, relationships, or personal goals, choose the waves that challenge you to become better, embrace the right environment, and watch yourself grow and transform into a stronger, more skilled version of yourself.

EXERCISE:

To what degree are you surfing better waves on better beaches?

What actions can and will you take to be even more intentional about your growth trajectory?

When you meet someone who doesn’t make excuses

Posted on by
Reply

“When you meet someone who doesn’t make excuses, who doesn’t complain, who just rolls up their sleeves and grits their teeth, the difference is night and day.”

—Dan Cullem, Product Manager at Facebook

Image from Unsplash by dlxmedia.hu

The person described in today’s quote owns their circumstances, no matter how tough the game gets.

They don’t sit back and hope for change, they make it happen. That grit, that relentless drive, separates the dreamers from the doers.

If you want to win in life, start by dropping the excuses and embrace life’s rough edges to smooth your path in the coming days.

EXERCISE:

Where in your life would not making excuses or complaining make the biggest difference?

What gritty roll-up-your sleeves efforts will you take today to rise above your current challenges?

Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.

Posted on by

“Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.”

—Robert Louis Stevenson, 19th Century Scottish novelist, essays, and poet

Image from Unsplash by Tim Pack

Today’s quote is a powerful reminder that our choices — big and small — ultimately shape our lives.

It encourages us to see every decision as a seed planted for the future. Some yield sweet fruit, while others may bring lessons wrapped in challenges.

The “banquet” is not just about judgement — it’s an invitation to take responsibility and learn from our actions.

In the process of coaching, we focus on intentionality, choosing wisely, acting with integrity, and embracing accountability.

When we reflect on our daily choices, it’s helpful to ask: What kind of banquet am I preparing for myself and other?

Your future self will thank you for the care you take today.

EXERCISE:

In what ways do you accept and demonstrate accountability and responsibility in your personal and professional life?

How does embracing these qualities provide a banquet of positive consequences for yourself and others☹?

When you find yourself at a fork in the road

Posted on by

When you find yourself at a fork in the road, do you decide or slide?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Caleb Jones

Today’s quote prompts us to reflect on our decision-making processes.

In life, we often encounter moments in which choices must be made. Deciding involves taking control, weighing options, and moving forward with intention.

Sliding, on the other hand, can lead to missed opportunities and regret by mindlessly staying the course we happen to be on.

Embracing decision-making empowers us to shape our futures and grow from our experiences.

By choosing to decide, we assert our agency and move closer to our goals, fostering personal growth and fulfillment.

Our choices define our journey.

EXERCISE:

Where are you at a critical juncture in your life?

Where can intentional decision making versus passively drifting through life’s choices make all the difference?

“I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.”

Posted on by

“I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.”

—Louise Hay, late American motivational speaker, author, and AIDS advocate

Image from louisehay.com

Louise Hay’s life was marked by remarkable transformations and achievements. Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, California, she overcame a troubled childhood to become a pioneering figure in the self-help movement.

Noteworthy facts about her life include:

    • Her early struggles included poverty and considerable physical abuse from her stepfather and a neighbor.
    • After a career with many jobs, she moved to New York in the 1950’s and became a successful fashion model.
    • Her spiritual awakening followed a divorce after 14 years of marriage. At that time, she discovered the First Church of Religious Science, which influenced her to the concept of the power of positive thinking.

Faced with a cervical cancer diagnosis, she chose alternative methods of healing. Her methods included an intensive program of affirmations, visualization, nutritional cleansing and psychotherapy.

Other notable efforts included AIDS support, publishing success, and her numerous philanthropic efforts until the age of 90, which have inspired millions of people around the world.

EXERCISE:

Check out Hay’s most  notable book, You Can Heal Your Life to help you make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Take stock in your life.

Posted on by

Take stock in your life. You always have the capacity to change things for the better. What will you do or not do given this awareness?

—Calm App Reflection

Have you done it yet? Have you stepped or leaped into the new year with boundless energy to better your world?

If not, you’re not alone. Many folks are still digging out of all the e-mails and work that piled up over the holidays and feel they haven’t even gotten out of the starting blocks.

What to do when “the hurried-er you go the behind-er you seem to get”?

Something dramatic has to happen to get your head above water and swim for the shore of the life you envision.

EXERCISE:

Try a brain dump exercise: List all the personal and professional to-dos that fill up and spill over your days.

Keep asking yourself “What Else?” until you get everything down.

Let this list sit for a day and dig some more.

Consider asking those close to you for their additional thoughts.

Once this list is complete, it can be managed, using a sorting strategy using the words More, Less, Start, and Stop.

It’s within the Less and Stop clutter in your world that you can make room for the Mores and Starts that will put you back in the driver’s seat to take your life where you want to go.

When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression,

Posted on by

“When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression, we create the conditions for bringing out the best in us humans.”

—Margaret Wheatley, American writer, speaker, and management consultant

Image from Unsplash by Ditto Bowo

To what degree are these times bringing out the worst in us as humans?

How much fear, anger, and aggression have you seen in the media and your communities over the past several months?

Consider Victor Frankl‘s statement: Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

EXERCISE:

In what ways can you choose to keep a cool and level head in these turbulent times?

How can you mindfully choose more appropriate responses to the hotheads around you, to bring out the best in yourself and others?

Where and when is it time to walk away from things not meant for you?

Posted on by

Where and when is it time to walk away from things not meant for you?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Kelli McClintock

When we’re young it seems like we have all the time in the world to do whatever we like. Wasting time was clearly for the older set and their efforts to be responsible and productive.

As we age, it appears that many of us get the message, and we begin examining how we spend our precious time becomes a much higher priority.

Just as you would not continue eating a buffet item you didn’t care for, walking — or even running — away from people and things that don’t suit your tastes seems a wise choice to feed and fuel us moving forward.

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal and professional life would it be wise to stop engaging with people and pursuits clearly not meant for you?

When you don’t know what to do, do nothing, be still

Posted on by

“When you don’t know what to do, do nothing, be still.”

—Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, TV producer, actress, author, and media proprietor

Image from Unsplash by Riccardo Annandale

I found myself with a case of writer’s block with this quote.

Thinking of interesting and pithy things to pen on a daily basis is confronting when you have a lot going on in the rest of your life.

Being still in a world that moves so fast is a challenge.

How can we get anywhere or accomplish a goal if we don’t make our intentions real through action?

Feeling stuck in this moment, I decided to do nothing, as Oprah suggests.

Suddenly, a light bulb moment struck.

Being still is doing something that leaves space for other somethings to show up. And so this post came to be.

EXERCISE:

Where in your life would stopping in your tracks and being still allow something unexpected and new to show up?

There are many paths to the same destination

Posted on by

There are many paths to the same destination. When one path is blocked, we simply choose another. How many WAZE are available to you at this moment?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Brett Jordan

The other day I needed to drive from my home outside Philadelphia into the center city district during rush hour. Knowing this, I opened the WAZE app to determine when I needed to leave to provide me a safe margin of time to keep my white-knuckle stress to a minimum.

Although the bee-line distance was only around 25 miles, the time and turns it took was mind boggling.

In all my years, I had never seen the streets and neighborhoods that eventually took us to our destination.

EXERCISE:

How do you navigate your various paths through life when faced with roadblocks and detours?

What strategies do you use to reach your destinations when your usual routes are not available?