Tag Archives: learn

Accomplishment

It feels good to do. Just do. To put in a good days of work getting further towards that plan. To itemize and destroy that list of hurtles getting on ones way.

As a human coming into adulthood and maturity, I am starting to realize that there is a difference between a) planning, deliberating, conceptualizing, developing, & shipping and b) thinking, talking, reading, believing, and getting distracted.

I understand how easy it is to get sidetracked with seeing what other people are up to on our favorite social networks – and the motivation they’re sharing with me. I understand how easy it is to find a good movie on and just feel comfortable with it. I understand how easy it is to get immersed in a good bit of fiction -or- non, and feel like it’s at least better than watching television.

But nothing feels like my own personal or collaborative accomplishment does.

True accomplishment, the kind of accomplishment where pride is found.

True accomplishment doesn’t necessarily come hand in hand with success, unless you consider success learning; when you’re pushing yourself to do things, to work, to deliver, you most certainly are going to take home a few lessons learned at the end of the day.

This is where pride is found. This is where contentment is found. This is where belief in oneself is found.

This thought came to me today as I sat here after designing and soldering a new circuit board prototype together. I have been deliberating and thinking and talking about it for so long, always finding excuses like not being able to afford to buy the parts (which is another mind hurdle I’ll leave for another discussion), or that I didn’t have my equipment here to do the work…

Though these may each be valid and hindering me from doing what I must do – budget considering – I want to point out that actually getting down to business, real business and executing… that’s the stuff that feels right and good and is usually just a different angle or viewpoint on the task. I’ve learned that this is the stuff that makes me believe believe in myself, this accomplishment.

Accomplishment. Yes, today I have truly and really taken one step closer to my dreams.

Thinking about this deeper, I think this might be where shoppers get the feeling of accomplishment. Something physical to show for a days work – funny as that may sound to some of us. I think this is also the euphoric bliss one gets after a bout of meditation or yoga. Not only is it a spiritual nurturing, but one comes out feeling like something meaningful and soul building was accomplished.

Whether you find that motivation to accomplish or not is your choice. It takes effort and patience and there are most certainly going to be things that get done and prove to be lessons learned, not successfully completed tasks.

In the end however, the only way I’ve ever found this feeling of satisfaction with myself, with accomplishment, is to actually get out there and do it, to have that moment in time afterwards where I sit and reflect upon what I’ve just done and tell myself: “I’m here, now I know.”

We Put In the Time

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We strive and learn, and write all the right notes in a very nice and tidy notebook. We buy the right tools, and we connect with the right people.

Today, because of our information/data age of internet, there are so many people to listen to, people who have found a way to solve all mysteries and are very eager to give them away to you for free (including me). I subscribe to many of them. Seth Godin, Tiny Buddha, Kim Anami, Art of Manliness, etc. and they’re great. They all give me such food for thought it encourages me daily. They each have such a rich abundance of life I could spend most of the better part of 10 years reading their archives page after page.

So, I’ve found my golden source of water. My lifeline. My connection to the super culture I’ve always been looking for.

Or have I?

Have I got my new secret way that only a small culture of us have tapped into and will exercise? Sure, we’re exercising our minds and that’s a huge part of the battle. But this idea is dangerously close to sitting back into cruise mode and keep ourselves busy reading blogs that tell me that I’m doing it right.

To quote Ben Harper, “You can put a man through school, but you cannot make him think.”

You’ve done the reading. you’ve studied the books, you follow the blogs, you’ve got the tips. You’ve learned it all. Now we step out into the new light of day and say, “So, I think I’m ready now.”

I think I’m ready now, and I think you’re ready now! But, I guess that’s up to you to decide.

Let’s put this plan into action.

Record, Reflect, Learn

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Lessons cannot be escaped. They just can’t. They come at us every second of the day and fill us with temporary knowledge that enriches our lives abundantly.

However, without recording these lessons and reflecting back upon them how do we expect to remember the lessons and grow from them? Sure some major life turning lessons will sit in our conscience for a long time, but does just having them sit on our conscience allow us to work through them in a reasonable manner?

When I do a complicated mathematics problem and grab five hands of five fingers each and count them all up one by one to get twenty-five, I have just learned that 5×5=25. But, if I never look at this again I will forget my five sets of hands and must recount all the fingers next time I need 5×5.

However, because I’m actively learning, I’ve written down in my little notebook that 5×5=25 so I can frequently reference it and reflect upon it and understand it and memorize it and act with that sunk deep into my conscience.

How do you keep track of your lessons learned?

You Are Right and I Am Wrong

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New age spirituality has a tendency to immediately discard any notions of religion, almost vehemently. That simple word has so many different connotations for everybody that it’s like a rainbow of emotions.

And what’s more, using this word seems to invite the non-believers among us to try and teach the religiously inclined why they’re wrong, who are usually at the same time trying to tell us it’s right.

Nobody wins. Nobody hears the other. And what is right and wrong?

If I understand correctly, the main opposition to religion is about the forced nature of it. New spiritual ideals say let’s let people find the answers for themselves through their own searching, not through being forced. Away from propaganda of organized religion, and into organic research and learning. Searching inside ourselves rather than reading about it in a book.

Perhaps the definition of spirituality is to learn from everything, from everybody, while trying to remove prejudices that cloud our ability to learn.

I think this starts with smiling, but I’m not 100% sure on that 🙂

How you define learning is up to you, but there is only one way to go about it.

Educated Influence

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There is a problem. It’s labelled many things, in many forms, around many locations, and infiltrates most all living quarters.

I call it media influence. I call it propaganda. I call it brainwashing.

And the hardest thing about it, is that it’s so bloody hard to identify. We’ve been trained for a few generations now to not really notice it, to not really think twice about its existence, to accept it as natural in our world. We’ve given up on letting ourselves make the ultimate decision of whether it’s good or bad, whether we want it or not, whether it’s right or wrong, and become contented with accepting it as we do trees in the forest, or grass on the lawns.

I don’t believe we can stop this snowball we know as propaganda; it’s an industry in itself, like making clothing or music. But what we can do, is direct it and slowly apply pressure to one side to steer it in a new direction.

How do we do this?

Education is your answer.

Confused or afraid about sexuality and what it might infer? Study the history of sexuality. Nervous about not buying the latest iPhone? Learn about other equivalent options. Afraid about bears and killer bees in the forest? Study their habits and get to know them.

The challenge is to not believe everything you hear. The challenge is to test the waters by putting your toes in. The challenge is to keep testing the waters until a day soon it shall become your desired temperature. The challenge is to continually ask yourself: “But why though? Is this my own thought or is this conformity?”

Success In Business

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I’ve just finished reading the article titled “What I Have Learned in My First 10 Years Running a Successful Business” by Patrick Gant, where he talks, fairly clearly, in point form about a lot of lessons that he has learned along the way. Reading this inspired me, and made me reflect on my own direction, goals, and lessons, which I will try and relate to you today.

One of the biggest things Gant talks about is the battle with fear. Some people, we all know, are weakened by fear, hiding in a comfy spot as fear dictates the next moves made. While others seem to battle this fear and thrive in it, performing feats that to the fearful seem rather unbelievable. Being aware of this fear, and running into this fear head on is something that gives countless opportunities to those who battle it, this battle should always be contemplated upon.

For myself, when I’m pursuing my practice or craft, I often find I seek out advice from people who are seasoned in the field and have learned a lot of lessons ahead of me. Furthermore, people usually like to tell stories if they are passionate about what they do, and they will remember you with kind thoughts about how you connected with them. This is also a tactic I take when networking. When I talk to somebody I’ve just met, and they tell me a thing or two about themselves, I find it really easy to immediately dive into something that they do and ask questions. There really is not one aspect of anybodies life that doesn’t interest me, but what is essential to learn is that not everybody likes to talk about everything in their life. Usually it can be seen in their eyes and body language the passion that person has for what you’re talking about.

Ideas about furthering my success in business or hobbies can come at any time for me. We’ve all heard about the idea coming to a person in the shower or on the toilet, but it can also come on a hike, watching a soccer match, at a bar with a friend, et al., but the point is: always be ready for it. Have something with you at all times to record the idea, in as great a detail as you can afford at that time. Honestly, if I’m sitting at a bar with friends and somebody has a great idea and can’t wait to write it down on their computer, which for the next 3 minutes I have to sit looking at them as they scribble furiously on their notepad, I’m excited by this. I find it really handy to use the notes part of my phone to record these moments of inspiration, but I always carry a blank notepad with me too.

The easy way is not the easy way, and it’s the way it’s always been. People will try and tell you how to what you’re doing wrong, and if you change it it’ll be so easy, which may not be a bad thing to listen to, but often times, it might not be a good solution. For me, I find that the factor that is easiest to identify, is if the correction to what you’re doing wrong requires you to buy something similar to what you already have, the solution to the problem isn’t the right one. Often times the answer is simplifying, not compounding your business practice. Slimming, I’ve found, is a much better practice than bloating. The people that are truly successful will often to appear to have that success fairly easily, but further studies will show that they have put many years of practice into what they do to reach the level of success they are at. Although each individual task may seem rather simple, they most likely will have years of experience to base their quick judgments on, learning from the past to project into the future.

We all deal with customers. There are good customers and bad ones. Though we should always treat the customer with respect, and honesty, we should remember who the good ones are and the bad ones are, and meld our practices to better suit the good ones. The ironic thing about this is that the bad customers are usually the ones that are the squeakiest ones, and you spend most time dealing with. Remember to assess how crucial the squeaky wheel is to your business, and act accordingly. Also, treat the good customers with courtesy and respect, and show them you care. Sending them thank you cards, or other random gifts, deals and promotions, or just dedicating your time to them, can go a long way. If I walk into a place of business and the owner takes time out to come and say hi to me and ask if everything is in order, I remember this; I come back for more.

Furthermore, learn from bad business practices. If you have a great friend who you went into business with, and that fell through, or the deal went sour, it is ok to forgive the person personally, but making that bad business decision again and doing business with them again is just plain silly. Contrary, remember whose deals were successful, it’s good to deal with them again, and very beneficial to seek their advice in the future.

Thought tedious, get everything in writing. Business transactions, sales, ideas, projections; they will all help you in the future when reflecting upon these documents is crucial such as legal battles, or reflecting on the past. I personally appreciate the compactness of digital documents, but everybody loves to feel hard copies, as well as digital signatures can get tricky.

Learn from other professions. If you’re trying to see how you can better your business in sales, go to a place of business where sales is essentially their biggest asset, like a restaurant. If you’re trying to find ways to slimming your business down, try studying how large corporations make cutbacks. Being able to learn from everything in the environment and applying it to every aspect of life is very beneficial for anybody who can master this. Leaders do this best.

Don’t be cheap on things that are essential factors to your business that you use everyday. A company that uses a photocopier every day all day shouldn’t replace ones that break down often. Employees who sit in chairs all day long shouldn’t be forced to sit in uncomfortable chairs. If you drive around all day long, buy a vehicle that is good on gas, and not prone to failure. Buy the better pens to write with. This falls into the category of treating your employees with respect and courtesy. It’s very surprising to learn how efficient employees can be if you give them a little respect and reason to feel that they are respected within the company.

Using just a few of these tips will reward most people. I’m sure that many readers are already practicing some of these already, as you’re proactive and seeking to practice better tactics in your business. After reading something the article mentioned at the start by Gant, I have many ideas floating through my head that need to be collected in writing right away. So, this is a very good time to open up your mission statement, and adjust it as fit.

Good luck out there!

Passion

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Passion is what life is. No two people have exact same passions, but many people can have similar passions, which provides some sort of connection for us with other beings in this world; some sort of grounds to communicate on and relate.

The secret is to understand what your passions are, study them, learn from them and grow with them in a positive environment.

For myself, to find what my passion is, I need to really understand what my goals are, and what I am trying to do with my life. In reality, the goals and passions kind of sit hand in hand. When I start thinking about these things, my mind naturally flows into the areas of my most passion. Curiously, there are always ideas and thoughts that my passion digs up that are out of this world, while others are logical, standard, and perhaps even productive with any luck!

Without that main effort though, the initial thought: “What is it that I want to do? Where does my mind lead me when I think of tomorrow?” there is no chance at even understanding your true passion.

Passions aren’t just a girlfriend, or love, passion involves hobbies, quests, goals, and accomplishments often summed up in a personal mission statement. They involve anything that when thought about, all other troubles in the world seem to fade away. One believes that to just follow this journey along the passion quest to the end, the world will be complete and fulfilling.

Me? Yes, I truly believe this. An example for me is when I think about photography. Initially it started with a wanting a digital SLR (DSLR) camera, picking out which kind I wanted most, and then having to keep using my old point and shoot camera until I could gather up enough money to get my DSLR. Then it turned into going places to get spectacular photographs that would blow the doors off of National Geographic Magazine. After this, my passion soon turned to how to edit these photos, which format I should be capturing the images in (RAW, JPG, TIFF, etc.) and how to edit them. Learning Photoshop and testing out Paint Shop Pro and all the various builds of each of them was also involving, learning layers and levels and brightness and contrast all turned into one big giant passion soup, something which I enjoy immensely.

For me, it’s easy to identify a passion; it’s something that consumes all of my time. I naturally fall into searching out new ways to do what I’m passionate about, how to become successful; how to grow.

I firmly believe that to be inwardly happy; to be proud and supportive and attentive in every day of your life, one needs to pursue their passions. Once the passions have been categorized or identified then is when the real work starts with brainstorming ideas on how to actively grow and build and master that passion. This takes a lot of focus and positivity to stay aligned with your goals that come with it. One thing to definitely not be afraid of, is when you learn more about your passion, when you grow with your passion you may find that your goals tend to change slightly to align more effectively with your new path, or train of thoughts.

A quote I will leave you with from Gandhi is: “No matter what it is, I make judgment based on the best of my knowledge. If that knowledge shall change and my stance also changes as a result, I will be the first to admit my mistake, and proceed aligned with the new knowledge.”

Focus

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If a mission statement has been written, the goals are known.

Stay focused on your goals. You know what you want; you know where you want to be, keep this always in your mind.

At the end of the week, review the goals that you set down for yourself. Take some time then to think about what has got in your way to slow you down in reaching your goals.

Are you spending too much time socializing with friends?

Do you find that it’s always with certain people that you slip back into your old habits that you’re trying to rid yourself of?

Do you always tell yourself that your too tired today, and tomorrow you will start?

Do you spend too much time preparing everything, writing down your goals and never achieving them?

Think now about what you can do to correct these issues. Make easier goals that you’ll be able to achieve and cross off your list, feel that sense of accomplishment and make it worth your while to continually push yourself to the limits of what you feel you can achieve.

This is the essence of being an effective person. You need to continually impress yourself with new personal bests that make you feel proud and motivated to do more. Don’t let anything ruin your dream for you.

When you learn more about what you want, you can always change your focus to a slightly more directed area, but always keep motivated and pushing yourself to become better, learn more, and have as much fun as you can!