Don’t be fooled by failure. It is only a brief moment in time.
Category Archives: goals
The Unexpected Blessing
I didn’t discover this post on my own. Patrick and A Simple, Village Undertaker re-posted it from Cultural Offering and Kurt re-posted it from Execupundit and he re-posted it from Blog Of Impossible Things. See how the blogosphere works?
Anyway, this is an awesome story. Make sure to read the follow-up story as well.
Photo by Joel Runyon
Me
Today I sat through a class called Hiring, Firing and Everything In Between. The presenter was Sheila Birnbach. I thought this class was going to be about employees and how to manage them. And in part, it was. HOWEVER, the things I learned in this class applied more to me and how I make judgements or assumptions about people every single day. And chances are you do the same thing and probably don’t even realize it.
Here’s the thing. You probably make assumptions about me just by things I write on this blog. Or maybe by the way I write. I’m sure you’ve thought certain things when you see a grammatical error and assume I’m not too bright. But the only way to really know me as a person, is to ask me. Ask me my opinions. Ask me about my likes and dislikes. Ask me how I feel about certain issues. Ask me what matters to me. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. What matters is that you ASK me and not assume you know the answer.
It is hard to try and change a behavior you have been doing all your life, but as Sheila said, “Starting today is better than not starting at all.”
My Own Honey-Do-List
I took the day off work today because we had been gone all weekend and didn’t get home until early this morning. I really didn’t have my day planned out, except for laundry and taking all three kids to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned.
By the time I got up, unpacked my suitcase and got a shower it was about 11:00 a.m. I did a few things around the house and got everyone lunch. Then my middle daughter said she need to print something out for a school project, but she didn’t want to use our computer – she only wanted to use her laptop, but it wasn’t connected to a printer. She reminded me that I had bought her a printer two Christmas’s ago which hasn’t been connected because I forgot to get the USB cord when I bought it. Ouch. Two years ago. I don’t have any excuse at all for that one. So I decided that I would hook up her printer today. And then she reminded me that I still haven’t gotten her a new cable for her TV (the old one got chewed down to bare wires by her rabbit). So I told her I would pick up a new cable when I picked up her printer cable today.
Our conversation was overheard by my oldest daughter who chimed in, “you still haven’t hung those pictures in my room either”. Grrrr. And of course, the man who was sitting back enjoying the dialog, my husband, says “well girls, she hasn’t fixed two pair of my pants which have been laying on the stool in our bedroom since I don’t know when”. My, my, my.
So instead of having a relaxing day like my friend Tracy told me to do, I ended up with my own honey-do list created by my family.
I’m pleased to report that I have successfully completed all the items on the list except the pants thing, which I am going to tackle right after I post this.
I am contemplating making each family member a honey-do-list of their own, since they all ganged up on me today.
Congrats Jay
What a great day for the Winegardner family. Jay Winegardner graduated from OSU today. He was only one class shy from graduating years ago and finally decided to get it done. We are very proud of you, Jay. You are an encouragement to all!
Monday Motivation
One of the first things I read this morning was a post over at Mark’s Blog entitled Monday Motivation: Challengers to Pursue.
I had never heard of Jim Rohn, but now I won’t forget him.
Mark said that he was one of the foremost business philosophers of our time, and because I value Mark’s opinion, I decided to watch the almost 15 minute video to see if I agreed or not.
I absolutely loved the way he communicates to his audience. He captured my attention from the first moment and kept me focused throughout the entire 15 minutes (that is a hard task by the way). He listed 16 challenges for us to pursue. I love a good challenge, don’t you? Although I truly want you to watch the video, I am going to list them here, realizing that you are missing out on the added commentary from Mr. Rohn.
- Always do more than you get paid for to make an investment in your future.
- Face you fears – don’t dismiss them.
- Exercise your willpower to change direction. Pick a new destination and start going that way. You don’t have to repeat the past.
- Admit your mistakes – TO YOURSELF FIRST.
- Refine your goals.
- Believe in yourself.
- Ask for wisdom that creates answers and deals with the daily challenges.
- Conserve your time.
- Invest your profits.
- Protect your family.
- Live with intensity. Be a little stronger. Be a little wiser.
- Find your place.
- Demand integrity FROM YOURSELF. You can’t demand loyalty from someone.
- Welcome the disciplines.
- Fight for what’s right.
- Keep faith.
Mark will be sharing some of Rohn’s wisdom each day this week, so make Mark’s Blog a daily stop.
Things To Do Today
My husband found this story in the Wall Street Journal (it was from December) that I found interesting. It was a list of things to do today, hand written by Johnny Cash himself:
- Not Smoke
- Kiss June
- Not kiss anyone else
- Cough
- Pee
- Eat
- Not eat too much
- Worry
- Go see mama
- Practice piano
Seems this list from the past can still be useful in today’s world.
My First Check-Up In 2012
I meant to do this on Feb. 1st, but had a busy week at work, so I am just now getting around to it today:
My 30+ Day Review of 2012 Goals
(I plan to do this each month to track my progress or lack thereof )
1. Save some money. A sub-goal of this was to sign-up and use online banking. I did sign up for this service and began paying my bills online. I have saved $9.00 in postage so far, plus no more late fees (yes, I was guilty of this occasionally because I didn’t have time to sit down and pay bills each week). Now this is going to sound like a real geek, but this online banking deal is my fav thing to do on the Internet. Swear. I can transfer money from account to account, see what bills are coming up, do reports to see how much I have spent with each vendor, etc.
As far as saving money elsewhere, we had a pretty expensive month with automobile problems, so the money I planned on saving got spent. Oh well.
2. Cook more. I would give myself a B+ for the year so far. I enjoy cooking, as long as I have all the ingredients on hand. Plus by doing this, it will help to reach goal #1.
3. Exercise. Okay- I totally flunked this one. I haven’t even tried. Not one stinking workout of ANY kind. Guess I know where to concentrate my efforts this month. . .
4. Personal. Although I can’t share this one, I can tell you that I am making progress, although baby footsteps. But at least I am trying.
There you have it. I would give myself an overall B- for the first month of the year. How about you? Have you made progress towards your goals?
Meet Sean Swarner
I can’t possibly explain what a wonderful presentation and speech Sean gave today at our 56th Annual Groundhog Breakfast. Google him. Watch his video on YouTube. By his book. Once you hear his story, I dare you to complain about the little things in you life.
Bridges
As we traveled around southwest Florida this past week, we crossed over many bridges. For the most part, bridges down there are built for crossing bodies of water. And since I love to be around the water, I enjoy crossing those bridges that others have built for me.
Bridges are made to get us from one point to another. They have to be built strong and they need to last a very long time. They have to withstand bad storms that may come upon them.
The same is true about life and relationships. I enjoy building bridges much more than repairing them. In my job, I am somewhat like a bridge, connecting people and businesses together. In every line of work, connections (or bridges) are made every single day.
My hope for you in 2012 is to build as many bridges as you can or allow yourself to be the bridge between two connection points as frequently as possible. And never burn a bridge. It takes a great deal of time and effort to rebuild one. If one needs mending, mend it. You never know when you may need to cross over that bridge at some point in your life.
