What Is Your Ambition?

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.  ~Bill Bradley.

Success isn't the destination, but it is your forward progress on the journey.

In other words..... you have to know where you want to go (ambition). But, then you get your map, plan your route, and head out to your destination.

BUT.... there likely will be obstacles, roadblocks, detours.... so, persistence and determination will find a way around and will keep you moving toward your final destination.

That's why Earl Nightingale says that "success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."

Are you committed to your success in 2015?
What will you do different this year IN you to get different results outside of you?
Are you committed to helping others succeed?
Are you going to persist through obstacles and setbacks?
Do you need help? That's what I do.

YOU Matter!!

Be All In

December 31, 2014
As you wrap up 2014 and begin 2015, what introspective questions are you asking yourself?

My mentor, John C. Maxwell says, "Experience is NOT the best teacher.... EVALUATED experience is the best teacher."

You've experienced a lot in 2014. So what? What are you going to do with that experience? What did you learn from it? What will you do different in 2015? What do you want to be different in 2015 than 2014? Who did you add the most value to in 2014? What made you feel most alive in 2014?What relationships added the most value to you? Who or what slowed you down or is a source of discouragement? (Time to prune)

Before I began 2014, I decided to make my theme of the year "BE". Everything about the year was from the approach of who do I need to become in order to do and have the things that I want? Am I becoming who I was always meant to be? Which led me to ask God, "Who did you mean for me to be?"

"Becoming" in 2014 has done more for my personal growth and achievement than any year previous.

Becoming requires growth. Growth requires work. Work requires a plan. A plan requires a destination (or at least a rest area). A destination requires a reason.

Why (your reason/desire/ambition) will get you out of bed with excitement.
Working your plan daily will allow you to rest peacefully each evening knowing you gave it your all that day.

For 2015, my theme is something I heard Timothy Novak tell my students this fall, "Be All In." I would encourage YOU to BE ALL IN with whatever you choose to do or become in 2015.

If you have trouble with answering any of the questions in this post and need some help or clarity. Give me a shout - that's what I do.

YOU Matter!!

Are You a Critical Thinker or Do You Think Critically?

Are you a critical thinker?

Do you have an insatiable appetite to learn, understand, ponder..... are you curious?  There are many definitions of critical thinking.  I like "thinking about one's thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one's own thinking."

My feeble attempt to define critical thinking for me is a continuous awareness of one's thinking with the purpose to remain open to unconventional answers in seemingly conventional situations. 

Critical thinkers typically look for why things are the way they are or even look for ways things can be accomplished.  The similarly sounding, but very different thinker is the one who thinks critically.  This is one who looks for why things can not be done or is always looking for what's wrong with individuals and the world.

Be a critical thinker, but don't think critically.

YOU Matter!!

Be Interested!

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

~Dale Carnegie

Be INTERESTED 

rather than trying to be INTERESTING today.

How can you be interested in others? Ask questions.

Ask for opinions.

Ask about hobbies.

Ask what they are reading? 

What have you learned? 

What has been your biggest win in the past week, month?

What has been your biggest challenge?

What are a couple of things on your bucket list?

So, here's the deal. There are millions of questions that will come to mind if you are truly interested. Do NOT ask a question if you really have no interest in their answer. If you do so, you are only trying to be manipulative and a poser.

Today…..be authentically interested in others!

YOU Matter!!