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I heard a little story a while back about a woman working in the market place and along came a man who swiped one of her products off her table and started to run away.The woman caught up to him and scolded him so badly that there was steam shooting out of her ears.A few moments later she returned to her table and with the nicest, kindest smile she asked her next customer if she can help them.
Later when she was asked how she could go from one extreme to another, she responded that however you feel in one situation does not have to carry over into the next situation.She also said that just because you feel a certain way on the inside, it doesn’t mean that you have to show it on the outside.
Yesterday I wrote about how your mood can affect your luck.Here are a few ways to put the lesson into action:
Don’t hold grudges
Don’t let one person ruin your day
Don’t take out your anger with one person on another
By getting and staying mad, you are only blocking out your own potential opportunity and luck.
Sometimes when I’m really frustrated, worrying about something or in a bad mood I sit down and play video games to calm myself down and forget about my problems.The main thing it does is allow me to think about my problems in the back of my head without them being pressing issues which is how I find, better ideas come to me.
Lately I’ve been having some crazy days at the office where I just have to unwind and since I have a commute which is over an hour each way, I unwind on the train ride home.I use my commutes for reading and podcasts to make my time the most productive.While listening to podcasts, I need to do something besides just listening, to really get the full effect of the podcast so I play solitaire on my ipod.I noticed that although the game depends a lot on the way the cards are dealt, I was doing proportionately well at the game as the day I just had at the office.There was even one game that I went through the deck 3 times without being able to make a move.That’s usually where I would abandon the game and start a new round.Instead I put the game away for a little while and just relaxed with my eyes closed and some good music.A while later when I went back to my game, I ended up winning.It seems that my mood prevented me from seeing opportunity.
The bottom line is that the better mood you are in, the more opportunity you will see.When you’re in a bad mood, subconsciously, you have no patience for opportunity and you block it out.What I’m trying to say is that the better mood you are in, the luckier you will be.
“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.”
Ernest Hemingway
In September, I started posting “Lucky Quotes” once per month but when I stumbled upon this quote from Hemingway, I had to post it by itself.
I wrote a little while back about investing time with compound interest but from the looks of it Hemingway had the idea first. Today can be exactly like yesterday and tomorrow but if you make today count, it becomes the foundation for the rest of your life. If you spend each day building that foundation, you may not notice any difference in a few days or weeks but if you look back over a year, you are sure to see the fruits of your labor. I saw what one year could do for me.
You can become an expert on any subject by just reading one hour on the topic each day for 3 years. One hour alone will not do much for you. Even a few days won’t do much for you. If you are consistent and read for an hour every day, you can make a huge difference for your future.
I’ve mentioned it before but it is so important that i’ll keep mentioning it. We live in such a great time that there is more information available to read and learn from than ever before and most of it is free. All you have to do is motivate yourself to read it. A quick Google search and you hit gold.
Mitch Hedberg , the comedian has a famous bit that when he is in bed and thinks of something funny he has to either get out of bed and find a pen and paper to write it down or convince himself that whatever he just thought about was not funny.
Everyone is pretty much in the same boat at Mitch.It may not be writing down jokes but everyone has something that they need to write down.It can be business ideas, things to do, movies to watch, blog article topics, errands etc… we often think to ourselves that whatever we thought about is either important enough that we won’t forget or not important.The truth is that everyone forgets at least some of the time and if you decide not to write it down, you’re probably just lazy.
There are so many ways to take notes in any situation that we have no excuse not to take notes.There is the old fashioned pen and notepad which I use most of the time, or you can use email, text messaging to yourself, recording your thoughts on an audio recorder, or any of the many ways you can use a pda.
Worst case, you may look at your notes a week later and think that it’s ridiculous but at least you’ll get a good laugh.In a better case scenario, you will have a goldmine of thoughts that you would have otherwise lost.They may trigger new thoughts as you’re looking them over.It’s like brainstorming over time.Sometimes when brainstorming, no matter how hard you try and think, nothing comes out but when you’re relaxing, taking a shower or playing ball the idea just comes to you.
Once you start recording your thoughts, make a point of looking through them on a regular basis and putting the good ones into action.You may want to write about them or discuss them with a friend which will make for an interesting conversation and even more good ideas to take note of.
It’s amazing how much smarter you feel after doing this for a while.
I’m a big Simpsons fan… or at least I was when I used to watch the show.I even wrote my high school thesis on Homer.One quote of Homer’s that’s been running through my head lately is “Trying is the first step towards failure”.I’ve been thinking about this because I am about to “try” a whole bunch of new things over the next few months.I am going to try to move to a bigger place in another city.I am going to try and start my own business.I am going to try and start up a few side projects that I’m hoping will bring in some money on the side.I am going to try and grow my blogs and build a bigger readership.And most of all, I am going to try and spend more time with my family.
Homer was right when he said that trying leads to failure but what he forgot to mention is that failure is on the road to success.No one can expect to “try” something new and be successful every time.Every new thing that you attempt comes along with new challenges that you never would have considered before starting.You live, learn, try, fail and if you stick it out long enough, you succeed.
Have you ever failed, stuck it through and ultimately succeeded?
