Is it really worth the time to win every argument? Wars are expensive, untimely, and leave most people on both sides confused. Arguments are the same way. They arise when you least expect it. Sometimes stakes are involved. Most of the time, however, only your pride is on the table. What’s more valuable – your time or your pride? You don’t have to win every argument. Take pride in knowing you save yourself a few minutes of precious time.
Category Archives: Life
Peripheral Vision and Opportunity
Keep your eyes open all the time. You never know what opportunities lie at the edge of your vision. Keep your mind free to all possibilities. Focus may be productive, but it has a very negative side effect: myopia. The real pros do not ruthlessly blockade distractions from their lives; they listen to all options, see everything, and train themselves to sort through variables faster than everyone else. If you want to rule the world, learn to dissect the world efficiently. Pay attention to everything and consider it all before filtering away. The email at the bottom of the list, the girl in the corner of the room, or that side panel advertisement may actually be the most important twists in your life. But you’ll never know unless your mind’s eye stays open.
End on a Good Note
Finish the day having completed something. Finish the meal with your favorite bite. Finish the conversation with a hug and a smile. Finish happy and fulfilled.
Life is full of transitions. Each step bleeds into the next. Want to increase the odds of a great next step? End the previous step on a good note and carry that sense of accomplishment forward.
Never end on a bad note. No matter how painful, it’s worth the fight to make things right. It’s worth the energy and time to end things well.
Marry the Man or Marry the Mission
I’ve seen a lot of relationships collapse because partners failed to compete with the work or passion of their significant others. Especially in Hollywood, where living the dream and working 18 hours per day takes priority over all else. There are two different kinds of people – those who live for life and those who live for their dreams. The former tends to put people first; the latter tends to put the mission first, whatever that mission may be. There’s no right or wrong, better or worse. But when you are trying to engage in an intimate relationship with another person, it is very important to identify the type of person you are with. The disconnect comes when one party invests first in the relationship and the other invests first in the mission. You can fight the disconnect all you want to. But when a person’s love is unwavering or his or her mission is unwavering, you may never win. If the mission comes first, you need to fall in genuine love with the mission. Or move on.
Spread the Love
You would be surprised by how much easier and richer your life gets when you spend every waking minute spreading the love to other people. Give your time, help people with problems, smile, listen, hug, support, and genuinely care about others. Lend a hand anytime you can, and always put yourself second. Sounds like a lot of work, but the rewards are priceless. And timeless.
Have A Good Day
It’s a choice, not a consequence.
Put on your best smile, warm your heart, and face the hours ahead.
Enjoy it.
If It Doesn’t Work…
…Try again differently. Don’t give up. Don’t dismiss it as a failure and leave it behind in the dust. Not yet. Don’t let all that hard work go to waste. Learn from your mistakes, figure out why it didn’t work the first time, and put lessons learned into practice. Try again, but differently this time. If you lose a second time, sit back and analyze the situation again. Debrief. You cannot wave it off in ignorance and shame. You must study your defeat. Only when you can draft an educated and supported thesis on your shortcomings should you be allowed to dismiss your attempts as failures and move on.
Time Flies
Pay attention to the moments in life where you lose track of time. Most signify passion, joy, or discovery. Take note of the people, activities, and environment; cherish and hold them close. The variables of these moments should be tracked, preserved, and repeated as often as possible. Only within moments so rich can you defy the power of time itself.
The Common Denominator of Success
Failure. The most successful people do not fear failure. They fail often and learn quickly. Failure informs uncontested success. If you want to succeed, embrace failure as a necessary ingredient to achieving greater goals.
The Perception of Obstacles
Track runners do not see hurdles as road blocks; they see hurdles as an extension of a normal step. Sure, it may take practice to build the confidence necessary to jump hurdles. Even to start practicing, you need to set aside any fears or trepidations you have about the road ahead. You need to ignore the fact that hurdles are obstacles. You need to see hurdles as a part of the game. If you signed up to play the game, learn to love the hurdles. Obstacles are only obstacles if you see and treat them as obstacles.
Craig Ormiston 