"Your Attitude towards problems, difficulties, and adversities is the most important factor in overcoming them."  Napoleon Hill (1882-1970)  Motivational Author

"All progress takes place outside the comfort zone." Michael John Bobak, artist

​Merry Go Rounds (or Carousels) are fun!  Merry Go Rounds that have the plastic rings that you can grab and throw onto the stick or into a hole are even more fun.  Then there are the Merry Go Rounds with the very unique and special "Brass Ring".  If you can reach out far enough and risk getting uncomfortable, you can grab a hold of that special brass ring and then turn it in for a big prize (often a free ride).  When Merry Go Rounds first came into existence over 100 years ago, the animals in the center of the ride moved up and down and everyone wanted to ride those. The animals on the outer edge of the ride were static and didn't move so in order to persuade riders to get on those animals, the operator of the Merry Go Round added the rings, including the brass rings.  Some kids still chose the "jumpers" in the center because the risk and challenge of reaching out to get the rings was too scary and the immediate reward was automatic.  No risk involved.  That is fine, if you don't like free stuff.  That is fine if you are only interested in being normal.  That is fine if your goal in life is to participate but not to achieve more.  Reaching for the brass ring has always been synonymous with striving for more or being our best or living life to the fullest.  There are few times in life when we actually have a choice to play it safe or to take risks to achieve more.  A day is coming soon for us all to make that choice.  That day could be today.

There are a lot of great reasons to help others.  Unfortunately, helping others is often seen as in opposition to helping ourselves.  "If I help others, then I am taking away from my own prosperity.  I need to focus on "me" so I can maximize my efforts".  And when it comes to a choice, we usually choose "me" over "we" and definitely over "you".  Obviously, having the mentality and the heart to put others first is a desirable characteristic.  However, if that is too much to ask, then look at the research.  Motivation is one of the keys to personal success.  When we are more motivated, we are more likely to repeat desirable behaviors (like working hard, putting in time and effort, giving our best). Research shows that the greatest untapped source of motivation is a sense of service to others; focusing on the contribution of our work to other people’s lives has the potential to make us more productive than thinking about helping ourselves (Give and Take by Adam Grant).  It makes sense.  Most people struggle with confidence, doubt, fear, anxiety and depression because they are focusing too much on themselves and not looking more at others.  The more we are "inward focused", the more we get caught up in our failures and weaknesses and have a hard time seeing our strengths.  In contrast, when we help others, we see that life is more than our own selfish desires and that life is more than just about us.  So when you find yourself falling short of your own goals and hopes and dreams, then take your eyes off yourself and spend some time to help others so that they can reach their goals and hopes and dreams, and you may find that you both end up winning in the end.  ​

​​"Glass half full or glass half empty".  The question refers to whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.  Do you see life in a positive way: "glass is half full", or in a negative way: "the glass is half empty"?  An important distinction.  But another valuable and life changing question to ask is this: "What is your glass filled with"?  The content of your glass is important because when the glass is tipped over and the contents spilled out, they end up all over the place.  A glass filled with water can be easily cleaned up with a dry towel.  A glass filled with motor oil causes a bigger mess and a mess that may last for a while.  A person filled with love and respect and a positive attitude toward others is not exempt from being spilled over.  However, when they are tipped or knocked over, the love and respect and positiveness spills out all over other people.  When a person is full of bitterness and anger and resentment and negativity and those contents are spilled out, then that is spilled all over others, as well.  Furthermore, if the glass is full to the brim of these negative or positive things, when the glass is merely nudged or jostled just a little bit, the contents drip out and impact others.  We may not be able to control the volume in our glass but we can control the content.  Choose thankfulness.  Choose appreciation.  Choose love.  Choose kindness.  Choose to show grace.  Choose the things that you want to spill out onto others to make them better and to show the love of Jesus that is inside of you. 

Grit defined ...

Noun: ​ Courage and resolve; strength of character.

Verb:  Clench (the teeth), especially in order to keep one's resolve when faced with an unpleasant or painful duty.

Resolve defined ...

Noun:   Firm determination to do something. 

Courage defined ...

Noun:   Strength in the face of pain or grief.

Quitting defined ...

Noun:  To give up or resign; stop, cease and discontinue; to stop trying, struggling, or the like;  accept or acknowledge defeat.  

Courage defined again in case you missed it and in regards to quitting ...

Noun:   Strength in the face of pain or grief.

Resolve defined again in case you missed it and in regards to quitting ...

Noun:   Firm determination to do something. 

Grit defined again to drive the point that quitting does not produce grit ...

Noun: ​ Courage and resolve; strength of character.

Verb:  Clench (the teeth), especially in order to keep one's resolve when faced with an unpleasant or painful duty.

Application:  We succeed and fail all day long.  However, failing due to trying is more productive in the grand scheme of our growth trajectory than failing because of quitting.  

We can't stop the rain!  No matter how hard we may try, no matter how hard we may look at the sky, no matter how angry or bitter or frustrated we may get, we can't stop the rain!  We can look at forecasts and refresh every five minutes but the rain will either come or not, regardless of our attention to it.  There are things in life that we have control over and there are things we don't.  We can't stop the rain but we can wear a rain jacket.  We can hold an umbrella.  We can wear rain boots and two pairs of socks.  We can avoid going outside or even close the blinds.  We can also see the rain as a necessity to water the grass that makes it green or fill the aquifers so we have water to drink.  We may not be able to change the weather forecast but we can change our attitude.  We need to understand what areas of life we can control (our attitude is a primary one) and control those things.  We then need to identify the things that we have no control over (like the weather) and choose to pray about it to the ONE who has control.  We can't control COVID 19, or the decisions that others make that impact our lives.  We can control our attitude and the areas in our life that we do have control over.  We can help others, love others, support others and be there for others when they need us.  We can better ourselves, we can learn, we can grow, we can do.  And when we feel we can't 'do', then the one thing that always remains constant is that WE CAN PRAY!

​"Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail" is attributed to Alan Lakein who may have taken his quote from Benjamin Franklin who famously said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  The idea behind both quotes are true.  Many people (and possibly most people) do not have the skill or ability to think ahead of today and they are not able to envision what the future may look like, tomorrow.  These unfortunate humans are often overwhelmed and consumed with the present (look around you today and you can see it).  There are others (again a large group) who fail to see the benefits of planning and therefore lack the motivation to sacrifice a little time now to plan ahead in order to save a lot of time later.  For this group, the benefit of planning is not recognized as offsetting the lost time to plan.  And then there are those (as sad group) who lack the drive and perseverance to achieve anything noble or valuable enough to be worth their time to create a plan.  This group of people is growing in our society.  More and more people fail to have retirement plans or child college funds or career paths or other goals that require long term plans to achieve.  All three groups of people will suffer more and struggle often and achieve less success than those (who I hope you are a part of) who learn to plan, take time to plan and set worthy goals that require a plan to be successful.  Planning to compete is a great opportunity to practice planning to succeed.

​Why is it that we occasionally perform our best the first time we attempt an activity, but then we are never able to achieve that same standard again?  It is counter-intuitive to how we have been taught and conditioned our entire life.  We have always been told that "practice makes perfect" or "work on your skills and you will get better over time". Our entire educational system is based on the concept that the more we do something, the better we will get at it.  If this is the case, then why do we sometimes get worse the more we do something?  The answer is typically "expectations".  When we do something for the first time, we go into it with little expectation and our brain is free to allow our body to do what it is capable of doing.  Unfortunately, as we work on the skill associated with the task, we begin to form expectations and that inhibits our physical abilities.  We are usually more capable after time but our expectations inhibit our performance.  That is why the "clean slate" mentality is beneficial.  A "clean slate" is a state in which you are starting an activity or process again, not considering what has happened in the past at all.  When we do approach a task with this mindset, we soon see all of the things we have learned along the way from that first performance and it should bolster our confidence.  Unfortunately, our memories are both short and long.  They remember our failures no matter how long ago they happened but our memories forget all of the hard work and the accomplishments we have had in the recent past.  We need to give ourselves permission to succeed and not focus on the ways that we should fail.  Clean the slate!

​We seem to be fascinated by Superheroes.  Hollywood makes a lot of money based on this fact.  Many idolize heroes based on their courage.  Courage only exists when risk is involved.  There aren't a lot of movies made about a person who sits in their basement all day playing video games and posting cat memes on Instagram.  But put Dwayne Johnson on a Skyscraper with no plot and we rush to the theater.  We admire heroes not only for what they accomplish but for the risks that they take to achieve those accomplishments.  Life should not be reckless.  We are not called to run aimlessly into oncoming traffic and hope that we survive.  We shouldn't risk injury or death.  But life is not meant to be without risk.  We must take risks to achieve our full potential.  Playing it safe will only get us so far.  Risk requires trust and faith and confidence.  Risk requires us to understand that failure isn't the end of the world but instead, failure is a sign that we at least tried our best to reach our full potential.  Today is a great day to be a Hero.  Take some risks that allow you the opportunity to either succeed or failure.