Slow Down And Enjoy The Ride

A common phrase we all hear is "Life in the fast lane". There are fast and slow lanes. We all have heard the story about the tortoise and the hare. One appears fast and the other appears slow. One is lazy while one is consistent.

When we think about our own lives we can ask ourselves which one we are - the one who appears fast yet might have lazy tendencies, or the one who appears slow yet remains consistent. I think if we all slow down and enjoy the ride, we will appreciate the experience more.

A while back, I had a profound realization. When driving, I used to consistently find myself looking in the rear-view mirror to watch what all of the drivers behind me were doing. When I wasn't looking behind me I peered as far in front of me as the horizon would allow. In both cases I was not focused on what I was doing or where I was going. I was too preoccupied with everything behind or in front of me. Both were terrible distractions.

Have you ever driven with people who only drive in the fast lane of the road? They try to pass every vehicle they can - weaving in and out of each lane to try and stay ahead of the rest. The only time they slow down is when they see flashing lights trailing behind them and regrettably realize they have found themselves in the police lane.

We live in a fast-paced society. People are scrambling about, running back and forth trying to do everything for everyone. In some ways we have become too controlled by our planners. Many times we have over-planned our lives and ourselves. We do too much, too fast, too often, which is too bad.

When was the last time you took a long, slow, walk? How long has it been since you laid down on the grass and created shapes out of the clouds? When was the last time you went star gazing? Meditated? Read books all day? Had a movie marathon? Took a spontaneous vacation or getaway?

Each of us has obligations, commitments, deadlines, promises, anniversaries, birthdays, work, school, and a million other events to attend, participate in, watch, experience, etc. But each of these activities will come and go. We may enjoy or dread them. We may anticipate their arrival or fear their festivities. What matters most is not how many slots we can fill in our days, but how meaningful each moment of our lives may be.

Don't worry about doing everything. Do everything you can to enjoy what you do. Take time out of your schedule to relax and recuperate. Life is about experiencing everything life has to offer. Slow down and enjoy the ride of life.

Written by Jerald M. Simon
Copyright © 2008 Music Motivation®
All Rights Reserved

Go for the Goal

What do you want out of life? What should we expect out of life? Should we even have any expectations about our futures? I think we should. I think we can have the life we want. I believe life goals are the greatest tools mankind has for personal improvement. Goals become our stepping stones and help us set up markers that show us our own personal road maps on a daily basis. This gives us accountability because we know where we are going and what we must do along the way to arrive at our destination. But what should a goal be?

Goals can be anything that give us direction, purpose, or help us improve. We can have physical goals for improving our health. We can have monetary goals for improving our finances. We can have relationship goals to improve our relationships. We can and should have personal goals, family goals, hobby goals, educational goals, daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual, annual, 2, 5, 10, 15 year goals, and lifetime goals to help direct us as we journey day by day throughout our lives.

The most difficult part of the goal process is taking the first step. Once you have decided what your beliefs are, what your purpose is, what your personal commitment to your loved ones is, what you want out of life, what you want to learn, what you want to accomplish, where you want to go, who you want to meet, how much money you want to make, what you want to be and do for employment, and what you expect to do with your life - the rest is fairly easy. That sounds like the most difficult list anyone could ever compile. It doesn't need to be done all at once because as we change, so do our interests and our ideas. When this happens we acquire a new perspective on the world around us and as a result we decidedly change our ambitions and goals.

Goals can and should change. People should not stay the same. As people change so should their goals. The point is to have an objective in mind when we begin each and every day. When we know what we want to accomplish on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis then we have the blueprint to our lives laid out before us. With this blueprint of our new best selves we simply need to follow what we've outlined and go to work. If we carefully do what we've told ourselves we want to we will accomplish much because we are consitent in doing what we've told ourselves we would.

The difficulty lies in the fact that each goal must respectively hold within itself micro goals if we are to accomplish it. Macro goals are the ultimate accomplishment. Micro goals are the little baby steps done on a daily basis that helps us realize the macro goals. By understanding each of these in relationship to each other we become aware that goals must be as much a part of our lives as the air we breathe.

If, for example, we want to read 1 book per week every week, that becomes our macro goal. The micro goals come in determining which books will be read each week. We then break apart the micro goal into mini micro goals. Once we have determined which books will be read each week we must determine how many pages are in each book. If we take that number and divide it by 7 (seven days per week) we will know how many pages must be read from the book on a daily basis. If we don't know how many pages we can read per hour (pph = pages per hour) we need to find out how long it will take us to read the amount of pages it will take us per day to complete the book in a week. This will let us know how much time it will take each day in order for us to accomplish our goal of reading one book per week.

Now apply this to every goal in our lives. When we can break down our goals into macro, micro, and mini-micro goals we gain control of our lives. We know what it will take, how long it will take, what we must do, when it must be done, for how long it must be done, how frequently it must be done, and how we can accomplish everything we want to accomplish in our lives. Go for the goal, and when you do you will understand that you are in control of your life and you can make it happen because you can be who you want to be when you understand where you are going, what you are doing, and why you are doing it. You can do it! Go for the goal!

Written by Jerald M. Simon
Copyright © 2008 Music Motivation®
All Rights Reserved

Let's start at the beginning.

Let's start at the beginning. It's a very good place to start, you know. I'm a first time blogger and it hasn't become an addiction yet, but only time will tell what can happen when thoughts and ideas are randomly organized into an epic-like epistle.

I am very fortunate. I think we often forget how fortunate we are until we view someone or hear of something that is unfortunate. Fortunately for us, we can count our blessings every day. My hot wife, and she is incredibly hot, always has us count our blessings. We call it thank you time where we say what we are thankful for. Usually this happens before we lose all consciousness and enter slumberland (the place where our eyes close and our minds open - where reality and make believe co-exist to create fantasies and dreams). The best part of my life is that my dreams are a reality. I have a wonderful inquisitive little two year-old girl, and a sweet and adoring wife - what more could I ask for? What more would I want? What more do I need?

Here is a list of things to ask yourself: the answers to these questions will tell you how frequently you've been blessed and maybe how infrequently you've noticed or graciously taken a moment to express gratitude for your blessings.

(1) Are you breathing? This simple question will tell you quite a bit about your blessings.

(2) Are you free to think? Speak? Act for yourself? Freedom is a wonderful gift.

(3) Are you loved? Whether you think you are loved or not, each of us is capable of being loved and receiving love. It's a wonderful gift.

(4) Are you able to love? Being loved is wonderful, but being able to love someone else and put others and their needs before ourselves and our own needs is a wonderful blessing.

(5) Are you able to serve? To Share? To Sacrifice? It may seem odd, but the ability to serve, share, and sacrifice what we have, want, and feel is important to us is a blessing we can give to others. When we give to others we are really giving to ourselves because we give of ourselves and when this happens others receive us into their lives, their hearts, and their minds. We become connected and we each profit from serving.

(6) Are you creative? The power to create is what makes us unique. No one is a clone. Even identical twins are unique because each has the power to create their own world. The creative spark of life lingers within each of us and is waiting to burst through us. As we create, we build, we dream, we experiment, we explore and conquer life.

(7) Are you inquisitive? An inquisitive mind is relentless. It thirsts after, craves, and is drawn to learning and growing. Life is the greatest school. As we go out into the university of life each day we grow by wanting to learn more. The desire to improve and become better is a powerful force in our lives. It gives us direction, purpose, and makes us productive because we perform. We don't sit idly back and view life - we live it because we want to understand it. We want to be a part of life and have a purpose in life.

(8) Are you innovative? Life is a series of obstacles. It is the greatest obstacle course we have ever had to run. If we see these obstacles as problems, pitfalls, and perilous pains we fall down. The trick is being innovative. Instead of seeing the glass as half empty, we can say it's half full. Instead of seeing a rope as too short we can think of all the knots we can tie with the rope. For every up there is a down. But, for every down there is an up. As we creatively think about ways to turn our problems upside down we not only show innovation but we inspire others to do the same. If life doesn't look very wonderful right now, turn upside down. When you can see the world from a different perspective or point of view your views change and as a result so do you.

(9) Are you happy? Happiness is an inside job as my wife's grandfather always said. It is something within us regardless of what is happening around us. Victor Frankl survived the concentration camps by creating the world he wanted within him and within his mind. My wife's grandfather would also use the act as if principle. If we act as if we are confident, we will be confident. The same can be said about being happy. If we act as if we are happy the world will welcome us with happiness.

(10) Are you YOU? Who are you? Do you know who you really are? The quest to find ourselves is a wonderful journey. Discovering our own likes and dislikes, dreams and nightmares, strengths and weaknesses, can be very enlightening. As we see ourselves for who we really are we discover who we want to be. This gives us direction and purpose as well because we know who we are regardless of what others think, say, or do. We are true to ourselves and as a result we are blessed because we are ourselves and that is one of the greatest blessings we have.

Written by Jerald M. Simon
Copyright © 2008 Music Motivation®
All Rights Reserved