Challenge: Be Open

One of our friends contributed a couple brilliant little gems to our book, and his story bears repeating.  Joe was a skilled craftsman who eventually got asked to teach at a technical college who then parlayed that into administrating at the college which eventually led him to the post he currently holds as head of an entire Junior College association.

Not exactly the sort of thing you can draw up before you head out to work one Monday morning.

But his secret lies in never compromising his core principles or sacrificing who he is to get where he’s going.  Because Joe has a great sense of Who He Is, he has a lot of freedom.  Thus, when someone approached Joe with a new opportunity it was easy to sift through the excitement and realize how that fit in his overall philosophy.  So what seemed like detours off of his path were really just extensions of the same journey–like the mountain climber who reaches the summit only to realize that behind his mountain was an even taller one that needs climbing also.

So be open to new things, because you never know when one of those “detours” turns into your real Path.  Just be wise about understanding how it all fits together in your Perfect Life.

The Gurus of Get It!

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Because Everybody Needs A Laugh

Heard on the radio the other day:

The postal employees’ union had to cancel its recent election of officers.

It would seem too many of the ballots were . . .

wait for it . . .

lost in the mail.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Gurus of Get It!

Challenge: Run Your Race

We hate to keep drawing on the worlds of sports and movies for our little lessons, but sometimes they’re just too good to pass up.

Last night we went to go see “Secretariat.”  For those of you that don’t know, Secretariat was the last race horse to win the Triple Crown–the three biggest horse races of the year–and he did it in 1973.  He was the first to do it in 25 years, and the last one since. 

The way the movie tells the story, there is a scene where the horse’s trainer and owner are discussing strategy for the final race of the Triple Crown, and the trainer has an instinct that the right approach is to train the horse really hard.  It’s unusual–the standard approach is to rest the horses because the last race is the longest.  However, the owner trusts the trainer, and trusts the horse’s heart, so she gives the go-ahead for hard training.  The night before the race she tells the horse to “run your race.”

The result of the risk? Secretariat won the race by a record 37 lengths! (oops–did we spoil the ending?)

In your life there will be moments where your instinct is telling you to do the unconventional–trust that instinct!  Do what you feel is best and go at it with everything you’ve got and then let the chips fall where they may.

Don’t let conventional wisdom dictate your Perfect Life;  run YOUR race!

The Gurus of Get It!

Reading Lists

Because what we do is suggest ways to improve yourself and, thereby, build your Perfect Life, it is only fitting that we suggest to you some of the books and other things that have helped shape us and our philosophy. 

From the practical “How to Live” category, Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”

From the sports philosophers, “The Winner Within” by Pat Reilly.

From the school of new age performance philosophy, “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman.

From the classic works of strategy, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.

From the realm of understanding what leadership is, “Henry the Fifth” by William Shakespeare.

From biographies of great people, “Lincoln” by David Herbert Donald.

From the histories of great events, “The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara.

From speeches, “I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Gettysburg Address” and the Second Inaugural of Abraham Lincoln, “Farewell” by George Washington, and “We Shall Fight On the Beaches” by Winston Churchill.

And just for fun “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes,” by Bill Watterson.

And of course, whether you’re religious or not, a passing knowledge of the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, the Tao Te Ching and other books of major religious significance is always a good idea.

The Gurus of Get It

Dream Big and Execute

There are two parts to a successful dream.  The first is to create an idea, than the second part is to actually execute that idea and make it a reality.  Creating the idea is much easier than the actual execution.  In fact, there are a lot more people who can create than those who can execute.  Because of this, there are a lot of dreams and ideas that never get past a sheet of paper.

Our challenge to you this week is to find one of those dreams or ideas.  It does not have to be world-changing, just something (big or small) that you have dreamed about or an idea that you have come up with.  This may be something new, or something you dig up and dust off.  The next step we are looking for is to execute a part (or the entire) idea.  That may be just getting started, taking that first step or doing something to move yourself forward.  Believe it or not, the first step is always the hardest.

Most of us have had a dream, or come up with an idea at some point.  Now it is time to master the execution.

The Gurus of Get It!

Challenge: Make a Record

We have heard it said by doctor friends of ours that “If it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.”  Of course, they’re referring to life-and-death decisions that they make for their patients, and the importance of keeping an accurate record for the doctors that come after them to treat the same patients.  We think you should treat your Perfect Life like that patient.

The decisions that you make, the choices you are faced with, and the journey that you are embarking on are unique and may take many unexpected turns along the way.  At some point you may need to retrace your steps–how useful would it be to actually have a full record of that?  And we’re not talking about a diary (“Dear Diary:  today Bob told me my retirement plan had tanked and there was no money borrow to start up my restaurant . . . “);  what we’re talking about is more of a timeline of events and choices on the path of your Perfect Life, so that you always have a means to trace your thought process.  Also, this sort of a record makes you accountable to yourself.  So get started writing!

Besides, when your Perfect Life happens, you’ll have a head start on your million-copy memoir!

The Gurus of Get It

Lessons From The Story of the Day

Who among us has not been riveted by the story of the rescue of the 33 miners who have been trapped 2000 feet underground in Chile for 69 days?  It is one of those odd moments that only happen every once in a great while where the whole world can come together in hope over an amazing tribute to the human spirit.

Of course, being who we are, we try to pull important life lessons out of a situation like this.  And one of the most important ones is related to Foresight–human survival is often not by luck or simple force of will, but rather the ability to get past shock and start acting immediately in ones’ best interest.  These miners had a plan and they started to act towards their own survival immediately, rather than devolve into panic.

There is a book by Ben Sherwood called “The Survivor’s Club” in which the author profiles people who have survived unbelievable situations. One of the commonalities?  You guessed it: Foresight.   The ability to reasonably ask “what if” and then have a reasonable response.  We recommend it.

The Gurus of Get It

Give and RECEIVE!

We often hear that it is better to give than receive.  While that may be the case, it is equally important to learn how to receive.  During these more trying times, it is more critical than ever to band together with your family, friends or a support group.  That may mean swallowing your pride, ego or whatever else to open up and be willing to receive help or advice that you may need to get you through.

So as you maneuver through your days, be open and accepting of any kind of help you may need.  It will come at you from many different directions and from people you may know or not know.  When it presents itself, be open and be ready to accept it knowing that it will help you move forward and closer to your perfect life.

The Gurus of Get It!

 

Weekend Challenge: Adapt

We were recently invited to give a presentation to the freshman and sophmore classes at a local high school.  This was a thrilling prospect, as it was exactly what we designed this program for, and it was also going to be the largest such presentation we’d done to date. 

And then things started going off track.  Only one of us was able to adjust our work schedule to give the presentation.  Then we found out it was going to be in a gymnasium, not an auditorium, as we had planned.  Then it turned out we only had 45 minutes to do a 90-minute production.

And you know what?  It was great!  We kept our focus, we were able to use the setting to our advantage and have a really great time.

Life doesn’t always make things easy on you, and it almost never does things for you in exactly the way you had pictured in your head.  But the “less than ideal” is very often an opportunity–a chance to prove your versatility and your adaptability, and an opportunity to see the world in a different light.

So this week’s challenge is to welcome the “less than ideal” situation and glean from it all the lessons you possibly can. Seize it as an opportunity to hone a different set of skills, while adapting it still demonstrate your strengths.

It is the one constant lesson from nature: those who adapt, survive; those that don’t, don’t.

The Gurus of Get It

Traits We Admire: Grace

Grace is one of the most difficult qualities to define that we can think of.  It’s one of those “You know it when you see it” traits.  That said, we’re still going to take a stab at quantifying it.

Grace is the person who expects three guests for dinner, but then serves six with a smile and joke.

Grace is the person who gets out of their brand new car and rushes over to the car that just hit them to see if everyone is okay.

Grace is the person who hopes for great things from a friend, but who never ever betrays any disappointment when those hopes prove to be ill-founded.

Grace is the person who responds to the screaming child that has just disrupted their meeting by getting down on the ground and playing with them.

It is a subtle, effortless ability to roll with the punches of life and never let anything disrupt your mood or your priorities.  It is also the ability to recognize that people are different, they don’t all share your priorities, and to never try to impose those priorities or to take exception when others don’t share them.

Man, it’s hard.  But, boy we love it when we see it.

The Gurus of Get It!