Weekend Challenge: Your Olympic Moment

The last two weeks have been inspirational to us.  Being huge sports fans, we love to get engrossed in the pageantry and the spectacle of the Olympic games. 

Every one of the athletes competing in these games has invested countless hours to perfect their sport, all to have it boil down to (in some cases) 45 seconds of performance.  It’s pretty remarkable, but that is what it takes to have that “Olympic Moment.”

You can have that “Olympic Moment,” also.  All you have to do is resolve to treat every day, every burdensome problem, every screw up, as part of your training for your Perfect Life. And if you concentrate and make the most mundane tasks important to yourself, then at some future moment your good habits will impress somebody who matters.  And that sort of thing is the stuff Perfect lives are made out of.

So this weekend make a conscious effort to do the little things just a little better. Then decide what “event” you want to compete in, and start working towards your Gold Medal!!

The Gurus of Get It

Of The Many Uses of Foresight . . .

“After Columbine, I made it a point to always be aware, and to try to be ready.” 

That is a paraphrase of something said by Dr. Benke, the math teacher who tackled a gunman to the ground to end a school shooting incident in Littleton, CO earlier this week. 

Forersight is more than just the tendency to look around at the big picture and positioning yourself strategically; as we saw from Dr. Benke, Foresight is taking the time to think the unthinkable and to play out scenarios in your mind’s eye for how to deal with that impossible situation.

We tend, in this society, to become so wrapped up in the day to day minutiae that we never think about what’s outside our little bubble.  And it’s not just you and me on the street:  how in the world did our “Leaders” miss the near collapse of our whole economy two years ago?  But the person who is Smarter will take a few moments every once in a while to think about other things, and it’s those people who tend to survive, thrive, and ocassionally, do heroic things.

Way to go, Dr. Benke!

The Gurus of Get It

Weekend Challenge: Be Responsible

“The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. . . What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only one to blame.”

These were the words of Tiger Woods, and they are spot on for anybody trying to regain control of their life and get it back on track towards a Perfect Life.

If you really want your life to fit your Plan, you have to understand that there is only one person in charge of your decisions, your choices, and your life: you.  When things go wrong, they are always, ultimately, because of some decision you made.  Even if circumstances are unfortunate and it seems like something beyond you has affected you, ultimately the responsibility is yours for putting your eggs in that particular basket.

It may be painful to take responsibility for your life–it’s so much easier to find someone or something else to blame.  But this weekend work to recognize the consequences of your choices.  And own them–learn from them.

The great part is this: once you recognize your responsibility, you will begin to recognize the power you have to change Your Life.

The Gurus of Get It

The Blind Squirrel

Though we never advise looking to Hollywood for wisdom, every once in a while something comes from Hollywood that is completely profound.  We saw one bit of such profundity tonight watching Evan Almighty.

In a scene mid-way through the film God (Morgan Freeman) is having a discussion with Evan’s wife (Lauren Graham).  She’s asking for advice on handling her crazy husband, and he replies “Sounds like an opportunity.

“Let me ask you something:  if somebody prays for patience, you think God gives them patience?  Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?  If somebody prays for courage, does God give them courage, or does He give them opportunities to be courageous?  If somebody prays for their family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does He give them opportunities to love each other?”

If you’ve been praying for your Perfect Life, do you think it’s just going to happen?  Or are you going to provided with opportunities to recognize your Passion, set meaningful Goals, exercise Foresight, and realize a Vision?  They’re out there: open your eyes and your heart to see the possibilities.

The Gurus of Get It!

The Essence of Survival!

This last year has been challenging for a lot of good people.  During these times, it is important to understand the difference between “questioning” and “doubting”.

Doubting is the act of not trusting yourself.  It is you saying “I am not sure I can do this.”  For most of us out there that it is not only not true, but very unfair.  It is important during these times to remember what you have accomplished and keep focused on who you are on the inside.  There are millions of people going through tough times that they did not create and they cannot control.

Instead of doubting yourself, remember it is okay to question yourself.  Are you taking the right steps?  Are you using your time wisely?  These are good things to make sure you are on the right track.

And, as you get up in the morning, remember Successories take on survival:

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed…every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or gazelle…when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Lessons from Mapquest

We love Mapquest.  The idea of having directions to anywhere at any time at the touch of your fingers is extremely cool. 

However, we couldn’t help but notice one sometimes annoying but ultimately very useful feature of Mapquest:  it always makes you tell it where you’re coming from before it’ll fulfill your request.  And if you give it a bad starting location, it will mess you up pretty badly.

Your life is the same way.  Which is why the first chapter of the book is “Who Are You?”  It is all well and good to have a Vision and a Plan; but if your Vision is built on a set of assumptions about yourself that turn out to be wrong, then you”re not going to be able to get on the correct Path to your Perfect Life.

So this weekend, take an hour of time for yourself, and complete a “You Assessment.”  Make note of your goals, your past accomplishments, your skill set, your personality, and all the other factors that will tell you about yourself.  And then compare that list to your ideas for what your Perfect Life is going to require.  And then do the obvious: make change.

The Gurus of Get It

Getting Smarter Sooner

This single concept is a big part of what made up the program for our book.  In it we talk about using all resources possible to give yourself a leg up.  When it comes to young adults and careers, we discuss the importance of talking with people in their desired careers and doing internships. 

This concept is not just for the young.  We recently read an interview with Robert McNamara, who was the Secretary of Defense for President Kennedy.  The interview came when he was 86 and he made the following statement “I was forty-four years old when I became secretary of defense.  I wish I had the knowledge I do now back then.”  What really matters is that you realize you will always be learning and always need to look for opportunities to get smarter sooner.

One example comes if anyone out there is thinking of starting a business.  If that is your interest, go out and find 10 people who run their own small business.  You can pick their brain about what works, what does not work and what they wish they knew prior to jumping into that venture.  That is how you get smarter sooner and possibly avoid mistakes that others have made.

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Change Your Point Of View

One of our favorite classic “smart” movies is Dead Poet’s Society, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which a cast that is peppered with young stars that are now very familiar faces.  But the young cast has nothing to do with this weekends’ challenge.

In one scene in the movie Robin Williams’ character exhorts his young pupils to jump up on a table and look around the room.  The purpose, very simply, was to change the way they look at things.  Change how you look at things, and you change what you see and what you find important.

You can, and we would say should, do the same thing in your life.  If you find yourself “stuck in a rut,” change your point of view.  Take a different route to work or to school in the morning; rearrange a room or how you organize your desk; sit in a different seat in the carpool.  Anything you do to change how you’ve always done things will cause your brain to wake up and take notice of its new surroundings.

And who knows?  You might see some things that give you a fresh outlook on your day.

The Gurus of Get It

Pushing Yourself

One of the basic principles of exercise is that the body will do what it is used to doing until it is pushed beyond its comfort zone.  This even holds true for a body accustomed to exercise–repetitive exercise will encourage the body to become efficient, and reduce the impact of the exercise.  That’s why the big trend in exercise science is “muscle confusion,” which is the practice of doing something different every day so your body doesn’t have a chance to get used to any one thing.

We think the same principle holds true for the spirit, as well.  Behaviorists call it a “normalcy bias:” you want things to remain the way they are because that familiarity allows you to be efficient in your energy expenditures.  But it will never get you ahead.

Making the kinds of changes that we are encouraging you to undertake will be instantly uncomfortable–your “normalcy bias” will be shaken up and try to get you to settle back in to your routine.  FIGHT THAT!!  When you get tired, do five more minutes; when your ear hurts from working the phones, make two more calls.  Push yourself!  Because your Perfect Life is NOT going to come get you.

The Gurus of Get It!