Category: Uncategorized

Choosing your attitude

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Franklin

Don’t play the victim in your life story. Things will always happen that are outside of your control, they won’t go according to how you’d like them to go, but you can always choose your response the what happens. You can always choose your attitude towards any set of circumstances.

Don’t give anybody else power over your feelings and attitude. Nobody can make you “feel” a certain way. Only you have that power…whether you relinquish that power to somebody else is up to you.

Choosing your attitude

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Franklin

Don’t play the victim in your life story. Things will always happen that are outside of your control, they won’t go according to how you’d like them to go, but you can always choose your response the what happens. You can always choose your attitude towards any set of circumstances.

Don’t give anybody else power over your feelings and attitude. Nobody can make you “feel” a certain way. Only you have that power…whether you relinquish that power to somebody else is up to you.

Making friends and winning disagreements

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” – Abraham Lincoln

There are two ways you can defeat your enemies. The way most people think of defeating an enemy is by overpowering them and forcing them to either give up or acquiesce to your demands. But that is not the best way to destroy an enemy. Because by doing that, you will create bitterness and keep the enemy around, even if you are not actively battling them.

Instead, the better way to defeat an enemy now by making peace with them. By making them your friends, you no longer have an enemy and you can still achieve what you want. It is much easier to reason with a friend who knows and trusts you than an enemy who thinks you are laying a trap for them. Befriending an enemy is the best solution because it is not only good for the short term, but for the long term as well.

Next time you disagree with someone, ask yourself what is the best way to resolve your dispute? Is it to ridicule them or make their ideas or morals seem inferior to yours? Or is it to befriend them and gently win them over to your way of thinking? Isn’t it more likely for someone to dig in their heels and vehemently defend their opinion (even if it was only loosely held initially) when you attack that opinion – putting them on the defensive? Instead of doing this and putting their reputation and intelligence on the line (which, of course they will argue to defend), try to win them over softly. You’ll find this to be much more effective.

The pursuit of your potential

You should always look at results through the lens of did you try your best and did you max out your potential. It is better to play your best game and still lose to somebody who is better than you at that particular moment than it is to play substandard to your potential and blow the other team out. This may sound add to those who are ultra competitive, but think of it this way…

Would you rather play an intense game, give it your all, and lose by a single point to one of your peers? Or would you rather not really try (or care) and easily beat a child at a game? Which would give you more satisfaction?

Try to live up to your potential in everything you do. We are not all created equal with our talents, but we are not all going to give equal effort. If you try your best, and you know there is nothing else you could have done, that’s all you can ask for.

Protecting your time

Be intentional with your time. Protect it…not just from others asking you to do things, but also from yourself. It’s easy to binge watch a show. Be careful so that the 30 minute show doesn’t become a two hour watch session. It’s easy to consume social media. If you keep a social media account, make sure that you’re not mindlessly surfing through their carefully crafted content specifically targeted at delivering the most compelling stories to keep you on their website.

How can you be intentional with your time where you’re doing something to improve your knowledge AND what would make you feel better (long term)? Instead of consuming shallow, surface level content (including tv shows, social media posts, and even many magazine articles), try reading something with more depth.

Start small. Try reading 10 pages per day (from a book). Over the course of the year, this will equate to 3,650 pages per year. If an average book is 250 pages, you will have read between 14-15 books for the year! If you do this for ten years, you will have read 140-150 books.

So many people quit reading or only occasionally read after graduating high school or college. Be different. Set yourself apart from the collective average. Use your time intentionally. And then use your newly acquired knowledge to further yourself in your career or change your life for the better.