Weekend Challenge: Ice and Fire

We are reminded (unfortunately) of the first rule of healing strained muscles:  ice and then heat. 

We won’t go in to just why we are reminded of this.

But we are pursuaded that, metaphorically, the same process applies to healing the muscles of your life.  Whatever your stage of life, the process of getting from where you are to your Perfect Life requires both heat and cold.  The heat is your passion–it is whatever gets you fired up, makes you jump out of bed in the morning, and gives you the motivation to push through your days.  The cold is your effort, it’s your plan, it’s your process–it is the dispassionate, methodical approach to accomplishing the goals that move you towards your Vision.

So which one of the two is missing in your life?  If Passion is what you lack, take the weekend to get away from your every day mundane existence and try to figure out what really moves you.  And if it’s a Plan you lack, take the weekend and work your way, very methodically, backwards from your vision to where you are right now.  And if it’s neither, the more power to you! 

Now get busy!

The Gurus of Get It

Be Yourself!

Last week we were stopped at a busy intersection.  We looked over and saw a girl dancing like she was on “Dancing with the Stars” (standing in place).  No, this was not a street corner in a busy city where she was putting on a show for tips.  This was just a girl, wearing a school backpack, ipod playing and waiting to cross a street.  We had enough time to not only watch her, but also to watch many other people in cars and on the street.  Most of the reactions looked to range from “is this girl ‘all there’” to “what a fool”.

We on the other hand just looked on in awe and admiration.  We have a Gem in our book, from a contributor, that says: “Sing as if no one’s listening, dance as if no one’s watching, and love as if you’ve never been hurt.”  In other words be you.

Not everyone has to use a street corner as their stage.  But it is very important to practice doing what you want with no worry or concern about how others may view you.  Go ahead and give it a shot, it may just give you the jumpstart you need to start going after your passions.

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Do What You Can Where You Are

Kenyon Martin, professional basketball player and once somewhat well-known as a malcontent, inspired us this week.  He pledged $1,500 to the Haiti Relief Fund for every rebound he got in the game on Thursday.  Being a pretty accomplished rebounder, this ended up being a fairly sizeable sum: $21,000.

Not everybody has the resources to make a pledge such as that, but everybody has the resources to do something.  Local schools have been holding fundraisers for Haiti over the last few weeks where students buy the “privilege” of wearing hats to school, and some of the sums collected have been rather impressive.

So remember the next time you feel the need to “do something,” try to be creative and pull off what you can from within your own world.  Take advantage of the situation you are in, assess what talents you can bring to the table, and DO SOMETHING.  It doesn’t have to be anything huge, like the earthquake relief (though of course, it could be); maybe it’s as simple at taking a meal to a coworker whose spouse is having surgery. 

The great part of that is that you doing what you can will inspire others to do what they can, which will inspire still others.  The multiplier effect of charity is wonderful.

The Gurus of Get It

Because Humor is A Good Thing

This story is so full of NOT “Getting It” that it just doesn’t need too much comment.  We hope you find the humor, as well.

From the Denver Post a little while back:

A surveillance picture released by police Wednesday afternoon shows a man armed with what appears to be a small Klingon sword, holding up a 7-Eleven convenience store. . . .

A half hour later, police received a call from a 7-Eleven where a man matching the previous description entered the store with a similar weapon. He also demanded money from the store clerk. The clerk refused and the robber “transported” himself out of the store on foot.

 Both clerks described the weapon as a Star Trek Klingon-type sword, called a “bat’leth.”

 Neither clerk was injured in the robberies.  

The Startrek.com Web site describes the Klingon weapon as crescent-shaped and about a yard long. The bat’leth has points on both ends, two points in between and a handle on the outside.

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Meekness

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

 Or, from Albert Einstein:  “If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.”

We don’t often counsel meekness because building your Perfect Life requires you to believe in yourself and your abilities–that sort of confidence runs contrary to meekness.  However, there are times and places that are tailor-made for a little humility.  Let us give you an example:

You get invited to go to lunch with the boss and a major client.  Most of us look at that as an opportunity to impress, and we would spend most of that lunch trying to be smart or funny.  But imagine what  you could learn if, instead of looking for opportunities to say the right thing, you looked for opportunities to ask the right thing and then be quiet.  Your boss and a major client might, just possibly, have something useful to say.

The point is really this: you probably are not the smartest person in the room all the time, so try to figure out who that person really is and then learn from them.

The Gurus of Get It

On Compassion

A man gets on the subway.  A couple stops later, another tired-looking man boards the same car with his three young children in tow.  Before very long, the children begin to wreak havoc on the car.  The first man, being unsuccessful at ignoring the children, eventually approaches the second man in what he thought was a very gentle manner:

“Excuse me, but would you mind trying to calm your children down a little bit?”

The second man, speaking barely above a whisper, replied “Yeah, um, I know.  You see, we’re on our way home from the hospital, and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to tell my children that their mother has died.”

We don’t remember where we first heard that story, but we remember well the lesson.  It is very natural to watch the tragedy unfolding in Haiti and feel terrible for the people of that island nation; what seems to elude so many people is the ability to see the pain in the people they pass on the street every day.  “Getting It” involves being able to see past your own inconvenience to see the genuine struggles of the people around you. 

So to honor the victims of the Haiti earthquake, try spreading a little compassion around your own little corner of the world.

The Gurus of Get It

Change

In so much of our society, change is often construed as a negative: “you need to change your attitude” (said to a teen, young adult or worker), “we need to make a change” (often heard before a firing or layoff at work), etc.

While we do hear it in a negative way, it should be viewed as a positive step in creating parts of a new life we have been talking about.  Change is not always easy, but it will be necessary if you have any desire to go after new dreams, passions or different directions.

We love the saying “if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.”  What does that mean?  Well, if you are happy with all aspects of your life than stay on that same track and do what has been working for you.  But, if you are not happy with any part (big or small) of your life, it is time to embrace the concept of change.  We would encourage you to start making some of those necessary changes so you can start enjoying every part of your life.  After all, isn’t that what creating your perfect life is all about?

The Gurus of Get It!

This Week’s Challenge: Persevere

We love perseverence.  We remember reading a study once that found that the number one predictor of success in life is the ability to delay reward and continue working: in effect, to persevere.

Why do we bring this up now?  Well, it’s about 10 days into the new year, those resolutions are starting to lose a little of their luster, and it’s easy to start to drift off course right about now.  And, in more of a big picture sense, the main excitement of the “dormant” season (winter) is now over, and people start turning their thoughts towards Spring.  Perhaps, along with it, we all grow a little impatient with our conditioning, with our spouses, with our situations.

We say persevere!  Continue doing the things that are good for you and that move you in the direction of your Vision.  Do not let this time go to waste waiting for some sort of spiritual “Spring Training”, but instead start to sharpen your focus and get in mental condition right now(!) so when the spring rolls around you’re ready to hit the ground running.

Keep plugging away, folks!    What was good for you last Fall is still good for you now!

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Act

“Do not scold like a kitchen-girl.  No warrior scolds.  Courteous words, or else hard knocks, are his only language.”

That is one of the lines from the very end of C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, in which the last king of Narnia reminds one of his subjects of the proper behavior for a warrior.

Now, we know not everybody is built to be a warrior (and, by the way, no offense intended, girls: that was simply the language of the text), and that a warrior mentality doesn’t work in every situation.  Nonetheless, it is a good reminder that actions speak louder than words.  That sometimes you can only accomplish what you want to accomplish by doing something, not by talking about something.

So this weekend resolve to be a person of action: if you want something, DO something; if you need to make change, DO make change; if you see your Vision, DO take concrete steps to bring it into being.  Stop talking and start being, acting, loving and doing!

And have a very Happy New Year!

The Gurus of Get It!